Thoughts on a morning run... 6.19.2011

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to see things for the first time every time, but then I suppose you would lose out on the subtleties.

You would forget that seeing alpaca would be like seeing deer in the states.

You might not realize that Incan ruins surrounding you can be commonplace and that you can stand on the top of one and see the next and the next and the next and realize how people communicated thousands of years ago.

You might not recognize that the brightly-woven cloths that everyone wears on their back are multi-purpose. They are used for kids and branches and pets...

You might not notice that Quetchua is spoken perhaps just as much as Spanish, if not more, especially once you are in the highlands.

You might not have had conversations regarding crops. People help each other. The plant each other´s potatoes, they watch each other´s crops, and they share the fruit that their labor brings.

You might forget that the surroundings are sacred and beautiful and have been here long before the people.

You might think at first that the peaks are jagged and incredible, and then you realize that people in sandals walk up and down them daily, not only bringing tourists back and forth, but bringing what the city has to offer back into the hills and to their families.

Maybe it´s better not to see things for the first time. If you live in a place, once you get to know it, there are more and more firsts.