After my experience yesterday, May Day for me will never quite feel like just any other day, as it generally does in Canada. My experience began with a tour of the CENPRUR operations that included a short visit to the small library. In keeping with IPTK’s very modest infrastructure, the room was simple. A large

We are about to land. I am peering through holes in a blanket of white at row on row of hunchback peaks and ridges with attitude. They don’t look very welcoming to the farmers who are the majority of people in this country. But now, as we dip below the clouds, I see valley bottoms

It is almost noon so the sun is high and finally taking the chill out of the day. I pull off my sweater and let the rays warm me up. As I walk along the road and toward the school, I notice the principal in the schoolyard. I have long wanted to meet the man

I awake at the crack of dawn, as usual not having slept terribly well thanks to the chorus of mice running wild in my makeshift bedroom in the family’s kitchen. Despite my requests that we get a move on in the early morning, we leave for the cemetery later than I had hoped. When we

All Souls Eve and I have finally made it to Mojon. The trek took me at least two hours longer than usual since the shortcut I tried to take led me to another valley, down the wrong ridge into another village. I had to climb still further down to the river to get my bearings

Cornelio arrived this morning with regrets that he had not received my messages until earlier that morning. He has been asked to serve as one of Don Victor’s witnesses so he will attend the marriage service that, he tells me, will be the first of three masses. The other two services will be offered in

After several failed attempts to reach Cornelio on the village’s single Entel telephone to inquire about his availability to serve as my interpreter, I am heading solo to Chimpa Rodeo. I will participate in the Fiesta de La Virgen de Guadalupe without my regular translator, no intermediary, no one to help me find a place

I am back in my room and back from day two. Day two was much better. We managed to sleep off our hangovers and the municipal officials appeared pleased with our efforts today. Community representative after community representative presented their hamlet’s wish list in order of their priorities. A community sports field – or cancha

Standing at the gate is a Jalq’a farmer, his distinctive white bowler-like hat in his callused right hand and a torn scrap of wrinkled paper in his left. He looks nervous and anxious, a little impatient. When he sees me, he is obviously pleased, though to me he is a complete stranger. He immediately shows

We are sandwiched into the small school here. There is little room to move, or breath for that matter. It is getting dark but IPTK has managed to hook a generator up to provide some light. The session is very popular. A large group of people are hovering outside the open door and windows. Land-rights

The shades of red! That’s what steals my attention as we turn a curve and I see Yurubamba, the first roadside community that comes into view in the municipality of Ravelo. In fields bursting with produce, there are also wonderful greens, some white, purple, and a little gold. But it is the red of adobe