SOME OF THE THINGS EUSEBIO TOLD US

We drank throaty red wine in Eusebios’s bar. Yvette, one
Of three Catalans, asked him to tell the legend of the
Lake. She wanted it to be romantic. Stood beside the
Fire, he told how, before the sun was born, people lived in
Obscurity. They guessed that by mating the masculine
Promontory of Isla del Sol with the feminine
Promontory of Copacabana, things might change. So
The sun appeared. I missed a lot of details. We all
Spoke in second language Spanish. Eusebio’s father
Only spoke Aymarac. He came from eight generations
Of islanders who lived to a hundred. CNN had been
To his bar. Bringing scientists to root out the tunnels,
One of the island’s million secrets. Across to Puno.
Or the Isla de la Luna. Where the virgins were kept.
And one sacrificed, every hundred years. Now they kill a
Sheep. There are three computers on the island, but no-one
Knows how to use them. He told us that the Incas were still
Incas. Nothing had changed. What matters is the way you think.

isla de sol 5.10.04