Jorge from the Salkantay Mountain Side

About Jorge the 2 year old a.k.a the king of the hill: I am not going to make any assumptions and conclusions to pretend I know him but after several hours of hanging out with Jorge our short interaction is worth mentioning. He had an impact on me.... As we walked up to Soraypampa at about 7pm right after sunset we saw this little hut on the left side. Literally about the size of 3 office cubicles. Running out comes Jorge. There is one other backpacker pitching his tent and Jorge "helps" him by breaking his tent pole :) and then he notices us. He runs up and starts "helping" us. Without saying hi or pausing to consider us as strangers he sets out to help us. To me at the moment he was a form of pure being... We finish the tent and he runs off to go sleep. He can't speak much and when he does its of a local dialect. I speak to his brother Illario and pay our camp dues cutting out an extra "tip" for Jorge's help. Not that he cares about the value of money ... ... ... In the morning we are woken up at 5am by his father. He is kicking us out because he wants to bring in horses and our tents are scaring them away. So I grab all our stuff and move it to the middle of the field. The first wave of guided Trekkers arrive, the second wave arrives, the third wave arrives and they keep coming. Jorge's mom dresses him up so he is all cute and attracts tourists for pictures which = Nuevo soles. He doesn't care and ends up making breakfast with me and Marek. He is so happy... Observes the cooker, the food ( I share my meal with him) and runs around. What strikes my attention is his full being and presence. The current moment is all for him. He is in it! He doesn't know anything else. He has no ingrained beliefs, ways or conventions. He ends up running around and jumping across the water stream. Back and forth. Laughing and jumping. I observe him and I feel happy. It's that simple. Obviously at the end of the day I am happy with what I have and wouldn't change a thing nor would I compare a thing. It was just a pleasant experience to see a pure being in play. Thank you Jorge
Read less