|
One after one the village men stooped and entered through the low
door until the seams of the building were bursting with men and
conversation. Being the only visible woman in this group I paused
to negotiate the etiquette of stalling until several village women
appeared, taking their places beside me rich with smiles and warm
hand shakes.
Our engineer and cook stood to manage the translation from Quechua.
Richard proceeded in Spanish as Juan Carlos, our accountant leaned
towards my ear to fill in any missing pieces in English. What proceeded
in this meeting continues to amaze me.
Thousands of feet in the rarest of air, in the most ancient of
mountain cultures with the most diverse group of humans crossing
barriers of race, gender and time we proceeded to share our hearts
and hopes for this project.
The men clapped loudly and cheered as we spoke of our deep appreciation
of their sharing the homes and hearth with us. The men reaffirmed
their agreement to handle the project labor. The women, though coaxed
to comment were only able to speak their names.
As always, the men asked me to purchase all their weavings. I
understand how often this hope has been reinforced by the presence
of gringos in these communities. Over and over again we have gone
outside this recent tradition to tell the Q’eros that this project
is meant to create equality of opportunity for all the families,
not just the gain provided by sales for a few individuals. The morning
would offer further hope of that “value” being affirmed through
the women of Charcapata.
After,“buenas Noches”, and after the only candle was extinguished,
a lulling conversation continued into the night between the nephew
of Don Manuel Quispe, Q’eros Alto Mesayoq (high teacher), and Richard
regarding the future of the healing traditions of Q’eros and the
requirements of those who train to deliver these teachings.
I drifted to sleep with images of cold mountain lakes where mountain
spirits reach forth with invisible hands to initiate the applicants
towards the profoundest of mysteries.
Outside the silence of vast space and the grace of Earth receiving
Its blessing no doubt continued unwitnessed by those of us who recovered
in deep sleep inside the stone walls.
Shortly after dawn I awakened to fire smoke and the bubbling of
our kettle of morning tea. We took advantage of our short hours
in this village to climb the steep hillside to the “fuentes” or
water sources for our water delivery systems.
Once outside the cloistered building, I was surrounded by the
stares of women who seemed to follow me at a distance to stare and
giggle at the many layers of coats and scarves I had donned against
the cold morning air and also at things only they can know of. I
was acutely aware of my feeling of being a strange “outsider” and
hoped my camera would be less of an intrusion than I imagined.
|
