I want to return ...

He wasn't an envoy sent by Tony Blair, nor by Prince Charles, and not even a businessman from Chelsea, or from those rock dinosaurs Rod Stewart or Paul McCartney. Not even an anglican missionary. Andy Jefferson is a typical Englishman that arrived in Peru in July 2010, not only to see Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Colca, Nazca, Chan Chan, and Huaraz, but also especially to visit Marcahuasi.

Andy Jefferson - "The Lord" 

We go to Marcahuasi, with the same motivation as always, but the journey is a series of surprises. The silence of Andy, was like some of the immense abysses that we travel past, or like the monotonous noise of the buses that took us there. I don't know if he had his emotions imprisoned, but from his mouth we had no expression of complaint or euphoria. I only know that the heat of the sacred mountain grew more and more, and the adventurers rucksack he brought from England was full of questions for this meeting in Marcahuasi.

San Pedro Casta lives the national holidays to the rhythm of the arrival of the tourists, the square full of backpackers, similarly the tourist office, and the loudspeakers repeated : "Please community, we need 2 horses, and 4 donkeys ..."

I see no red bus! There's no Big Ben around here! Where am I ? 
No Andy, you're in San Pedro de Casta we told him "Ah, ok, ok!" 

Andy, in one glance, took in and grasped this madness of the call to Marcahuasi. But he continued silent, not asking anything, just accepting what was passing around him, cold like the bitter winters of his land, and cold of another sort was waiting for us in the amphitheatre.

We left the town very late, because Ysrael and Carlos wanted it like this! [editor : because they arrived late]. The route varied with everything that it handed to us ... the route of portachuelo (long track). Andy took the lead, and nobody in the group passed him, his pains, his tiredness, and his ... only he knew what. We arrived at the "marcahuasi hotel" by night, full of backpackers, full of shouting ... I don't know if it was of happiness, of pain, or of madness.

"With every experience there is suffering, and for any suffering there is something good later on". This is what Andy said when he had removed the burden of the ascent.

The next day, between jokes and laughs, we prepared the "brunch", and then we headed to the ruins of Huacracocha and the hut, where the Monument to Humanity waited for us. A sculpture that silenced Andy even more, his appreciation was censured; I think he asked and they responded in silence.

He said, "Uuuuuuhhhh, y ..." and then stayed quiet, petrified like the shout of this mysterious cyclops. 

Then we walked via the Lake of Huacracocha and the cliffs, cliffs that filled Andy with fear, like an English joke ... nobody understands it ... perhaps in his country they remember that cliffs are a place to fill you full of emotions and questions.

"Marcahuasi is different for everybody. It's a place of discovery" (Andy) We returned to the amphitheatre tired, thirsty and hungry. We cooked rice, with onion and tuna ... and also cooked our ideas and theories of what is, and was, Marcahuasi.

When the night invades the amphitheatre, when the inner warming starts to have an effect, the bonfires start to surrender to the cold, Andy, forgetting for an instant his origins, and we are reminded of Jose Antonio, Jose Antonio of the beautiful Chabuca Granda, and we finish the night off with a salsa of Grupo Niche, singing and dancing ... that, that's it, cheers Andy. That is the westerner we wanted to see ...

"I liked spending a night in the amphitheatre" affirmed Andy.

We still needed to got to Cachu Cachu and the Fortress, so that's where we went. The journey was seasoned with photos and lots of enthusiasm, when we arrived at the fortress, "This is a place with significant mystery, who lived here, and why, there was sufficient defence back in the fortress, no?" For something? Andy made this immense question in that blanket of mystery and silence. This lives and hides in Marcahuasi.

We returned to the amphitheatre to recover, and spend our last night, a night full of conversation, of music and singing. There we met Marco Antonio, a friend of these altitudes, a type of free paparazzi, self-styled searcher for UFOs.

To end the trip to the sacred mountain, Andy left these reflections about San Pedro de Casta, Marcahuasi and the tourists :
- "I believe that San Pedro de Casta ought to do much much more to attract and cater for tourism, in books, and tourist guides of Marcahuasi there is very little information to see all of these sculptures, at the most appropriate time of day etc"
- "Marcahuasi, for me, has it's place with a deep mystery in its rocks and ruins ..."
- "There was a lot of rubbish left by tourists, some caring for Marcahuasi, but others not. Some with a lack of respect for this sacred place".
- "Who can solve the insatisfaction of the tourist, the lack of information?" Asked several times on the plateau.

"Sat in the amphitheatre, if you look down, at the ground or at some point a short distance away, but not fixedly, relax yourself and your muscles, you can see air currents, or something of that form, ... only if you relax completely and let the moment take you, air currents? or something similar. The important thing is I saw them, and felt it". 

Our English medium affirmed it like this. Must be true, no? 

Andy returned to his country on the 17th of September, perhaps missing his steak with "English-style egg" (half raw) [editor : a peruvian belief that people in England eat half cooked eggs, God knows where they got that idea], but left with the promise to return and perhaps compromise himself with some of his reflections. In Marcahuasi, the law of giving and receiving is important. Andy, that the sacred mountain has captivated you with its mysteries, and they will accompany you, as Marcahuasi demands.

"I feel nostalgic for Marcahuasi - I want to return"

You have to look at both sides of the equation; the national tourists, and the foreign tourists. Of the believers and the non-believers of the Marcahuasi mystery. Of those that go up a single time, and those that return continually. Andy's visit, like that of many others that came or will come from afar, is valient, and these are the primary free diffusors of the sacred mountains significance. For that it's great to share our knowledge of Marcahuasi, and with all of those that arrive at the plateau, to not only admire it, but also to make it your own. It's the case of Patricio Marambio (Chile), Alan Mathew (USA), Peter Schneider (Switzerland), and many others that have no problem in identifiy themselves with Marcahuasi.

Thanks Andy Jefferson, for the diffusion that you do for Marcahuasi, and for allowing me to write of your visit, of many silences, and surprises; surprises for the delight of this backpacker world of Marcahuasi.

Photos from the experience
-Andy and the mystical cross

"Here on the mystical cross I felt a tremble en my hands - there was something - I'm sure of it -" said Andy, after the ritual of concentration and meditation.

"There are many interesting places, especially the Monument to Humanity, the fortress, the chulpas and the lake of Cachu Cachu" the English lord emphasized.

"Another hot drink?" - "Yes, thanks..." replied andy - "It's Marcahuasi tea" -replied Marco Antonio. "Ok, it's good, just like the tea from my country" - said Andy.


-Andy and Carlos ... washing plates with the water ....

"Save the water Andy, or do you want to go down and bring more back up again?" - advised Carlos, "For me that wouldn't be a problem, whereas for you, I think it may be more difficult gordito..."


- Andy and the Huacracocha ruins ...

The chulpa ruins of this necropolis of Huacracocha were something that he liked a lot, but demanded their preservation, and more respect from those who visit them.


Next Post: Graffiti in Marcahuasi
Photos: John Ysrael Guevara