Pacha, (in allusion to “Pachamama” is a goddess revered by the indigenous peoples of the Andes. In Inca mythology she is the “Earth Mother”), worked day and night to feed her three little fatherless children. In her farm there were many kinds of potatoes, broad beans, quinoa, oca and sweet potato.

A long time ago, the Shipibo of the Ucayali River lived in Cumancava, a place surrounded by rain forests, enchanted animals, and exotic plants. The Shipibo had repopulated the land after a great flood. The god of water, dressed in his blanket of scales, saved a woman and a man from the waters by pointing out a magical tree that grew to the sky. The tree protected them from being swept away by the current beyond their place of origin.

Something or someone made a terrible noise in the bush. So long and deep was that noise that one of Paulita’s alpacas fled. Paulita had grown up high in the mountains, walking along the ravines, moving the stones on the road, and taking the alpacas along narrow paths on the edge of the abysses.