Visit the largest reservation of American Indians: once the hometown of cowboys, now it is barren.

Fascinated by the classic western movies, we traveled to the United States this time and specially chose the hometown of western cowboys-Colorado, Utah and New Mexico.

You may not imagine that even in the United States, which is far ahead of other countries in the world in science and technology, economy, military and many other fields, its 70,000 square kilometers of Indian reservation in the west is still desolate and dead. Out of fascination with movies and curiosity about Indian reservations, this time we actually visited the shooting places of several classic movie scenes and the largest Navajo settlement of Indians.

Although the road to Arizona Monument Valley is long, it is not lonely, because there is Forrest Gump on the road 163. There is a scene in the Hollywood movie Forrest Gump: After running for three years, two months and fourteen days, Forrest Gump suddenly stops and says to his followers, "I'm tired, I want to go home." The Navajo Indian Reservation and those unique red peaks are in the background.

Navajo Indians are the indigenous peoples of North America that I knew from the famous film Whisperwind more than ten years ago. During World War II, in order to resist Japanese surveillance, Americans specially recruited 29 Navajo from the Indians in the western United States and compiled military codes in their ancient language (Navajo). This endangered language has a strange pronunciation and grammar, which is no different from animals barking at others. Therefore, the Navajo's "invincible code" was invincible during the war and made great contributions. After the war, these 29 Navajo people have been unknown. It was not until the arrival of the new Millennium that the US Congress finally uncovered this long-forgotten past, and then President George W. Bush personally awarded them the highest medal awarded by the US government-the Congressional Medal of Honor.

This makes many tourists like me curious about the Navajo people and their living customs. For many years after the film Whisperwind was released, many tourists from all over the world came to visit it every year. Among Navajo people, parents are grandmothers, and they are decision makers and hosts of family affairs, such as the inheritance of traditions, the hosting of religious ceremonies, the teaching of life skills (such as cooking and handicraft production), the handling of family disputes, and the raising of grandchildren. During the visit to Monument Valley, we came to the real Navajo Tribal Park and met the real Navajo people.

In go on road trip, a large Indian reservation, there are similar wilderness environments everywhere, so it is very easy to get lost and it is not easy to judge the exact location. So, we parked the car and rented a car from the local area as a guide and transportation. The driver is a middle-aged Navajo with black hair and yellow skin (Navajo also belongs to the yellow race). At first glance, he is no different from the domestic plowman.

The driver hummed a ditty while driving a broken jeep, speeding in the red desert basin. Towering rocks flashed by quickly, and the scenes seen in a series of Hollywood western movies such as Boxing Gloves, Three Sisters, Totem Column and Thumb came to our eyes, as if we were in the movie Crossing the Mountain.

In front of the "Fortune Tree", the driver greeted us to get off. He began to sing, and his companion took out the tambourine from the car to accompany him, with a low tune and a hoarse voice. We formed a circle around them, singing and dancing heartily. After the dance, the driver took out some colorful things from the car like magic and spread them on the hood. These are necklaces and bracelets made of stone, metal, wood and bones. Exaggerated feathers and turquoise are quite eye-catching. I can't help but spend ten dollars on a string.

Navajo people used to be poor and displaced, but now the American government has designated land living areas for Indians and allowed indigenous people to have certain autonomy. The largest Indian reservation is located in Arizona, Utah and New Mexico, which enables Navajo people to flourish and preserve their traditions. Especially in Navajo Reservation, many locals take part in various tourist services, and buses full of tourists can always be seen on the road. Generally speaking, the Navajo reservation is still very backward, most people can only rely on solar energy and diesel generators for power supply, and water resources are extremely scarce.

In order to explore the Antelope Canyon, we continue to hire Navajo to lead the way. The difference is that this driver is a strong woman. Before we could sit down, she couldn't wait to start the engine and head for antelope canyon. From the outside, there is nothing special about Antelope Canyon, but when we walked into the narrow cave, we found a hole inside. Although these maroon rocks are very hard, in fact, if you look closely, you will find that they also have beautiful and flexible curves. The fine lines formed by long-term water flow are clearly exposed on the huge sandstone, and the sunlight falls from the cracks at the top of the cave to the bottom of the cave, a corner of just like heaven.

In a corner of the cave, I saw a part lying horizontally on my head. I was just about to ask that Navajo driver. She seemed to be possessed and panicked and said, "Get out of here, it's not safe here!" " But my companion and I saw that other tourists visiting the cave were going on as usual, so we asked her, "Why is it not safe?" . But she left the words "I'll wait for you in the car" and then fled the cave like a gust of wind. We continued to play in the cave for a while and then hurried back. The female driver immediately started the engine and pulled us out of the scenic spot like a gust of wind. On the way, she said to everyone with an exaggerated expression: "I really should thank God! We're safe. Not long ago, there was just a flood in this cave, which was terrible! "

Although the Antelope Canyon is located in the arid desert in the western United States, this slender and narrow cave is easily filled by a sudden summer rainstorm, and the sudden flood often makes people in the cave have nowhere to escape. The long wood we just saw in the cave is the evidence that the flood left the highest place when it flowed through the canyon not long ago.

Of course, if the danger of bad weather can be predicted, the local state tourism bureau will also issue a travel warning to the scenic spot at the first time. Perhaps the previous floods came too suddenly, which made the Navajo female driver so rude. However, for us, the most impressive thing is the spectacular scene washed out by floods in caves for millions of years.