Andagua day 3

In the church

Sunday while waiting for breakfast, Salvador took me to see an ancient chapel on the outskirts of the town, part adobe, part stone. Breakfast was more rice and potatoes and a cup of sweetened milk from the family cows. Walking around town to buy my return ticket, I was twice greeted by older senoras who seemed really glad to see me. One shook my hand excitedly and the other gave me a big hug. I couldn't make out there Spanish and can only guess their thoughts. The first day I had intervened when I saw a 10 year old boy harassing a much younger boy who was crying and trying to protect himself. Maybe the women were his grandmothers. Another possibility is my resemblance to the godhead in the church. I asked Julisa if she had heard any stories but no. I guess I'll never know for sure.

The sheep in the yard began to be more restless after 2:00 in the afternoon and became more difficult to keep in the area allotted to them, there being no fence between their area and the rest of the yard. Julisa's grandmother did what she could with he 6' stick and I waved my arms. Then about an hour before my bus was to leave Julisa left the gate to the street open on her way out. I thought it was a mistake and rushed to close it but the time had come to lead the small flock to pasture 20 minutes away for their 2 hour daily meal. Dog in tow we followed behind as they went straight to there destination. Where before they had been nibbling for scraps in the bare yard, now they didn?t give a glance at weeds along the way. We left them with the dog on the grassy terraces where the milk cows stayed all day and all night.

The bus ride back started an hour before dark so I did get to see some of the scenery I missed on the way in. Again there were the reverses to get around the corners and in one place a truck had broken down. Lost a wheel, luckily on the mountain side of the vehicle, but we had to squeeze by with no room to spare as evidenced by it taking 5 heart stopping minutes to accomplish. Seemed like they might have emptied the bus first! We stopped for 20 minutes at the first village on the other side of the mountain for the toilet and a bite to eat. I asked a young girl what she was selling (que vendes) but she seemed struck dumb until the older girls next to her helped her find her voice. She had small bags of cinnamon cookies which I bought for the ride. The bus continued down more hairpin turns eventually to the plains below. I kept wondering what would happen if an earthquake should happen on the trip. If we were on the top of the mountain we were sure to roll down and if at the bottom the mountain would roll down on us!

I had to think what the cost benefit of the road really was Did it inspire the people of Andagua and the other villages it serviced to seek their fortune in the big cities? Did it allow tourists to bring more money into the village economy and help people to feel life in Andagua was more attractive? There are still many villages beyond the road where mules etc. are the only means of transport. Of course the ones I visited in Colca Canyon were on the adventure tourist circuit and received an influx of cash. 5 0f 25 families in San Juan de Cucha had guest accommodations of sorts and the light poles were in place for electricity, expected earl in 2006 for the string of villages at the bottom of the canyon. People have lived for millennium in a world where all the materials and energy for life had to be gathered close at hand and elaborated into the necessities of life with a surfeit for some trade. In the "modern world" each person holds a fragment of knowledge and most hold little or none of the parts fundamental to the foundation of life, production of food. These people of the margins hold the seed of human existence. They see food, clothing, and shelter production through from start to finish and with time and energy left over to elaborate (or embroider) a unique culture.