Survival in the high Andes has always been a difficult task. But the people who settle in those inhospitable areas are well adapted to the rough environment. However, the effects of climate change are putting their fragile existence at new risk.
The people of the high Andes have survived for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years at altitudes up to 5000 meters, the highest habitable zones of the world. It has always been difficult to live in small adobe huts with no furniture, electricity, running water or other amenities, but people have learned to use the marginal environment in ways that granted them a living while conserving a tremendously fragile ecosystem. Cooperation and reciprocity among villagers and a deep respect for life in all its forms have further ensured that these custodians of Inca and pre-Inca cultures can preserve their unique life ways based on dignity and respect.
But the effects of the El Niño phenomenon that started in 1997 and lasted through much of 1998 have shaken the people's confidence in a future for themselves and their children. In many areas of the Andes torrential rains have washed the potato crops, the staple of their diet and for many the only crop, out of their steep beds and into the rivers. Many llamas, alpacas and sheep have died from exposure and ensuing disease. Disease has also taken its toll on people.
When the crop was destroyed in 1998, most high-altitude villagers had some freeze dried potatoes left from previous years. They were concerned about their survival but they also had hope that a good harvest would follow in 1999 along with appropriate conditions for freeze-drying and leaving some potatoes to barter for produce from lower lying regions.
In August and September of 1998, the people used much of the precious llama and alpaca dung for their potato fields so the plants would grow well and feed their families in 1999 and, with luck, for years to come. But little rain fell between October 1998 and the end of January, 1999, usually the height of the raining season, and the growth was stunted. Then, in the last week of January torrential rains poured from the sky, turning to snow in higher regions. Hail storms spread a solid carpet of ice on top of the snow and suffocated the plants. La Niña, the cold spell predicted by climatologists, had arrived with all its force wiping out the harvest in high regions for the second year in a row.
When I arrived in Chillihuani (a village of 400 families of llama and alpaca herders, situated in the Peruvian Andes between 4000 and 5000 meters above sea level) at the beginning of February 1999, conditions were bad. Few of the paths that lead from the valley to the snow-covered mountains were still visible and some of the narrow bridges made by the villagers had collapsed. The rains had come with tremendous force, the earth was waterlogged, landslides ravaged the hills, covering fields and homesteads and endangering people and animals everywhere. In higher regions, though this is summer in Peru, snow fell. This was followed by hail that remained on the ground for days, suffocating the potato crop and covering the meadows long enough for many llamas, alpacas and sheep to die from starvation and disease. Animals were also carried away by the muddy waters of the roaring Chillihuani River, after tumbling down steep inclines as the waterlogged earth collapsed under their feet. The villagers estimated that 30 per cent of the animals in their herds had perished.
The Chillihuani herders were horrified. But February is the time of the ancient festival of Pukllay, a fiesta dating back to Inca and pre-Inca times. It celebrates fertility, procreation, and new life. On this occasion offerings are brought to Pachamama, the Earth Mother; to the Apus, those powerful mountain deities; to Illapa, the God of Thunder and Lightning; and to other spirits of nature which are asked, in return, to grant the people and their animals health and happiness. Pukllay is the most significant festivity in Chillihuani and the rituals must be carried out with great care regardless of the immediate circumstances. Enqa, the force that transcends all life, must be rekindled in an effort to stimulate the fertility of the fields, the procreation of the animals and the solidarity of the people.
It was impressive to see how the young people from different corners of this widely dispersed village braved rainstorms, hail and lightning to walk for many hours across treacherous terrain to the high places between the four sectors of the village to carry out rituals from times long gone, to dance for the deities, to play haunting melodies on their flutes and to ask, in return, for a good harvest and many alpacas and llamas. As is custom, during the nights the young people go from one adobe hut to the next to wish their hosts health and happiness, to play music and to dance for them and the Gods. Soaking wet the visitors receive a bowl of hot water with a few freeze dried potatoes to warm their shivering bodies. Then the fire dies in the earthen stove. The scarce dried dung can be used only for the cooking of meals and for fertilizing potato fields.
Since time immemorial, the Pukllay rituals which denote respect for all of life and the associated dances continue for eight days each year on the highest places of the village next to the eternal snow. The Quechua herders know that the customs of their Inca ancestors may not be forgotten and must be perpetuated from one generation to the next. Positive energy must be generated and the people laugh and sing throughout the fiesta. But when Pukllay was over at the end of February 1999, people returned to their deepest concerns. The destructive effects of La Niña continued throughout March, April, May and into June, when the dry season should be in full swing. The meager crop of potatoes that was harvested in May only in the lowest parts of the village, cannot be freeze-dried this year, as weather conditions continue to be adverse. Instead of the dry, sunny days and icy cold nights required for the freeze-drying process, rains and hail continue to plague the region and destroy the little that is left. More people and animals die every day.
At the beginning of April 1999 family and friends from Germany and Canada, and students and staff from Malaspina University College in Canada helped with a campaign to bring vitamins and food as well as medicine for people and animals to Chillihuani. But this cannot replace two consecutive years of crop loss in Chillihuani, and in other high-altitude villages. Hunger and sickness continue to stalk the mountainsides but nobody hears the quiet cries of the people of the high Andes.
The Quechua people in their forgotten villages wonder why this is happening to them. Old people often look at the mountains, their sacred Apus who have always worn white ponchos since they can remember. Now the ponchos are no longer white. Some show the brown stripes of erosion and these stripes get wider every year. And the ponchos of some Apus have turned brown altogether, the elders lament.
The Quechua herders wonder whether their Apus are dying just as many among them die from hunger and disease. They wonder whether they must leave their mountains to move to the valley where there is no space for them and no work. And they wonder whether the culture of their ancestors will vanish with them, a culture they cherish, a culture of respect.
Dr. David Suzuki and other well known environmentalists state that global warming has thus far caused an average rise in temperature of half a degree. It is further explained that when it has reached one degree, people living in the tundra and in high mountain regions can no longer survive. It is sad and ironic that people who own next to nothing, who do not pollute the environment but rather respect all of nature, are the first to be destroyed in their forgotten villages in the high Andes.
Dr. Inge Bolin teaches anthropology at Malaspina University College in Nanaimo, Canada. She has done research and applied work in the high Andes of Peru for the last 16 years.
