sábado, 25 de junio de 2011

historia




Y hoy recibimos una lección de historia, historia de la de verdad pues si es cierto que los vencedores son los que escriben la historia, no siempre es cierta esa que escriben

En el colegio, desde niños, se nos enseñó a ver a los incas como indefensos frente a los españoles, esos entes extraños que vinieron a usurpar todo eso que los demás tenían. Y siguiendo esa historia, tendemos a olvidar lo sangrientos que fueron esos mismos incas con la otras culturas pre-hispánicas, los asedios, los escudos humanos, etc. Ellos también usurpando todo eso que no tenían. Hoy caminamos por las sendas de los Chachapoyas, aquella cultura que nunca se rindió ante los incas....

Hoy, caminando por Kuelap quiero citar al historiador moche sentado al lado mio:
"¿hablas del Filipillo? ¿curaca traidor?
bah, eso dicen los historiadores cuzqueños..."

jueves, 23 de junio de 2011

la Laguna

and Leon talking of the collective and random, not the ndividual and pre-meditated...

0700 quick breakfast, last minute packing
0735 nothing
0745 nothing yet
at 0800 the knock at my door tells me the horses have dissapeared
Not the best way but thts how this 3-dy long journey begins. 0930 and the horses have reappeared, and afer getting one mall bottle of cañazo for the cold, we get on the way.
Ahead of us lay 10 hours. 10 hours of mountain & forest to meet that back lake i´ve read so much abut. La Laguna de los Condores that keeps many a myth. Walking a bit, riding a bit, running a little bit more, all to stay warm, one pass, one other hill, all and all till we get there, and the desired lake, once at view, seems even more mystic than imagined....

The followig morning: coffee, tea, jam, bread, butter, a 2 hour stroll, some trout fishing and the so awaited for splash in the dark waters arrives. Dark pristine freezing waters...

And the following, a no less amazing new view: the way back, only 9 hours now with the gallop ;)


gracias Mardin por la trucha :)

lunes, 20 de junio de 2011

Cumbe


years ago while planning my first visit to Cajamarca, I read somewhere of the possibility of camping up town from Cajamarca, next to the Frailones. I took the chance as a why not. Today marks my third time coming to Cajamarca, third time sleeping next to Cumbemayo:
Walking up there and spending one night under the Cajamrca stars, in the crazy chance that the night of the thousand fireflies will happen again....
make it pass the frailones and the aqueducts and find a nice niche for the tent: next to a stream, some flat ground, a bit of shelter from the wind, enough . Somebody whom to share your meal with and can´t get any better. Too bad for the cold, I hadnt planned for the Cajamarca winter. We reached below 0s last night. Tough morning with frozen muscles, but nothing Baños del Inca can´t warm up... eeeeeeee





this time i have to thank la señito del mercado por sus super deliciosos tallarines verdes ;)

sábado, 11 de junio de 2011

Q´eswachaka

A trip I´ve long too long to do...
Q´eswachaka. The festival of the reconstruction of the Inka bridge over the Apurimac River.

It takes a litlle bit over a day of traveling: a regional bus, a local bus, another bus, and finally a combi that agrees to pick me up do the trick. And with all these help, I can make it a day earlier to the site. I say the site because I didnt know what I would find and it turns out there was nothing much to be found...
Its awfully quiet.  The walk down to the river basin lets me enjoy the panorama. Just green and brown, no houses around. Just the ones where the combi dropped us off at the end of the road and then the 5 lonesome ones by the basin. It's their smoke that lets me know there is some life in the area, other than, that there is nothing: no sound at all.Almost a deadlike feeling to the place. There is a small hotel that is being constructed. Its getting dark so the guard lets me sleep in one of the areas where the floor is almost finished, no roof though...
.... 8pm makes dark,  and then 7 makes light. Bright and early the sun arrives, and with it, a non-stop march of people coming to reconstruct the bridge. I figured out later that noone lives here as the 5 communities this bridge serves are atop the mountains sorrounding it. Descending from the 4 corners, I figure them coming from the 4 suyos to build history again.
On his back each comunero (who has walks of up to 4 hours to get here) brings 40mt of hay braided rope. Hay.  They will use it to make the new bridge. A bit of that together we are stronger feeling....

Day one. First: roll call, we take all these braided ropes and put them together to make some thicker ones, and then these together to make some even thicker. Thick and strong enough to stand the weight and the weather....

Incesantly pulling all day: the ropes have to be tight, otherwise they will lose their strenght. So we pulled and pulled and pulled....

and if day one was a lot of pulling, day two awaits with its fair share as well. But first some distractions are in order, We now have to make the ropes cross the abiss created by the river. (Mainly) older and (definitely) drunk men stand on one side of the abyss, near the edge, and start throwing smaller ropes that will be then used to carry the thicher ones we had braided the day prior. Not an easy task though. It´s about 40mts from edge to edge and given the condition of the "throwers" is borderline impossible. But this is vital part of the festival as well: all around me, people start chattering, picking favourites, even betting on some, discussing the best strategy to be used, etc. It´s a party and they enjoy every minute they can of it. Finally the rope gets across and the thick ropes get carried through. It´s time now to cut down the old bridge :)

Back to pulling again ;)
the ropes must be tense to withstand the weight...400 kgs they will take, just about a man, his llama and his coca ;)
tiring, borderline exhausting but seeing the bridge take shape is more than a reward
and then the third day, truly eye candy, the braiding of the bridge.
The " engineer" comes in, and, in full attire, start walking up and down the rope and the braiding and finishing of the bridge begins. Itll be about 6 hours and 3 pays to the Pachamama (that translates to about 6 bottles of wine, 3 barrels of chicha and plenty beer) before he can finish. The way he moves across the unfinished bridge is astonishing. Like a true magician.

The engineer and his helper braid away skillfully and gracefully for the rest of the afternoon with people celebrating on both sides of the bridge. 5pm comes and, with them finishing, its time for me to go, but I can go with a joyfull though:
Q´eswachaka. Connecting people without technology :D

sorry for the lack of pics, they used no technology whatsoever to build the bridge, so I didnt use mine either, meaning no camera ;)
but i did do a drawing :))



viernes, 10 de junio de 2011

dwelling...

on a rather unthought comment I said last night, I despised tourist guides. Not true of course, but going back as to why i had said it, I now dwell....
I dont hate them, certainly, but do consider them harmful, since they can rob us of a chance. the World, and everything in it: places, costumes and culture, lays right in front of us, waiting to be discovered, all we need to do is pay the right price, and in this case, money is the cheap way out, it´s just too easy, it is but a shortcut that robs us of the joy of the discovery, the understanding and the integrating. This time we need hard currency: our time, our dedication, our love.

Yesterday, i will try this with people as well....