First Comes Love...

Nicholas and Harmoni are IN LOVE. Like, head over heels, can't take my eyes off of you, you are all I think about, IN LOVE. I headed out at 4AM to the Abo Ruins (which can be traced back for CENTURIES on Nicholas' side..see history below), so we could catch the sunrise. It was COLD..but beautiful..I don't think they noticed..they only had eyes for each other.










The unexcavated pueblo ruins at Abo date back to the 1300s though there is evidence that Mogollon pit house builders had occupied the area beginning around 1150 AD. Located in a pass that opens to the Rio Grande Valley, this was a major trading center for the area.

Fray Francisco Fonte built a small church at Abo beginning in about 1622. Then in 1629, Francisco de Acevedo, who was assigned to the Salinas district by officials in Santa Fe, enlarged the Mission of San Gregorio de Abo to reflect its importance as the headquarters church of the Salinas district.

This church, which was completed in 1659, employs buttresses on the 40-foot high walls. It is one of the few remaining examples of medieval architecture in the United States.

At Abó and at Quarai, kivas or underground ceremonial chambers were built in the patios of the conventos. The presence of both Christian and Pueblo sacred buildings and symbols indicates that both belief systems were being maintained at these sites.