MACHU PICCHU PERU 2017 - 3 - QUECHUA AND SPANISH BLEND IN QUSQO

Altitude sickness has been getting the better of me for the last 12 hours in Cuzco. I  cannot believe I have to walk slowly even in and around town! After a few hours of exploration, resting on a bench in the middle of the Plaza de Arma, in old town Cuzco, I find my energy regenerated. From where I sit, I can take in a panoramic view of the entire plaza. The entire plaza is clearly from the Spanish colonial time since they destroyed everything they could of Inca origin and built their own temples and cathedrals in the process of forced Catholicism on Inca people.

On a cloudy day The Cathedral and The Temple of Qusqo

Between the two cathedrals, the smaller buildings lining the entire plaza on all four sides lean against one another and look down on the plaza with their dainty second-floor decks.  Most of these buildings house restaurants and cafes and thus, each deck accommodates 1-3 tables for two. I have an eye on one of these decks to have lunch before I leave, which will materialize at Limo restaurant on my last day with the help of dear Maria, the constant day time receptionist at the hotel that I will return to for my last day in Cuzco.

The Spanish feel of La Plaza de Arma

The first floors of these buildings on the other hand is a continuum of wooden columns connected to one another by arches, that make it look very European-old town, hence my sense of de ja vu… Since the Cathedral is the colonial symbol of Cusco, I definitely would like to visit it. I get up and climb the stairs to the cathedral. Peruvians clearly made very good use of their religious structures, colonial, or Inca in origin. The entrance fee to every structure is at European/American rates. I wonder if they have a different fee scale for Peruvians as is the case in Turkey for citizens.

Another view of the La Plaza de Arma

The cathedral was built on the foundation of the Inca temple Kiswarkancha, which was the palace of Inca Viracocha. I learn that, in Quechua, Inca is both the title of the emperor and the name of the empire. The cathedral was built in the shape of a Latin cross and the work force consisted of Inca descent Quechuas. Most of the stones used in the building of the cathedral came from Saqsaywaman, a holy and defensive Inca structure located on the hills above Cusco, which I will visit at the end of the week. The construction lasted 95 years and was completed in the second half of 1600s.

Inca emperor has conquered Qusqo one more time in our modern era...

It is a beautiful structure with Gothic-Renaissance style. I will learn later on that the carved head of a jaguar/puma that is part of the cathedral doors is a trick the Incas played on the Spanish: Incorporating one of the three sacred animals in Inca belief into Spaniards’ catholic church! Just like, the serfs of the medieval era incorporating whatever they wanted into the hidden corners of the walls of Notre Dame. The cathedral is home to an enormous collection of the Christian art both in paintings, some 400 of those and sculpture. I always thought that a sculpture of a black Christ was another trick brown skinned Incas played against catholic Spanish. However, later on I will learn that the sculpture was made of wood not of bronze in the first place and had turned black only because of the candles lit at its feet for many decades not because the sculptors meant it to be black! Whatever the intention was, after the 1650 earthquake when this sculpture was part of the procession in town, it became known as El Negrito and locals adore him as such since then. He is quite different than the Christo La Blanca sculpture overlooking Cusco from the highest nearby hill, no matter what. As I approach the exit, I find another quiet spot away from the crowds and meditate for a bit before I get out to fresh air.

The Cathedral with all her grandeur!

After seeing these two religious sites, I don’t have much desire to see yet another one, although the Temple of Companieros of Jesus built by Jesuit priests is at right angle with the cathedral right across from where I stand rising majestically with its two domineering towers. The temple was also built on the remains of another Inca palace built for Inca Huayna Capac. Reportedly, this palace was the most beautiful of all Inca palaces, alas none of it is available to us except for certain artifacts perhaps, “thanks” to blood- and gold-thirsty Spaniards. The only preservation that occurred is the fact that Spanish kept the foundation of the palaces seeing how durable they were. They built their churches upon the Inca foundations and used some of the stones of what they destroyed nearby in the construction of their new buildings.

The Inca foundation of the Accllahuasi that was preserved by Spaniards to build on top...

The foundation stones are so very huge in all the buildings I visit, I suspect, moving them was nearly impossible, hence, they decided to keep them to simply make their own job easier. Thanks to this utilitarianism, there are beautiful examples of impeccable Inca masonry in Qusqo scattered here and there. The oldest such surviving wall in Cusco is that of the Accllahuasi on Loretto Street around the corner from the Temple, which is in Quechua “The house of chosen maids”. The reference here is for the most beautiful virgins brought to Cusco to serve the religious and political elite of the Inca empire.

The house of virgins: Santa Catalina Monastery

Our Quarry Trail guide will tell us since being chosen for even human sacrifice let alone to serve the Inca and his elite was considered a matter of martyrdom and honor, there was no resistance to any of this. My mind just doesn’t buy it, simply for the fact that no society can be purely homogenous to that extent. I also would love to ask him whether any Inca emperor or preist ever had chosen their own sons and daughters as human sacrifice material ever... I bet, even there the poor and lower class boys and girls were sacrificed, but I know better than speaking my mind having experienced resistance to intellectual debate of this sort with our guides, already.

This incredible Inca structure would cast all around shadow at noon!

My silent thoughts follow this line, though: How can one believe that in any society, under any religious rule, every single member of the society would show the same dedication to the mandates of the dominating social norms? Had that been possible, would we have had all the conflicts inherent to all societies, which actually is the driving force behind progress? If today’s societies are as heterogeneous as they all are within national boundaries, why do we expect that the Inca society was purely homogenous?

Mummified sacrificed female child

Isn’t it reasonable to expect that, surely some of the chosen beauties would have resisted to be raped by the elite? Isn’t it reasonable to understand that some of the boy and girl virgins chosen for human sacrifice would have fought for their lives instead of feeling proud of being thrown off a cliff to calm down the anger or hunger of whatever deity the majority believed in at the time? But these questions will prove to be impossible to discuss with our guides in couple of days with their campaign on what an impeccable society Incas had built. It will almost feel like “If only Spaniards had not destroyed Inca culture, the world would have been a better place” and who knows perhaps it might have been…

Archbishop's Palace enjoys the timeless sturdiness of an Inca foundation

The most impressive wall is on the Hatunrumiyoc Street to the left of the cathedral. This is a lovely cobble-stone street lined with small restaurants and authentic souvenir shops. As I climb up the street, to the right is the Archbishop’s palace. The foundation of the palace rising up to 2 m from the street and the upper walls are totally at odds with one another. The Inca wall consisting of interlocked stones with no mortar between them is a piece of art indeed and invention of utmost engineering of a timeless time. Apparently this wall and its right angle adjacent fellow wall are also the foundation of another Inca Palace, that of the Inca Roca.

The infamous, commercialized 12-angle stone of Archbishop's Palace's foundation

One of the larger stones on this wall has 12 angles, in front of which many visitors have a photo taken! I will read later on that at Machu Picchu, there are stones with 30-40 angles, unfortunately, this information comes after I have left Machu Picchu. I can’t imagine, how intensely a stone with three dimensional 30-40 angles must be carved. Our tour guides will tell us that there was no slavery in Inca empire. All this work was voluntary for a few years. After everybody did their share with intense work, they would get land, a house and start a family and do whatever they wanted. When I read more about the empire, I indeed find out that Inca empire’s political-economy structure was a combination of socialism and monarchy.

Inca Museum has incredible collections from all excavated sites including artifacts of Inca lifestyle

The experts state Incas probably created an empire like many others. Its leaders were monarchs and had to deal with the distractions of the power struggles among the nobility and civil war, hence not everybody was happy and devoted. The masses were definitely put to work as slaves and laborers to build the dramatic works in urban settings and incredible agricultural structures in the rural.

Jaguar/puma carved onto a religious site door

It was most remarkable that despite the level of civilization, this empire had achieved so much without ever spending a dime since food was their coin; pure labor structured their economy and their agricultural surplus helped them with their expansive empire-building. One source off the internet verifies what our tour guides claim and lightens my heart: “What's remarkable is that evidence suggests those slaves and laborers were probably well fed.” I read on another site that when they chose certain children for human sacrifice, they fed them well, before the sacrifice they had a feast for them, and they even had them meet the Inca, the emperor! The purpose of this was to make sure the best and most well-fed to be sacrificed to control the earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and floods, which they believed were all controlled by the Gods. I want to give it to Incas that their rulers were a bit more humane than the Roman empire, Egyptians, and the like, but I don't know if their motive was being humane or something else…

Qusqo fromSaqsaywaman

 

MACHU PICCHU PERU 2017 - 2 - FEAR AND BEYOND...

After the phenomenal breakfast of my first morning in Cusco, Peru, I grab a map from the pleasant receptionist Maria at Awki’s Dream Hotel and head toward La Plaza de Arma in the center of old town. The first test of adjusting to Cusco is right around the corner. The Calle Recoleta is a one way street. The left side of the street has a 25 cm (yes it is correct not even one foot) wide sidewalk, the right side has a 50 cm one! One can picture right away that all pedestrian traffic chooses the “wide” side of the sidewalk. We all adjust quickly, when cars are 10 m away, we are on the street walking as fast as we can or would like: as soon as a car gets into 5-10 m of people, we get back on the sidewalk, single file, sometimes creating a jam! Every single doorway is used as a second lane for pedestrian traffic. Since each of those doorways is actually entrance to a store, we sometimes find ourselves in a store trying to accommodate other fellow pedestrians. No wonder there is no personal space concept in these parts of the world, just like in Turkey!

Calle Recoleta around the corner from my hotel in Qusqo: notice how narrow the sidewalks are. 

Half way before turning left onto Calle Ruinas toward the plaza, the sidewalk widens to some 1.5 m for about a few meters! Wow, such spaciousness.. Everything is so relative in life… I smile to myself, feeling as much at peace with myself and my surroundings as the 20-30 y/o young people, who are full of curiosity and sense of exploration in the process of finding their true selves. I hope I never lose my curiosity and being open to new experiences and new ways of life, until my last breath. As I get closer to the plaza, Calle Ruinas becomes Santa Catalina Ancha and it widens into an avenue; the sidewalks are now at world standard, and the doorways open to colonial courtyards that are gentrified to house fancy hotels, luxury restaurants, travel agencies, etc. Santa Catalina Ancha comes to a T with Calle Santa Catalina Angosta, where Santa Catalina Monastery rises with all its grandeur.

Santa Catalina Ancha, the main artery leading to La Plaza de Arma

I would like to visit at least a few of these since I find Christian temples as well as Buddhist ones suitable to meditating everywhere I go. I quickly discover this may be difficult here in Cusco since whatever religious building I visit, the crowds are immense. The site of the Santa Catalina monastery was called in Inca times, the Acllawasi (House of the Chosen). Apparently, the most beautiful women of the empire were recruited to this place as devotees of their father sun (and his representative emperor the Inca!) and others in the service of the Inca nobility.

Santa Catalina Monastery courtyard

These women also engaged in textile work and the culinary arts. The Inca nobility obviously had good understanding of how to take care of themselves under the disguise of being the god on earth representing the father sun! Ruling class never fails to use religion to control the ruled and have them voluntarily obey their rulers. Inca empire must be no exception. I wonder if our tour guides will ever realize this, or even if they do, are their business interests in the glorification of Inca culture going to allow them to articulate this to themselves and let alone others?

Beautiful flowers in the courtyard of Santa Catalina Monastery

When Spanish invaded Peru and the Andean region they built The Monastery of St. Catalina in 1601 in the city of Arequipa, initially with the financial support of a rich widow, Maria de Guzman. However, devastating natural disasters in Arequipa led to the transfer of the monastery to Cusco. The first 25 professed nuns reportedly came to the monastery in 1605. Apparently, the tradition was such that, the monastery accepted only women from upper class Spanish families! How sweet a contractual relationship between the church and the rich! Each family paid around 2,400 silver coins (~ $150,000 today) for their daughter to become a member of the monastery. When all the wealthy were enriching the monastery with the riches each daughter brought along with her, I wonder what the church was doing for them in return!

Part of Qusqo from the monastery's lower levels

At its height, the monastery housed about 150 nuns and 300 servants (just like I will hear later on the trip that on Inca trail, 200 hikers are served by 300 porters, which will make me somewhat happy that I couldn’t get on the Inca trail). I tour the claustrophobic convent relatively quickly: Every time I come to a monastery I feel much pain for those men and women, who live with the idea that they are devoting themselves and their lives to their beloved God when their God’s fake representatives on earth get into all kinds of interest-based relationships with the rulers of their society. Even today, apparently there are 20 nuns living on the monastery grounds. I wonder to what extent this hypocrisy is ongoing. May their life be filled with ease and peace. I do find a relatively quieter spot and meditate for 10 minutes before I leave, sending compassionate thoughts to people like the 20 women under this roof across millennia.

La Plaza de Arma, the heart of Qusqo from one angle

Santa Catalina Angosta takes me to the plaza and all of a sudden I have a de ja vu feeling as if I am in Sevilla, Spain in one of its squares. This square with the first glimpse is definitely a Spanish colonial place with a utilitarian and artistic modern touch: The center of the square is a green park with lots of benches to sit, rest, and people watch: As I sit down to do exactly that, I feel slight shortness of breath with just 1 km of walking around. “Wow, how am I going to climb up to those mountains tomorrow?” As I rest, my palpitation and breathing calm down. “Stay in the moment Resmiye, just observe what is happening with your body, no need to fear…” All conflicts and problems that are difficult to solve arise from fear, says Inka priests of the old according to “Andean Awakening” that my friend Nancy lent me before my trip to Peru.

Without conquering fear it would be impossible to reach such wild beauty...

I have been thinking about fear for some time: How it paralyzes us, how it steals the moment from us, sometimes the day, a week, or even a life… How in its grip, we end up living with the anxiety of what the future may hold. I think of dear Bill, how he would tell me “When there is an issue triggering fear, I think of the worst outcome and come to peace with it. Once I can accept the worst outcome, there is no need for fear.” I am trying to focus my mindfulness on fear of little and big things nowadays. Rather than trying to fix the fear-provoking issue right away or avoid it altogether how to look at fear in the face and fully grasp it before it can dissipate and let me go, or I let it go. This trip will test how far I have come on this experimentation…

This is the Plaza de Arma where Andean women descend from their villages to sell their textile, jewelry, and fruits

As soon as I sit down on the bench, an Andean woman approaches me with her panel of jewelry. I buy a Pachamama necklace from her. Pachamama is the “mother earth” concept in Andean culture. Apparently, there was a time, Father Sun Inti worried that his children on earth were suffering with the grip of lack of knowledge and lack of resources. He sent his son Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo (Pachamama) to earth as a couple to teach and guide the children of the sun in the Andean region so that they could be more productive and happy. This duality of gods emerged out of Lake Titicaca in the south of Peru. Andean Awakening gives many good examples on how Titicaca region has lots of evidence of how legends ruled the Inca culture. Pachamama and Manco Capac according to these legends moved up toward the Cusco area and Cusco then became the center of the Inca empire.

Pachamama necklace that my daughter fell in love with

I do a bit of internet search of course to see all sides of this argument. Scientific anthropology resources certainly discuss political economy perspectives related to multiple variations of these legends. Unfortunately, I will soon discover that our trekking guides would hear none of this since even on simple questions they will claim “How would westerners know what the Inca culture was about, they weren’t there.” Although, I find especially our main guide’s chauvinistic approach to Inca culture a bit blind-sighted, I will be respectful enough not to confront him except for couple of reasonable questions, even those will irritate him.

Andean women dress up to be able to have their pictures taken with tourists for a fee

Remote parts of the Andean mountains still practice the religious, healing, and celebratory practices of the Inca time. Although, Spaniards did pure cleansing in catholicizing even the most remote regions of the Andean territory, the natives did not fully submit, instead, they injected Inca influences into Catholicism, left and right!!!  Just like one finds Shamanistic elements in the practice of Islam in certain parts of Turkey. Jesus Christ for instance in this region is also known as the “Lord of the Earthquakes” giving a shamanistic role to the good old Jewish/Christian Christ!

Despacho preparation and dedication to Pachamama is still an important ceremony in the Andean region

Even integrating Virgin Mary and Pachamama: The Inca Pachamama apparently was a gift-thirsty easily-angered earth deity that generated the “despacho” tradition: When people desired something, they prepared a textile full of special gifts including llma fetus, guinea pig, wine, and other objects. Special ceremonies were held during the creation of the despacho (all attendants added something to it) and the attendants either buried or burned it to satisfy the Pachamama. After Christianity on the other hand, Pachamama acquired a more benevolent, loving, caring character just like Virgin Mary. How all religions are intermingled, yet how viciously they have been trying to destroy one another for millennia now. Hard to wrap a sound mind around this conflict…

A vendor allowed to sell his goods at the entrance to a B&B is also babysitting for his toddler, who sits quietly in the lower half of the vending cart, watching his/her dad's customers...

 

MACHU PICCHU PERU 2017 - 1 - ALTITUDE SICKNESS!

After extensive encounter with colleagues, residents, medical students, hospital administrators, and other critical leaders in Bogota area that have the potential to affect the future of the child protection field in Colombia, I am ready to shift gears and prepare for my adventure in Peru, Machu Picchu at that.  For some reason, I had it in my mind that Cuzco must be a small town at the entry to Machu Picchu. You can tell how much time I had, to dedicate to learning about the place I was to visit before the trip. Unusual for me, but, I am compassionate to myself, I had the most abrasive year of my academic career this past year. Because of that I couldn’t get admission to the Inca Trail hike: You have to sign up for it a year ahead of your trip! That is what academic life is like. I can’t wait to retire…

Cuzco/Cusco/Qusqo, a sprawling metropolis in South-central Peru

Seeing, from the plane, the vastness of the lit city stretching her arms and legs and hair in all directions one can see, I am stunned and embarrassed with how little I prepared myself for this trip. This is a metropolis, not a small town! My heart will break, though, when I step on the soil of the city, seeing how desolate certain parts are, and other than the old town polished to the taste of tourists’ eyes, the city is not much different than the cities of Guatemala or the parts of Tijuana close to the border of the US.

Through the tower of the Cathedral, Qusqo sprawling up the hills

The name of the city has multiple spellings: Cusco, Qusqu, Qosqo, all synonyms, the latter two being the representation of the Inca pronunciation in still-alive and widely used local Quechua language. The meaning of the name of the city in Quechua is “the center of the earth”. It is located in southeastern Peru, near the Urubamba Valley of the Andes. It is at 3,400 m (11,200 ft) above sea level and my Peruvian neighbor on the plane tells me that Cusco has half a million population, one university, and two hospitals, one of which is not functioning: Quite a decline from being the capital of the Inca Empire for 300 years (13th to 16th-centuries). I will feel happier to learn later that Cusco is a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, otherwise the treasures of this place and region could have been destroyed much faster than they already are as I will discover more and more over the next week. Looking at the crowds everywhere I go, overwhelming majority of which is tourists, it is very clear that millions of people must be visiting this place every year: Internet claims nearly 2 million visitors a year for Machu Picchu, almost all of which must go through Cuzco.

Urubamba Valley is lined with such steep hills and mountains all along

The airport is similar to Cedar Rapids airport, one of the smallest in the USA. I can quickly start observing that this is a resource-poor country. Is it because of priorities or because of truly not having many resources or because of unfair distribution that cripples all countries of the world; to be discovered gradually, if five days in this area can shed enough light onto this question… As I am looking for a taxi to my hotel, somebody takes me to the booth of “Black taxi” service. The fee is S/ 40: Soles is differentiated from USD with this sign, which is quite confusing for me at times since the slash sign may easily appear as 1 in front of the following number.

Urubamba Valley like a snake from the top of Machu Picchu

This misunderstanding will sometimes make me gasp and move away from something I am considering to buy, or feel pleasantly surprised when I am ready to pay the price and discover that I end up paying 10 or 100 soles less!!! I take the taxi and quickly discover that in addition to Colombia and Turkey, Peru is also a place, I wouldn’t consider driving a car. In both South American countries, drivers are extremely impulsive just like their Turkish peers, honking the horn constantly as a language used to communicate with other drivers:

Notice the rear 1/3 of the bus: Hanging in the air over the river in Agua Caliente

I can hear “Be careful, I am approaching”, “Hey how dare you go ahead of me”, “My gosh where did you appear from, “F… you” all spoken only via the honk-the-horn language!!! I haven’t heard one single “Thanks buddy” in all this honking! Driving in good old Turkey is back in my memory, vividly. I don’t think, I can live in a place where all senses are constantly stimulated, and most with not such good stimulants… One more time I realize through my trip to Colombia and Peru that I need a tranquil, peaceful, stress-free (as much as possible), friendly place to live in for the rest of my life while experimenting in other cultures through my travels to appreciate what they have and what I have back home simultaneously.

Cathedral and the Temple in the same shot in Qusqo in the Plaza de Arma!

In Cusco, most of the streets are very narrow and, especially in old town, one way; close to La Plaza de Arma, the streets are either totally or partially closed to motor vehicle traffic, fabulous! My hotel Akwi’s Dream is a humble but beautiful small hotel on Collacalle (or Qolla Calle): I discover soon that with indigenous rights being more recognized, Peruvians have started using the Inca “spelling” of names more often, too, although Incas did not have an alphabet. The hotel clearly occupies an old colonial home, its courtyard turned into the lobby with a huge chandelier hanging from the fourth floor to the first lighting the entire courtyard and hotel corridors day and night.

Narrow streets of Qusqo can accommodate only one-way traffic

I will occupy three different rooms in four days in this hotel, each as comfortable as the other. Just as in Colombia, there is no heating in buildings here in Cusco, either. However, in some rooms, they have mobile radiators, which I greatly appreciate as well as the down comforters, pillows, and heavy woolen blankets, which come very handy on cold nights. Across the street is the wall of the Cusco beer factory the entire length of a long block, perhaps half a km. It must be the famous corn beer chicha; tasted it once, it is not bad, like many light beers that I tried. Nothing unique or too special.

A Peruvian woman pouring chicha their saliva-fermented corn-beer!

I have two nights at this hotel at the beginning and two more nights at the end of my trekking to Machu Picchu. I am pleased to have two full days in Cusco so that I can explore this town as much as enjoying the nature and history of the region. The receptionists do not speak much English just like those in Colombia, I like it, it helps me use my Spanish more and more fluently. They are also as friendly as their Colombiano and Colombiana peers. Spanish is somewhat of a sexist language. The pronouns and adjectives are conjugated on the basis of the gender of the noun they are associated with. What has always concerned me is the fact that when using third plural pronoun and there are both males and females in the group referred to, they use the masculine pronoun.

At the entrance of Machu Picchu: I don't know, yet, what a phenomenal place this is.

I always asked myself “I wonder how Latina feminists take this.” I found the answer during this last trip to Colombia: My friend Miguel addressed the audience during the opening ceremony with “Amigos y Amigas” although solely “Amigos” would have covered both males and females. Learning from him, I started separating genders even in singular form when I refer to multi-gender populations. Smart and easy fix by smart and gender-sensitive Colombians.  

Ollantaytambe, Urubamba Valley, and the sever mountains rising from the valley that is already at 3000 m altitude

The main worry I have is related to altitude sickness. I have never spent one week at an altitude of 3300-4500 meters in my life. I will find myself very unprepared when I hear during the trekking that my young friends had gone to their doctors and received medical advice and prescription for altitude sickness! And I am a doctor! This reminds me of the saying in Turkish “The tailor cannot fix the tear on her clothing”. However, the other two doctors on our group are also not using and meds, is it our collective desire to try to stay away from meds as much as possible, knowing that each medicine is a double edged sword?

My daughter will remind me how swollen my face is at the peak of the hike to 4500 m on Quarry Trail

My first dinner in Cuzco is light, just fruits: These tropical and subtropical countries are so rich in the amount and variety of fruits, I could almost live on fruits here or in Colombia. Papayas, granadias, pomegranates, guanabana, bananas of different varieties, sweet plantain, passion fruit, on and on and on… I go to bed early and wake up early, alas with a headache. Good thing, I have a full day to check myself regarding altitude sickness.

Banana pancake with honey was one of the best food I had in Qusqo

The breakfast at the hotel is a feast. My most favorite is banana pancake: Somebody tells me it is made with corn flour and mashed bananas. Eaten with honey, it is to die for. I have to find a recipe for it when I go back home and make it for a weekend breakfast and surprise my friends and family. I devour 3-4 of them (each is a small potato size). Of the four types of jam they have on display, my most favorite is the elderberry jam: The fruit is caper size and black. It is delicious! Of course in these parts of the world, you get a variety of fresh fruit juices all day long. At Awki’s Dream, we have at least four kinds every breakfast.

Our friendly tour guide carried a bag of coca leaves in his bag at all times to give out as a gift to those who helped us along the way

When I go to the tea/coffee bar, I notice that tea bags are arranged in a basket in the periphery and the central space left is filled with coca. Thus it is up to you whether you will make your own pure coca leaf tea or chew them raw, or both, all options are available. My friend Isabel in Bogota told me that coca leaves strengthen the heart muscle, thus, more O2 is pumped into your brain to explain the mechanism of coca leaves preventing or treating altitude sickness.

No wonder the two coca leaves I chewed didn't do anything to me!

Hmm, this (over)stimulating the heart idea is not very appealing. I also recall my friend Mark, who had visited Bolivia some years ago telling me “The people here chew coca leaves to deal with altitude sickness. I don’t know if it really helps with the illness, or on coca, people are so high that they don’t care about what is going on”, which had made me laugh so hard at the time. I take my usual Anis tea, but drop one coca leaf into it for only a few minutes fearing I may get high! Nothing of the sort Mark had mentioned happens. For now, I will stay away from coca and see how things go.

Coca tea, at every breakfast, herbal tea bags circle around a pile of coca leaves at our hotel

 

BOGOTA COLOMBIA 2017 - 3 - COLOMBIAN PEOPLE AGAIN

In the following days, we spend most of our didactic and hands-on training time at the top Colombian public university’s affiliated private hospital. I learn about how the child protection team functions at Misericordia Hospital; Miguel does a fantastic job, what he has learned in his fellowship clearly shines through his practice, I am proud of my friend. The hospital is impressively clean. The one case he assesses in my presence makes me appreciate one more time how common family problems are all around the world when it comes to child neglect; single parenthood, poverty, living in the fringes of the society, chaotic child care although people do their best using whatever resources they have…

The poor in the USA

When I meet with the director of a high level governmental agency next week and hear him say “Where is the world going, all countries are in a destructive path…” I will recognize that I was thinking of similar thoughts perhaps from a little bit of a positive-doer perspective: “What can we people do to set boundaries for the rulers of our countries so that they understand they cannot go unchecked like this when masses of people suffer with under-resourcing and lack of ability to become the best that they can?”



The poor in Colombia

The last evening, after doing a presentation at a private university hospital, Miguel and Catalina have a surprise for me. They take me to a part of Bogota, which used to be an independent town some 30 years ago, named Usaquen. With Bogota’s expansion to the size of the metropole it is now, Usaquen was engulfed by Bogota creating an oasis on the east side of Bogota. It is very clear that this is an old, funky, adorable town. Artists of all sorts with their products line the streets that we walk along, some in their small shops, some in carved out spots within the lovely authentic “mall” that is also a meeting place for many people.  Some artists simply spread a canvas on the streets and sell jewelry, textiles, ceramics, and more. I can’t help but buy a variety of jewelry made of silver, brass, and semi-precious stones to give as gifts to my friends, my daughter and perhaps to myself!

Usaquen Artists' Market

Jairo has become an essential figure in my trip to Bogota this time. He is an elegant, respectful, and warm middle ages Colombian man, who could never learn my name and kept calling me “Professora”. He has next to no English, and I had to use and improve my Spanish to communicate with him since he clearly was such a sweet man.  He is unforgiving with seat belts, actually doesn’t start the engine until he hears all the clicks! I learn from Isabel, though that when he first started working at AFECTO, she had to tell him “I am the boss here and you have to use your seat belt” when he was resisting to put on his seat belt! 

Eating an ant was fun, it didn't kill me, either!

He can’t believe I ate an ant with my meal the other night. We have some good laughs over the ant experimentation. He doesn’t hesitate to come pick me up at 4:30 instead of 5 am to make sure I make my flight to the US at the end of my stay. He is shy and loses eye contact when I give him a tip, let alone when I give him a hug at the very end. But I still can tell, I have a friend in Jairo in Bogota in addition to all my professional friends. When one gets to age 58, one can tell what is genuine love and what is attitude out of demands of social etiquette…. After my return from Peru, my hostess will be Isabel Cuadros, who is a force of nature with all the hats she wears very successfully. As expected, Isabel brings together some 200 people from all over Colombia, physicians, nurses, social workers, police force, prosecutors, university faculty, institute of legal medicine faculty, and more… All fields that are essential to build a national child abuse management and prevention program. The program is fluid, the audience’s needs determine how we modify the program in the moment just as Miguel and I did.

Lunch with Isabel, Julio and other colleagues eating monster size red snappers!

But the motivation and inspiration are tangible in the air with all the discussions we had with contributions from many critical individuals that can play a major role in changing how “business” is done in this field in Colombia. Isabel is a Spaniard by ancestry, Julio is originally from Venezuela. He is the brilliant engineer behind Isabel so that she can pull off all the projects she does and it looks like a relationship can flourish very successfully and lovingly even when partners work together day in day out.

Colleagues from Cali, Colombia, whom I will likely see next summer on my next Fulbright adventure

Another cultural observation I make is that Colombians are very warm to their partners, too. I hear all the women I meet addressing their partners and their kids with “Mi amore”, which is much rarer in American culture let alone Turkish culture. Colombian people are good and loving people all in all… Haven’t met any drug lords and their hit-men of course in this protected environment, but those I have met, I feel connected to immensely…I can’t wait till I come back to Colombia on a 4-week Fulbright scholarship to do more in depth training, both didactic and hands-on in not only Bogota but also in Medellin and Cali in the summer of 2018. 

My Colombian colleagues and I are all optimists and see opportunities in any inconceivable circumstances

 

BOGOTA COLOMBIA 2017 - 2 - ANTHROPOLOGIC EXPERIMENTATION WITH FRIED ANTS

Colombia is so much like Turkey in many ways, perhaps more so like Turkey of about 25 years ago. Its people’s warmth, need for no personal space, respect and comfort with others, expressivity, hospitality, appreciativeness, and more. At the end of all our work as I say good bye to everybody, who has helped me in one way or another, one of the AFECTO staff, a beautiful Mestiza responds to my “Muchas gracias por todos” with an “I love you!” and she means it, I can tell from her eyes. Colombians along with Portuguese are my most favorite people within all countries I had the chance to visit so far…

Misericordia Hospital where Miguel works is as modern as any hospital in the west.

I am so hoping that all the meetings, lectures, seminars, and get-togethers Miguel arranged with staff at his hospital and other university hospitals, we may work together and move the medical field to lead the efforts on establishing hospital based child protection programs/centers. I trust he will be successful since I met so many people, who are interested in engaging in such efforts.

Miguel and Catalina have arranged a social program for me in addition to the educational activities. The first evening they take me to another colonial building, where one of their most favorite restaurants is located. I see “roasted neck of lamb” on the menu. The English menu states “ants” at the end of the description but Catalina is sure it is an error since the Spanish menu doesn’t mention ants. Reassured I order it. We are deep into conversation: One more thing I love about this couple is they are both extremely intelligent and intellectual. Every time I get together with them, we always find some deep philosophical topics to brain storm on. This is one of those evenings.

Delicious roasted neck of lamb, Colombian style

At some point, I notice a change of expression on Catalina’s face as if an end-of-the-world type of something is about to happen. I turn to my left where Catalina’s gaze is fixed. The waiter has our food on his arms and is slowly moving my plate to the table. Forgetting for a moment Catalina’s horrified face, I look down at my plate with excitement. It looks delicious... But, wait a minute what is that? Oh my gosh, there are vertically standing, almost in a dancing posture, black carpenter ants inserted into my delicious looking “neck of lamb”. I bet the horror on Catalina’s face has moved onto mine now. The English menu was right after all, to warn us Gringos!

Resmiye the Anthropologist devouring a piece of meat topped with an ant: I find out it is crisply fried and tastes like potato chip.

Miguel starts telling us that eating these ants is a delicacy in parts of Colombia and he wouldn’t mind exchanging dishes. No, I want my “neck of lamb”, not so much the ants, but deep inside of me, a benevolent voice tells me “Resmiye, if other people eat this and don’t die, why can’t you? Can you wear your anthropologist hat?” With Catalina’s eyes growing double their size, I reach one of the lovely ants dancing on top of the meat, and put it in my mouth. Catalina is disgusted, Miguel is beside himself in his roaring approving laughter. The ant tastes like potato chip, apparently it is fried. I don’t really taste anything to make it delicacy and offer the rest of the five fellow ants to Miguel, who devours them in one breath under Catalina’s “eyew” emanating looks.  Of course before removing the ants from my meat, we take lots of pictures, with the ants on top of the dish, with me eating the one ant and more. I text my plate to my family in Turkey, to some friends in the US and my daughter. My brother texts me back with “You’ve done it, can’t eat anything all day now!” My daughter, being the larger than life anthropologist she is, sends me kudos…

A family in Colombia looking for ants to fry

Later on during the week, I will learn from one of the colleagues I meet that when she was a child, her father would pay the kids to get these particular ants that would come out only during a certain season. They would remove the heads of the ants and fry them in bulk. I learn, too that if eaten in large amounts, these ants are poisonous! Google tells me that these ants are called Hormigas Culonas, which translates to ‘Ants With A Large Arse’. My ants didn’t have that large an ass really. They are  only available in the Santander region and can be collected only 1 or 2 days out of the year, thus the rarity and the relatively high price tag (1 kg = 50-60000 COP= $15). No wonder, my friend’s father would send all the kids to get as many of them as possible.

AFECTO organizes a national conference on child abuse prevention every year in Bogota

The second evening in Bogota, Miguel and Catalina very graciously invite me to their house for dinner along with Isabel Cuadros and her lovely husband Julio. Isabel is a veteran psychiatrist, who wears multiple hats: She is the founding director of AFECTO, which is the major child abuse prevention and education agency in Colombia; they have been organizing a national child abuse conference bringing together all interested professionals from all over Colombia and instructors from the USA and other countries. 

Dr. Quadros is the central pole of child abuse prevention work in Colombia

Pretty much everybody that has done anything on child abuse has gone through the “schooling” of AFECTO. She is a relentless advocate on child abuse prevention not only in Colombia, but also all over South America. She is a liaison between professionals working on child abuse and governmental agencies. She is pretty much the international face of Colombia in the field of child abuse prevention. I hope, she helps younger colleagues to develop her competencies so that there are more people like her to fill in her shoes, when she chooses to move to her farm in the countryside for the next chapter of her life.

Best cooks of Colombia, Miguel and Catalina

Dear Catalina prepared lovely dishes for us with lots of vegetables and non-meat elements. I love her soup, in fact both in Colombia and Peru, my favorite dishes will invariably be the variety of soups from potato soup to quinoa soup to corn soup and various combinations of all. We learn more about their youngest son’s trip to Canada. I personally congratulate them for feeling comfortable enough to send their 11 y/o son abroad on a school trip by himself. We all believe he will grow and learn enormously. Miguel and Catalina have a lady who helps them around the house every day, Enes, whom I had met in 2014. Not this time. Although our incomes are at quite variance between the US and Colombia, what our earnings can afford seems to be to Catalina’s benefit. My house is much smaller than theirs and I could never afford hiring a full time maid to work for me! Go figure…

A dinner gathering at Miguel and Catalina's house in 2014