Month: May 2022

One of the instructions for our trek in Peru was to bring along sets of colored pencils and pads of paper for the local kids. We were told that we were going to stop by a school or two, so as to give these tokens of good will. Well, it turned out that most of the schools in the very small villages were open sporadically.

As we were resting right after lunch, there were a few children hanging around: their mom was selling her weaving nearby. So the idea occurred, let’s give the pencils and paper to these kids. Then Kurt said, let’s break out the pens and paper and start drawing! And that’s what we did. Our guide served as translator, and everyone got busy drawing the tent that was just in front of us. And as you can see, those are drawings with great knowledge. The drawing on the left even has, dare I say it, transparency!

The universality of drawing continues to astound us. As we get older, we all loose the innocent freedom that drawing offers. But who knows, with any luck, these kids will keep putting lines on paper with a pencil.

In our days in Peru so far, we have visited numerous Inca sites. Machu Picchu, of course, is the ne plus ultra of the Incas: it is truly a wonder. But there is a site nearby, named Wiñay Wayna, that to us at least, is just as captivating. Built in the 15th century, it is cut into the steep, concave hillside. The curving terraces feel as if you have been floated into space. The environmental harmony with which the Incas lived is manifest.

The purpose was agricultural, so the housing was for the middle class workers who tended the terraces. This is in contrast to the function of Machu Picchu, which was a palace for the king, which then excluded everybody else.

Wiñay Wayna is on the Inca Trail. And the only way to get there is on foot, up or across challenging mountain terrain. Which means that there are blessedly few tourists. Maybe the real reason we liked it so much was because there were no fleets of tour buses idling in a parking lot below.