If they had not moved, I might never have seen them. Grasslands in Estancia Basin, where the ruins are, were yellow, camouflaging small herds of pronghorn. It had stormed earlier, and the remnants were drifting east, clouds looking like a platter of pancakes. That day the sky looked like a blue shirt laundered too many times. I first visited the pueblos in late autumn, having driven from Las Cruces to Carrizozo and then northwest to the ruin. Las Humanas is a somewhat more remote, 25 miles southeast.
Quarai is eight miles north of town, while Abó is nine miles west. They lie near the geographic center of New Mexico and comprise the Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument with headquarters in Mountainair. A case in point is the ruins of Las Humanas (Gran Quivira), Quarai, and Abó pueblos, along with their Spanish mission churches. New Mexico’s history chronicles the lives of people who have lived here for thousands of years. Just two hours from Santa Fe is one of New Mexico’s historical treasures, Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument.
