Oxfam America Blog

It was near some mountain-side fields in Cusco, Peru, that I met Zenon Pumallica Coyori. When I look at his photo–above, another one taken by Evan Abramson–I see a modern descendent of the ancient Inca Empire.

It is a face of great experience. Coyori says he does not really know how old he is, but is willing to estimate 64 years. He was orphaned when he was young, so he says, “I copied the birth day of a friend who was the same size as me.”

Coyori says surviving as a farmer in the highlands is not easy, but the indigenous people have developed ways of working and living that make it possible. The only problem is that many are no longer using their traditional practices, because they have been made to feel inferior and therefore neglect their culture. So Coyori is working with Oxfam’s partner in Cusco, Peru, the Centro “Bartolome de las Casas” (CBC) to change that. Here are some of the lessons he shares:

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Farmers in the Andes Must Overcome More than the Cold, Thin Air to Survive

For me, working in the Andes has its challenges. Aside from the bad roads in remote areas and the cold, threatening weather, I have a real problem with my head.

I am good up until about 4,000 meters (about 12,000 feet), after that I get some pretty bad headaches. I recently got medication to prevent this altitude sickness.  It held off the headaches, but gives me a tingling sensation in my feet and fingers.

But nothing can take away the sheer beauty of the mountains. The tingling sensation adds to it. The picture here by Evan Abramson captures one scene: it is a group of communal fields on the side of a mountain in Cusco, Peru. One year a family will plant potatoes in one plot, the next another might plant barley. The community then leaves it fallow for five years to restore its fertility, then puts it back in the rotation.

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