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...