Ever Tried Coca?

The coca plant is native to western South America and for thousands of years has been an important plant to the Andean people of Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Argentina.

To the rest of the world coca is best known as the source of cocaine. To the people of the Andes, coca is both a practical and a religious plant that is used nearly everyday. In fact, coca leaves have been found with mummified corpses in burial sites that are over 3000 years old in various locations all over Peru and Bolivia.

The coca leaf is frequently used for medicinal purposes. It acts as a mild stimulant as well as suppresses hunger, thirst, pain, and fatigue. Coca has also been documented to help those suffering from the effects of high altitude.

Technically, the coca plant itself is not a drug.  The coca leaf contains .8% cocaine and the cocaine cannot be isolated from the leaves without a complicated chemical process. However, since coca is the raw ingredient of cocaine, it is highly regulated in Peru; it can only be legally sold through a government agency that licenses individual stores to sell coca leaves for acceptable uses.

In eastern Peru, I had the opportunity to visit one of the government approved coca farms and learn about this plant and how it is used in the Andes (and around the world).

Usually coca leaves are chewed.  According to a study from 1978, 92% of men in the Andes and 82% of women in the Andes chew coca leaves. Archeologists have found pottery from many different cultures depicting human figures with lumps in their cheeks to symbolize the chewing of coca leaves even in ancient times.

However, coca leaves can also be used in tea or ground into flours and used in cookies and candies, as well as many topical products such as lotions and lip balms.

Coca leaves are harvested by hand several times per year. The leaves are then dried in the sun on plastic sheets for several days.

After they are dried, the leaves are sold to large industries or individual users. Of course, much coca is sold illegally as well.

Coca was chewed for over 4500 years in the Andes without problems. It wasn’t until 1858 that a German chemist (Albert Neimann) isolated the cocaine alkaloid from the coca leaf.  Not long after, problems began to arise with the coca plant. Interestingly, there is an Andean legend: “When the white conqueror touched the coca leaf all he found was venom for his body and madness for his mind.”

It takes 297 grams of dried coca leaf to make one gram of cocaine. It also takes a complicated chemical process which includes powdered cement, gasoline, and sulfuric acid.

There is much debate about whether the coca leaf by itself is a problem. In recent times, the governments of Peru, Bolivia and Venezuela, have defended and championed the traditional uses of coca, as well as the modern uses of the leaf and its extracts in household products. The Presidents of these countries have frequently said: "la coca no es cocaína"(the coca leaf is not cocaine). However, in most non-Andean countries, possession of coca leaves is considered the same as possession of cocaine (despite the fact that cocaine has to be extracted chemically).

One more interesting fact: even if you think you’ve never tried coca, I’m sure you have!

In 1887, John Pemberton of Atlanta, Georgia, created the popular beverage Coca-Cola and named it after its primary ingredient:  coca leaves. Rest assured, since 1904, the cocaine alkaloid has been separated from the coca leaves before they are purchased by the Coca-Cola company. But coca leaves are still used today to flavor your favorite Coke!

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These are Broken. . .Mine are Broken!

Peru is blessed with more than its fair share of ruins. Dozens of ancient civilizations have come and gone and left their crumbled remains for future generations to explore, ponder, and attempt to recreate. 

I spent my first few weeks in Peru enjoying a number of different ruins and learning about the cultures that left them behind.

Cajamarca Culture

Roughly 1000BC, the Cajamarca people built the Cumbe Mayo canal and aqueduct that stretched for 9km along the mountain tops  to the city below.

This canal is said to be the oldest surviving man-made structure in South America.

What amazed me about the canal was the precision – and the fact that it remained functional 3000 years later! Over one 3km stretch, the elevation changes only 50m which creates a slow (nearly unnoticeable) but steady water flow for the people below. Impressive engineering skills!

This same culture had an interesting way to bury their dead. Rather than easily dig a hole in the ground, they decided to dig caves (by hand), several meters deep, into the volcanic rocks for each of their dead chieftains.

A total of 337 niches have been excavated – each containing a body in the fetal position.

Seems like a lot of work to dig a grave, doesn’t it?

The Moche Culture

The Moche people lived in central Peru from 100-600AD. They built towns and temples entirely out of adobe (mud bricks) and have left the largest adobe structure in all of the Americas – the stunning pyramid-shaped Temple of the Sun.

This temple today is only 30% of its former size. The original temple contained over 50 million hand-made adobe bricks!

According to Spanish texts (written 1000 years later), nearly 200,000 people were involved in the initial construction of this temple.

Across the valley from the Temple of the Sun is the Temple of the Moon. This structure continues to be excavated by an international team of archeologists.

The Temple of the Moon contains beautiful frescos of their mountain god; their colors vibrant 1500 years later!  

This valley is still being researched by archeologists so I’m sure that more will be found and much more will eventually come to light about the Moche culture. . .

The Chachapoyans

The Chachapoyans lived in northern Peru and built their mountaintop citadel of Kuelap around 600AD. This area was occupied by these people until the Incans conquered them in the 1400’s.

The city of Kuelap was built to be an easily defensible fortress. The limestone walls are over 65 feet high and up to 6 feet thick! 

The entrances to the fortresses are all very narrow, giving the defenders inside easy access to intruders.

At the height of this civilization over 3000 people lived here. The remains of over 200 round stone houses dot the mountaintop – some with truly breathtaking views!

The Chimu Empire

The Chimu Empire dominated the Moche Valley near modern-day Trujillo on Peru’s coast from 1100 AD until they were conquered by the Incans in the 1470s. Their capital city was Chan-Chan, one of the largest pre-Colombian cities in the Americas.

The remains of the city are truly incredible to see. The city is located in the vast Peruvian desert along the Pacific coast. The city was made entirely of mud bricks many of which, due to the extremely low rainfall in the area, still exist. The first few times I drove past the area, I saw only sand dunes, nothing more.

Only when you look a bit closer, do you start to see walls taking shape. . .

A firsthand lesson on how things aren’t always as they first appear. Sometimes you must look a bit deeper to see the whole picture.

Of course, archeologists work hard to make visualizing these ancient civilizations easier for the rest of us. . .so certain parts of the city have been restored. I will admit, after traipsing through multiple ruins, I prefer them when they've been restored. . .

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Why???

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¡Cheers!

Peru’s national drink is a type of brandy called Pisco.

Pisco was originally developed in the 1550’s by the Spanish (who settled in southern Peru). They wanted a cheaper alternative to the brandy being imported from Spain. They brought grapes from the Canary Islands and planted them along the coast of Peru. One of the sites where these grapes were most successfully grown was a port-town called Pisco. The drink produced here became popular with sailors (since it was strong and quickly had an effect) who called this spirit “Pisco” after the port where they purchased it.  In fact, pisco was one of the most common alcoholic beverages on sailing ships during the 1700’s and 1800’s until rum (with a “softer flavor”) became more commonly available.

While in Ica, Peru (near Pisco), I had the opportunity to visit several pisco bodegas to see how it is made. Like wine, pisco comes from grapes.

The grapes are then pressed. This is an actual press still used by several families in Ica.

However, after pressing the grapes, instead of aging them (as is done with wine), the grapes are fermented and immediately distilled in large copper pot stills. After the distilling process, the alcohol is stored in traditional conical clay pottery -- shaped in this manner to easily allow them to be buried for safer storage.

Pisco can be enjoyed straight (a bit too strong for me) or in mixed drinks – the most popular of which is the Pisco Sour (very tasty and highly recommended!).

Today, Pisco is produced in the winemaking regions of both Peru and Chile. (It is believed that after Chile occupied southern Peru in the late 1800’s the pisco-making tradition spread to that country.) Unfortunately, this has been the cause of many legal disputes between the two countries.

Peru maintains that only Peruvian manufacturers can use the term “pisco” -- similar to the regulation that true “champagne” can only come from a certain region of France. They believe that the Chilean produced version is another type of spirit and should be labeled as such.

Historical documents (from the U.S. National Archives) have shown that until at least 1864, pisco referred only to a spirit from Peru. Chilean pisco can only be traced as far back as 1874. Peruvian pisco is still produced using traditional methods (due to government regulations to that effect). Chile, however, has commercialized the industry and today produces 50 times more pisco than Peru.

Both nations have established decrees, laws, and treaties in attempts to claim ownership of the name “pisco.” In 1936, Chile went so far as to change the name of the town of Union in northern Chile to “Pisco” in an attempt to establish geographical origin for the name! And in the 1960’s in Peru, a law was passed making it illegal to import or sell Chilean pisco!

Personally, I’ll leave the decision to the courts. But I would recommend trying pisco – it’s exported to many other countries so you should be able to find it outside of South America. But, before you give it a try, you might want to check the label to see where it was produced! 

Cheers!

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