Return to Mecca

The Salton Sea didn't smell of fish sauce at all like I thought it did the first time I got a whiff of it. None of the fish sauce breeze of my childhood which could instantly bring me back to Barrio Nostalgia. The Salton Sea did remind me of the Dead Sea. Not that I have been Dead Sea. I have only imagined the Dead Sea as described in the Holy Bible and the Glorious Koran. I associate the Salton Sea with the Dead Sea because of Mecca.

The blooming Palo Verde tree identified by Jill seem to welcome the returning glorious holy shithead pilgrim to  Mecca. A variety of the palo verde tree is Arizona's state tree, so does Wiki say.

Jill, the naturalist in the group,  identified the shrub as the honey mesquite. According to the texasbeyondhistory.net, the plant that produces edible fruits called legumes or pods was used in many different ways by Native Americans. It's nutritious pods were highly valued as an important food resource rich in sugars and protein. It's hard wood was used for making tools, musical instruments and fuel. The plant had medicinal and ritual uses as well. 

Bladderpod calflora which are endemic to California also thrive in the area. Animal scat also indicate wild animals roaming around. Bladder puddles are occasional and mostly man-made.

The return to Mecca keeps me thinking of "Hajj", the Islamic pilgrimage to the Mecca in the Gulf Region. The desert town was so named after a group returned from the Mideast Mecca where they went to study the date industry. Date palms are said to abound in the area, but I didn't recognize any. Initially, I thought the area was so named because of the Salton Sea. "Salt Sea" is one of the biblical names of the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea Scrolls which were believed to be the Old Testament manuscripts, came from a cave  with narrow passageways similar to the ones that we slittered on. 

"Slot Canyons: A Stunning Flood Formation", an article written by a John D. Morris, PhD for the Institute for Creation Research, attributes the formation of slot canyons to the times of Noah. Both the Holy Bible and the Glorious Koran have  narratives regarding the great flood. 

In the Holy Bible, the narrative about the great flood came  several chapters after God created the world in the book of Genesis. It must have a busy time for God: first the creation, then came the flood, all in one book!

Verse 74 of the Glorious Koran has something on slot canyons:

"For indeed, there are rocks from out which rivers gush, and indeed there are rocks that split asunder so that water flowerh from them."

The rocks that split asunder must have been due to the mofo earthquakes that happened as a result of Mother Nature getting  San Andreas Fault laid. Mother Nature  giving birth to Painted Canyon and Slot Canyon out of wedlock is such a tilltilating story I can not forego.

From the rocks that split asunder resulted to tunnels. If this was the real Mecca, I would have looked around for more of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The good thing at the end of the tunnel is the ladder.  This must be the stairway to heaven. It this was the real Mecca or somewhere near Mount Calvary, that ladder would have been handy for Jesus Christ to climb on when he rises from the dead. 

Che, Xing, Tim and I turn around. Jill waits at the open space.