A Peruvian adventure into essence

So, some time ago, I went to Machu Picchu. It has always been on my bucket list along with Kathmandu in Nepal, Iceland, and Bermuda. Well, Kathmandu now has an asterisk after the recent flash floods in Nepal. Bermuda seems a less exotic choice, but like Cayman Islands, Turks, and BVI, I am always curious about the overseas territories still owned by colonial countries, but that exist in the Caribbean. The resultant mix of Caribbean and expats adds an interesting, distinctive flavour. For this travel occasion, though, I had a few adventurous friends who also wanted to see Peru and Machu Picchu, so we were on our way. Lima was the first stop where we first had a food tour. The next day we visited Paracas Islands where we saw seals, dolphins, sea lions, pelicans, and a host of other birds. We then went to Ica where there were sand dunes almost comparable to the Sahara Desert, but not of course so large. We drove on dune buggies and sand-surfed, aside from enjoying the view of being in the desert with sand dunes for miles. We then flew to Cusco and drove through the sacred valley to Ollantaytambo then onwards via train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. We did two tours of Machu. The higher one on day one and the lower circuit on day two. The higher tour allowed us to see the reason this site was chosen. The shorter mountain, the one often seen in photos, called Huayna Picchu, when looked at horizontally, was the shape of a person's face with the forehead, nose and mouth. So, it would seem to be a sign from the gods to set up a city here in the middle of the Andes. The city was encased on one end by the Huayna Picchu and at the other end with the actual higher Machu Picchu mountain. The city was vast and made up of an agricultural section, housing section, and various temples including the sun temple where they were able to measure time in months and years. On day two I sat for a while trying to absorb the vibes from the city and the ancient Inca people who lived there. I asked about myself, my family, and my country, Trinbago. Yes, I was in the middle of the Andes, on Machu Picchu, and thinking about this small twin-island country. The message that came back said the country must find its essence, its ethos, itself, in order to move on and grow. Sitting in the middle of all these mountains and old civilisations made a person feel small, but in a good way. The small stuff seemed less relevant. The challenge for life generally seems to be to balance the small and the big stuff at the same time. The Machu Picchu guide, Victor, reminded us of the duality of life with male-female, black and white, etc, but also the three-dimensional aspect of it with space and time interacting with this dimension. There was also the triad of puma, snake, condor. The puma represents the earthly world. It symbolises patience, strength, power. The snake represents the underworld and symbolises infinite wisdom and rebirth. The condor represents the celestial world and is the divine messenger connecting the heavens to the earth. The puma can also represent the physical; the snake, the cognitive and mental; and the condor, the spiritual. To be in balance, you must enrich all three. The guide also spoke about the circle. So, all three occur at the same time—the dual, the triad and the circle; the flow of life. After Machu Picchu, we took a train through the Andes mountains on to Cusco and the Palcoyo Rainbow Mountains with its ridiculous altitude. As we went higher, we felt nauseated, dizzy, and fuzzy. For me it was a gastrointestinal issue, while for the others it was the breathing with the thin air and lack of oxygen. But the mountains were so beautiful and breathtaking that it was all worthwhile. On the way back, I asked the guide, Yessica, what she thought Peru meant to the peoples. What was their narrative, their ethos? She said for them, the essence of Peru was its mixture. Not just of peoples from so many different ethnicities, not just the food from so many influences, but also the mixture of old and new, of ancient civilisations and modern. Maybe it was the altitude and the lack of oxygen, but it got me thinking. As Dr Jamelia Harris discussed in her article last Sunday, what was our narrative, essence, ethos as a people in Trinbago? Was it 'May every creed and race find an equal place'? Or was it something else, now? We may have come to a turning point where we need to find the new balance. We may have no choice but to partially listen and engage with the governments, no matter who's in power; but to have that balance, we have to also find our own path as a people, to grow and evolve, separately, unencumbered. What do you think is our ethos? E-mail me at rasgyul@gmail.com and I will publish a few of the best ones in subsequent articles. To know our next step, we must first find ourselves. To be the condor, we must first find the puma. • Joanne F Paul is an emergency medicine lecturer with The UWI.