Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Adapted from El Comercio: Part 1, Part 2

There was a beautiful girl, with a sweet look in her eyes and elegant manner, standing in the main square of Huanta, in Ayacucho, under the blue sky of the city rightly called “the emerald of the Andes.” She sold spicy puka, a traditional Andean dish. She was still in school and dreamed of becoming a singer. Not in vain did she win the city’s talent-seeking festival in 2003 and 2004.

Across the square, a young woman looked through the lens of her camera. She was hoping to find someone who perhaps existed only in her imagination, someone who would play the main character in her first movie. The stars must have been aligned for the encounter to happen that evening.

Magaly Solier in the news. She's there quite often. Click here to read about recent happenings with the Peruvian star.

The filmmaker Claudia Llosa saw Magaly Solier Romero and knew she had found the character of Madeinusa (2005), her directorial debut. This film introduced Solier to the industry and The Milk of Sorrow (La Teta Asustada) (2008) launched her into international fame.

Magaly was born on June 11, 1986 to a poor family, when the area was suffering from the ravages of terrorism caused by Shining Path. She grew up dreaming of becoming a singer and helping out in the family farm, the same farm where she learned that the film she was starring in was an Oscar nominee. Gregorio, her father, has faith that the film will win the award on March 7. And all Peruvians have their fingers crossed (except the envious).

In Manchay, a slum of Lima where the The Milk of Sorrow takes place, people will meet in the main square to watch the ceremony on a giant screen. The mayor, Hugo Ramos, announced that before the show they will have a “payment to the land,” a form of giving thanks to mother earth for everything accomplished. To the date, many of Magaly's dreams have come true. She recorded her CD Warmi (woman in Quechua) with songs written by herself (it was a bestseller in 2009) and has sung duets with tenor Juan Diego Florez. The media exposure has not changed her way of viewing the world. She is a woman with her feet on the ground and finds refuge in her farm, where she grows corn, avocado and potatoes. And while we wait, let’s learn a bit more about the town of Lima where this film was shot and let’s recognize that the leap from Huanta to Hollywood is possible.

The Site of the Film
Manchay means fear in Quechua. And, according to the older inhabitants of this community – created in 1983 – walking through this vast and arid barren creek twenty years ago was really scary. Farmers who went from the farms in Pachacamac to La Parada preferred to walk these hills before 6 pm. After 6, the darkness, loud wind and the swirling sand gave the impression that the place was haunted. Manchay was back then just a moor that was famous for its dry hills where motocross was practiced on Sundays.

Like most shanty towns in Lima, Manchay was literally made from nothing. The first families that formed the housing association did it because there was no more space elsewhere. “In the beginning there were seventy of us and we lived in remote sites,” says Walter Enriquez Verano, a 60 year old man from Lambayeque, who was among the first to come to live in Manchay in 1985. “Strange things happened here at night,” he says, “a very strong wind blew and you could hear the footsteps of many people, but when you went out to see, there was no one.” The older ones say that the slaves of the neighboring estates were punished here and also that the Chilean Army crossed the area, there was a confrontation, and many died.

The first water connections have just arrived in Manchay. Settlers have put up signs to thank the government and people say it is a good start after many years of drought, but it is not enough: “I would ask for a hospital,” says Mrs. Elena Palacios at the door of the municipal agency, where mothers with their children participate in a feeding program. She has lived in Manchay for seventeen years. She was attracted by the dry climate of the place to cure her daughter's asthma. And he is grateful. There is no more fear, just the will to progress. The success of "The Mil of Sorrow" is still fresh and the people take it to be a good omen.

Adapted and translated from Spanish by Diana Schwalb

tags : Manchay quechua Huanta Pachacamac Ayacucho Madeinusa

Add to del.icio.us | |

1 Comments

# victor alcocer says :
2 December, 2010 [ 05:30 ]

i like the movie La Teta Asustada

---