Fathers, Hope, Potatoes

We are back in Cusco after our adventure to Nacion Queros. First we hoped on a bus to Ocongate, a town close to the territory of Nacion Queros. We snacked on Peruvian animal crackers (a favorite) while we altered and re-altered our plans to reach Queros.
A day later we piled our stuff and ourselves into an open-bed truck bound for the snowy pass above Quiko (a village a part of Nacion Queros). From the pass we hiked down into Quiko. We spent more time than planned in Quiko. We waited for Alex (still sick with Dengue) to ride a horse into the village a day late. Then a furious hail storm (WHY are we ALWAYS caught in winter weather?!) kept us from moving on. The next day three sickies (Alex, Ecca, and Caiti) rode out (headed back to the clinic in Cusco for more care), and the rest of us hiked down to Quiko Chico (¨little Quiko¨) to begin our homestays.
In Quiko Chico we lived with families and learned more about the ancient culture of Queros.
I wasnt sure how to go about explainting the past week, so Ive organized it by topic, the easiest way I know how:

NACTION QUEROS
Nacion Queros is a community of people who have maganed to preserve Incan tradition and culture. They marry within the community to preserve Incan blood, too. They speak only Quechua; their knowledge of Spanish language is about as equal as mine, sometimes even worse! The women would always yell things at us in Quechua, and they didnt understand why we didnt know what they were saying. Nature is a very important part of the preserved Incan culture and life. To them, the all of the earth is living! Water has energy, and the mountains (the ¨Apus¨) are guardians. Each day we would chew coca and offer thanks to the Apus; they know each mountain by name. The people have the ability to sit on the ground and listen to the earth, who offers them advise and wisdom. The Andean enviroment around Queros is nearly inhospitable. It is bitter cold, the altitude makes even simple tasks difficult, and the only food that grows is potatoes. So WHY have people chosen to live here for so many centuries? According to the people, the land around Queros is some of the most sacred in the world. Even in my short time there, I was able to sense its holiness, too.

WEAVINGS
Weaving is a huge part of life in Queros, and one of their only means of livelyhood. The complicated patterns and advanced techniques have been passed down since the time of the Inca. The textiles are truely the most incredible Ive even seen! Every man and woman in the town is constantly spinning yarn from llama or sheep wool- they do it as necessarily and unconsiously as they breathe. Upon first arriving, we received a display of textiles that would make a rainbow look dull. We ALL took advantange and nearly bought out the town.

HOMESTAYS
In Quiko Chico, we split up and got to live in houses with families. When I say ¨houses¨ I actually mean one room stone huts with grass roofs and straw floors. The houses are so simple that every families owns at least several (in different villages and around each of their potato fields). To cook, we built a wood fire on the floor in the casita. Each meal was potato soup; often supplimented with the special rice and pasta that we brought in from Ocongate. For flavor was salt and dirt. The food was basic, but it was still good. During the day we got live the lives of our families: harvesting potatoes, herding llamas, and sheering sheep. It was absolutely the most rural Ive ever been (wins over the buffalo dung village in Nepal by FAR), and I LOVED experiencing the ancient life and culture of the area.

PACHA MANKA
Upon our arrival in Quiko Chico, the village welcomed us with a Pacha Manka ceremony. This is basically a sacrifice and a feast in honor or Pachamama (mother earth). We caught and killed two rams, and got to help with the skinning and preparing of the meats. I participated in the ritual slaughter of two goats in Nepal, but this experience was different and much more personal. Rather than decapitating the sheep in one strike of the knife (like the goats in Nepal), each sheep was killed by slowly (probably as quickly as possible, but still slowly...) slitting their throughts. After the slaughter, those of us who were willing got to help clean the animal. I have never dealt so closely with such a recently dead animal. There is something very powerful and disturbing about skinning an animal when its body is still warm. This experience has made me see even more clearly the connection between a piece of meat and a living, breathing animal. In fact, the two are inseperable. I think the practice of eating meat is fine, as long as you understand the difference between meat and animal is actually no difference at all.

MIGUEL ANGEL
Miguel Angel is the teenage son of the Dragons contact in Queros. He is also my new big crush. I think he could have been best friends with any of my brothers in Nepal. Just wait until you see pictures of him, youll fall in love, too!

SEÑOR PAPAS
In the Quechua language, there is only one word that means Father, Hope, and Potato. Mr. Aloo Aloo Potato Head Principal Sir (one of my favorite characters from Nepal) has finally met his match in every citizen of Nacion Queros! I have NEVER met people as passionate about- or dependent on- potatoes. Potatoes are the only food that grows in Queros, and as I mentioned before, they eat them everyday. There are over 200 types of potatoes grown in Queros, and each person knows every single type by look and flavor. Each day, men would open up woven mantas (like blankets) on the earth and lay boiled potatoes on them to eat. They pick them up one by one, carefully peel them, and consume them graciously. If you think I am exagerating about these peoples love of potatoes, then you are wrong.

FISH FARM
I have grown up with the knowlege that fish farming is bad: pollution, contamination, etc. So when I found out that Quiko Chico has a new fish farm project, I was pretty sceptical. Will it ruin their pristine environment? Will it inhibit their ancient habit of migrating their homes and fields, thus depleting the local soil? Yet for a community whose diet consists of only potatoes, the fish would provide important nutrients to combat malnutricion. I later found out that this fish farming technology isnt as new as I thought to the community. The Incan Empire maintained a practice of fish farming hundreds of years ago, too. The Quiko farm, being on such a small scale and so removed from modern cities, would probably use less chemicals and produce less waste than the fish farms that I am familiar with. On our last day in Quiko Chico, we had a feast of fried trout from the new project (with boiled potatoes, of course)...and I actually ate it. There you have it folks: the first meat I have eaten in years! I dont feel guilty about it, but I am still not sure about my opinion of the farm project. Will it help or harm the community? Only time will tell, I guess.

PONY RIDES
I got to ride out of Quiko Chico to Ocongate on a horse! Actually, it was a pony/mule, since calling it a horse would imply that it was big enough to ride. Despite my worry that I was slowly killing the animal under my weight, it was really fun. I rode bareback with no reins, only a single rope tied to one side of the horses face...try stearing a horse THAT way!