Andean Aymara

Greetings from Calacoa (3436m, S16°44.341’, W070°40.999’). Just arrived here after two weeks in Muylaque in transportation generously provided by the Mayor Rogelio Vizcarra Taco, a man who also kindly offered me a room in the visitor’s center.  The main purpose of this visit is to charge up my laptop, camera battery, and other equipment as there has been no electricity in Muylaque for the past couple months. Also, there should be some interesting cultural activities tomorrow to film.

As for life in Muylaque, it’s been a busy time of the year as this is planting season. I’ve posted here a video showing Maria Marlene and her son, Edwin Banegas Flores, one of the principle language consultants, planting corn with their donkey. It’s a really difficult, time-consuming, and exhausting endeavor, especially at this altitude, somewhere around 3300m. [Update: the slow Internet connection does not permit the video to post - I've uploaded a photo instead.]

The research continues productively. So far I’ve been focusing on finalizing glosses and transcriptions for the data I already have rather than looking for new material, though of course new data keep getting introduced, mainly in the form of recorded narratives – an ideal source not only of cultural information and material for the upcoming Aymara book (funded thanks to the Dutch NGO Cucu), but also as a repository for non-elicited free speech from a more senior generation. This will definitely be a key contribution to the morphological and syntactic analyses.

Well, tomorrow I’ll be back interviewed again on Radio Calacoa before returning to Muylaque in the afternoon. I’ll try to make another post with a video from Calacoa before I go. ¡Saludos!