A L U M N I M A G A Z I N E - Colby-Sawyer College

Unimagined
Opportunities:
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The goal of my 2009 sabbatical was to experience first-hand the native cultures of the
Mayan and Incan peoples of Central and South America in the hope of discovering the
connections between ancient traditions and contemporary practices.
To this end I spent 15 days in Belize, a week on Mexico’s
Yucatan peninsula, and another nine days visiting Peru’s Sacred
Valley and Lake Titicaca. During these excursions, I encountered
remarkable ancient sites situated deep within the earth,
in caves like Belize’s Actun Tunichil Muknal and Barton Creek
and Mexico’s underground cenotes (crystal clear reservoirs of
water used by the Mayas throughout the
Yucatan). I explored magnificent ruins
located high in the Peruvian Andes at
the incomparable Machu Picchu and
the rambling structures of Pisac and
Ollantaytambo. Sheltered by overhanging
mangrove trees and surrounded by a
rainforest containing iguanas, anteaters,
howler monkeys, yellow crowns, green
kingfishers, and flocks of colorful parrots,
my Mayan guide and I paddled a kayak
down the river used by natives for hunting
and fishing for hundreds of years. In
all I toured and studied ten historic sites
Kayaking through the mangrove tree jungles of a river
in Punta Gorda, Belize, where iguanas and anteaters
kept me company and I was serenaded by howler
monkeys and a flock of parrots.
by Professor Patrick Anderson
Looking down on the magnificent ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu.
in Belize, five in Mexico and six in Peru, all of which provided
me with a physical sense of the world inhabited by the Mayas
and Incas. I experienced first-hand the landscapes and dwellings,
the flora and fauna, the sights and sounds and smells in
which the native populations thrived centuries ago—and in
which many still carve out their lives today.
No single moment of my sabbatical
can equal the first glimpse I had
of Machu Picchu as the mist began to
lift at daybreak on Easter morning and
a rainbow stretched over this magnificent
mountaintop retreat, the only Incan
enclave not discovered and destroyed by
the invading Spanish in the 16th century.
Also among my most memorable
experiences was the time I spent with
the Shos, a Mopan Maya family who live
deep in the jungle of southwest Belize in
the tiny village of Na Luum Ca, which
translates to “Mother Earth.” Never was
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