Tunesday : Top of the World

Top of the World

(Bettis, J / Carpenter, R) Performed by The Carpenters

Such a feeling's coming over me
There is wonder in most everything I see
Not a cloud in the sky, got the sun in my eyes
And I won't be surprised if it's a dream

Everything I want the world to be
Is now coming true especially for me
And the reason is clear, it's because you are here
You're the nearest thing to heaven that I've seen

I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around
Your love's put me at the top of the world

Something in the wind has learned my name
And it's telling me that things are not the same
In the leaves on the trees and the touch of the breeze
There's a pleasing sense of happiness for me

There is only one wish on my mind
When this day is through I hope that I will find
That tomorrow will be just the same for you and me
All I need will be mine if you are here

I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around
Your love's put me at the top of the world

I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around
Your love's put me at the top of the world

So, as I've been anticipating over the past couple of weeks, Dave and I just returned from our trip to Peru and we had a fantastic time: the accommodations were absolutely first class, we met a lovely group of people, and just everything about Peru and its people was fascinating. I will probably write about the trip in more detail soon (I eventually did here), but for today I just want to follow up on what I was talking about two weeks ago: my enduring fascination with ancient spaces and space aliens (sigh: I do understand how flaky that makes me sound).

To begin: as we were travelling towards Nazca in order to take a small plane flyover of the Nazca Line Drawings, our tour guide, Jhonn, asked if anyone knew why the figures had been created. Being a smart aleck, Dave said, "It was space aliens", and various people laughed (I can't believe how many people were on their way to the Nazca Line Drawings and had never heard about any alien connection), but the guide took Dave seriously; saying that he respected all opinions. Then he gave several reasons for why the figures were "probably not" created for or by aliens, but then shared this folk tale that was collected in the last century: According to local legend, there once was a flying god who came from the sky, and while he was around, there was plentiful rain and a bountiful harvest. As soon as the god left, however, the area became a desert once more, food became more scarce, and the people drew the figures on the Nazca Plain in order to entice the god back again. Now, I am absolutely not saying that the figures were created to attract alien attention, but I would like to point out that this folk legend isn't incompatible with an alien visitation: substitute "alien" for "god" and it says the same thing (and it is only these "what if" musings that entertain me, not an actual belief in alien visitation; I can't believe how many caveats I feel the need to use in order to not look nutty). Fun fact: after carefully shaping our opinions and "disproving" the alien connection, Jhonn then said that he believes there are aliens living on Earth but that they don't interact with or give their technology to humans. Of course, I found that nutty.

The figure known as "The Astronaut" taken with my iPhone from the air.

A couple of days later, we were touring the ruins of Ollantaytambo, and when we came to the quarry area, our new guide, Oscar, told us that some experts think that the vitrified rock and laser-precise angles of the carved blocks to be found there offered proof of advanced technology; perhaps provided by space aliens. Someone piped up, "There's your proof, Dave". Everyone laughed, and I turned to the man next to me and said, "Dave doesn't actually believe in aliens -- he makes jokes to mock me for watching Ancient Aliens", and when this man said that he had never even heard of the show, I explained its appeal to me as a quasi-historical show about mysteries with a glee-inducing reality TV element that makes me feel happily superior to the true nutcases (and isn't that the only reason anyone watches reality TV?) Another man asked, "You're saying this is proof of aliens?" and I replied, "Oscar said this is taken as evidence by people who believe in aliens, but he doesn't believe in them himself." This man looked at me in all seriousness and said, "Well, I believe in aliens". I had no response to that.

That dark black rectangle on the rock face has been vitrified by high heat.

Soon after that, we arrived at Machu Picchu, and as I had planned, I got Dave to take a picture there of me reading Chariots of the Gods; the book that started the whole ancient aliens buzz back in the '70s. Some people in our group knew what it was, and some people asked me with naked fascination what it was all about, and I did my very best to make sure people knew that I had carried the book up there ironically (when I posted the picture on Facebook the same day, the first comment fittingly called me a smartass). Fun fact: as we were eating lunch afterwards, a retired cop in the group, Ed, said that when he was flipping through the TV stations the night before, he had found a show on the History Channel that outlined all of the connections between aliens, the Nazca Lines and Machu Picchu. I told him it must have been the show Ancient Aliens, and that while it was certainly cool that he caught the show the same week he was seeing these same sites, he shouldn't actually take it too seriously. Ed reasserted that the show had been on the History Channel, so it must have been about real history, and I pointed out that I've only ever seen Ancient Aliens on the History Channel -- and that's probably confusing for a lot of people (and maybe that means it isn't actually the harmlessly mockable show that I find it to be).

Here's my take away: when you see these kinds of awe-inspiring structures that were built by premodern civilisations, you can't help but respect the knowledge and engineering and sheer hard work that went into their construction. And when you start to talk about how they couldn't have possibly been accomplished without alien intervention, you're actually saying, "These people were too dumb or ignorant or backward to have done this", and that's insulting and offensive. The Incas were genius engineers -- the colonising Spaniards built their first homes upon the foundations of the Inca buildings they deconstructed, and when the big earthquake of 1650 hit, the Spanish construction toppled while those rock foundations (set without mortar) still stand today (under the rebuilt Spanish homes) -- and the Incas didn't need alien intervention.

Modern construction upon Inca foundations.

This was (is) my settled opinion on the matter, but here's a curious coda: as we were leaving Lake Titicaca, yet another tour guide, Ivan, told us that the area was known for its interdimensional gates. He told us of people having been seen disappearing into thin air, and that it actually happened often enough that the government created a protected zone: no one can now enter these areas where they might accidentally fall through one of these interdimensional gates. He then spoke of how his parents and grandparents told stories of mysterious flying objects and flashing lights appearing over the lake -- memories of such events predate modern man's use of electricity and flying craft -- and that he personally believed 100% that aliens visit the area. As he was the third tour guide to bring up aliens, I have to assume that the government officials coach the front line workers to keep the mysteries alive in order to encourage tourism. But would Ivan really have made all that up about the unique homeland of which he was so obviously proud? I have no idea.

And to bring it all full circle: this was an anniversary trip for me and Dave, and I love that he humoured me by letting me choose where we would go. In the end, he was also fascinated by everything we saw and experienced. And he was such a good sport, letting people think he was the alien-obsessed nutjob out of the two of us (not that he minded the attention...). Even after feeling crummy all night the night before, Dave hiked with me up the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu, and both literally and figuratively, I've never felt more on top of the world.

I'm on the top of the world looking down on creation
And the only explanation I can find
Is the love that I've found ever since you've been around
Your love's put me at the top of the world

And as for the aliens: I'm philosophically aligned with The X-Files; I want to believe (but actually don't, but when a local tour guide like Ivan assures me they've been seen above and around Lake Titicaca, I can't help but wonder, but...)

Later edit:

I eventually caught that episode of Ancient Aliens, and the part about Machu Picchu was actually pretty interesting; and for all the reasons that I like that show. It begins with a myth about the founder of the Inca Empire, Pachacuti: as he was first building his empire (which meant confronting and massacring any peoples that stood in his way; much as the Spaniards later did to his own people) Pachacuti eventually came up against a larger army. Gone off to meditate on the problem, the emperor was gifted a magic mirror from the sky, and based on its powers, was able to bring an army of stones to life and crush the resistors. The "ancient astronaut theorists" believe this to have been alien technology, and likely what the Inca then used in order to move the massive stones of their fabled construction. As I stated above, I don't think it's fair to assume that "primitive" peoples needed alien intervention to achieve those things that we don't understand, but it makes for an interesting story nonetheless:

And the best part about watching this episode is that Mallory watched it with me, and as she is studying to be an Archaeologist, she was actually interested in the overall theme of the show (which isn't apparent from this clip): how new technologies (like that ground penetrating radar) are revolutionising the practise of Archaeology itself. And of course the best part was just being with my little girl, just like the best part of the entire Peru trip was being with my favourite guy.