Why Snakes are Wise

I discovered a treasure the other day. The Museo Inca (Inca Museum) off the Plaza de Armas is well worth the small entrance fee. There is a wealth of information contained therein. My friend Alicia is studying tourism and was working at the Museo Inca for a while. Saturday was her last day there, so she took my friend Marisol, Carrie and I around the museum. It was a great learning experience. There were many things that I learned (several that really stuck out to me), and one I wanted to share.
The Inca trinity of animals that they worshipped were the condor, the puma and the snake. The condor was representative of the heavens and of freedom. The puma was representative of the earth and of strength. And the snake was representative of the underworld and of wisdom. I naively assumed I knew why the snake represented wisdom (after all...now the snake was more cunning than all the other creatures God had created, right?). But when Alicia asked why we thought, that wasn't it. She proceeded to explain why the snake represents wisdom.
Gliding her hand from side to side, curving back and forth, she represented the movement of the snake. The snake, she explained, represents wisdom because it moves back and forth, weaving in and out. In the same way, as we go throughout life, moving back and forth, going in and out among many various people and interactions, we gain wisdom. Just like the snake goes back and forth, so do we and as we do, we gain wisdom.
I'd never thought about it that way before, but when she said it, it made perfect sense. Often I realize that life is a process here. In order to do anything, it seems there is a process to do and prerequisites that need to happen first. And I weave in and out, back and forth. And many times, in the process, there are interactions with other people. Weaving in and out, back and forth, gaining wisdom. Might not be anything profound or life-changing, but there are always interactions, always experiences. There is always this moving in and out, back and forth, collecting, gleaning, learning, experiencing. And so wisdom is gained and things are learned. In and out, back and forth, ever gliding on, like the snake.
And that is why, at least in the worldview of the Incas, snakes personify wisdom.