This one´s for my mama!

Coming to this area of the world it is hard to deny the power of the earth. It is evident in the snowcapped peaks seen in the distance, the evergreen hills towering at 12,000 ft, and the roaring waters flowing through Andean valleys. When I sent my mother a message letting her know that I was heading down to the Inka empire of Machu Picchu she told me that I was living her dream. So, as a tribute to her and all the Mamas out there including the Pachamama I dedicate this edition of my blog once again from a land where women carry their babies tightly wrapped to their bodies in brilliantly woven tapestries.

The Pachamama is considered the feminine power of the mother earth as ascribed by the Inkas. It is a force so grand that the people populating the Quechua regions of Peru live an existence that is inseperable from her. They follow various practices that honor her, and on a day-to-day level it is obvious how she is appreciated.

1) Living Buildings
On the large scale Machu Picchu is impressive due to its complicated location deep in the Andes atop a leveled green mountaintop. One asks over and over how people lived up there, and how on earth they carried goods so far. But what is almost more impressive, in my eyes, are the architectural details that incorporate the earth into the citys dwellings. Unlike many cities where the earth has been cleared, lifted, and destroyed to accomodate its settlers, Macchu Picchu is a work of natural art. Throughout the ruins you can behold rocks that have been so delicately carved that they may have six or three sides and yet fit togehter in a linked pattern to produce walls. The most stunning buildings are built from enormous boulders that were jutting up from the earth then and exist still. Many boulders form the base of temples which are topped with smoothed stones to produce a vision that is unmatched. Not only had the Inkas chosen ares of great natural beauty to live, but their habitations are alive with the place, not seperate; an honoring of the Pachamama. The Inka decendants today still live in homes cast from mud bricks, surrounded by immense gardens and terraced agricultural plots.

2) Agricultural Advancements
The Inkas also show their appreciation for the Pachamama in their agricultural processes that are mostly based in terraced plots. In areas that appear harsh the Inkan decendants have been able to manipulate the earth to produce a wide array of agricultural successes. The potato, which origantes from the Andean mountains, boasts more than 300 differing varieties from sweet, starchy, small, large, colorful, to a dried variety that is produced by freezing and then expressing water by stomping. Having traveled a variety of times to Mexico, I thought I knew corn...I had NO idea of the diversity of corn until walking into a market in Cuzco, Peru; at least 50 countable forms and colors...the Peruvians have done a virtual evolutionary miracle with corn hybridization! The markets in Peru are unlike anything I have ever seen and I owe this fact to the honoring of the earth and manipulation of her soils and fruits to produce the rainbow available in the market place: corn, potato, camote, peppers, aji, garlic, greens, mushrooms, algeas, membrillos, pomegranits, and a majority of produce that I can only dream of remebering the names!

3)Herbal Medicine
Alongside the ventas full of fruits and vegetables in a Peruvian market you will also see the largest variety of fresh herbal medicines that I have EVER seen in a market in Latin America. I spend hours talking to women like Justicia in the markets that share their remedies and herbs with me. The beauty of this environment is that many plants that are common in the herbal pharmacopea can be located here alongside the Andean plants that are new to me: Marshmallow, valerian, horsetail, nettles; Muña, coca leaf, hierba de cancer, etc. Herbal medcine is alive here, and I attribute that to the reverance for the earth/Pachamama.

Next stop La Paz, Bolivia!