Oasis

Oasis. El Morro National Monument. Before the days of interstates and automobiles, a journey from Albuquerque to Zuni (about 150 miles) typically took 9 or 10 days. Imagine the relief travelers must have felt when they reached this shady little oasis after walking or riding a horse for days across mountains, desert, and lava rocks. The water here was not just refreshing , it was, at times, a lifesaver. In the words of Captain Gaspar Perez de Villagra in 1598:, When by great effort I arrived at the foot of some lofty cliffs at which I sat down, and then saw that there was a quiet tank of cold water, above whose crystalline [waters], almost blind, I was with difficulty conquering the great madness of the insatiable thirst which overwhelmed me, when trembling, all exhausted, the wet liquor injected strength., Por gran fuerte fuy llegando, al pie de unos peñascos lebantados, en cuyo asiento y puesto vi que estaua, un apazible estanque de agua fría, sobre cuyos cristalinas casi ciego, apenas fuy venciendo la gran furia, de la insaziable sed que me acabaua, quando temblando todo estremecido, el húmido licor lance forcado.