Sunday 22nd April

The return to Vegas was much anticipated for me as there was so much to see and do there that I did not have time for it all in the previous week, I could not wait to be back amongst the bright lights and the novelty of outdoor escalators, to hear music being played in the streets and see fountains dancing. The drive back went via the lowest and hottest place in the entire United States of America, Death Valley, a place so hot and dry that I had to wear sunglasses and a cap inside the van to prevent headaches from the sun. It was remarkable that anybody would choose to work in such a hostile environment but they did as there were shops, a gas station and even a hotel! What was more astonishing was that Native American people, the Timbisha Shoshone used to live in the area (and still do) and in days before cars and air conditioning so their strength and ability to survive was remarkable to us, although to them simple because the Timbisha Shoshone felt a deep connection between the land and themselves. They found ways around the challenges that Death Valley posed as one website dedicated to the desert describes, "Traditional brush homes made perfect desert dwellings, allowing breezes to filter in through the arrowweed walls. Men hunted jacjrabbits and bighorn sheep, using arrows tipped with stone points. Women wove baskets so intricately coiled they could hold water." 

References: 

http://mojavedesert.net/timbisha-shoshone/