About the health benefits of Quinua and Cañawa

I am back!! Sorry it has taken me so long to write since the last posting. The thing is, I have been KO in bed for the last five days with a rotten cold and a temperature that wouldn’t go. What can one do when one is of a delicate disposition…?

Oh yes, I am back and the proof of this is that I went with Karen and two other friends to the valle de las ánimas, a beautiful place outside of La Paz famous for its weird rock formations that make it look like I imagine the surface of the Moon to be.

We left early-ish this morning and thank God we had a 4x4 because the climb up to the starting point itself would have been enough to dampen the spirits of even the keenest of ramblers. But after starting lazily we got on with a good pace and walked up this valley of what I imagine to be an old glacier all the way to the very end. And just when it looked that it couldn’t get any steeper, we made summit at 4,660 metres above sea level and gazed at the most impressive view of Illimani, now looking really close at us. “Definitivamente im presionante”, like some famous bullfighter once said (you’ll have to keep reading. One day I’ll explain the bullfighter comment).

OK, so what cured me was a combination of bed rest and sopita de quinua (hummmm….yummy) and refresco de cañawa. These are both related grains that grow at these altitudes. I can’t breath so I don’t know how anything can grow this high but they do. According to Eduardo Galeano, the Gods once left a fox fall from the heavens and on falling, it hit one of the high peaks in the Andes, rupturing its stomach and spreading its contents all over the mountains. And from that grew the Quinua and this little, unassuming, grain has been a blessing for the Andean people as it is now recognised to be highly nutritious like its cousin the cañawa which you mix with water and simply drink both hot or cold.

OK, so now you know how people stay healthy at these altitudes… OK, and then there is chocolate, coca leaves and other blessings from the Gods I’ll tell you about some other time.

People in Bolivia

On first arrival, Bolivia assaults your senses. From the pervading smell of sewage and fried-up everything to the immense number of dogs roaming the streets-all very calm and quiet and incredibly unthreatening unlike in the UK I might add—and the giddy, light-headed feeling one gets on landing at the airport of El Alto (literally the high place), , all contribute to making one feel…well, out of place, really.

El Alto is situated 4,060 metres above sea level so it's not surprising one feels a little weird and short of breath. But if the sense of irreality that accompanies one’s first visit to Bolivia is challenged with more than a very short stay, very soon one is likely to encounter people, just people from everyday life, and with them, a very real sense of humanity and comfortable familiarity.