Can’t believe that this is my last experience blog but it is. It feels like we just landed in Lima a few days ago to start this trip. In the past 6 weeks we have experienced so much. It’s hard for me to believe I actually did everything I did and saw all the places on the itinerary. But my over stuffed bags always remind me every time I have to lift them because guess who went a little crazy with the shopping. Oops. Oh well, I have no regrets. I just need to get it all home now.

After these 6 weeks I wouldn’t claim that now I’m an expert on Indigeneity in the Andes, but now at the end I am even more confident in saying that Indigeneity is not an easily defined thing. There is so much diversity and difference and also similarities. But then again what race or culture or identity is easy to define? Humans and everything that comes with humanity is complex. We are not simple beings and are always changing. No one and nothing stays the same in this world.

Indigeneity, I think, is helpful to have as a term but it’s important to remember that it is an umbrella term, encompassing as very wide territory. What Indigeneity is, how is it practised, how it looks and how people identify varies on the person and their life experience. But who gets to decide what is Indigenous and what is not? People love their labels and clear cut definitions. But sometimes those just don’t exist, no matter how hard someone tries to make them.

At times I wonder at if what I was seeing and experiencing was “real” and “authentic” or was this just a performance for monetary gain. It is true that there is money to be made with Indigeneity. Tourists want to see the “real” Peru and to many the most real that it can get is anything and everything Indigenous. So what is for the tourists and what is cultural practise? Can it be both? Maybe. Probably. The way that the tourism industry is the lines are becoming more and more blurred. There is nothing wrong with indigenous people being part of the tourism industry but I do wonder if this will lead to culture becoming more performance than practise. These practises have lasted for hundreds of years. It would be a shame to lose them to the tourism industry.

Hugo Blanco is a very interesting character and he tells a detailed and often saddening story in We, The Indians. He has worked hard for a very long time to fight against the many abuses and injustices faced by the poor, believing that they must work together to achieve their common goal. However Hugo is not universally loved, but is a bit controversial and has acquired some enemies over the years. “I found out that I had been sentenced to death by the Government’s National Intelligence Service and also by the ultra-leftist group Shining Path, so I was forced to leave the country and go to Mexico to live with my partner and my two youngest children.” I found it interesting and a bit surprising that Hugo was being attacked by both the left and the right. The right obviously would not ever like him and would try to shut him up but I wouldn’t have thought that the left would also put a hit out on him.

This shows how within groups there are splits and different factions. In organizations and large groups there are always going to be different opinions and ideas and clashes. You can see this in groups like the indigenous. Indigenous is an umbrella term that covers a very large group but within this group there is a lot of variety in lives and experiences. They all are indigenous but that doesn’t mean they are all the same or that they face the same struggles or that their problems have the same solutions. You have to remember the individuals within the groups.

Activism, especially in Latin America, is very often dangerous. And it is not just an individual choice because loved ones are also at risk, like when Hugo’s life was threatened and he had to flee to Mexico with his family. Consequences affect the whole family the decision to fight back against the state. As a parent this must be such a difficult choice. Fight to try to give your children a better future but risk them having a future at all.  But if no one pushes back and fights for change things will always stay the same and living with the suffering and abuses Hugo describes in his testimonial is no way to live. That is just surviving and it is time for the poor and indigenous to be allowed to do more.

I knew that the Machu Picchu area was going to be very touristy but I was still a bit disappointed with just how touristy it was. This town was built for tourists and it shows. Up and down the street there were restaurants with people outside trying to get me to come in to eat an over priced meal with a promise of a free but tiny Pisco sour. The streets were awake until early in the morning, very unlike Pisac. I was strongly reminded of tourist spots like Whistler Village or Niagara Falls. There were times walking down the street where I could have thought that I was in the US somewhere. There were strong consumer tourist vibes around. It made me wonder about locals who lived there and what that was like for them. Were they being priced out of the area by chains and tourist companies? Where could they live in this area? Most things were priced much higher than they were elsewhere. In the craft market there was a silver snake ring that I really liked but the vender told me it was 110 soles which was crazy. She tried to convince me that it was a good price and brought it down a little but I remained unconvinced.

I was very happy to find places that were not tourist areas like the mercado where I could get lunch for 10 soles. When I explored a bit more I also found areas that were clearly made for locals. It was like a world change happened. I crossed the river and I was finding places that were looking more like real lived in areas, not flashy tourist stuff. There were big differences in areas with the structure depending on who the space was made for, tourist or local. I felt more comfortable in the non touristy parts as they felt more authentic to me. I liked walking around and seeing homes and little businesses and families sitting together. It felt more alive but you could also see how some places were not as cared for with metal roofs and old brick that had seen better days. There was much more garbage in a river on the locals’ side than the touristy side. It was interesting a bit sad. In one place there were nice restaurants and stores with hotels and bars for visitors to come and drink while in another there were old buildings with metal rods sticking out.

I found Making Machu Picchu very interesting because it was a side of Machu Picchu that I have never considered before. Machu Picchu is several  different things to different people. It is both the past and the present and will also be the future as long as people continue to work to preserve it. And I bet that tourism will keep this site going for a while yet, although it may be its downfall too.“Machu Picchu’s increased touristic prominence has led the site to acquire its most important contemporary role: it serves as a powerful symbol of Peru that directly links its national identity to an Andean and Inca past.”Indigeniety has literally been turned into a commodity with Machu Picchu being marketed as a connection with the indigenous past. The whole of Peru isn’t indigenous but with Machu Picchu being seen to represent all of Peru and as a link to as a Peruvian Andean Inca past, Peru can be seen as a very indigenous place by outsiders. But this form of Indigeniety is being embraced largely for economical reasons, as Rice discusses, so it makes me wonder how authentic this is. And does motivation matter for these things? Maybe, maybe not. You could make an argument for both sides so I am undecided. Is the pride now associated with an Inca, and therefore indigenous, past a shallow one based on monetary gains and fame from the success of Machu Picchu as a tourist site?

Today Machu Picchu has a very different identity than it did in the past. As our tour guide Roy said the Incas used Machu Picchu as an administrative place, not as a sacred religious place as most people believe. But this common belief of this site being a sacred space has meant that tourism has changed Machu Picchu into a place that arguably has become sacred. It has made a self fulfilling prophecy in a way. People believe this place was sacred in the past so they think and treat it as such, causing it to become that way. Many people I think go to Machu Picchu to be apart of this and to feel a connection with what they see as an ancient, sacred, and spiritual past. And this image has leaked into the view of Peru itself. It some ways Machu Picchu is still part of a myth since so much is still unknown about it and the different ideas of it that exist. Tourism did a number on this place. 

I am so glad we did the air bnb night. At first I wasn’t really sure what was going to happen and what the plan was but it was the best circus I have ever been apart of. I have no regrets about being a monkey, even though I had barely any sleep. That’s what days off are for, so I can sleep all day after staying up way too late. I mean I didn’t take a 5 hour long nap. I did readings and was a good student.

The best way that I can describe it was that is was like a family dinner. Everyone was together, making food, listening to music, eating, and laughing together. It was so sweet and I think that it brought us closer together. I think that a lot of people forget how important simple and seemingly mundane things like cooking together, sharing a meal, and singing together can be. They bring people together. In North America I find that many people do not do this type thing enough. It often only happens for special occasions when these types of things should be done regularly.

From the readings from this class and from others and from my experiences here in Peru I have noticed how indigenous groups in Peru specifically and Latin America in general live and act very communally. I was reminded of our lunch when we visited the Amaru community. We all sat down together and when we were eating Kelly said that the Amaru always eat lunch together when they take a break in the middle of the day. In North America people all have their separate houses where they go to eat, separated from their neighbours. Many people don’t even know or talk with their neighbours, instead having their own groups that require an invitation to join. At work a lot of people use their lunch break as time to be on their phones which is fine except that it leads to people being in their own worlds instead of inhabiting each other’s. I wonder what things would be like if people back home spent more time with each other doing things like cooking and eating together, and getting to know more people in their communities. Would they feel less isolated and would mental health be stronger? I guess you can’t know what you don’t know but it’s never a bad thing to have more people in your life. Strangers are the friends you haven’t met yet. I started this trip with strangers and I’m spending it with friends. 

In one part of the Lima Reader it talks about food and restaurants in Lima. One line that I really liked was, “The tables we eat around aren’t just social spaces. In Lima, food has long been its own landscape, a haven of beauty and comfort.” Food and the spaces where it is prepared and eaten are important. They bring people together and create bonds. People feel safe and have fun together as they enjoy a good meal. I find people are much happier and much more reasonable when they are eating. It is like a mutual agreement that people will sit down together to eat, catch up, socialize, and exist peacefully together in that moment. Often there is a feeling of acceptance and often sharing a meal is an important event between people of different groups. Breaking bread is a tradition that has often been used in history to foster peace and alliances.

Food is a big part of home and can be very comforting. I think this is why people who leave their homes, whether they are forced to leave or they choose to, will look for places that serve food from home and set up restaurants that serve their traditional food. The importance of food can be seen in this section with descriptions of memories of family and eating together in Lima and the connection from those experiences. It makes me think about our visit to the Amaru community. While we were there we had a meal and while we were sharing this meal there was a sense of camaraderie and togetherness. It is important what we eat and how we eat it. This is something you can see in a lot of indigenous cultures as it is part of traditions being passed down and has a connection with the land, community and ancestors.

During the time of the Shining Path when there were attacks all the time and people were being killed constantly there would have been an atmosphere of fear and wariness and apprehension.  There was mention in the Lima Reader of the streets being empty and that people were afraid to be going out. I would be curious to know what effect this had on the community during that time and after. Did this loosen community connections? Were people disconnected from each other as going out seemed dangerous? Even things as small and seemingly trivial as places to eat and being about to go out to eat can have important aspects that are often taken for granted until they are taken away.

Back in Cusco we talked about indigeniety and how it is intertwined with colonialism because without colonialism you don’t have indigeniety. With this in mind while I was reading I thought that Silverblatt put it very well when she said that the Spanish “tried to make Indians out of Andeans” and that “Andean Indianness was a product of Spanish colonialism.” You need duality to make comparisons. You know what’s different because you can compare it with the familiar. So indigeniety is formed by colonialism because with the presence of the Spanish there became an other. Without this the peoples here were Andeans, each with different group names and likely wouldn’t be considered under the same umbrella like they are today as indigenous.

I was really surprised that there was a priest who actually held sermons that opposed the colonial establishment and project. Hernando Hacas Poma got in trouble for his sermon that talked about how the indigenous should worship their ancestors and only the Spanish should worship God and saints. I never would have thought that a priest would actually be saying things like this in sermons during this time period. It just seems crazy to me. But I shouldn’t be making assumptions. Just because there is a popular sentiment or belief in a group doesn’t mean the entire group conforms to that. It can get dangerous to not see the individuals in a group and only judge the group as a whole.

The Incas were an empire who took over land, displaced and killed people, and demanded resources as payment. They were similar to the Spanish in several ways that Silverblatt outlines and people hated them. No one is going to be happy about having someone else take over, take charge and demand tribute. Both got wealth from labour from peasantry, tried to “shape Andean senses of self and position – with varying degrees of success- by expanding an imperial religion” and governments of indirect rule to have local elites as mediators in imperial bureaucracies but Spanish did things that were devastating to native people. The Spanish did not have the same understanding or tolerance of differences of people, culture, society, or religion that the Inca did. The Spanish didn’t want to learn or understand, they wanted a new Spain and to get rich. The biggest issue was that the Spanish didn’t see the indigenous as proper humans, devaluing them, their cultures, societies, and ways of life. I wonder how history would have played out if they had.

Pisac is such a cute little place. It is a lot quieter than Cusco and has more of a laid back presence where Cusco seemed busier with more people and more events happening. In Pisac the restaurants close at 8:30 or earlier and everything quiets down. In Cusco most places are open to 11 or 12 and there are bars and clubs full of people until the early hours. While Cusco was very touristy in parts the tourists themselves were different than the ones I see walking around Pisac. Here I see so many new age hippy tourists who have a range of strange aesthetics. And you can see the influence these people have on their surroundings. There are coffee shops, classes, workshops and more that are geared toward these people. I wonder what drew these people here and why? Some of the stuff being advertised in the flyers is just wacky. I mean what is this stuff about talking rocks and reconnecting with your womb? No thank you I would rather spend my money on the awesome stalls in the markets. I think my spirit will survive without any cleansing.

The ruins we went to on our first day were great. I can’t remember the name of the site but I loved it. It was much bigger than I thought it was at first glance. I kept finding more as I walked around. Sometimes looking at the ruins and where they are it seems crazy that the Inca were able to build what they did. Just walking on the paths it was steep so how did the Inca manage to carve out cities from the mountain sides without just falling down? Today with heavy machinery this would be difficult but the Incas managed to do it. If these ruins are impressive today then I wonder what they must have been like back when they were whole and full of life. The Spanish must have been impressed when they saw these cities cut into the sides of mountains. It’s a bit mind blowing that anyone could have thought that this civilization was primitive or unsophisticated or not developed. The Spanish thought way too highly of themselves. Talk about having a stick up your ass. Only thing was that Ben almost fell off the ruins. He kept slipping and tripping so I don’t know if we should take near any more cliffs. Might lose him otherwise.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from Garcilaso and his general history but I found it quite fun. The way he writes is very interesting but I can see that it is not an unbiased take at all. I was reminded of Guaman Poma and his First Chronicle while I was reading. Like with Guaman Poma Garcilaso seems to be writing with an agenda. He says he is recording history but actually he is writing a history in the way he wants the world to remember it as. So I am wondering if I would call this a history because I am doubting the credibility of the author. Can I trust anything that he says or should I just be sceptical and take what he says with a grain of salt? Maybe I will just have to read between the lines and fact check his claims. Garcilaso writes an interesting story but I am left wondering how much is a story and how much is history.

I found it interesting that Garcilaso thought so highly of the Incas but thought very little about the other indigenous groups. He compares the Inca Empire to the Roman Empire with the only difference being that the romans had a writing system and the Inca didn’t. He puts the Incas on a pedestal that separates them from other indigenous peoples. It reminds me of the special girl trope so that here he is saying that the Inca are special, they’re not like other indigenous peoples. They are better, smarter, more sophisticated. That’s why they should be seen with respect that other groups do not deserve. I wonder if Garcilaso only sees the Incas like this because he is part Inca and so has a very biased view. It’s not like he would want to say anything  less about his own people and most people think that their own are better than everyone else. The Spanish certainly did.

Garcilaso, as a mestizo, is caught between worlds. He wants to make both the Spanish conquerers and the Incas look good, which is a tricky thing to do when they were on opposing sides of a war. I found him a bit confusing at times because he seems to switch around as he tries to make both sides look good. Sometimes he seems pro-indigenous and other times he seems pro-Spanish. What side is he on?