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CX: How did you
learn to become a paco?
['paco' is the Andean
term for a healer
or mystic, similar to a 'shaman',
which
is the term employed
in the jungle regions of Peru]
Matius:
I inherited this knowledge
from my father. There
were five of us, brothers and
sisters,
but only I learned
this from our father. My father
always
asked me to accompany
him to offerings and ceremonies
and
this is how I learned,
from observation and practice.
The others dedicated
themselves to agriculture.
My father was an 'alto-misario'
which is someone with a magic
more powerful than a paco. I
learned to tell whether a woman
was pregnant by taking her pulse.
I learned to read the coca leaves
to see sicknesses, health problems,
to see someone's luck.
CX: Matius,
are you a paco or an alto-misario
like your
father?
Matius:
I'm only a paco. However, my
father said to me that if one
day I want to become an alto-misario,
I have to go to the highest
mountain in Cusco where lightning
will strike me, creating a physical
deformity. That is how one aquires
this magical power of alto-misario.
CX: Is that how
your father received
this power?
Matius:
Yes, he went to this
mountain and the
lightning struck.
After, his head had
deep markings like huge scratches
and he had aquired
this incredible
power.
CX: Will you
go one day to the mountain to
become an alto-misario?
Matius:
Yes. Now that I am
alone, I plan to
go to the mountain. Even now
I speak with them [the
mountains] and they
tell me that I am bringing a
good offer.
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