Something I read extensively about but couldn’t fully grasp before arriving in Peru is the prominence of the Quechua language and Incan traditions. Everyone I’ve encountered speaks Spanish, but many older adults speak Quechua as their first language. Before the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, the area that is now Peru was ruled by the Incan Empire, with Cusco as the capital of this territory that stretched over half the length of the South American continent. Many Incans spoke Quechua, and the language is still extremely prevalent today, mostly in the mountainous regions of Peru. Nearly every adult in Cusco understands at least a few Quechuan words, if they don’t speak the language themselves. Streets are named for Quechua words, and Incan holidays are celebrated to the fullest in Cusco.
In my first two weeks here, I have had the pleasure of interacting with several Quechua speakers, the first being my friend Guido and his parents. Guido was a graduate student at Notre Dame with whom I had a class with last semester, and he has lived in Cusco for much of his life. He was eager to show me around the city this week, and invited me to breakfast at his family’s home the following morning. Guido lives, literally, at the top of a mountain overlooking Cusco—the taxi we took had to stop at a certain point and we hiked further up to reach his house. The neighborhood was Quechuan, and he greeted his neighbors good morning in their language as we made our way up. Guido’s parents were able to speak with me in Spanish, but they were more comfortable with Quechua and had Guido translate much of our conversation. Expressing many blessings and wishes to me, they talked about how lucky Guido was to travel to the US and other countries for his education, and their worries for him during the distance. Guido was at ND through a Fulbright Grant and he taught several Quechua classes. He has talked to me about his dreams of implementing a Quechua language program in Cusco, and the difficulty in writing in this alphabet. Throughout my breakfast, I learned about the importance of preserving this language and the threats facing Quechua today.
Guido was eager to give me a nighttime tour of the city!
I have also been able to talk to my Spanish teachers about Quechua. Renzo, a young man from Lima who studied medicine before switching to teaching, speaks only a few Quechuan phrases. He told me that students studying medicine need to understand the language in order to serve the surrounding indigenous communities. Another one of my teachers, Nely, speaks Quechua fluently, because her parents spoke it when she was growing up. She expressed frustration that her own children were not able to speak the language to their grandparents, and said this is a huge problem in the younger generations of Cusqueños. Outside of Cusco, most communities communicate in Quechua, which I observed between young children and their parents when visiting Rainbow Mountain during my first weekend.
Ultimately, while I am here for the purpose of learning Spanish, I am intrigued by Quechua and hope to learn more about the spread and decline of this language during my remaining weeks. I also look forward to celebrating Inti Raymi, a religious ceremony venerating the Incan sun god, in late June.