Story
Story 120
She was alone waiting for her bus when I was crossing the street.
It was at dusk.
Reflection of headlights was sliding on asphalt like a shooting star.
She was gazing into a way where her bus would come from.
When I was passing her, our eyes met.
I smiled and said "it's an anthropological twilight, isn't it?"
She smiled faintly, and said "can't you speak Portuguese?"
I was little embarrassed and replied "no, but a little bit of Spanish."
Before I found what to talk about next, her bus arrived.
She gave me a tranquil smile, and said "adios."
I thought that she said so.
I watched her getting on the bus without words.
A door closed, and the bus disappeared in the dusk with her silhouette.
I turned round, and began to walk.
Then I suddenly realized that she actually said "hasta la vista."
"Okay, till the next time."
I smiled at the way where her bus was gone to, and then looked up at a purple sky.
"Yeah, it is an anthropological twilight," I talked to myself.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Brasilia)
Story 119
When I was very young, I fell in love with one dental hygienist in Japan, and she finally accepted me after my five-year longing.
In USA, I saw a tongue cleaner for the first time in my life at an expensive dentist, and I was delighted by seeing how clean my tongue became.
In Mongolia, the dentist I went didn't use any anesthetic back then, and I heard a male patient before me screamed badly which almost made me run away.
In Norway, I found one lovely dental clinic, a nurse came out and asked me what I wanted.
I told her that I had a bad tooth to fix, then she said "well.. how old are you?"
I said 35.
Then she gently smiled and said "this free clinic is for children up to 18."
I said "Sorry, I forgot that I was 12. Could you fix my tooth?"
The kind nurse again gently smiled and said "you can go down the street here, then you will see another dental clinic. That's for you."
Now in Paraguay, I wonder what memory I will get.
Hopefully not a painful one.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Asuncion)
Story 118
To Aymara People, the indigenous of Bolivia and Peru, Mt. Illimani has been a divine mountain through their history.
Mt. Illimani has provided good water to the land of Aymara.
Because of the good water, Aymara people were healthy and living long.
At that time a big old condor was living on the top of Mt. Illimani.
The condor was living for more than 1000 years, and it was a messenger of the sacred mountain.
The condor came and told people what they had to do for Mt. Illimani.
October was when Aymara people had to offer rare red cherries to Mt. Illimani in return of the good water.
When October came, the big old condor flew to the Aymara land, and brought the red cherries back to the holy mountain.
There was a man called Alwa Thakhi who was in charge of giving red cherries to the condor.
One October, the harvesting of red cherries did not go well.
People refused to share their red cherries for the offering.
Alwa Thakhi was afraid of that Mt. Illimani might get angry when it did not receive enough amount of red cherries.
He was thinking and thinking how to get out of this trouble, but no ideas came up with him.
One morning Alwa Thakhi saw people carrying big bags of coffee fruit.
Some pieces of the coffee fruit fell from a broken bag.
"Oh, this is it!"
He shouted when he picked up one coffee fruit, it seemed very similar to the red cherry.
Alwa Thakhi ordered coffee fruit farmers to bring their harvest, and he secretly mixed them with little amount of red cherries.
October had arrived.
At noon, a big flapping sound was heard from Mt. Illimani, then the big old condor appeared in the sky over the Aymara land.
Alwa Thakhi kneeled and offered a huge bag of the red cherries.
He knew that the condor was very old and it could not sense things well.
When the condor checked inside the bag, it tilted its head and said "Something is wrong."
Alwa Thakhi respectfully said to the condor "Ah, that is because of the sunlight. Today's sunlight is very strong, it makes the red berries look different."
The condor said "I also smell different."
Alwa Thakhi bowed deeply to the condor and said "Ah, that is because of the wind. Today's wind blows strangely, and it makes the red berries smell strange."
"I must taste the red berries to make sure everything is alright for my mighty Illimani," the condor said and tried to pick one cherry from the bag.
Faster than the condor picking up, Alwa Thakhi grabbed one good red cherry out of bunch of coffee fruit, he offered it to the condor.
The condor ate the cherry and said "Okay, it tastes good enough."
Alwa Thakhi was greatly relieved in his mind, and saw the old condor off back to the divine mountain.
In November, a bad thing started happening to Aymara people.
When they drank water, they suffered from terrible diarrhea.
It never happened before, and nobody knew why it happened except one man.
Alwa Thakhi understood that what he did backfired.
Mt. Illimani got angry at what he had received in October, and it started sending bad water to the Aymara land as a revenge for that.
Now the entire Aymara tribe was in trouble.
Alwa Thakhi had to do something.
One morning, he collected every single piece of the red cherry in the Aymara land, and left for Mt. Illimani.
Mt. Illimani was sacred and no man was allowed to climb.
If anyone stepped into the mountain path, the person would be struck by the lightning and would get killed.
The offering of red cherries was put on the summit of the mountain, so Alwa Thakhi needed to reach the top.
When he arrived at the bottom of Mt. Illimani, he took out a white blanket and wrapped his body with it then lied down on the ground.
Shortly Alwa Thakhi heard a big sound of flapping, that was the big condor living on the summit of Mt. Illimani.
The old condor was not able to see things well, it thought that Alwa Thakhi wrapped by the white blanket was a dead body of a sheep or goat.
The condor swallowed Alwa Thakhi in one gulp, and flew back to the top of the mountain.
When the condor was asleep at night, Alwa Thakhi got himself out from the bottom of the sleeping condor.
He found a huge hole where the offering must have been put, he quickly dived into the hole before the lightning struck him.
At the deep bottom of the hole there was a mystical fountain where the good water was supposed to come out.
But now the fountain gave only dirty water which was a cause of the severe diarrhea.
Alwa Thakhi picked all the coffee fruit, and put the red cherries there instead.
Then he apologized to Mt. Illimani about his mistake, and offered up prayers.
Suddenly inside the huge hole glowed, and the water began to be clean.
Alwa Thakhi was relieved to see that Mt. Illimani forgave him.
Now Alwa Thakhi was going back to the Aymara land.
Since no human was allowed to walk on the mountain, he again wrapped himself with the white blanket and jumped into the mystical fountain.
Immediately Alwa Thakhi was carried into a beautiful river running through inside Mt. Illimani.
Floating in the river the scenery he saw within the divine mountain was unbelievable.
The rock surface was shining in rainbow color.
Each rock and stone was glittering in gold and silver.
Alwa Thakhi felt that he was dreaming of heaven.
The river became larger when it reached at the bottom of Mt. Illimani.
He used his blanket as a float, and survived his river flow until he came back to the Aymara land.
People were very surprised to listen to what Alwa Thakhi told.
They praised Alwa Thakhi as the first man who went to the summit of the holy mountain and came back alive.
Alwa Thakhi kept telling people how important to be honest and not to cheat anybody until he died.
Being honest and sincere became a moral to Aymara people then.
By the way, Alwa Thakhi's white blanket was dyed with the colors of the rocks of Mt. Illimani.
People believed that the blanket with many colors would be a divine protection.
That is why Aymara people use the colorful cloth today.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, El Alto)
Story 117
One day, I saw a man who had a strange luster in his eyes sitting under trees in a park.
I passed him once, but an afterimage of his eyes didn't let me leave there.
In the next moment, I found myself standing in front of him.
He nodded slightly as if he knew that I could not ignore him.
He was a Bolivian tarot reader, and told me to sit next to him.
I personally don't believe fortune-telling, so I was at a loss a bit when he asked me what I wanted to know.
I tried to think hard, then somehow this question came out from my mouth: Would I ever be able to make my own family?
He asked my name, and shuffled his cards.
He put the cards opened on a table, and said "you can have your own family. I see the card of a wife here, and at least one child's card as well."
He added "you can even have your own house."
I said "wow" without emotions.
Then he shuffled his cards again, and placed the cards in front of us one more time.
"I see you are a person who doesn't like to make a plan, but if you decide to do so, you can make your own family."
The cards opened on the table were exactly the same as the first ones we saw.
Then the last word of him made me say "wow" again, but this time with full of emotion.
"Don't worry, you will still keep travelling after you got your own family."
I didn't mention that I was a person who wanted to keep leading a vagabond life as long as possible, but he said "don't worry" just like he read my mind.
I'm not sure what this meant, but I'm kind of sure that there was a reason why his eyes caught me so strongly at that moment, and brought me to talk to him.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, La Paz)
Story 116
In the morning, the weather was fine.
We did not see any dark clouds until noon.
When we reached the final spot to see the salt lake in the early afternoon, I saw that rain clouds were formed in the far sky.
Soon the lightning began to strike.
I did not hear the sound.
The lightning was touching the ground like a tongue of a pangolin when it eats ants underground.
After a while the rain clouds disappeared and the very blue sky covered the eternal white land again.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Salar de Uyuni)
Story 115
When I was in South America, some friends of mine suggested me to go to Machu Picchu.
I responded that I was not very interested in going to places where no people living.
Then one of the friends told me that I should go anyway, I might be getting a message from the spirit of Machu Picchu.
I did not pay attention to what he said, but somehow the idea of going to Machu Picchu had settled in my thoughts since then.
The time had come while I lived in La Paz, the capital of Bolivia.
Taking a night bus I arrived in Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu in the next morning.
Even when I stood in front of the great Machu Picchu view, I was not excited at all.
I decided to visit the place by myself, yet Machu Picchu was the only remains where I could meet no native people living there, and I had no idea what to do there.
Maybe I was tired because of a bumpy bus-ride all night long, I started feeling sick, I could no longer stand being surrounded by countless visitors.
I went away from the crowd, entered a quiet corner where I saw nobody.
There were four empty parted spaces sitting next to each other, they seemed like storages.
As I stepped into the corner I immediately smelled urine strongly.
The corner was well hidden from the main part of Machu Picchu, I assumed that visitors empty their bladders there.
I went down till the end of the alley, then found another small room isolated from the others.
It was located at the edge of the entire Machu Picchu area.
The splendid view of mountains came into sight behind the room.
The previous four rooms were empty, but the last one was not.
There was a big stone-made round table on the ground which I did not understand how it was used in the old times.
I was looking at the table for a while with a blank mind, I forgot that I felt sick until some minutes ago.
Suddenly I heard the buzzing above my head.
That was a blue insect I had never seen before.
It stayed in the air a bit, then flew around my head twice.
The blue wings disappeared behind the wall and never came back.
Standing there alone seeing off the mysterious flying creature, I noticed a strange feeling arose inside myself.
After that event everything looked different to me.
My mind was filled with appreciation even though my body was weak and sick.
On the way back to Cusco I took a train.
In front of my seat there were a father and a daughter sitting.
The curious little girl noticed me and smiled at me through the gap of two seats.
Soon her father found whom his daughter was smiling at, and greeted me friendly.
He was a French scholar of butterflies, staying in Peru for his fieldwork for some months.
He took some days off and visited Machu Picchu with his daughter.
He told me that his daughter had a strange dream last night.
She was somewhere in an ancient town, she was lost there.
She cried and looked for her father, but nobody came.
She strayed into a small alley, squatted at the end and weeped alone.
After while, she heard something hovering above.
She looked up and saw a tiny blue bird.
The blue bird looked at her, and softly flew around her head.
She forgot her fear and stood up.
Soon the blue bird disappeared into the sky, she tried to follow it then suddenly a big door showed up right in front of her.
The door seemed very heavy, she opened it with all her strength of a tiny body.
The door slowly opened, beyond that there was a vast field spreading, and in the middle she saw her father smiling and opening his arms to hold her.
When I listened to that story, I was very surpirsed.
I was not sure if I should tell them what I experienced in Machu Picchu.
I did not talk about my strange encounter until the train reached the station of Cusco after all.
When we were saying a good-bye to each other, I asked the daughter her name.
“I’m Monique,” she said with a beautiful smile.
As I gave her a good-bye hug, I said to her.
“Monique, maybe we will meet again somewhere in the future. I will tell you an interesting story about Machu Picchu then.”
“Okay,” she smiled again.
I winked at the father, and walked towards a bus station where I had to take the bumpy bus ride once more.
I was remembering what my friend told me: I might receive a message from the spirit of Machu Picchu.
He might have been right yet there was no clear answer in life.
In the crowded bus terminal, a young bus conductor was leaning out of the bus door and shouting.
“La Paz, La Paz!”
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Machu Picchu)
Story 114
One day, I was attacked by two men who tried to rob me on a steep slope.
One had a big bottle, the other had a knife.
The bottle guy broke his bottle in front of me to get my attention while the knife guy approached me from behind.
When the knife guy grabbed my backpack, I instinctively pulled myself free of his grasp, and stood face to face with the robbers.
At that moment, my anger level reached max, but my brain was working calmly.
The knife guy was young, and his threatening voice sounded nervous.
I assumed that this new recruit wouldn't be a big problem.
The bottle guy was sturdy, he seemed experienced; he never opened his mouth for a threat nor a breath.
After a second, I shouted at the young guy, and when he flinched a bit, I turned and ran down the slope towards busy streets at the bottom.
I kept shouting loudly at the robbers while running down, but the sturdy guy didn't stop chasing me.
Hearing my shout one boy came out from his house, and saw me and the robber running down the hill flat out.
I looked at his eyes and told him to stay inside home by my eyes (and if he could understand what was happening, I hoped that he would call the police).
Luckily, the sturdy guy and I ran at the same speed so I was sure that he was not able to catch me.
As I expected he gave up chasing me in the middle of the slope, and left with his getaway car.
I smiled like a child who won a foot race when I saw the robbers went.
The beautiful ocean spread out before me at the bottom of the hill.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Valparaiso)
Story 113
I went to a friendly festival between Chile and Argentina that happened at the border mountains of two countries.
People from both sides ate and drank together, danced and sang together day and night.
When I was walking alone, one Argentinian family invited me to their barbecue.
They cooked sheep in a traditional way, each family has their own recipe to flavor meat.
My Chilean friend told me that it was an honor when an outsider was invited by an Argentinian family to their sheep barbecue.
A night party went on till late, and when I woke up around six, nobody was awake.
It was cold and tranquil.
The summit of a mountain was colored in red by the morning sunlight, and the view was reflected on the wetland.
Some cowboys crossed the field.
Condors would soon begin to fly.
Visitors from Chile and Argentina would also start their day slowly.
I was sure that it would be a lovable day.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Paso Planchon Vergara)
Story 112
At that night, the moon did something strange to the ocean.
I was on the beach watching a full moon, and wondering why so many birds and sea animals like sea lions and dolphins were gathering in the middle of the night.
Suddenly, I started hearing fizz all over the ocean, and realized that the water began to swell and bubble.
In no time, countless fish got washed up on the sand and they created a silver line from end to end of the beach.
That was sad to see so many fish died like that, but still it was truly amazing to see how nature works.
According to a local islander who is from a native Chiloe tribe of Chile, this happens once in a year.
That night was it.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Chiloe Island)
Story 111
Once upon a time, all the humans lived in one island in the middle of the ocean.
The moon was the only star to shine the world, there was no sun back then.
The creator did not like the humans who always caused problems of the world.
One day the creator ordered a big whale to swallow the human’s island.
Humans saw the big whale opening its mouth widely and coming toward their island.
They got scared and all of them escaped into the ocean except one brave woman.
The brave woman remained alone in the island, she asked the whale why it was going to swallow the island.
The divine whale answered that the creator wanted it.
The brave woman said that if all the humans disappeared from the world the moon would cry out of sadness and the whole world would go down by tears of the moon.
The whale was annoyed by the woman’s objection, and swallowed the island together with her.
The rest of humans running away from the whale were drown in the rough ocean one after another.
All the humans were gone by the time the moon was rising over the ocean.
The moon found no humans in the world as far as its light reached.
He asked the creator why there was no human.
“They all died,” the creator replied to the moon indifferently.
“Did they? What happened to them?” the moon asked the creator in shock.
“They always brought troubles to the world. They were jealous, greedy, ignorant, selfish, aggressive, and unkind. So I decided to remove them.”
“Oh, my lord, please bring them back. They were not bad. They sometimes made mistakes and troubled us, but we all make mistakes and trouble each other.”
Big tears started to go down on the moon’s cheeks.
“Humans were honest, kind, wise, peaceful, positive and sincere. They could bring beauty to the world. I beg you, my lord. Please bring them back!”
The moon cried and its tears became like waterfalls and fell into the ocean.
“I’m not convinced. Humans always repeat their mistakes and they would never learn to be better,” the creator did not accept the moon’s plea.
“No, no, no...” the moon was devastated completely.
To the moon, humans were the best friends who told the moon so many interesting stories.
Sometimes humans prayed the moon for peace and happiness to their loved ones.
Sometimes humans confessed their secrets to the moon and shared their agony.
The moon knew that how humans were naive, innocent, pure, and vulnerable.
The moon loved humans.
Tears of the moon were endlessly pouring into the ocean, and the sea level was rising rapidly.
Not only islands, but also continents began to sink underwater.
The ocean created brutal storms and lightning, they destroyed high mountains that were still standing on the water.
Stones, rocks, plants, trees, insects, birds, fish, animals, all the things went to the bottom of the ocean as dust.
The creator realized that the situation was getting out of his control, and he had to do something to stop the moon destruct everything.
He summoned the big whale again and ordered to swallow the moon.
Since the sea level became very high, the whale easily caught the moon in its mouth and swallowed it whole.
The world became completely dark without the moonlight.
When the moon was carried to the whale’s stomach, he found an island floating in gastric juices and one woman sitting on it.
Luckily the brave woman was not digested yet.
“Ah, the moon! Why are you here?” the woman stood up and asked the moon in surprise.
“Because humans disappeared from the world, I became very sad and my tears started destroying the entire world. So the creator sent the whale to swallow me.”
The moon was truly relieved to see at least one human survived.
“What can we do now?” the woman asked the moon.
“The world needs light, a bright light that carries power of love.”
“Love?” the woman repeated.
“Yes, love which humans always held in their heart.”
“I understand, the moon. The world needs light of love.”
“Yes,” the moon replied.
“I am ready,” the brave woman said to the moon, and opened her arms and closed her eyes.
The moon shined more brightly than ever, and went into the woman’s body.
The woman’s entire body was wrapped by a shiny white light, she was like a sparkling cross.
After while, the white light faded away and the woman’s stomach began to swell and shine in red.
Bang!
Suddenly bright red fireball flew out from the woman’s stomach.
The fireball was flying around inside the stomach of the big whale, and getting bigger and bigger quickly.
As the fireball became larger, the stomach of the whale became like a big balloon with its heat.
The whale’s body started floating up slowly in the air.
It was like a huge ship departed from the sea and went to its voyage in the sky.
While the whale went up in the dark sky, the fireball kept growing bigger inside the whale’s stomach.
When the whale had reached the top of the sky, the stomach of the whale bursted with a huge sound.
Boom!!
Together with the stomach, entire body of the whale exploded and broke into pieces and scattered around.
By the brilliant light of the huge red fireball, every single piece of the whale body also shined in the dark sky.
They all remained up in the air and became beautiful stars.
How about the brave woman and her island?
They safely fell on the ocean from the sky!
The woman looked up at the gloriously shining fireball that universally lit up the world now.
The fireball was the very moon inspired by humans love.
“The Sun Moon,” the name came out from the woman’s mouth.
“From now on the world would be bright when I rise,” the Sun Moon said.
The Sun Moon’s heat made the ocean’s sea level down, then sunken islands and continents appeared on the water again.
Mighty light of the Sun Moon brought all the drawn lives back to life including humans.
Humans went back to their island where the brave woman welcomed their return.
The brave woman told the other humans what happened.
The creator did not like what he saw in front of his eyes.
He thought the Sun Moon was too powerful and it could be another ruler of the world.
The creator decided to destroy the Sun Moon, but the brave woman and the rest of the humans begged the creator to save the Sun Moon.
Humans sweared that they would do their best to be wiser and more kind and sincere so that the world would remain in harmony.
Humans were very serious about their oath, so the creator finally accepted their entreat, but he added one condition.
“The Sun Moon is still too strong in this world anyway. I would divide it into two, one is the moon, and the other is the sun.”
Since then the sun had been rising in the daytime and the moon did in the nighttime.
The world never got back to darkness again, and humans never forgot the promise with the creator.
(photo & story by Tengyo Kura, Chiloe Island)