September 18, 2007
From SATA-Peru-2007
After our Ethnoecology of Peruvian Society class and our discussion of peasant economy, Peruvian Andean society and ecology in relation to neo-liberalism, world market and sustainability, we went to the Ccosccaparo market. We had to go through the meat section of the market and most of us had a hard time enduring the "aroma". It is good though to get our nose a bit prepared for our further travels, away from the luxuries that we are used to but that few on the planet can afford. The reason we visited this market is that people speak mostly in Kechua and we wanted to practice our rudimentary runasimita. Also, it is an excellent example of the crop biodiversity from the region. We learned that beside coca, that peanut, squash, 2,800 of potatoes, quinoa, ulluco, oca, palta, many kinds of beans, sweet-potatoes, tomatoes, and chili peppers, among hundreds of other plants, are native and most domesticated in Peru (and many cultivars like maize were adapted to the high altitude). It is a major center of crop biodiversity with some of the best crops on the planet.
Below is our favorite coca seller. We are learning about the spiritual and traditional use of coca and the complex controversy centered on this plant. We need to explain that coca is not bad. Unfortunately this plant has been targeted since it is blamed for the cocaine trade. It is critical to notice that a coca eater is not a "cocainero" (cocaine consumer), in the same way that a sugar eater is not an alcoholic (Enrique Mayer's book has a fantastic chapter on this topic!).
This plant is phenomenal pharmacological product, a panatonic (it has many uses), from helping people to deal with high altitude sickness and with stabilizing blood sugar levels. It is a stimulant like coffee and tea, reduces stomach and intestine parasites, reduces pain, kills hunger and thirst, and it does simulate the effect of tobacco without smoking (mild euphoric). The content of coca in cocaine is very small (0.1-0.05 percent) and morphologically, people cannot process 200-1000 grams of leaves since it is very bulky (otherwise the cocaine trade would not exist). It does have more calcium than milk and many vitamins and amino acids.
This morning I was coughing so much that I felt I was developing bronchitis and I did feel a deep fatigue from this sore throat. I decided to try chew coca in larger amount so I would not miss class. Well, after half an hour chewing three little bunches of leaves, I felt much better and I was able to come to my class (I hope my students were not disappointed by my sudden appearance at 10:45AM since I told them I might miss class depending on my cold). This plant did indeed help me without having to go the the doctor and spend too much money.
Last night, I had a dream that the whole plot to destroy coca plants was directed by several pharmaceutical companies from developed nations because its global distribution by Peruvian peasants was going to cause a major financial loss and the Kechau people were going to monopolize its profits and patent it (as a way to recover Atahualpa's and the Inca's gold). It is funny how dreams take us to forbidden places that are taboo. I am glad that was just a dream.
I hope that this helps explain a bit more about this plant. Coca is center of the Andean and Kechua culture in the way that tea is part of the Japanese culture. Its destruction, according to Enrique Mayer, is equivalent to an ethnocide (the elimination of a culture and millenarian tradition).
Manuel
