Abuelita Linda

As we prepared for the Pachamanca on Friday afternoon, an abuelita came in to the garden where they were working. She found her way to the wood pile and sat down. Similar to most abuelitas, she has a colorful cloth wrapped around her shoulders filled with secret things. From her shoulder pack, she pulls out a blanket to cushion her wood pile chair. After a few minutes she began to speak to me in words I did not understand, unfolded her cloth to reveal a square tupperware filled with what looked like chutney. She handed me the container coupled with some sort of instruction that again, I did not understand. I asked Jael to help me and she began to translate for the abuelita and I; she speaks Quechuan, I do not. She had given me mazamora de durazno to try. One more moment in which I wished I could speak in Quechua.

She later pulled off her hat only to reveal a handful of leaves. Many in the sierra chew on coca leaves, but I recognized that these leaves were not coca. I asked why she would carry leaves in her hat. Someone repeated my question to her in words she could comprehend, for my Spanish was foreign to her. She replied, saying they were for her nervios and cast a quick smile my way.