A wonderful opportunity arose for me to take this journey: a symposium on Ancestral Inka Medicine, held at Willka T’ika  (http://www.willkatika.com/), located near Urubamba in the Sacred Valley of Peru. The seminar was led by Dr. Manuel W. Canales Morales of Arequipa, a Peruvian who has trained in the science of natural medicine in Germany and Chile. He is licensed in Peru as a naturopath.
 
Known as “Dr. Papacho,” which refers to the ancient “earth ways,” he shared many plant- and earth-based remedies used by the Quechua people for centuries, even before the Inca empire.  The symposium was a precursor to a book he is writing with the aid of Willka T’ika owner Carol Cumes. The gardens at Willka T’ika have hundreds of plants and flowers, including most of the ones Dr. Pacpacho uses in his practice. The heart of the gardens is a fruit-bearing lucama tree, known to be at least 500, and possibly 1,000, years old.
 
Dr. Papacho, raised in the city, became interested in the old ways when they helped him cure a serious childhood health issue. He cited many cases of the natural medicines helping where medical science was unavailable or ineffective.  His translator, as he spoke only Spanish and Quechua, was one of his patients who had been cured of drug addiction and other ailments. She is now an active, healthy, licensed guide.
 
Much of his medicine is based on fasting and cleansing. He suggests a vegan lifestyle. His only sweetener is stevia, from the bark of a South American tree, which is gaining recognition worldwide as a sugar substitute. Regular meditation is recommended and each day started at 7:30 a.m. with a half-hour silent session in the gardens.
 
Many of his suggestions are labor-intensive and require commitments for hours every day for weeks or even months. Many call for plants and other natural items that are not readily available in the United States, especially in sea level environments.
 
Some of his suggestions, however, are very practical. For example, the thin membranes that come from inside eggshells can be used to stop bleeding from cuts and wounds.
 
Perhaps the most heart-warming part of the week had nothing directly to do with “papacho medicine.” We were treated to a visit to a school in the Chumpepoke community, which is helped by the Willka Tika Children’s Fund (registered with the IRS, so donations are tax-deductible in the U.S.).  In their colorful dress that hasn’t changed for centuries, the children sang, danced, performed a pageant about the courtship of the Inca Poke and Chumpe princess, and hugged us when we gave each an orange and a tangerine. The government can give these schools only limited support and education is the main path to a better life.

The symposium closed with a ceremony around a giant San Pedro cactus. As we were giving thanks for a wonderful week learning some of the secrets of nature, a condor circled overhead. Carol said she had never before seen the bird, highly symbolic in Andean spirituality, fly over Willka T'ika.

Dr. Pacpacho and Carol oversee preparation of the San Pedro cactus for the closing ceremony. (Photo by Carolyn Abbott)