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Way Up High in Bolivia
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Many moons ago, on the shores of Lake Titicaca in what is now Bolivia, Huayna Capac, the eleventh of thirteen Incan kings, abandoned power by his own will. Before departing, he promised to return one day with the rising sun, bringing new ideas and technologies that would return the Incan empire to prosperity. Every morning on the Bolivian high plain, or altiplano, Indian descendants of the Incas wake before dawn and face the rising sun. They hope that Huayna Capac will also rise.
That's what my friend Fernando told me anyway, before switching the topic to Bolivia's exotic springtime produce. I sat meditatively Indian style beneath his poster of Andean wind instruments. Fernando and I were a perfect match. He loved to talk about Bolivia. I loved to listen. He thought that intermittent mentions of his culture's cuisine would better hold my attention, but all of his tales were fascinating. Finally, with one ticket and ten years of Fernando-fueled inspiration, I boarded a plane.
I headed for the altiplano, a 14,000 foot high plateau intersected by the even taller Andes mountains as if it was a place of refuge in the Ande's east to west path. Distant, but dizzyingly high snowy peaks encircle the granite colored plateau, looking like geographical bodyguards, and evoking in one a strange sense of protection. Adding to the mystique of the plateau is the giant Lake Titicaca. For someone like me, who's lived an entirely sea-level life, it is great to think that there is water where sky should be. Also on the plateau are the pre-Incan ruins of Tiwanaku, whose ancient mysteries still permeate the too thin mountain air.
On the southern edge of the altiplano a small portion of Bolivia's capital, La Paz, hosts a dense population of urban dwelling Indians and one of the world's highest airports. It's the only one I've ever seen with an oxygen therapy room. The city then slides down the mountainside, spanning a steep downhill river-formed valley. Passing through three different climate zones from top to bottom, the socio-economic structure of La Paz is such: the farther downhill you live, the more money you have. I think the reverse must be true when it comes to spirituality, for the plateau is an area of great enchantment.
In between Lake Titicaca and La Paz, the flat land is dotted with villages of Aymara and Quechua Indians. Both grow potatoes, maize and quinoa and raise llama, sheep and alpaca (a cousin of the llama prized for it's wool). The Aymara, descendants of pre-Incan civilizations, and the Quechua, direct descendants of the Incas, build their houses with doors and windows facing east toward the sunrise. Archaeologists have often labeled these Andean people as sun-worshipers. "Not so", says Fernando. "They don't watch the sunrise for worship of the star itself, but out of hope to greet their savoir - Huayna Capac."
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Aymara Women in La Paz
The Altiplano
Alpaca On The High Plain
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