peru: part 2

At the jam, I met Elaina. She works with what is called cultural affirmation. I also met some young kids who had accompanied her from a village where in their school, they were reviving their culture, traditional songs, dances, dresses and farming methods. The organisation which Elaina works with is the well known, PRATEK.

So when she told us about a particularly bad experience that some quechua people had at Machu Pichu, I decided not to visit the very famous touristy spot of Peru (plus it was appallingly expensive). But everyone else from the jam still wanted to go. That was still my second week in a strange country where people speak a language I never considered seriously and of trip that was about to get a little adventurous. I found no one to stay back with me at Cusco. So I ended up going. By the way, one of the many things I learnt on this trip was to expect the unexpected and never say no to doing something, coz u may just end up doing it.

Well, I of course had prejudices about the place, so I didn’t enjoy it too much. But I still don’t think that is it. All the talk about it being a very ‘spiritual place’, din work for me. I just couldn’t connect to it. It was extremely beautiful specially because we left early morning and found it covered with mist. I somehow felt more connected to the earth at Chinchero, the village where we were hosted for the jam than at this once sacred site for the quechuas. It probably still is, but tourism tore it apart. I shouldn’t whine, I was a tourist there too, and I think I carried that guilt mostly through Peru and Bolivia.

There were good times too, of course. I had fun with my newly made friends from the jam, whom I had accompanied to Machu Pichu. And I guess I had to see the place to decide I wouldn’t go again. So it was all for the good.