So much has happened in this past week, I don’t know where to start or what to write about. We went to Rainbow Mountain, Planetarium Cusco, the Pisaq ruins, Chincherro, Urubamba, Moray, Maras, Tambomachay, and Puka Pukara.
I think my experience at Planetarium Cusco will always stick with me. not that any of these other experiences were any less memorable. There was a day when I realized there were once so many unique maps of the stars out there, but now they’re all gone. That was a devastating moment. We’ll never truly know how all the different peoples of the world saw the stars. What images did they see? Or maybe they didn’t see images at all, but something else we can’t even fathom? Why did they see those images? What stories did they have to tell? The only complete (is it complete?) map of the constellations we have now is the map made by the Europeans. It’s the only map I’m even remotely acquainted with, though I can really only identify the Big Dipper on sight. So the presentation at the beginning of the planetarium experience about Inca astronomy was super exciting for me. We know the Pleiades but not the Qollqas. We know Scorpius but not the serpent (I wish I wrote down the Quechua name). Also, it’s just always nice to be reminded that we’re all made of stardust.
Another moment that will stick with me is playing with two children named Angelo and Mikaela (I’m unsure of the spelling) when we visited a Centro Textil in Chincherro. Angelo was determined to teach Emily and I how to play with a zumbayllu (yes! the toy that Arguedas describes!). We were both terrible at it, but Angelo refused to give up on us! Nobody has ever believed in me the way Angelo did! When it was time for us to leave, Angelo gifted Emily and I each a zumbayllu. It was such a sweet gesture and I wish I had more words to thank Angelo with. I have never felt the limitations of a language barrier more than in that moment. I am so incredibly humbled and honoured and in awe of the kindness that people, especially children, hold within them.
In visiting so many ruins, it’s always jarring how we’re allowed to traipse all over these places where people once lived and learned and loved. They’re no longer there to welcome us in or prevent us from entering. Would they have wanted this? Standing on the terraces, I’m struck by their enormity. What a feat it must have been to construct them, and what abundance they must have once produced for their communities. It makes me wonder what physical legacies we will leave behind for people to marvel at 500 years in the future. Will our skyscrapers remain standing? Will our subway tunnels resist collapse? Or will our current cities be taken apart to build new and improved “ideal” cities?
5 replies on “A busy week”
Hi Cissy, your writing is so openly curious as well as sensitive and empathetic. I really resonate with your discomfort with facing the losses of knowledge that colonialism has brought, and fear that we are not disrespecting the the knowledge that is still visible. Your story with the children is so moving, I don’t know what to say when it speaks for itself.
xoxo
“Will our skyscrapers remain standing? Will our subway tunnels resist collapse?” I love these questions, which of course I can’t answer… but maybe together we can start to do so. I have a story to tell: when the Aztecs arrived in the Anáhuac Valley (now Mexico) they saw the ruins of another indigenous civilization that they knew nothing about. The city had been abandoned around 500 CE, and the Aztecs or Mexicas arrived around 1200 CE. Neither the Aztecs nor we know what the names of those who lived in that city were called, to which the Aztecs gave the name Teotihuacán, which means “birthplace of the gods,” or “place where the gods were born,” since for only the gods could have built it. So the feeling you have is one that even other indigenous communities have had about others.
Hi Cissy! The planetarium was something that really resonated with me this week as well. I love the stars. The information session we had prior to going out and looking at the constellations was so incredibly insightful and really gave me a different perspective of the constellations I previously knew- both intellectually and physically!
Also in regards to your zumbayllu: love and gratitude will always surpass spoken language. I am positive Angelo knew how thankful you were to have shared that special moment together. <3
The Ioss of star maps makes me wonder about the vast diversity of celestial interpretations that have vanished over time. What did ancient cultures see in the stars, and what stories did they tell?
How will future generations understand our current knowledge and myths about the cosmos? As technology advances, will our interpretations of the stars evolve, or will we lose some of our own cultural star maps too? e
What a beautiful post…I especially love the sentence “We’ll never truly know how all the different peoples of the world saw the stars.” It made me think about how different the sky must have looked with less light pollution. How bright the stars must have seemed, how close they could have felt. I think about how feeling close to the bright stars in the sky can shape how we think about the world as well as our stories and beliefs etc…thank you for your post <3