My personality type is INFJ (introverted intuitive feeling judger). Among other things, that means that I tend to see the big picture and overlook the details. I don't see those dust bunnies until they are practically overtaking the livingroom. Unfinished projects around the house over time simply get incorporated into the general scheme of things. In short, being an INFJ also means that my worldview and reality is not naturally shaped and defined by using my five senses.
When the church and I applied for the Lilly Endowment National Clergy Renewal Grant (which has allowed me the opportunity to do these extraordinary things during my sabbatical), I proposed that I would try to experience and reflect upon my sabbatical time using my five senses. I wanted to use my sense of hearing during our Peru adventure to sharpen that particular experience.
So - what sounds enhanced my time in Peru and will always be part of my memories of those three weeks? Here are just a few:
1. The Andean Flutes - Puma and Ruben were both experienced in playing the flute. I shall remember the silhouette of Puma seated on a rock overlooking the Inka Bridge at Machu Picchu. Heather was lying on the ledge gazing at the sheer rock and stomach-turning drop of thousands of feet. Puma was playing an Andean melody on his flute. I remember Ruben creating similar music after he left three coca leaves as a sign of blessing for all of us at the base of a waterfall early on our trek to Choquequirao. On that same journey, I will recall hearing the sound of flutes beckoning us on as we trudged downhill into the heat of the canyon toward the Apurimac River. Sometimes the music was light and cheerful. Sometimes it encouraged deep reflection. Always it was mystical and haunting.
2. The Spanish Language (and some Quechua, which is the language of indigenous Peruvians) - I was glad I knew a tiny bit of Spanish and wish I had known more. It was fun to bargain in Spanish for items in the markets - even though most of the vendors spoke at least some English. Heather, Paddy, and Tim were all excellent translators. It might be a joke, a general strain of conversation, the text of the detailed explanations at the Museo de Plantas Sagradas, Medicinales (the Museum of Sacred, Magical, and Medicinal Plants) (Thanks Heather!), or Ruben's passionate explanation of the plants along the way to the summit of Huayna Picchu and in the botanical garden at Machu Picchu proper.
3. The Absence of Sound - There is an ancient silence you experience high in the mountains. It imbues you with a sense that there is way more to life that we as humans can ever know. It is quite humbling. I will also remember leaving the dining tent in the dark after dinner on our trek to Choquequirao and gazing at the zillion stars overhead in the crystal clear inky black night sky. The Milky Way was like a white pathway across the heavens. The Southern Cross was visible as was the extra blackness near it that the ancient Incas referred to as the Black Llama.
4. The Farm Animals - Our final campsite on the trek to Choquequirao was on the land of a local farmer. The family owned a cow, a pig, a bunch of chickens, and five roosters. At night, I think the pig was camped out on a hillside behind our tents. I heard it oinking for a while shortly after we went to bed. During the first night, the roosters began greeting the day well before dawn - closer to 3:00 A.M. The second night there were only two roosters (See my post on our trek to Choquequirao for details). One of them seemed to bed down very close by and half heartedly cock-a-doodle-do'ed most of the night. It is one thing to greet the day, but it is another to be simply annoying!
5. The Laughter, Tears, Singing, and Sharing at Our Closing Circles - Each evening after dinner on our 5 day trek, Paddy and Heather led us in a Closing Circle where we each shared a highlight (and one evening a low point as well) of the day. Our guides shared in Spanish and we in English, and Puma translated. At least one of us cried just about every evening as we talked about something close to our hearts. We also laughed, as we recalled such memories as cooling off - some of us fully clothed - in the Apurimac River. Heather sang one evening; I never knew she had such a beautiful voice. Through this time of listening and sharing, I realized the importance and sense of sacredness that our four guides (and now friends) brought to this particular trek. These moments were so special as my sense of family grew from just the five of us to nine.
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