Entries about sun

Ayaklarimizin biraz yere basmasi icin" ruhani olarak Tibete bagli" ( bir tanitim yazisinda "spiritually connected to Tibet" yaziyordu) Kutsal Vadi'den ayrilip, bu sefer de "kutsal kent" olarak anilan Cusco'ya geciyoruz.

Cusco, Inka medeniyetinin baskenti olmasi sebebiyle Ispanyol'larin her anlamiyla "fetih etmeyi" onemsedikleri bir kent...Kitadaki medeniyetler yarisinda yeri stratejik: Halihazirda Inkalarin sahip oldugu icat, zenginlik ve beraberinde gelen gosterisi, bir nevi koloniyel gosteris ve Hristiyan misyonerligiyle ele gecirme cabasi.

Tarihte, medeniyet ustu medeniyet kurulmasina ve yontemlerine ozellikle biz Anadolu insanlari asinayiz. Kural bir oncekini korumaktan cok asimile etmek, yaristirmak, donusturmek, en kotu ihtimal bir kulbuna uydurup ustune ekleyerek degistirmek ve unutturmaktan geciyor...

Bu durumun yansimalari kentte bariz bir sekilde okunuyor. Ornegin Cusco'nun yerinin secilme sebebi olan Gunes Tapinagina bakmak yeterli. Cusco'nun merkezinde yer alan, donemin en onemli ve buyuk toren tapinagindan geriye kalan bir kac duvar.. Ispanyol isgaliyle birlikte, 16yy ortasinda genis alana yaygin ve ihtisamli tapinagin hemen ustune bir katedral insaati basliyor, tapinagin taslari kullaniliyor. Biri ne kadar yalin ve dogayla ilintiliyse, digeri Ispanya Kralligi ve Hristiyan dinini temsil etmek uzere o kadar detayli, suslu ve altin yaldizli zengin.

Cogunlukla kilise ve katedraller gibi, bir oncekinin dini binasina yenisini oturtmak, icinde ise bir oncekinin ayagini kesmemek ocin benzer motifleri kullanmaya devam etmek. Yine ornek vermek gerekirse Inlalarin en onemli ve kudretli tanrisi olan Inti'nin ( gunes tanrisi) adi kiliselerde Isa'nin tablolarinda yaziyor. Buna inglizcede "syncretism" deniyor.. Bollivya'dan beri Hristiyanlastirma ugruna daha once varolanin ya da farkli inanc ve ibadetlerin karistirilarak sunulmasina ne isim verilir diyordum. Megersem kelimenin kokeni Antik Yunana gidiyormus!! ( sasirdik mi? Hayir)

Tum bu kitada olup biten medeniyetleri Avrupa merkezli bir bakisla okursak, bizi vuran gercek Guney Amerika'da Inkalar varken Avrupa'da Ronesans oluyor.. Gel gor ki Ronesansin esigindeki Ispanyollar bu Kitada katliam, yagma yapiyor. Begendigi coca, kahve gibi haz vericileri gizlice Avrupa'da kullanirken, Guney Amerika kitasina yasakliyor, hastalik yayiyor...

Kentte Inka'lardan geri kalan sehircilik anlayisi, yani yerlesirken kurduklari duzen. Hala sektorlere bolunmus yapi islemeye devam ediyor. Inkalarin varligi, Kentin icinde, duvarlarda gorunur... Evlerin duvarlarinin alt kotlari Inka kalintilarindan kalan/toplanan taslarla, sonra caginin malzemeleriyle orulmus.

Bugun Cusco, turistler aradiklari herseyi verilecek bir kent. Roma gibi - yasayan bu tarih kentinde hersey turizm ihtiyacina gore duzenlenmis... Geriye kalan koloniyel mimari, ic avlusu bol genis dortgen prizma binalar.. Distan gorunen ihtisam icte ferah fersah baska bir yasam. Gunumuzde bu binalarin bir kismi muze, bir kismi banka, kalanlari da otel olarak kullanilmakta. Artik kimse o kadar buyuk evde oturmuyor )

Cusco, guzel korunmus bakimli bir kent. McDonalds dahil disarida asili rengarenk tabela ve levhalar yok. Hepsi tek tip ahsap uzerine belli bir boyutta. Bilenler meshur meydandaki dukkanlarin modaya gore degistigini soyluyor. Su an 'tasarim' alpaca urunleri ve 'Inka' muchevherleri satan kuyumcular revacta...

Alan memnun satan memnun...

We left La Serena at 18:00 by bus to arrive the next morning in San Pedro de Atacama, small town at the edge of the driest and highest desert in the world.
Legend has it that, there is not a single living organism for miles on this desert!
The bus drove thru some amazing hills, along the Pacific Ocean coast, we saw large waves breaking on high rocks and on yellow sandy beaches.

After 18 hours on the semi cama bus and a couple of lame ass sci-fi movies later, we woke up to the strong morning sun rays, we had arrived in Calama. During the short break in Calama at 9 o'clock in the morning, we noticed that everybody on the street was wearing sunglasses, because the sun was much stronger than anywhere we had been so far.

One more hour of driving and we arrived in San Pedro. The bus station was so small, the bus had to do a five point maneuver to just to park. We got off the bus, put on our backpacks, and started walking towards our hotel, which seemed to be a ten minute walk from the bus station, we were wrong! After about 2 minutes in to the walk, we were out of breath already, started sweating under the desert sun, and finally it hit us that we were at 2400 meters above sea level!
We walked thru uneven dirt roads of the town, taking breaks at every block almost, to catch our breath. Finally on the main street filled with tourism agencies, restaurants and pubs we realized, despite its close proximity to the desert, this was a very lively town. Flocks of tourists arrive here daily, to experience all that a very special desert can offer. This ain't your regular desert, this is actually a place so rich in all sorts of activities that, it could be a theme park. But our main objective here, was to cross the desert in to Bolivia on a 3 day jeep tour, and before heading up to the desert at about 3500 meters above sea level, we had to get adjusted to the altitude, and the best practice is to go on daily tours around the area.

Overwhelmed by the wide variety of daily tours offered by numerous agencies, we started shopping for best deals and best activities.
First thing we book is a star watching tour at a private observatory nearby, where a French-Chilean couple had set up a facility so professional, many countries rent periscopes here and observe the skies online. Needless to say, since there is not much civilization outside San Pedro, skies at night here are as clear as pages of an astronomy book, and for us Northern Hemisphere people, it's upside down!
Our sky-hosts walked us thru the skies, planets, constellations, nebulae, and other space things that include satellites. Yes, satellites, man made devices spinning around the earth at an incredible speed, and there are so many of them up there that, the sky seems to be a junkyard.

The moon rose a bit late so we could actually see it come out beyond the Andes. Brightest we had ever seen, the Moon moves so fast, telescopes had to be adjusted every 3 minutes to catch up with it.