Love & Light and everything bright...

FROM CUSCO, PERU

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Visit to Senor de Huanca, Pisaq, Birthday

URUBAMBA, Peru, June 3 - Today is my birthday.  I have only told one person in our group about that because her wedding anniversary is also today.  But I swore her firs to secrecy.  I don't want any fuss, especially as we are trying to build up the sense of the collective rather than the individual.

So you can imagine my surprise when Corelli, a young hotel staff member of about 15 (who tried to help me with my computer problems yesterday), met me at the door of the lobby with a big smile on her face.  She said, “¡Feliz cumpleaños!”, or something like that, and then gave me a big hug.   

“How did you know?” I asked.  Then before she could answer my question, I remembered.  My passport!  All foreigners have to register at the hotel with their passport.  Still, she had to have been very clever to have put it all together. 

“Quite a smart girl,” I thought.  I also asked her to keep quiet about it.

After breakfast, we headed toward Senor de Huance, an important Inca "uaca" (sacred site) now also a Catholic church in the foothills of Pachatusan Mtn.  On our way, we stopped at the Urubamba market to buy some supplies.  It was a bustling place, as you can see...

The day before, I forgot my glasses at the internet cafe from which I had sent you my "SOS" message about going "underground."  So I used the chance to buy a new pair at the market.  While I was looking for the glasses, I passed some open air butcher stalls that may raise a few eyebrows in our western world.  They reminded me of similar places in Greece, for example.  Only cleaner.  Unlike in Greece, there were no flies or wasps on this meat, as far as I could tell anyway.  Don't you love this "tricycle" cab in the rightmost shot?  They are quite popular in Peru, just as the "rikshas" are in India.

And then we were off to Senor de Huanca.  Along the way, I took a picture of Pachatusan, the mountain which the Incas believed was the Axis of the World (left).  At the monastery parking lot, it was interesting to observe the friendly greetings between the shamans (paqos) who traveled with us and the Catholic priest.  Don Sebastian, for example, is one of the most famous Inca Pampamesayoks (middle right).  There was even a book written about him and his work.  Yet here he was, humbly receiving a blessing from the priest. 

I also noticed that the priest did not ask for a blessing from Don Sebastian.  "Wonder who blesses the priests?" I remember thinking.  "Their banker?" 

It was also fascinating to watch people drive up to the church parking lot and ask the priest to bless their cars (right).

As was the case with many Spanish churches, the Senor de Huanca monastery (above) was built on top of an Inca uaca (sacred place).  The church officials allowed a tiny 4"x6" window at the very back of the church where the faithful can view and touch the original holy rock.  You can see Don Juan, Don Sebastian's son, praying with his mesa at that site (left).  You can also see yours truly at that location after I had done the same with my mesa.

The two right shots above show what I called last year the "Spanish steps," like the famous site in Rome.

After that, my nose had taken me to another 'uaca' outside the monastery walls.  The rock sure has great views even if it is diminished in status compared to the original uaca under the church.

Not far from there, I came across an ancient cemetery.  Locked.  So I just took some pictures from the outside.  The gorgeous views from this site were evidently reserved for the souls of the departed church dignitaries.

After that, we spent some time inside the church praying and meditating. 

Then we climbed up to the foothills of Pachatusan, where we did a despacho and offered kallpai to each other (offerings of love and vision in the form of three coca leaves - a "kintu").  At the end, the mountain had gifted me this sunflower which I held up in gratitude as I took that shot.

We had lunch ad the Dona Clorinda restaurant on the Urubamba river. 

The restaurant was fairly large, with indoor and outdoor seating for groups of various sizes. Since it was my birthday and we had no other way of communicating, I called Elizabeth from the restaurant and we had a nice chat.

It was late afternoon and the shadows were lengthening by the time we made it to Pisaq, a beautiful ancient Inca site that demonstrates their incredible engineering skills.  The terraces they had cut into the mountains were used for growing all sorts of crops.  There was also an ancient uaca there that mirrored the mountain ridges around it (right).

You can also see that with the above stone (left). Then as we climbed down to the Temple of the Visionary, something extraordinary struck me.  Jose Luis, the leader of our expedition, and I had been talking about the similarities between the Hawaiian and Inca cultures. And there I was, staring into another one.

When I build my uaca in Hawaii, I had told Charley, my native Hawaiian contractor, that I was being guided to do it as a triangle (right).  After we were finished, Charley told me that all Hawaiian sacred sites are built as triangles, pointing to the various volcanoes or the sea, just as mine was.  Except that I had not known that before I told him what to do.

And here I was, on my birthday, standing on the ridge above the Temple of the Visionary in Pisaq, Peru, and looking at another triangular holy site (middle two shots). I told Jose Luis about another similarity I had just discovered.

After Jose Luis talked about the history of the place, we took some pictures around the Sun's Hitching Post.

Then we went to an acoustic chamber similar to the one I discovered last year at Machu Picchu, and produced a cacophony of choral sounds.  I overheard one tourist derisively saying, "they are ready for the loony house."  Each to his own...

And now, I invite you to listen to some sounds at this extraordinary place...

  At the Temple of the Visionary, Pisaq, Part 1 (6/3/09) - The Altomesayok Journey - Bob Djurdjevic  (22 secs)

  At the Temple of the Visionary, Pisaq, Part 2, (6/3/09) - The Altomesayok Journey - Bob Djurdjevic (3:24 mins)

Our descent into Pisaq was steep, long and dark, as the sun was about to set.  Little did we know that this little hike would seem like a piece of cake compared to what was yet to come in the mountains.

As we rested and waited for others to reassemble in the Pisaq town center, I fooled around with some Inca merchants.  One of them, put this king's crown on me (right), hoping vainly that I would buy it.  

We had dinner that night at our hotel as usual.  Just as the desert was about to be served, someone dimmed the lights and Jose Luis walked in carrying a big cake with a lighted candle.  “Somebody is having a birthday today,” he said.

I looked around, pretending to be curious about who that might be. 

“It’s somebody who is a world-famous writer,” Jose Luis added as he placed the cake in front of me.  Then they all sang the birthday song...

¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a ......!
¡Feliz cumpleaños a tí!

…some in Spanish, some in English. 

After I blew out the candle, I had them cut the cake professionally so that everybody would get a piece of it.  Many of my shaman friends came over to congratulate me. One of them said, “thank you for having a birthday so we can have a cake as a nice dessert.”  The deserts the hotel normally served weren’t so hot.

I asked Jose Luis’ assistant Judy how they found out since I never told anyone.  She confirmed it was from my passport.

But that was not the end.  Don Francisco, one of the three Pampamesayoks (Inca shamans), got up and started to play for me a Quechua birthday song on his flute (right).  All of the hotel staff sang it, too.  One of our Inca guides, a woman called Liliana, asked me to dance with her to that tune a typical Quechua dance.   I improvised to the tune and the rhythm of the music, and everybody clapped and had fun.

I later told them about that other Inca dancer in Cusco who hooked me with her candy cane stick into dancing with her in the parade.

Perhaps the sweetest thing happened at the end of the evening.  I was already in my room, getting ready for bed when someone knocked on the door.

"This is a gift from Angelica for your birthday," the visitor said, handing me a beautiful stone carving of a condor.

"Who is Angelica?"

"The woman who runs the little store in the lobby."

Prior to that moment, I had not set my eyes on Angelica nor bought anything from her.  Receiving such a generous birthday gift from a stranger was a very special sign.  In the morning, I made a point of looking her up and thanking her for it profusely.  She also spoke good English.  So I learned that she had been steeped in shamanic tradition and was very spiritual herself. 

I have since initiated that condor carving as a new kulla in my mesa.  It is a part of the Air/East/Hanaqpacha grouping.  It symbolizes Vision.  And the mountain spirits have since blessed it and anchored it to my lineage in the Andes.  Thank you, Angelica!

And that's all she wrote from my birthday in the Sacred Valley.  Tomorrow, we head to the mountains...

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