There are some experiences that are hard to share. Not because they hurt but because they reach you at a deep level that is difficult to put into words. There is no translation for what you have felt. You just know that it is something important and you want to share it.
It was New Years Eve. New Years Eve 2018 and I had made it. I had survived my 3:00 AM wake up call. I had survived 2018 which had mostly consisted of crying, doctor’s appointments, surgery, and friends sitting me down and carefully recommending that I should look into getting counselling. Finally, I had survived the treacherous hike from Machu Picchu up to the Sun Gate at the top of the Mountain. I had made it to the Sun Gate and found myself standing above the clouds staring out toward the sun rise.
Inti Punku, or The Sun Gate as it has come to be known, was a sacred place for the Inca. It was aligned on the mountain so the rising sun would pass through it on the summer solstice every year. It was also one of the main gates to the sanctuary and the end of the four-day journey from Cusco to the city. Sally, my tour director, also called it a gift. It was a gift from the Mountain. You come up from the Inca Trail to the Sun Gate after a long difficult journey and are greeted by a beautiful view of the citadel, your destination and goal, and the mountains and valley around it. It is just a moment in time but the most important thing I learned while I was in Peru was how special moments in time are. They are what makes up our lives and we should be living in our current moments. She explained to us that the mountains are the protector gods in the Inca culture and that includes protecting our current moment. That no one is guaranteed one day beyond the one we are in and that if there was ever anything keeping us from living in our moment that we could give it to the mountains and they would take it away but we always have to choose to give it up.
Giving up what is keeping us from living in our current moment. A very appropriate thought for New Years Eve when so many people are preparing to start in on their New Years Resolutions. The point wasn’t that we had to live 100% in the present without planning for and thinking about the future but about not letting who we were in the past take away the chance to enjoy the present and, by extension, the future.
We each took three Coca leaves from the bag Sally passes around and set what we wanted to leave behind on them (speaking metaphorically) and gave them back to the mountain; you have to give the mountain a gift back, it’s only polite. This was probably the most important thing I did while I adventured around Peru, not necessarily because I think that a mountain is going to willingly take my troubles away from me but because it was such a strong reminder. God takes my troubles away if I leave them at his feet. What from 2018, and even 2017, was keeping me from living my best life now? I was stepping into 2019 with that thought on my mind.
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