Stories from the field
- From Danielle WeissJournal Entry #3: Speaking with the Spirits of the Mountains
Oswaldo picked me up in his rented station wagon at 5pm on the dot. We'd only met a couple weeks before - he was Peruvian, had lived in Norway for 7 years and had come back to Cuzco for the Christmas holidays to visit his family. We drove to the local market to buy flowers, candles and incense which we would give to the shaman as an offering. Along the way we picked up his mother Olimpia who I had only met the day before - sweet and petite with white hair and sparkling eyes. We arrived at the house of the shaman and waited for him to finish with another visitor. Olimpia calmed my butterflies by telling me not to be afraid, to have faith and explained what I should expect.
In the Quechua language of the Andes, "Apu" refers to the spirit of the mountains. In every snow capped peak, mountain and hill, locals believe there is an Apu - each with individual characteristics and personalities that come to us in the form of big birds with tiny human heads. I had first heard of the Apus when reading a book written by a North American woman about her experience in one of these ceremonies. I was intrigued by her experience and after arriving for the first time in Peru, I have been on a quest to learn more about the Apus and this was to be my first experience. Over the years I had heard accounts from different Peruvian friends of their experiences with the Apus. An Inca Trail guide told me that when he was six, he went with his mother to seek guidance from the Apus and in a sliver of light that entered the room he saw the birds with human heads speaking to the dark room filled with people sitting on wobbly wooden benches. A grieving widow told me of the time when the Apus consoled her by producing the treasured pet rock of her deceased husband. Another friend told me of hearing the sound of the Apus flipping off the beer caps and the devouring of food that had been given as offerings, but when the light was switched on at the end of the ceremony, all beer caps were intact and the food untouched. Today with a feeling of nervous excitement and a dash of fear, was the day I had been waiting for.
Finally the door opened and an old woman came out wearing a traditional big skirt, along with her white top hat and two long white braids tied together at her waist. She appeared to be in her mid to late 80s and moved at a snail's pace down the stairs to the street. As we entered the room to where we were to receive the ceremony, I was overcome by the thick smell of incense and sweet-smelling flowers. The shaman, who looked like an ordinary guy wearing a flashy Hawaiian shirt, got up from his white plastic chair in the corner to greet us. He introduced himself as Cesar.
The room was small, dark and made of adobe, with pictures and paintings of Jesus, Mary, saints and angels. Crucifixes hung all around and on the floor were big vases full of beautiful arrangements of flowers that I assumed were offerings from other visitors. Beside the chair where Cesar sat was a wooden table with more bouquets of flowers, bottles of coca cola, beer, candles and incense.Oswaldo and his mother sat on a wooden bench opposite the shaman and the altar making space for me in the middle. The door was shut and a heavy wool blanket was hung over the door making it so dark I couldn’t see the end of my nose. As we sat in darkness I took Oswaldo’s hand to help calm my nerves and help me feel more secure.
Cesar, Oswaldo and Olimpia began by reciting a prayer in Spanish and the only thing I could think to do was to say the Our Father in my head, as I had learned in elementary school. Within a minute the sound of wings flapping and two loud thumps, which I assumed were the birds' feet landing, sounded on the table in front of us. The first Apu introduced himself as the Apu of the mountain Salcantay. He greeted and welcomed us and began by speaking to Oswaldo by saying that all would be well for him in his travels, that he would visit a doctor in Norway who would help him, with what he didn’t say, and said that the Apus would be protecting him where ever he went. With some good laughs and advice for Oswaldo, it was now my turn to speak.
I explained that I had spent the last three years in Canada raising money through events and campaigns in order to find a house or a piece of land to build a home for street children in Cuzco. After three months of searching
daily I had been unable to find something suitable. In order to help me Apu of Salcantay called another Apu to help me – "the Doctor of Luck". Within seconds the tremendous sound of flapping wings and two loud thumps sounded on the table. With a higher pitched voice, the second Apu presented himself and thanked me for my big heart and the work I had been doing to help the children of Cuzco. He told me that he would help me find a beautiful house for the kids and that he would help me be successful in all my efforts in Peru. Finally a third Apu sounded with flapping wings, loud steps and a deep old voice. He was there to answer the questions of Olimpia who broke down in tears asking for them to take care of her family, to guide Oswaldo on his way back to Europe and to bring him back to Peru soon. I rubbed her back in the darkness hoping to comfort her at least a little. In a blur of nerves and excitement I remember all of us laughing as they were quite funny at times, cracking jokes and making me feel comfortable in this totally foreign situation. When we had all said what we needed to say, the Apus bid us goodbye. They told me that they would have news for me about the house in three days and that I should return on Saturday.
On the Saturday when I was scheduled to go back to find what news the Apus had for me, I had to book a last minute flight to Ecuador for work and couldn't go. And while it’s difficult for me to say whether I wholeheartedly believed that it was the Apus that spoke to me, or whether it was Cesar cheating true believers out of 20 soles ($7) with a good ventriloquist show, what I do know is that exactly three days after our visit I found the house we had been looking for after an exhaustive search that had taken years to complete.
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