It's a strange kind of feeling to step out from the noise of a busy city like Puno and into a deserted strip of rock in which is carved a Star Gate. I felt I though I had walked onto a set of the Fifth Element, and I waited for the Mondoshawan to appear with their key to open the doorway.
It is no wonder that while standing in Aramu Muru, people's imaginations go straight to the supernatural. The Puerta de Hayu Marca, or Gate of the Gods, is curiously inviting, and each of us stood up to it wondering into what realm we might disappear. Our guide explained that the keyhole is situated right at the Solar Plexus while standing, and better yet, right at the Third Eye when kneeling. As I knelt and closed my eyes, concentrating on the keyhole, I saw the Sacred Golden Disc from legends of yore. The disc is said to be a sacred key belonging to the Gods of the Seven Rays. It opens a tunnel-shaped vortex lit with blue light; those who go through, do not return. I decided not to turn the key; my parents would have been upset. I could easily make out, however, the images of those who had crossed the portal etched into the stone around it. Look carefully and you'll see their faces in the photo below...
A set of stairs starts at the bottom of the doorway to the left, crafted along the crag, and leads up to the City of the Gods. From the bottom, it is difficult to see the unique, geographical formations that lie beyond. It is a curious rock forest made of sandstone plates whose shapes again stir the imagination. Another legend claims that the Andean Gods lived there; human heroes could access this garden through the Hayu Marca and gain immortal life. We were much more prosaic about it, climbing up the stairs and around the stones that formed crests and mounds. We each found our vantage point, some up high and others (like me) more carefully seated. All of us, however, could find hidden forms of Eagles, Bears and Pumas, the same ones which no doubt inspired our predecessors to turn this site into a sacred one.
