Day 103, Part II: How I Ended Up With an Apache Family

I really feel so lucky and so blessed. I'm chilling in what could probably be a 5 star accommodation trailer. Today I gathered the courage to go and ask the council for permission to stay on the reservation. They first said that I needed to purchase a permit for $10/day to be here. I said that it was out of my budget especially because I wanted to hang around for a week and witness the upcoming Sunrise Dance Festival. Let me get into the details.

After my adventures with the drunk ladies, I skated into San Carlos from Peridot after dropping them off. I got into town and there Paul who I talked about in my last post came up to me and escorted me to the library where I wrote about my adventures that day. I still didn't have permission to stay on the reservation so I went to a market right where some people where hanging out outside. I asked a lady sitting outside where I could speak to the tribal leader and she pointed me to the building next door.

"Go and ask for Chairman Windslar Nosie. His office is at the end of the hall"

I was really nervous, wondering what the outcome could be. What if he laughed in my face? Told me I wasn't welcome? Called the tribal police to escort me off the reservation? Still, I had to try, I had to at least give it a shot. I walked into that hallway as if it was a dark cave with no light on the other side. I could see the room at the end of the hallway. About three people were waiting in line to speak to the same man and here I was. This foreign looking dude with this huge bag on his back waiting behind all these locals waiting on the advice of their leader; what could he possibly want? A younger looking guy came up to me. This guy was big. I already felt tiny amongst all these people, this guy seemed like he was 7 foot tall, 300 lbs. Realistically he was about 6'2", 280lbs.

"Can I help you with something?"
"Yes, I uhh, am looking to speak with the chairman"
"In regard to what?"
"Well, I'm travelling and was wondering if I could get permission from him to stay on the reservation for bit"
"I can help you with that" I followed him into the office next door where he was already speaking to somebody about my question

A smaller but older looking man sitting on his desk and working on his laptop turns to his left to face me

"So you are travelling?"
"Yeah"
"And you are from?"
"Egyptian, but from Rhode Island"
"Oh wow and what brings you here?"
"Well I'm riding my skateboard across the country, but I wanted to live amongst the Apaches and learn about your culture for a little. So I was wanting to get permission to stay on the reservation"
"My name is Tao, this is Patrick, Santana and Jameson" pointing to each one. "Patrick can help you with your permit to stay on the reservation, he works for Game and Fish"

Patrick was the big man that first asked me if I needed any help. He was now sitting behind his desk across facing the entrance to the room.

"Well to stay on the reservation it is $10 a night. That is one of the ways we generate income for our community. The only other way to stay on the reservation is to be the guest of a tribal member"
"Wow, well, I'm on a very limited budget while travelling and I really don't have that kind of money. I would like to spend seven nights here and witness the Sunrise Dance Festival. Is there any other way? Maybe you could let it slide this one time. I could really sleep anywhere, I don't care, underneath any tree"
"Hmmm, well its the rule"
"Maybe you can take him in house" Tao sarcastically suggested
"Yeah, but I don't know if my mom would like that" Patrick seriously replied
"So what made you want to go on this trip?" Tao was now asking me
"Well I just needed a personal journey and I really wanted to visit the west coast. I had some money and my skateboard and decided, hey why not just skate?"
"And this was after college?"
"Yes"
"What did you study in college?"
"Entomology and microbiology. Insects and stuff"
"Cool"
"So you are an American?"
"Yeah"
"I just ask because it would be more of an issue staying here if you weren't" I figured this anyway because the Indian reservations are all under the Department of the Interior, a federal agency. If I wanted to get anything done, I thought, I had to be completely open, transparent and honest. I had my passport.
"Well I have my passport if you would like to check it out"
"Ill have a look at it" Patrick blurts out

So I dig through my bag and give it to him. He flips through the pages curiously seeing the stamps of all the places I have been. I sit in the office for sometime longer while they carry on their work and while I wait for a deliberation like an accused waiting for the jury to walk back into the courtroom and read the verdict. I decide then to go to the bathroom. When I returned I sat for about 15 more minutes on my board, my back leaning against a filing cabinet, until Tao comes up with an awesome sounding suggestion.

"Oh I know where he could stay! Alice! She hosts exchange students sometimes. Maybe she would be interested in letting you stay. Then, because you are a guest of a tribal member, you wouldn't have to pay" He calls her but she doesn't answer. After about 30 minutes as I was eating some jerky and drinking some water that was generously given to me she calls back.

"Hey Alice" He talks some business with her first and then, the important stuff "Hey remember those students from Alaska you hosted a while back, would you be interested in doing it again?" Because she was on the phone so many things ran across my mind of what she could possibly say "Well I have this guy Omar Fahmy who is travelling across the country and wanting to stay the week here," "...Yeah he is here now...he is from Egypt...can you teach her to belly dance? (laughs)...he says you need to get your stomach muscles ready...(more laughs from all)...yeah...ok" And then he hung up.
"So Omar she said she would ask her husband and let me know. I know she will say yes though"

I waited for another half hour until an older Apache woman came in. Tao was her councilman from her district and told her about my story and if she was interested in hosting me. She offered Motel 6 by the casino saying it was $40/night. When she left Tao asked me about what I thought.

"Sometimes people don't really understand travel. Even I didn't until recently. Travel to me has become about learning about others which in turn teaches me about myself. If I were to stay at a motel how would I learn about the day to day activities of the Apache people, their culture and language. Through travel I have come to the conclusion that people are the same everywhere, except for the minor cultural differences which I am interested about"

10 minutes later Jameson who was sitting across from Patrick says that he spoke to Alice. She awaited me at 8PM. Since it was only 4 Tao suggested that Patrick show me around, then take me there. I thanked Tao so much, he gave me his number and told me if I needed anything to call. Me Patrick, and Jameson left in Patrick's white Chevy Equinox. Our first stop would be Patrick's real office at Game and Fish where he suggested I change and take a shower. I did and so many questions I had. Jameson did most of the talking. I could tell he was a respected man who knew lots about the Apache culture.

At Patrick's office we had some introductory but deep conversations. It started with the Apache creation story. (I want the reader to understand that this story was told me and I'm telling you this story which makes it already 2 degrees inaccurate so please if I make mistakes, it is my fault)

Apaches believe that God, Eucen, created the world. His son, Nayet Nazyiana was the slayer of monsters who killed off all the wicked animals of the earth. Eucen also created the first Apache, St Iglesia, or the White Painted Lady. She was told to gather water at a river and there she was struck by lightning four times and that was how life began. What really fascinated me about this story was the secret combo of lightning and water. In the 1950s an experiment was done by Miller/Urey which indeed theorized that when a small electric charge, representing lightning on pre-life earth was introduced to a water medium with inorganic compounds, the inorganic compounds formed into large organic compounds including the building blocks of DNA and certain amino acids. The Apaches knew this before science was even science. I also learned about the Gann, the 'angels' of the Apaches. Each represented an animal, the most important being the bear. They were human bodies with no faces in elaborate costumes and crowns.

Jameson and Patrick then took me to a place called the Holy Grail where some of the holiest ceremonies took place. There was a cactus at each of the four corners of the place. In the middle was a clearing with one tree in the center. Next to the tree, was an area with four 'crosses' that were painted black (symbolizing the universe and the beginning of time), yellow (representing the sun), blue (water), and white (wisdom and old age). The four colors were on each cross but each cross had a different segment painted a different color. You had to enter the area with the crosses from the east and great the sun and before exiting greet and leave back from the east. I couldn't take pictures of this holy place but I'll tell you that I no doubt felt an amazing energy there.

Patrick then invited me to have a hearty buffet meal at the casino and man did I stuff myself. He opened up to me a little and let me in on a little secret.

"You know, I have to tell you when you left for the bathroom at the tribal council, we joked that 'what if there was a bomb in his bag?"
"Haha, we let me tell you that as soon as I walked out I assumed just that. 'man they are probably gonna think I left a bomb in my bag'. But in all honesty I have never had any explosives training"
"We were joking, we just didn't know you and you are Egyptian"
"Man its all good, believe me at times I come to expect people to think this and say things like this. Don't think you are the first. Let me tell you something. When I intended to come into your reservation I wanted to know more about it so I asked people. The first was the librarian at Duncan. She strongly recommended I not go through at night because the Indians were 'crazy' and people have been kidnapped and shot there..."
"...That story she said probably didn't mention that, that missing white guy was part of a drug deal gone wrong. There were problems with the investigation because he was missing on our land and they didn't know whose jurisdiction it was"
"Exactly man, its a misunderstanding and ignorance. Its always more complicated than what people think. There is a reason. But anyway the woman at the Chamber of Commerce also told me basically the the people on the reservation are a bunch of crazy drunks. Did you think I thought that was true? No. Its just ignorance. Do you really think all my people are terrorists? Or even most? Even the ones that are, are terrorists for a deeper reason than what we know or think we know. All of us are pinned with a certain stereotype because of ignorance. Every race, even white people. People are the same everywhere, believe me. My people are no more terrorists than yours are drunk savages"

It was funny that even the Native Americans who themselves were called terrorists defending their land were now returning that deed upon me. It made me realize again that people are truly the same everywhere and it was the bullshit media that spread mistrust among us.

We left the casino and Patrick took me to my host family. When I walked in I met Robert, a much older man sitting across from a giant flat screen TV watching the MTV VMAs. I couldn't but laugh in my mind about the irony. Robert was a Choctaw and Alice an Apache. They let me stay in a trailer fit for kings this week. I have so much to learn, so many people to meet. I love the Apaches who have been so kind and hospitable to me.