In my prolonged absence from updating my blog a lot has happened, so my goal is to convey as much as possible without rambling- which obviously is a challenge for me!
Where did we leave off? Oh right- Dieciocho! (the 18th) Essentially, we ate, we drank, we danced! There was a ridiculous amount of meat consumed everywhere we went, most of it very good. I found out that my host dad, Claudio, is obsessed with dancing the cueca. And I even won a teddy bear at the Ramadas (carnival) downtown. It was a fun, but exhausting weekend.
With my host family at the Ramadas.Immediately after all this excitement we packed up and headed for high ground: Putre! We went with the program to learn about traditional medicine from Aymara experts. I went to Putre previously, with my parents, and experienced the true joy that is altitude sickness. This time, however, I was in good health and it was amazing! Coca leaves are truly wonderful- you can make tea out of them or chew on them and they make you feel better instantly!
On the road to Putre through the great Atacama Desert!Putre is a tiny town that has been around for centuries and is smack in the middle of Aymara territory, which is rather obvious from all of the ancient terraces in the enormous hillsides used for agriculture. Farming is still important, but now Putre, at about 11,500 feet, also serves as the stopping point on the tourist trips up to Lake Chungara. It's an unexpected and unfamiliar "resort town," but more of the hippie backpacker type of resort, as it can be impossible to procure a hot shower even in a hotel.
During our stay in Putre we had a class with a Yatire (Shaman) and an Usuri (sort of like a midwife). These were some of the most amazing experiences, ever. We learned about natural remedies that Aymara people use, how they do ceremonies to pray for good harvests or good health, and gained a better understanding of their cosmovision, in which everything is connected. I even got to serve as a fake pregnant woman for the Usuri to show us some of her natural techniques for turning babies around. Last fall I took a class on South American Indians and read and heard a lot about Aymara culture so it was one of the most incredible experiences to see it all up close, in real life. I even had my coca leaves read by the Yatire! This is not hoodoo-ey or witchcraft- like, at all, and was actually one of the coolest thing. My trip to Putre is something I'll remember for a very, very long time.
What better way is there to travel than by ancient tour bus on precariously narrow winding roads overlooking cliffs of doom and peril?
Aymara cook out
Well I'm not really sure, but that's how we got around Putre and Belen- an even smaller town that we visited which included driving our monstrous carriage over unpaved roads. In Belen we saw what truly rural is and were also treated to an amazing guatia. A guatia is essentially an Aymara barbecue. The food is cooked underground in a hole lined with hot rocks- sort of like a luau. It was amazing, as has been all of the plethora of food here thus far. Every meal at the hotel was great, but also enormous. A typical day of food:
Breakfast: pancito (delicious high calorie chilean bread), avocado, yogurt, fruit, cheese, deli ham, jam, coffee, juice.
Lunch: Soup or salad, main course, typically something heavy like pasta or rice, with of course more pancito on the side, and dessert which is usually something fruit related or ice cream.
Dinner: MORE pancito!, soup or salad, main course with both grains and protein, and more dessert, coffee.
Attack of the pancito!
Attack of the pancito!
On the last day when it came time to hit the hot springs I think all of the girls were suddenly grateful for the lack of males on our trip as we hit the pool with our newly aquired pancito figures! But hey, you only live once right?
Bring on the pancito!
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