COVER STORY

A TICK ON MY BUCKET LIST

We spent an incredible day at Machu Picchu, a UNESCO world heritage site in Cusco, Peru, writes Dr Vicki Bismilla. Image credit: KARSON on Unsplash.

As settlers, we have moved to and made our homes in colonized western countries. How should we feel about what made these lands what they are today?

By DR VICKI BISMILLA

For those of us who have been fortunate enough to have found a career path by God’s grace that has given us the good fortune to be able to retire with modest comfort, not a day goes by that we forget to give thanks.

Each such person pursues their retirement in their own way. In our case, we allow ourselves one or two trips a year to learn about cultures that we want to know more about – our bucket list.

Most recently that quest took us to Peru, primarily to visit the incredible Machu Picchu but also to look at other aspects of their culture and cities like Lima and Cusco.

The people are friendly, kind and welcoming and we enjoyed interacting with them, exploring, buying daily water from local shops, etc. Walking is laboured because of breathing difficulties due to the altitude but that did not deter us from being awestruck by the beauty of the place. We were surrounded and embraced on all sides by the beautiful, mighty Andes wherever we went.

On one of our bus excursions, we were taken to a weaving centre to watch artisans do some intricate work with alpaca wool to make the most beautifully soft sweaters, scarves, hats and other garments. Their creations were softer than any other wool product that I’ve touched. The colourful and intricate Inca patterns make them very distinguishably Peruvian. This company that we travelled with allowed us only hand-luggage (no check-in luggage) and this was a good deterrent for us. Otherwise, we would have been tempted to buy so many of the beautiful wool pieces. They had some alpaca onsite that they allowed us to feed grass to.

Other crafts that we admired on our walks through villages and craft shops were of course lovely little Peruvian wool Llama toys; very bright and vibrant coloured, figurative oil paintings; large wooden carvings of indigenous Gods; gorgeous pottery pieces and ceramics painted brightly and expertly; intricately crafted silver jewellery; large, tall hats that villagers wore daily that had bright, lush, cotton-embroidered ribbons wound colourfully around them; brightly and thickly hand embroidered with flowers, voluminous, ankle-length skirts that the women wore; as well as eponymous Peruvian ponchos woven with geometric patterns and designs. All of these were very beautiful and very tempting, and we would have come back with excess baggage had we not exercised self-restraint!

The people are friendly, kind and welcoming and we enjoyed interacting with them. Dr Vicki Bismilla with her husband Yusuf.

As a vegetarian, I was so impressed to see that almost everywhere we went the restaurants were very accommodating. I had taken a screenshot from a translation app saying, “No meat, fish, poultry, cheese or meat-fat,” with the Spanish translation under it that read, “sin carne, pescado, aves, queso, no grasa carnica”. And every server understood, went to the chef and came back saying “ningun problema” or “okay, no problem”. So, I ate lovely veggie fried rice with tofu; veggie loaded linguine; grilled veg sandwiches; and the most delicious veggie loaded pizzas with no cheese! I eat cheese at home because I know which cheese to buy that has no animal rennet. But when travelling I find it’s safer to eat no cheese. And there was one restaurant that had a whole page of vegan options!

We spent an incredible day at Machu Picchu, a UNESCO world heritage site in Cusco, Peru. The village is gorgeous, and the bus drove us several kms to nearly the top of the mountain. Then we climbed by foot the last one kilometre up and one kilometre down. Up was murder and down was treacherous! Thank goodness my husband Yusuf had the good sense to take for us each, a retractable walking stick (with rubber tip to protect surfaces we walked on). The steps were made from boulders and rocks, so each step was a challenge. What a great bucket list experience!

In addition to this, superb Inca stone structure and present-day village life, Peru has a rich tapestry of culture left by the Spanish colonizers. The cathedrals, citadels, churches and ancient libraries filled with incredible religious books from as far back as the 14th century are, of course, admired. But these are blots left by people who came into the country and forcibly suppressed indigenous cultures and religions and replaced them with their own fortresses and religion. And we know that this forcible destruction of people and their way of life has occurred repeatedly in this world from India to the Caribbean, from Australia to Africa, around the world and it is still happening today.

Is this right? Is this wrong? Should we be concerned? Should we be indifferent?

The British Raj made servants of Indians in India and Columbus slaughtered the aboriginal people of the Americas. Those are all historical facts written at the time or researched and chronicled.

And when we look at what those colonizers did to the indigenous people of the countries they colonized we feel pain. Indeed, the colonizers were not the “civilized” taking over the lands of the “uncivilized”. They were the brutal occupiers of rich and intelligent cultures.

Take Machu Picchu, for instance. These incredible stone structures were built in the 14th century on top of a mountain by unsurpassed Inca agricultural experts, scientists, astronomers and builders to preserve grains and store them in those stone rooms. The astronomers amongst them were able to read the patterns of the sun to pinpoint the exact locations for the best storage of seeds and plants. The scientists among them were able to modify wild and poisonous fruits and vegetables like wild potatoes and tomatoes through meticulous research into edible staple food crops.

These incredible stone structures were built in the 14th century on top of a mountain by unsurpassed Inca agricultural experts, scientists, astronomers and builders to preserve grains and store them in those stone rooms.

Between the 11th and 14th centuries AD the Inca built magnificent temples and structures celebrating their tribes. When the Spanish invaders came in the 16th century AD, many died eating wild plants not knowing they were poisonous while the indigenous ate the versions that were modified to be edible.

So, not savages but intelligent indigenous people!

The Spaniards systematically proceeded to overpower the tribes and destroy their buildings and monuments. There is a very large Inca temple, the Korincancha Temple in Cusco, that the Spaniards tried to destroy but couldn’t. The Inca had built it using huge interlocking rocks melded together by special masonry and bitumen without the use of mortar. When the Spaniards couldn’t destroy these temple walls, they built their Catholic church around it with the walls of their new, ornate arches and towers covered in gold-framed Catholic paintings. They tried to plaster over the Inca rock walls but the plaster kept falling out revealing the intact rock walls engineered to perfection. Those walls are seen today by visitors to the church.

The Spaniards did not destroy Machu Picchu because they had no idea that it was there! Built on the high mountain peak in the 14th century, the whole structure had become covered by forest and foliage by the time the invaders came in the 16th century, and it just looked like an insurmountable mountain to the invaders. It was brought to international attention in the early 1900s by Hiram Bingham, a Yale university professor.

We know that our ancestors in India were brutalized by colonizers, killed in the thousands, that precious minerals were looted, gems, rubies, sapphires stolen and taken to western museums and royalty crowns. We know that the indigenous First Nations in the Americas suffered the same fate at the hands of their brutal colonizers, some of whom are still celebrated.

But here is the dichotomy – as settlers we have moved to and settled into colonized western countries and adapted to the lifestyles. How should we feel about what made these modern lands what they are today?

I asked one of our guides how people feel about the Inca civilization being colonized and their temples destroyed.

His answer was very revealing. He said, “Look, between the 16th century when the invaders arrived, to the 21st century now, our people have merged and fused. We are a fusion of indigenous and Spanish people; we are the Peruvian people and 80 per cent of Peruvians today are Catholic.”

Thank goodness for retractable walking sticks!

I don’t know of other colonized people in the world who can say they are fused people between invaders and colonized.

PS: If you are planning a trip to the splendid Machu Picchu, may I suggest that you talk to your doctor about taking along some prescription altitude sickness medication.

Those in our group who took the medication seemed to not feel the altitude as acutely as others.

Or, if you are averse to medications, then ask your doctor about the wisdom of taking along some small packets of electrolytes (powder) that you can mix into your drinking water bottles and drink lots of water.

A mother and daughter in our group drank this mix all the time and seemed to do well.

Machu Picchu and Cusco are at 3400 metres (11000 feet) above sea level. The air is rarified, and breathing is difficult. You feel tired and weak limbed (jelly-knees) not only making the difficult climb up the mountain but even on the everyday walking tours of Cusco’s old, cobbled laneways between their cathedrals, churches and museums. And those of you who would want to venture even higher up to 5000m (17000 feet) to the Rainbow Mountain, make sure you are energetic and fit!

Many athletic hikers in our group made that trip and loved it. We didn’t go there at our age and fitness level!