it has been almost a month here in cusco and my heart has gone through an evolution... the city is becoming as familiar as the streets that you all walk everyday and the same people take up their places on corners and doorways with growing babies in bundles and the same goods they sell everyday.. and it still captures me.. My life has been too full to not feel priviledged and i do, and am, and i owe many thanks to so many of you who keep on writing, made sure everything fell into place, and make me feel part of your lives... it is good to hear the fires are starting to burn and the leaves turning and that the fall has been so beautiful at home... I have stretched all my boundaries and have just spent the four days two weekends ago on the jungle trip to Macchu Pichu and have treked miles by bike and foot in an adventure of endurance, stamina and mind games to get to the finish and see this unbelievable wonder.. sunday morning i arrived back from lake titikaka and this has been the most amazing yet for i was with a family, cooking, eating and laughing with a little one on my knee for some of the time there...i have some stories to tell you and for those of you who may not make this adventure, i have some movies to take you there.
anyway, this is a quick update.. my cold is better.. my spanish is coming along..i am used to walking and talking to taxi drivers... i now know that one week of clothes is not enough when you work with little kids crawling all over you.... i know i don´t like a diet of potatoes, rice or flat white bread, or inca cola...and that i can count on dinner being some version of all of the above..i have learned that i am tolerant of most things, people and children except when they are mean... and this i still have trouble dealing with even when the boys are just seven...i still believe that the universe is unfolding exactly as it should but wonder constantly if i can affect it and am puzzled at the mystery of it all... my nails are short and the creases around them are often filled with traces of tempera paint ..and my heart is the same.....and the news of today is that i have found a guitar...
it has been quite exciting to be in a brand new city and a bit scary on my own with no resources like a telephone or a friend to be the bit of backbone when i need it .. the maze of streets that flow up off of the main street avenito el sol still lead to places unknown and i am just beginning to explore them on my own.. i am backtracking now to the first weekend of travels..when the city was new and i still felt like a tourist..
In Cusco there is a tourist ticket that you can buy for 130. sols that will get you into 16 special places within a 10 day timeframe..the ticket has pictures of the places that you will be visiting which are punched upon entry... to get this you must show your passport and it is all very official.. this was the adventure that began with the thin, old, elvis tour operator that i met in Place des Armes.. who swept me in with his good english and fast hand on white paper... within a short time and the faith of the island nature, i arranged trips that covered the city and surrounding sites as well as a plan for the trip to Macchu Pichu.... fyi..if you are a student you pay 70 sols with a valid student card which is checked at every checkpoint. since i am not a very good tourist for long and cannot go from church to church to church... my sightseeing covered all the trips by bus with one church in town... with guides fairly fluent in english... i´m sure the condensed version of everything.. i got a good background of the incas and the details and meanings behind the symbols that are beginning to appear everywhere... the snake(the world below and past life),,,the puma(this world),,, the condor(the afterlife)...and the wonder of it all is the feeling here which truly is spiritual..and respectful of the sun, the mountains, the seasons... and their blessings...and the people truly show it..
the first day we visited an old temple which is just acrooss the street from the office of maximo nivel. we are four of us packed into the high backseat of a typical touring bus with the best view in the house on all sides.. the windows are open and the constant hummm of the engine keeps our aniticipation at a peak... we are on the verge of discovery and we have no idea of what... vendors raise hats and offers of water through the windows and we politely pass.
within the church perfectly formed walls, windows and doorframes of interlocking cut stones leaves no space for error ... the space between the rocks are virtually non existant and we are walked through temples of the rainbow, and sun and learn about the sacredness of the sun.. and the stars and the seasons that follow. the measurement of time lines up with windows and light and it is all carved into stones that tell the storyat one part of the year or the other. in the midst of all of this a woman trips over a large stone placed in the middle of the pathway and falls directly onto of a small child and the whole crowd shudders as he cries and the security walk them away from us..i am sick for this little one as the thud of his head hit the floor... his father's arms wrap around him like the paintings of history around this hallway to take away some hurt.....despite the beauty and symbolism in wall hangings, paintings, stonework and colour i am more worried about the child and captured by the people and their faces, than by the sacred place that i am in.
we leave the church for the bus .. on the steps vendors gather trying to catch my attention and lure me in .. i have a hard time politely saying no.. but i do... a mother on the walkway captures my heart ...she has necklaces to sell but i am not wanting them... she agrees to a picture and i enjoy her baby snuggled high and tightly on her back...our eyes are joyful in exchange and she tells me her baby has a cough ...i see the concern in her eyes and feel her worry..
from here we travel up the hill to a place called sacxywauman... it is a huge place of ruins with perfectly places rocks that pile into each other with precision and incredible thought...there again is the puma, a guinea pig.... and a gigantic stone that i stand in front of with outstretched hands to feel some special energy and warmth and i hope it works...there is time to wander and take the long walk to the top to view the city and Corpus Cristi , a gigantic scupture with outstretched hands who awaits a few hills away.. i begin to learn about stone walkways and how high the steps of stone are and the amount of breath one needs at 11,000 feet above sea level.. it is one week here and a little and going up hill is an effort.. at the top my eyes scan the beautifull city that will be my home for a little while.. the mountains in the distance have words cut into the landsacpe and the patchwork terraces continue on all sides...
we pile into the bus to move onto some other ancient sites in the mountains above cusco. we visit a market and for the first time try some gigantic corn straight from a pot. the old lady wraps it in the husk and hands it to me. the kernels are the size of my fingernails easily.... 3 sols.. today i am a tourist so i expect this... it is absolutely delicious... having had no vegetables for a week and the fact that it was heavily layered with salt, which i never eat, didn´t bother me one bit!
pictures will tell you more than words at this point... that patchwork quilt of brown that we saw in the first pictures of the city are here.. in the country... the bus storms through the tiny roads that wrap around the mountain, in sharp hairpin turns and roaring with effort to bring breathtaking views on every side... in places the road has disappeared into the land below and it appears to have no effect on the driver or the speed of this bus.. but it makes me inhale and hold my breath, as it does others.
at every stop vendors line the edges that fall deeply into mountain sides displaying their wares and coloured rugs and sweaters.. there is little difference between here and anywhere.. except maybe these people are poorer.. in one open air market that a family displayed their wares as well as their children in a corral with llamas , all bright and coloured like the blankets around them.. a sol here or there for a picture.. it seems a common way to make a living in peruvian costume.. the niños are happy to smile for the cameras.. we all take pictures.
the end of the day brought darkness and i walked long with my housemates to get to a place away into the mountain that revealed a sacred water spring which was professed to be the fountain of youth... we all drank the water and bustled back to the bus..it is cold as the sun is down and the night upon us. lunch has long passed and we are all hungry for dinner.. one more market and an amazing church with vermillion painted ceilings and paintings of saints... the cross above the market was worth the entire day..
the next day, sunday brings us a full shift of the Sacred Valley and Temple of the Sun.. the gift to the people.. year round green fields and bountiful harvests.. although Catholic, the people continue the age long traditions of offerings to bring forth bounty and goodness. At the Sacred Valley we walked high up the mountainside to the site of ancient ruins.. our guide told us that if we could do this we will be able to do Macchu Pichu.. good..
the walk is long and winding with sections of tiny stairs that take your breath away and make me hold the cliff beside.. astounding plateaus show the ledges that were beautifully crafted to hold the bounty of the lands and become a picture as well.. at the top i am free to wander alone and an old lone flutist plays the enchanting peruvian notes that beckon me to him.. he is worn and beautiful... wrinkled and full of stories i wish i knew.. he offers me a special stone for 50 sols which is supposed to bring good energy and i am tempted.. i rub it on my arms and say no gracias.. around me i can see the fertility of the lands everywhere... mountains and patchwork prosperity and hard work.. it is everywhere..
i walk back with the gia and make small talk .. i am from Canada... here for 3 months... it is all i know at this point..
back on the bus we go somewhere for lunch happily collecting bottle caps for Aldear.. i have not forgotten him ... the sun is hot on me and it is a mystery how to dress.. i understand that this is the end of the dry season and the wet season is coming which is hot with a two hour time frame of rain in midday..
we travel to the last place which is the temple of the sun and again wander up layers of terraces which sit on dark grey stone walls just like the stone that i have in my garden walls.. it reminds me of home and the work that made them.. they are tighter and old but the same thought and work has created the beauty that has passed through the ages there...
at the top the temple of the sun is depicted in large stones that line into each other.. i forget the whole story of this.. but below is a bull fighting ring which made a place in my memory.. round circular and still in use.. ...
the day is ending and it is getting dark. it is time to stop being a tourist .. the ride home takes me past all those patchwork quilt fields and sometimes there are people in their real lives tending sheep or working the fields with little ones taking up the rear... almost barefoot in sandals made of rubber tires..
have a wonderful night.missing you and sending all my love.. mom, me...
anyway this little special boy is my star helper and our job is to remove all the nails from the posts that surround the worn stone floor and partly finished brick wall that stands about a foot tall.. the sun is hot.. it beats on us.. our faces are brown and our hands are dirty. one by one , usually with Aldear perched on my knee he pulls the nails , bent flat against the post to hold non existant chicken wire.. determined, eager, with purpose he grabs the nails. ancient black plyers brace against the post,, twist, pull, tug .. his hands twist to figure it out... i show him over and over .. put it up and down, against the post, pull down... sometimes he gets it and after we have the whole side all done... just a few more posts Aldear.. no.. no .. no .. he is done.. so i go to my backpack and pull out some bottlecaps... coca cola, inca cola, beer caps... and
he is with us..
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