In the January countryside

The journey would take us to the province of Chota, in the north of Cajamarca.

The fog sometimes dim, sometimes dense; the different shades of greens mixed with stones and mud; the brothered seeds; the humble and cordial people with their hats, quipe and boots; the vivid colors, as vivid as their inhabitants, as the earth, as the trees, the rain, the wind, the plants. The expressive and wise Apus, the guardian mountains of hope …

Early, very early, we arrive at Nuevo Horizonte, in the village of Cutaxi. After the green soup that Don Silverio, the librarian, offered us, we set off on our way to the Communal Center, to the Congress of the Rondas Campesinas of the province, to which Alfredo had been invited to present about identity and peasant dignity.

The roads continued, the mototaxis, the vans that picked us up and the people who helped us to arrive at Masintranca: there the presence of the noble and serene Dona, librarian and housewife; the beautiful and smiling Nerly; the attentive and cordial Sergio. This ayllu brings together the coordination of several libraries in the area, the participation in the community program for the accompaniment of people with projectable capacities, the rural library and the contribution to communities with natural medicines to cure their ailments.

At night came the moment of the rescue of the living orality in the community of Huayrasitana. In spite of the pouring rain and difficult roads, we met with a large group of villagers, women, men, children and young people to talk and hear about the differences and relationships between aporcar and cutipar, the various types of potato many of which are no longer cultivated; the reflection on what is happening today, what the media shows which pulls campesinos from their farms, their traditions, their "contentment."

The next morning, with Sergio's guidance, we set out for Nuevo Oriente. There we met the wife and daughter of Oscar Burga, the family that houses the library in their home. For Lucila, the importance of the presence of the library in their lives, besides benefiting their children with the studies, is that people come to visit her...

On our way back, through the cold and at times warm lands of Masintranca, we began the return to Cajamarca. Again the Apus expressed themselves: the rain, the green, the plants, the people, the peoples of Cajamarca.

Infinite thanks!

Nathalia Quintero