one

            23 dec – quito

i leave in a taxi .. almost one o’clock, am, with two bags .. why is it not raining(?) .. this is quito after all .. the driver has no meter so i know i will be charged too much .. i am just who i am .. but how much am i worth(?)

▪

there are always people waiting outside this airport .. only passengers allowed in .. to pass thru an expectant crowd is a unique joy .. maybe they are passing some of their expectancy on to me .. the airport in quito is unimpressive & airless but there is salsa music on the speakers & the monitors .. later the plane flies to guayaquil then lima ..

▪

guayaquil

guayaquil from the air

horizontal with

many suntanned arteries of water

in the deep channels

.. barges very large

▪

it is the third day of winter in ecuador but of summer in perú

▪

lima

this is a city of 8,000,000

and at least the sectors,

seem to me, that i see,

are of order & orderliness

.. and a driver weaves in & out

of streets near the pacific ..

the air is a warm lotion

and of the sea ..

“““““““““`

two

            24 dec – cusco

cusco has the feel of small buildings brown with reddish tile roofs .. a rural feel, reddish dirt .. the old sector is well & true colonial coexisting with inka roots .. some of the streets are so narrow i can stretch both arms to touch almost the sides .. the school of language, my host family’ home, the main plaza are all on or near avenida el sol .. i am met at the airport by a member of the family ..

i will for two weeks have simple meals & a room – a bed, a chair, a table for to write & for to read & a window to cusco .. what more is there(?)

▪

                i have come to believe that spanish is the native language of the world .. am i fluent in a foreign language, english, & inadequate in this continent’ native language .. language is acquired thru immersion, in dialogue & in culture .. the practice & study of another language is assembled in the mind, that non-physical space, & the mind assembles those pieces like a puzzle except that it can place pieces in non-interlocking locations ..

25 dec – cusco

the family wakes me for midnight .. christmas is celebrated like new years – fireworks & shouts .. christimas dinner at 1.00 o’clock, am ..

▪

            less police & soldier presence in perú .. the people are poorer here .. indigenous people, some without shoes

▪

dark

está escondiendose el tarde

globos brillantes en los montes,

en noche, los filos

(or)

the afternoon hides itself

bright globes in the foothills,

edges in the night

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

three

26 dec – cusco

there is a big soccer game between lima & cusco .. cusco has lost .. as i walk down a long way from downtown & the plaza, hordes of young men, disappointed & drinking, are walking up a long way to the downtown & the plaza .. on the sideways in the streets & followed by, in full riot gear, dozens of police

▪

27 dec – cusco

i am making a list of things i forgot to bring (on this trip) ..

▪

            on avenida el sol near the plaza, money changers on the streets .. soles to dollars or dollars to soles .. largess hands full of monies ..

▪

28 dec – cusco

on this street is a man playing harmonica with no hands for use .. his harmonica is placed between the lower parts of his arms .. he works, he has friends & family .. he is fed & cared for .. is that enough?

▪

statue

la luna llena .. el cristo blanco, los brazos extendidos,

está adentro de los cerros la estatua lustre ..

(or)

the full moon .. cristo blanco, arms are extended,

polished statue inside the hills ..

▪

29 dec/ 30 dec – aguas calientes / machupicchu

this train zigzags thru the inclined city .. crosses & other totems on rooftops, flash by .. then a four hours trip, from cusco to aguas calientes & machupicchu above .. the landscape during the train trip is fertile & ancient, guarded by towers of mountains ..

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four

29 dec/ 30 dec – aguas calientes / machupicchu

machupicchu

city of old terraces ..

the ruins the double rainbow

then jungle & tan river below

there seems to be equivalent mountains

            their peaks piercing the sky

bring rural rain

the god of sun

inka time & choice

to disappear

▪

31 dec – cusco

last day of the year .. i sleep only to wake, to sleepwalk in the city ..

▪

new years eve

to raise with others

perhaps a few 30,000

in the plaza de armas

within a fired moment

lifted as between years

▪

01 jan – cusco

i take a trip to the ruins, sacsayhuamán, above the city .. a public park to the citizens of cusco who picnic, play soccer & laugh among centuries’ old stones .. first day of the year ..

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five

02 jan – cusco

earth

la tierra llena ..

¿cuales son las memorias

y cuales ha disculpado?

(or)

flush earth

what are your memories

and what have you forgotten(?)

▪

03 jan – cusco

of the too many museums in cusco .. there is an unusual one, of inka .. it is located in a large building with an interior patio separating, in one part of the building, a modern bank for finance, while in the other part, there is a museum to the spirit & the past of the inkas ..

▪

04 jan – cusco

i see to a shaman today, near the small plaza san blas .. he says my soul has questions for me to answer ..

▪

05 jan – cusco

is this nearly my final day in this infinite city(?) .. i walk to the market near & near the train station ..

▪

06 jan – cusco & above perú

i realize that i do even know the name of the street that i have lived on for two weeks .. all i know is that it is near avenida el sol ..

▪

taxi early to a cusco airport .. we believe we are the only ones on these roads ..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

six

06 jan – cusco & above perú

clouds

this ship flies within the levels of them

mountains peek their spike heads thru them

below them are the contoured bodies of the world

then .. and the sea, a wrinkled mirror reflects them

▪

jetplane

desde el avión entre cusco y lima

hay las paredes de montañas gris/olivia

con muchos lagos, abajo de las cimas blancas ..

                        lagos de hielos verdes ..

(or)

from the plane between cusco & lima

there are walls of mountains, grey/olive

with many lakes below, the peaks white,

                        lakes of green ice

▪

06 jan – quito

            the taxi driver has no meter .. i know i will be charged too much .. it wants to rain ..

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