Several times a year, our family climbs Mount Qayaqpuma to perform our all’pata paguikun, our offering to the earth, the mountains and the deceased. It is a way of being close to nature and to the spirit of Alfredo, who loved this mountain. It is a way of leaving behind – even if only for a moment – the city and so-called 'civilisation' (I have a friend who calls it 'syphilisation') and it is an opportunity to find tranquillity and peace in a very special place.
Every time I go, there is something I hadn't seen on my previous visit, something that pains me: farms invading the apu, a road that wasn't there before, buildings that do not blend in with the beautiful landscape, or the hurtful sight of an open pit mine. I don't know if Qayaqpuma will still be the same in ten or twenty years. No one can know. In our eagerness to 'live closer to nature' or 'promote tourism', we humans unscrupulously invade these last healthy and sacred places and leave our mark of indifference. It seems that people forget that nature is not a rubbish dump but our great common home.
I am grateful for the company of Mara and Mateo on this outing, who, without making a fuss about it, dedicated themselves to picking up all the rubbish they found on the way back. If there were more humans like them, the world would be a different place.
Rita Mocker
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