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Heard a tour guide at Mesa Verde say most visitors never look up, and now I can't stop thinking about it
I was at Mesa Verde in southern Colorado two weeks ago and our guide mentioned something that stuck with me. She said about 90 percent of people walk through the cliff dwellings looking straight ahead at the walls and never tilt their heads back. She pointed up and there were these tiny hand holds carved into the rock ceiling above us. Little divots where people grabbed on while they climbed around 700 years ago. I probably would have missed them too if she hadn't said anything. Ever since then I've been thinking about how many small details get skipped at sites because we're all looking at the big obvious stuff. It made me slow down and really scan the rock faces instead of just snapping photos of the main structures. Has anyone else had a guide point out something you would have walked right past?
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nancyd8527d ago
Here is the thing: your guide was basically performing a magic trick and you did not even realize it. Telling a crowd "look up" at a cave ceiling full of old hand holds instantly makes the tour feel special and personal. Maybe those divots are real, maybe they're just natural pits in the sandstone. Either way, she got you to slow down and actually pay attention, which is more than most people do at any tourist site. Guides who pull that off deserve a good tip.
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