Beyond El Misti

For Carolina, this was just another trip to Uncle Jorge’s Alpaca Ranch. For Teresa, this day would be a day of firsts that begun as soon as the sun rose over Arequipa.
“Wake up girls, so you don’t miss your plane,” said Carolina’s mother.
“What time is it?” asked Carolina.
“It’s time to get out of bed. That’s what time it is.”
Teresa hopped out of bed and rechecked her luggage before heading off to the bathroom. Carolina grabbed her wristwatch from the nightstand. It was just past 7 o’clock in the morning. The plane didn’t leave until noon. Carolina grabbed the blankets and pulled them over her head.
“Venga! Venga!” said her mother.
“I’ll get up when Teresa gets out of the shower,” replied Carolina.
“She’s been out of the shower for twenty minutes. We’re waiting for you so we can eat breakfast.”
Carolina stretched her arm from beneath her cover and snagged her wristwatch. She pulled it beneath the covers and checked the time. Now it was 9 o’clock.
“Ay! Que la dia!” Carolina quickly went from her bed to the bathroom. She showered, changed and joined everyone for breakfast.
“How many eggs would you like?” asked Aunt Beatriz.
“One, please.”
“Just one? It’s going to be a long day.”
“Okay, two.”
As Carolina ate breakfast, Teresa retrieved her luggage from the bedroom and loaded it into the truck. After a few minutes of waiting, Teresa went to the bedroom again. She retrieved Carolina’s luggage and placed it in the back of the pickup.
Still, Carolina did not rush. Two hours remained until the plane left for Cusco. Carolina ate her eggs and drank her papaya juice.
“Let’s go,” said Teresa anxiously.
“We have plenty of time,” answered Carolina.
“Dear, it’s better to be early than late. Put away your dishes and let’s go to the airport.”
“Okay,” sighed Carolina.
She joined Teresa in the front seat while her father sat in the driver’s seat. The rest of her family gathered around, wishing the girls a safe trip and kissing them good-bye.
As Jose Vasquez drove the pickup truck to the airport, Teresa fidgeted with the radio, changing it from one station to another and then back again.
“Would you pick a station?” asked Carolina.
“There’s no music on the radio.”
“Honey, it’s Sunday morning. There’s not going to be.”
“There has to be somewhere,” she insisted.
Teresa moved the tuner back and forth between both ends of the dial. She passed the same choir singing gospel three times. Carolina reached over and turned off the radio.
“There’s nothing on,” she said. Carolina held her breath as she looked down the road. Teresa looked up at her, saying nothing. Carolina did not want this to be a long trip.
The blue pickup truck turned onto the offramp and drove up to the departure gate. Without saying a word, Carolina got out of the pickup truck and unloaded her luggage from the back. She carried it past her cousin and towards the sliding doors.
“Carolina, aren’t you going to say Goodbye?”
Carolina’s father looked as if he wanted to scold her for being so rude to her cousin. Carolina quickly fixed her attitude.
“Of course I’ll say goodbye.” She returned to her father. He hugged and kissed her. Carolina helped Teresa with her luggage as they walked into the airport.
Carolina dug into her backpack as she reached the line at the ticket counter. “Here’s your boarding pass and here’s a Guava fruit.”
“What do I do with the Guava?” asked Teresa.
“Put it in your backpack until you’re hungry.”
“Of course!” giggled Teresa, “I’m so busy thinking about flying that I can’t think straight.”
“It’s okay. Just do what I do.”
Carolina and Teresa waited in line at the ticket counter, then Carolina led Teresa to the security check-point. They got into line and waited again. The line at the check-point moved slowly. After awhile, she sat on her backpack. The line moved a few feet forward and Teresa scooted her backpack along the tile. She did this until they reached the carpeting in front of the check-point.
“Take off your watch and your pendant,” said Carolina.
“My lucky frog?”
“Your lucky frog is made of metal. If you go through those gates, you’ll set off the alarm.”
Teresa did not want to set off the alarm. She took off her pendant and put it in the plastic tub with her watch and several pieces of jewelry from Carolina.
Carolina dumped her backpack on the conveyor belt. Teresa did the same with her backpack. They walked through the check-point without further problem, collecting the items in the plastic tub as they reached the other side.
Teresa followed Carolina to a row of seats and sat down beside her.
“Now what?” asked Teresa.
“Now we wait.”
Teresa frowned. All they had done since they arrived at the airport was wait. Teresa didn’t want to wait anymore. She looked at her watch. It said 11:14 am.
“Go to the restroom. That’ll waste some time.” Carolina pointed out the restrooms at the far end of the terminal. Teresa got up and walked towards the restrooms.
Along the way, there were newsstands, restaurants, and other waiting areas. A clothes rack holding sweatshirts saying “Arequipa” on the front stood at the entrance of one store. Teresa looked at them for a moment then went inside. She went to the candy rack and bought a pack of bubble gum. After she paid for the gum, she unwrapped a piece and put it in her mouth. After a few chews, she swallowed it whole. She immediately unwrapped another piece, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it, too.
She looked around the store until Carolina came up beside her.
“Come on, it’s time to go.”
Teresa looked at her watch. Finally, time had come. She followed Carolina to the ticketing gate and waited in her final line, ready to board the plane.
Carolina led the way into the tunnel and onto the plane. She waited as other passengers loaded their baggage. Carolina found her row and got into her seat.
“Can I have the window seat?” asked Teresa.
“Oh, sure.” Teresa settled into her seat and Carolina settled into hers. They waited again, as the remaining passengers found their seats. A flight attendant walked up and down the aisle, instructing people to fasten their seat belts.
“Nervous?” Carolina asked Teresa.
“A little.”
Finally, the jet engines whirred to life and the plane backed out onto the tarmac. It waited in line for other planes to take off. The plane turned onto the runway. The sound of the engines grew louder and away they went. Before Teresa realized it, the plane left the ground.
“We’re up!”
“I know.”
“That was easy.”
“Usually it’s the landing that’s the scary part.”
“Oh.”
“It’s not that bad,” reassured Carolina.
There was another whirring sound. Wing flaps pivoted up. White streams of wind flowed over the flaps as the plane lifted higher and higher. Teresa watched the wing until the jet stream disappeared and the wing flaps titled back into position.
The jet bumped slightly as it flew through the turbulent air. Teresa grabbed Carolina’s hand and held it until the turbulence vanished.
Buildings faded away as the plane climbed through the sky. Only the Andes Mountains stood in the way. Brown ridges topped with snowcaps passed below. From Teresa’s window, the mountains looked small.
It reminded her of ridges on the world globes in her classroom. Often, she ran her hands over those mountains, carefully tracing each peak.
Teresa put her hand to the window, tracing the mountain shapes.
“What are you doing?” said Carolina.
“Touching the tops of the mountains.”
Carolina shot her cousin a look, “No you’re not. You’re touching the window.”
“I’m touching them in my mind.”
“That’s silly.”
“My imagination knows no bounds,” she replied.
“I guess not,” said Carolina as she settled back into her seat and continued reading the directions on a blue bag she pulled from the seat pocket in front of her.
Unfortunately, El Misti passed by the windows on the other side of the plane. Teresa twisted her neck and looked along her row, watching the giant mountain pass by.
Clouds wrapped gently around the jet as it rose through them. Teresa wondered what they felt like. She guessed they felt like cold air, and that was all. She imagined more, but she knew if there was more, the plane couldn’t cut through them effortlessly, like her hand gliding in the wind outside the pickup truck window.
Above the clouds, everything was calm. No birds, no planes, no mountains. Only the clouds below and the sun above. Now they passed over the cottony clouds, crusing smoothly to Cusco.
Teresa looked around then sat back in her seat, closed her eyes, and took a short nap.
Seamlessly, Teresa passed from one place in time to another. When she awoke, the plane had descended below the clouds. Unlike the brown terrain of Arequipa, small rivers cut through lush green canyons leading into Cusco. Deep inside the canyon, a small brown patch of village dotted the landscape.
“Is that Cusco?”
“It sure is.”
“It’s so small,” said Teresa.
“Cusco is only about one-third the size of home.”
Teresa continued looking out her window as the plane floated into the canyon. The wings slid backwards, revealing large rectangular slots in the wing. Teresa glanced over at Carolina, then looked back at the wing. Since Carolina didn’t say anything, Teresa figured this was normal.
The pilot steered the plane into the canyon. The plane tilted slowly to the left, banking toward the runway. As the plane tilted, Teresa lost sight of the ground.
After a few moments, the plane leveled off and the ground came back into view. Teresa spotted individual buildings as they neared the runway. The control tower was just outside her window, too.
Teresa sat upright in her seat, grasping both armrests tightly. The wheels bounced gently on the runway, then touched down. Airbrakes shuddered noisily as the plane slowed down. Luggage in the bins above Teresa’s head rattled against the plastic shelves. Soon, the plane slowed and Teresa could hear people clicking off their seatbelts. She had just successfully completed her first plane trip.
“You ready?” asked Carolina.
Teresa nodded.
They waited for the plane to reach the gate, then they too unbuckled their lap belts. Carolina and Teresa put on their backpacks and exited the plane.
The airport terminal at Cusco was smaller, too. A single hallway of passengers, leaving as they were arriving. Teresa figured some of the people were headed to Arequipa. She thought it would be easier if they could just snap their fingers and switch places.
“Stay close and follow me,” said Carolina.
“Where are we going?”
“We’re going to pick up our luggage.”
Carolna rode the escalator downstairs to the baggage claim. They waited until they saw their luggage, then removed it from the conveyor belt. Just then, a woman in a blue dress approached the girls.
“Hey girls!”
“Hey Aunt Paola. Where’s Uncle Jorge?”
“He’s busy repairing a hole in the roof of the barn. It rained last night and some of the Alpaca got wet.”
“Will we be fixing the barn, too?” asked Teresa.
“Heavens no! He’s up on the roof replacing shingles. I want you to stay as close to the ground as possible.”
They walked out to the parking lot to Aunt Paola’s compact car. “There’s not much room in the trunk, so one of you will have to share the back seat with the luggage.”
Teresa decided to squeeze into the back, letting Carolina stretch her long legs in the front seat. Teresa’s head twisted this way and that, taking int the sites.
“See that?” said Aunt Paola, “That’s Santa Teresa,”
“Really?”
“Yes, and there’s the Plaza de Armas.”
“That can’t be. The Plaza de Armas is in Arequipa.”
“Mmm-hmm, and we have one, too. There are many all through South America, dear,” and before Teresa could say a word, Paola continued on, “Over there is the Iglesia de la Compania and that fountain
Although Cusco had a Plaza de Armas, Teresa still could tell it apart from the one in Arequipa. This one was smaller. Also, there was something else.
“None of the buildings here are white.”
“That’s because our stones are from the earth and yours are from the volcanoes.”
“Do you think any other city has white buildings?”
“Maybe,” replied Aunt Paola, “but I can’t think of any.”
They turned up a street and drove up the slope of the mountain. After a short distance, Aunt Paola turned into the driveway at the end of the road.
“Here we are,” announced Aunt Paola.
Teresa looked down the road as she got out of the car. It sat further up the mountain than any of the other houses. Sure enough, Uncle Jorge was out fixing the roof of the barn. Alpaca grazed on the slope behind the house.
“Yoo-hoo! Uncle Jorge, we’re here!” Carolina called out. Uncle Jorge stopped pounding his hammer on the roof just long enough to wave back to Carolina, then continued his work.
They unloaded the luggage and went inside. Two empty bedrooms were set up for each of the girls. Carolina chose the big bedroom, leaving the small one for Teresa.
“Is anyone ready for dinner?” asked Aunt Paola
“I’m really tired. Could we rest a little bit first?” replied Teresa.
“Just let me know when you’re ready.”
Carolina unpacked her clothes and got her room ready. She figured there was always time to rest later. Teresa wanted to see the Alpaca, but she was tired from the trip. She laid in her new bed and looked around the room. After a few moments, she closed her eyes for a short nap. Although it was a strange place, it was comfortable enough to call her summer home.