by Simone Hoedel
copyright 2002
In the little Peruvian pueblo of Aguascaliente, at the foot of Machu Picchu, I discovered a very decent earthy restaurant called Chez Maggy's.
One afternoon, after an arduous day with hordes of tourists on the ancient site, I visited the spot for a bite to eat. After the meal, I asked for Mate de Coca, a medicinal Andes drink, because I wasn't feeling very well, I said. Coca tea is very popular and common among tourists and locals, and bags of coca leaves sell in stalls on the street for about two dollars.
I asked the server, a Native American, what the relationship was between this Coca leaf tea and cocaine. He came to join me at my table and asked me, in Spanish, if I would like to hear a traditional story about coca. Of course, I was delighted.
A long time ago, a woman arrived in the land of the Incas who was very beautiful, and whose skin was green. She was from the "Selva", jungle or forest, and her name was "Quolka". All the Incas fell in love with her, so that whenever she left, all the people were so despondent they didn't work or eat or do anything productive.
Eventually "Los Sabios" (wise ones) felt the problem was so great for the people, they decided they had to get rid of the woman of the Selva. One of the wise men met with Quolka and killed her, then caused the green woman to be caught up in a flame, which burned her to ashes.
And while the people were despondent after Quolka died, after a while, a plant grew out of the ashes where the woman of the Selva had died and burned. The people noticed the plant was very "suave" (sweet, soft) and had a lovely scent.
Then he demonstrated how they took three leaves fanned out between two fingers, bit off all of the leaves but the very bottom of the stems, and chewed the hojas de Coca. So I did the same.
"Gracias", I said, "Me siento mejor." (I feel better, thanks)
