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Post Pachamama charla

After the feasting, Nathalie and I were invited to a charla (chat) at the library. They chat — the first one they organized, would be to reflect on the ceremony of Pachamama, the future of their community, and thoughts about Pachamama. It is an effort to create a united, solid native community. Andean native in general — Quechua, Aymara, etc — does not matter. The color of your skin — does not matter. We are all linked by humanity. Everyone spoke, even me with my awful Spanish. I could not really express what I wanted to say, but said what I could. And we drank chicha de huma while we charla’d.

The charla lasted about 4 hours into the evening. Here, I learned so much, so much first hand that no museum that I visited last year could even compare to. Pachamama is sacred. It is a celebration of Mother Earth, it is a celebration of life. Pachamama celebrations start Aug 1 and last till the end of the month — in coordination with the solar calendar and solar world.

The thoughts of the native people were amazing. Some had not participated in the Pachamama offering ceremony until now — mostly the younger people. Others felt unconnected to their heritage and wanted to learn Quechua to preserve the ancient language. The native people here, as is the case with most if not all of the world, are forgotten by the government. They get nothing. Humahuaca and the surrounding area became World Heritage not too long ago. Who gets all the money — the government. It goes to run the government in Jujuy, fix roads in Jujuy and such. Nothing goes to the local people. It is very sad — as one of the guys said, “It’s my problem.” I cannot even begin to understand as I am not living it, but do sympathize and wonder why this is the case around the world.

One man said that when he was growing up, they did not teach about Pachamama in schools. It was forbidden. To even mention Pachamama was really bad. However now, they do teach about the history of Pachamama in schools. But most of the history and ideology is passed from generation to generation by word of mouth.

Everyone thanked us again for coming and participating. They were extremely welcoming. Truely amazing people. This experience is extremely rare — I feel that I had a fortunate stroke of luck today. It was an experience that I will never forget, and will carry with me always. This truely is one of those “life changing” moments. This is why I travel…

Malka handed out pamphlets with information about the movement for the rights of the native Andino people. Samuel Llampa, an author, had his books for sale. I bought Samuel’s book, “Sentimientos y Expressiones de la Puna”. This book contains stories and poems with reflections of the native people, their hardships in life, their culture, and their land. I felt special as Samuel autographed the book, “Con carino y afecto. Para una visitante de E.E.U.U. Donde(?) del Autor. S.S. d. Jujuy 20-8-05 Samuel Llampa” with his phone number written as well.

At the end of the charla, the community invited Nathalie and I to a ceremony tomorrow. We will meet at Toto’s house at 7:30am. From there, we will take a micro to a set of ruins — Los Amarillos, where there will be another ceremony. Nathalie and I, of course, said yes to this opportunity. When and where will I ever get a chance like this again?

I love Tilcara already, and I haven’t even begun to see the natural beauty of the place.



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One Response to “Post Pachamama charla”

  1. Travis Says:

    I hate to be this redundant….but….

    wow.

    WOW.

    WOW!!!

    And thank you thank you thank y ¡muchas gracias amiga!

    ¡Besos gigante!

    Travis

  2. Posted from United States United States
  3. admin Says:

    One more story to come, and it’s a good one as well 🙂

  4. Posted from United States United States

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