UNIT 5 Reflection: The diverse landscapes of Quecha land and their capabilities

Hello everyone!

I can’t believe the semester has gone by as quickly as it has. And now, we are already writing our second to last blog posts in this class. I thoroughly enjoyed this weeks content, especially the lecture podcast on the Quecha people. I was so intrigued by their horticultural and agrictultural scientific processes and especially how they alter and adapt to the environment they are in, essentially making it work for them so that they are kept full and remain healthy.

Since the Peruvian Andes spread far and wide, even into other countries, Quecha communities can be situated in different areas and elevations. In saying this, various crops prosper at different elevations and temperatures and therefore the Quecha had to develop ways to stay sustained and full through the dry seasons and manage harsh and unpredictable climate situations. For example, as mentioned in the podcast lecture, the terrace farming system allows a “microclimate” to emerge that would allow crops to grow at higher altitudes.  Stacked soil and clay prevent water loss and mitigate soil erosion as well; these terraces created a sense of biodiversity in the crops that could be grown in the area, including corn. This ultimately helped with food security as new crops were introduced and allowed steady harvest. It was incredible to see such an advanced and smart system that accommodates even the most unpredictable weather.

I also thought the early Quecha food preservation methods were impressive, especially those of chono and ch’arki. Given the toxic nature of wild potatoes, guanaco and vicuna would lick clay before eating them so that the clay would not allow toxins to bypass the digestive tract (Podcast lecture). I thought it was so neat to see how the Quecha recreated this trick and learned from nature itself, as they even to this day accompany potatoes with the clay “gravy.” These potatos would then be able to sustain people over the dry months where a bad harvest was a possibility. The drying method of ch’arki was also another way that Quecha preserved their food for storage or to avoid food insecurity when there are poor crops and bad harvests.

I also thought the importance of alpacas in Quecha culture was amazing because I didn’t originally consider their multiple purposes aside from labour/packing. For example, from the lecture podcast there is fur, meat, and soil fertilization benefits as well from having alpaca as part of the Quecha foodways.

Overall, I loved reading about how the Quecha adapt to their environment, especially how they let the land guide them and use methods that will sustain, preserve, and advance their foodways for the long run. Given the varying elevations and weather conditions the Quecha live in, it makes complete sense that they would have to prepare in case of unpredictable weather or bad harvests.

See you next week for our last blog post (:()!