peeling paint shadows

peeling paint shadows,

afterimage of old wooden 

stairwell on brick wall

Old wooden stairwells clinging to the outside of brick buildings were once used for accessing the second floor. But time and weather have rotted the wood to the point of liability, so all over town they are being torn down. The once-a-door on this building has been blocked on the outside with a block of wood and covered with plastic, so hopefully no one will fall out. Colorful remnants of paint where the stairs once climbed this brick wall now look like an abstract mural. I am glad no one has painted over it.

black on white habit

black on white habit, 

a nun looks back before

entering the door

In Cusco, the look of concern on this nun's face as she pauses before entering a door makes me wonder what could possibly cause her to worry. Catholicism, brought by the Spanish conquistadors, is still the predominant religion in Peru and the Roman Catholic Church is greatly supported the government. The Church is largely tax-exempt and many clergy receive monthly government stipends. Catholicism is the official religion of the military and the only religion taught in public schools. However, indigenous people, like many throughout the world, have adapted Catholic deities and festivals to their own beliefs and customs. The Inka Viracocha, the Creator, is identified with the Christian God, and Pachamama, the Earth Mother, with the Virgin Mary. Fiestas often occur on Catholic feast days, but often coincide with precolonial festivals tied to the agricultural calendar. Thus, beliefs come to coexist and blend together.

forged iron, whittled stick

forged iron, whittled stick

joined together to secure

a plain wooden door

The latch on this door in Temple of the Moon pueblo is meant to keep it closed, yet anyone could easily remove the stick to gain entrance. It is a study in contrasts. The stick thrust through the latch is rather flimsy and rough compared with the forged iron. But the simple iron latch, though much stronger and more elegantly designed, is a bit rusted and nicked around the edges. The wooden door is covered with scratches, grooves, stains, and marked by a knot in one of the boards. The simplicity, imperfections and transience create an earthy beauty that the Japanese call wabi sabi.

blue door, yellow wall

blue door, yellow wall –

reflections of sky and sun 

transform wood and clay

We are on the bus, leaving Cusco for our destination in the Sacred Valley. Fascinated by the colors and textures of the buildings, I keep up a steady barrage of snapshots, hoping to capture a small fragment of the passing scenery. I am always amazed by a lucky catch like this one. The bright blue paint on the worn wooden door and the ocher plaster on the adobe wall bring the essence of the Andean sky and sun down to earth. So it is with earth-bound humans, always reaching for what lies beyond.

woman in red skirt

woman in red skirt

entering a turquoise door in

a mango courtyard

On Amantani Isla we are staying at a charming hospedaje run by a local family. The paneled wooden doors radiate the same intense turquoise as the sky above Titicaca Cocha, and the earth-plastered walls exude the color of ripe mango. While I am washing up at the communal sink, a woman in a red skirt passes by and pauses at the threshold of a bright blue door on the far side of the courtyard. There is something inviting and mysterious about a threshold. What lies beyond?

latch on a blue door

 

latch on a blue door

on a stone house on a stone street –

dog waiting outside

Portals fascinate me, that gap between outside and inside, here and there, open or closed, allowing in or keeping out or passing through The latch on this door in Ollantaytambo has obviously been used a lot, from the circular mark worn through the blue paint, but there is no lock on the latch and the door is slightly ajar. Anyone might enter, or exit, at any moment. The dog, standing outside, head down, does not seem to be guarding the door but rather to be patiently waiting for someone to appear.

inside turquoise doors

inside turquoise doors 

a little boy peers out as

his brother runs to school

Traveling on yet another bus, tired but unwilling to take my eyes off the passing scenery, I keep glimpsing fleeting moments of beauty. I keep my camera turned on and raised to the window. Somewhere between Urubamba and Ollantaytambo, I spot a little boy in a blue school uniform and backpack leaping away from a pair of turquoise doors. When I look at the frozen moment on the view screen, I notice the other little boy peeping from behind the closed door, perhaps wistfully watching his older brother run off to school.

the ancient doorway

the ancient doorway

witnesses many moving 

forms quickly passing

This stone doorway in the colonial town of Pisac may be hundreds of years old, though not as old as the Inka fortress overlooking the village. The weather-beaten wooden door may not be as old as the stone arch, but even so it has probably stood far longer than any of the passers-by moving quickly in their lively costumes.

between turquoise lake

between turquoise lake

and towering white clouds, a door

of bright baby blocks

Of all the amazing doors I have seen in Peru, this one is the most spectacular, all the more so because of the simple setting, a cracked adobe wall halfway up the path to the Temple of Pachatata at the top of one of the two mountains on the island of Amantani. It often seems that the more barren the landscape, the more colorful the costumes and decorations, and this is certainly the case in the dress and decor on this rocky island. Other doors on Amantani are painted in bright monotones, but none of them are as graphic and eye-popping as this one of bright blue baby blocks.