GLOSSARY

Hiskatuso = An imaginary place near Lake Titicaca. The name is the union of two Aymara words: "Hiska" means small and "Tusu" = calf (part of the human leg).

Tola = A bush found on the high plateau of the Andes and nearby hills, of easy combustion even when green.

Giant toads = There are toads the size of a grown chicken in a certain area of Lake Titicaca.

"Acullican" = from the verb "acullicar" which does not exist but refers to the act of chewing coca-leaves. Perhaps the word "acullicar" is a derivative from a word of the Spanish language.

Yatiri = Aymara word meaning a learned person, expert in various arts, among them: fortune-telling using coca leaves, and medicine.

"derecho de pernada" (droit du seigneur) a law given by Spain to its subjects in the Indies (now Latin America) whereby the master had the right to take (sexually) any indian maiden moments before she married.

Kolu = native word which means of great hardness and strength. Potosina: woman born in Potosi = (name of a Department and also a town of Bolivia)

piripicho = Creole word which refers in an affectionate manner to the male sexual organ.

Tawako = young woman in the Aymara language.

chujlla = hut

yatichiri = native word meaning one who teaches, a teacher.

Apacheta = native word which describes a sacred ground, a place for contemplating and worshipping nature. These were generally small hills found along ancestral roads. Places where travellers rested, meditated and always respected one another. The Apacheta was the ground where the locals were in comunion with the "Pachamama" (Mother Earth) and "Inti" (the Sun).

Pachamama = Original in the Aymara religion she represents the Mother Earth who looks after the well-being of her children (all beings: animal and vegetable kingdoms and human beings alike).

chachas = Aymara word meaning a man or male; the pluralization (s) at the end of the word is from the Spanish grammar but of a non-Spanish word.

square cross = a cross which 4 posts end in a straight angle. tambo = place where travellers used to stop at, sort of a shelter.

amauta = native word meaning a person of great wisdom. More of a philosopher than a doctor, yet more pragmatic than a fortune-teller.

achachilas = disortion of native word, yet keeps the religious semantics. Achachi = old; achachila refers to ancestral knowlege and values. This also refers to i.e. mountains, because in the Andean Theogony, mountains are given a human quality.

coca = bush from which leaves cocaine is extracted. These leaves are chewed by the natives without negative side-effects. Part of this use is social whereby friends and guests are offered a bit of coca, thus they share and talk.

huayna = Aymara word whih means young man.

tutuma = concave vessel generally made from half a coconut (fruit which abounds in the Yungas and other tropical regions of Bolivia).

kari-karis = people dressed as priests who would perform an operation on the natives (indians) whereby they would remove fat from their bodies (generally around the liver and kidneys). Most of those afflicted would die or were ill for the rest of their lives due to the precarious operation. Supposedly, this fat was sold for the preparation of oinments and miraculous cures. Apparently the natives, and even the white population, believed that the kari-karis had come from the life beyond. However, the word Kari means "lie" in Aymara.

Ayllu = Aymara word which means village, community. Its meaning goes further, it represents a way of life, act and be governed as a community.

totora = tubular and hollow reed which grows in abundance in Lake Titicaca. It is used to build rafts, boats and other items.

Inti = native word for the Sun God.

ajsus = ajsu or axsu from Quechua (urku in Aymara). A woven cloth of wool but as finemade of thread. It was a very wide piece, where two halves were sewn at the waist and rolled around the body. It was part of the everyday attire.

huiru = native word for the corn stalk, which is sweet and can be bitten into the same way as the sugarcane, to extract its sweet juice.

perchico = see picture. A variety of peach which main characteristic is its almost white color, a natural divisory line, making it easy to split in two.