“The qollqa is a approach to deliver historical expertise into the current, to indicate that it will possibly nonetheless be a software to preserve meals whereas counting on nothing greater than wind to safeguard what issues most: the merchandise that nourish us,” says Malena Martínez, Mater’s director. “It’s a construction that shifts our understanding of the past,” adds Virgilio.
To see this firsthand, Quispe and I walk to the new qollqa itself, making a 10-minute climb past fields that await harvest, and a small stream that, a couple of generations ago, carried saltwater but has since run sweet, elders say. There are fava beans drying in the sun, and piles of colorful tubers waiting for someone to collect them. And then, we reach Qollqa Mater—a conical, circular structure (15 x 52 feet) with walls made of adobe and stone. The entrance faces the apu Verónica, allowing cool breezes from the Amazon to flow in, and I can feel others coming off of nearby apu Chicón, whose chilly whispers sweep through the Sacred Valley every morning. Just as in ancient times, the structure’s orientation and location is no accident, but deliberately chosen to create an ideal microclimate inside. This qollqa, a new build, was designed by architect Juan Carlos Pareja in collaboration with archaeologist Rachel Schloss (UCLA), and built alongside families from the local community, led by Wilber Juárez Huamán, over the course of a year.
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Following custom, one should ask permission from the apus and Pachamama (Mother Earth) to enter the qollqa, by taking a few dry coca leaves within the arms, lifting them towards every of the primary apus surrounding the constructing, and then burying them within the floor with an intention. Then, we might step inside.
The design has one key reinterpretation of the unique Inca buildings. “It brings three different storage buildings under one roof, with one for seeds, another for fresh food, and one for textiles,” says chef Pía León. There are greater than 110 kilos of potatoes and mashuas (a flowering tuber) which have been there since December. They are freed from the eyes (sprouts) that may have lengthy emerged if these had been left within the common kitchen or pantry. Proof, maybe, that the construction is working.