Barbasco

There´s a native plant that acts as venom called barbasco; it traditionally has been used for fishing. It kills anything in the water in the vicinity of it´s potency. I´m not much of a fisherwoman but a bit of barbasco goes a long way. [Human ingestion in high quantities is also toxis, possibly deadly.]

Pretty much the whole Shiguango (pronounced she-wan-go) and their inlaws showed up to the stream about 2 o´clock in the afternoon. The barbasco had been thoroughly prepared and they had just released it upstream. Everone was spread out on a stretch of the stream (somewhat like an easter egg hunt), ready with their baskets.

I was standing next to two young girls who I shared baskets with. Within minutes, I looked down in the crystalline water and could see the irridescent fish approaching; floating down on their sides or bellies up. We plucked, sieved and clutched them out of their habitat and into the basket.

Makana, cachama, sardina

Later that day, each family would make ´maito´(style of steaming with a certain leaf) and soup. The next few hours were spent looking down bobbing up and down in the water to retrieve the massacre´s victims. I can´t say I agree with this method of fishing but nonetheless, I was delighted to spend an afternoon in the company of my community- letting them know that I´m interested in their history, their lives, their stories.