Ultimate Saleswoman? Me?

Experience Blog 6

Wow, it has both been a long and short 6 weeks. I am sick right now, so remembering stuff is a bit tougher than usual, but I shall try my best. 

One thing I want to reflect on is the expectation versus the reality of this trip. I think I went into this trip with a loftier idea about what and how we would be learning about Indigeneity. My Canadian cultural context was definitely at the forefront of my brain when approached with the term “Indigeneity’. However, through my observations throughout this trip, I have learned about a much broader context of colonization and Indigeneity. In this way, I feel that this course has ‘unmade’ my concept of Indigeneity more than it has ‘made’ it, but at the same time, I feel that I am coming out of the course with the tools required to ‘make’ and ‘remake’ it throughout my education and life going forward.

Now, I want to reflect on Inti Raymi, because as Jon said (roughly) “this course runs between two festivals.” It thus only feels right.

Inti Raymi was a fantastic day for me. I made it up the hike to Sacsayhuamán with minimal huffing and puffing, and the sun was obscured for most of it, so I didn’t burn. Amazing start to the day. Then when we got to the top, Daniel turned to us and said (I am remembering roughly) “if only we could sell our extra ticket, we would get more money for the trip.” I liked this challenge. I immediately said “I can sell it for you.” He goes (again, roughly) “for real?” I say “yes, Gabo and David, assemble.” And we journeyed outside the gates. 

Outside the gates, while yelling “uno boleto, se vende!” I observed so many people climbing even higher, to watch the festival from above. They were carrying little stools, and they had bags of food and water (I assume). None of these people were interested in buying our ticket. They didn’t even look up. So then we switched to English, and low and behold, the tourists were interested. We had a woman (whom I actually saw in Pisac days later) come and inquire about the price, but she had her stool already and decided it cost too much. So then we had to keep yelling “one ticket for sale! // it has a seat!” Finally, a solo American tourist came over, fittingly named Julia (pronounced Yulia). We bartered for a little, we explained the situation and where our seats were, and she was sold. But she didn’t have enough cash … Luckily, Julian, our American hero (LOL), saved the day with his venmo account, and Julia sat with us (Jon even gave her the good front row seat!)

This was a proud moment for me, if you couldn’t tell from the tone of my writing. But it was also an incredibly reflective moment for me. I thought about how it appeared that our ticket was only desirable to the English-speaking tourists, as the locals (seemingly, based on their comfort with the event and the space) were entirely uninterested. There is a huge element of national and international tourism to Inti Raymi; it is broadcasted on national television, and people travel across the country and the continent to experience it. The tourists are mostly the ones buying the seated tickets it appeared; we talked in class about how the tourists buying the seats are what is largely funding the event. I am sure various national and international corporations are funding it as well for air ad time; perhaps Inka Cola? Still, it felt odd to be a foreign observer of the festival and yet closer to it than many who have probably been partaking in the celebration for years if not their whole lives. There was a dissonance there for me – why should I get to be up front and centre and not them? And I feel weird about the fact that the answer is money. Cultural experience and appreciation, especially in one’s own country, shouldn’t be commodified.

Going back to the carnival-of-it-all, there are also street vendors selling classic carnival snacks, and a kid’s play-zone filled with bouncy castles and face paint. I observed a lot of whole families walking up to the top of Sacsayhuamán, with their kid’s faces painted as lions, tigers and bears (oh my!) etc. The element of carnival to the event definitely took me by surprise, as I didn’t really expect to see candy apples and cotton candy in the hands of Inti Raymi celebrators, but I am in no position to judge (Gabo and I bought churros). I don’t know if this level of carnival-like fun took away from the spiritual importance of the festival, because I don’t feel a personal spiritual connection to it, but it did seem a little out of place with the context I had about Inti Raymi. It was the Inca’s most important festival, honouring their most important god, Inti the Sun God, with sacrifices, dances, sacred burnings etc as a marker to start the new year. Meanwhile, this festival wasn’t held on the solstice, it was a few days after, and it wasn’t even sunny until the end (thanks to climate change -- thank you Cissy for answering that question for me in her blog!) Some of the dancers were falling asleep or scrolling on their phones during the rites, and apparently the inclusion of women is a modern addition to an originally very patriarchal festival. All in all, I didn’t really know what to make of it, but who am I to say if it was authentic or not? I think it’s pretty cool that people got to tune in at home and watch the swivel-arm camera and drone footage of the event, because increased accessibility, at least in my opinion, is pretty much always a good thing, especially when it costs 400 soles to buy a seat. So yeah … Inti Raymi was a really interesting experience, I just don’t entirely know what I experienced.