Episode 118: Climate Heroes - Building Reservoirs in Peru

When the glaciers in Ayacucho, Peru started disappearing, intense water shortages made life in the region unsustainable. Until two sisters revived the ancient practice of building sacred water reservoirs in the mountains.

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Transcript

Martina: It was a hot afternoon in June 2020 and Marcela Machaca was in the mountains of Ayacucho, Perú — some 4,000 meters above sea level. Marcela, at age 59, was an indigenous leader and agricultural engineer. She was leading a group of about 30 people from her village up a windy mountaintop, scorched by the sun.

Marcela: Era una montaña muy alta. A veces la gente que no es de la región tiene dificultades para respirar, pero para mí era normal. La montaña es muy bella. En nuestra cultura, este es… un sitio sagrado porque aquí damos gracias por nuestras aguas. Este es un lugar especial para mí y para toda la comunidad.

Martina: Marcela was headed to a sacred man-made lagoon. There she would perform an indigenous ceremony to honor the water. Because of climate change and urban development, Marcela's community had lost its main source, or fuente, of water. And so, the lagoons had become very precious.

Marcela: Nuestras fuentes naturales de agua siempre fueron los nevados. Es decir, las partes más altas de las montañas donde está la nieve. Pero hace veinticinco años, los nevados empezaron a secarse como consecuencia de las altas temperaturas causadas por el cambio climático. Por esta razón, las lagunas de lluvia artificiales son esenciales para nuestra comunidad, la región y el país. Sin ellas, no tendríamos agua para beber, ni para nuestros cultivos y animales.

Martina: As they reached the mountaintop, Marcela marveled at the clear water. In front of her was a lagoon built using ancient indigenous methods. It’s part of a network of reservoirs, or reservas, that work as massive water storage for a community of more than 200,000 people.

Marcela: Los pájaros vuelan sobre la laguna, ¡es un espectáculo hermoso! En las aguas también hay peces. Ahora todos saben que las lagunas son importantes para recuperar el agua en nuestra comunidad, pero no siempre ha sido así. Construir esas lagunas no fue fácil.

Martina: Welcome, les damos la bienvenida to a special season of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast. I’m Martina Castro. This season we’re bringing you the stories of true climate heroes… Everyday people in the Spanish speaking world, who bring their communities together to take on climate change.

The storyteller will be using intermediate Spanish and I’ll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.

Martina: Marcela grew up in the 1960s in a small indigenous community located in Ayacucho. Her parents were farmers, like most people who lived there. They lived at the very top of the Andes, the largest mountain range in the continent.

Marcela: Tuve la suerte de tener una familia muy grande. Además de mis padres, llamados Modesto e Hilaria, somos once hermanos. Mi familia vive de la agricultura, tenemos cultivos de papa, maíz y animales domésticos.

Martina: During the rainy season, the rivers ran full in the Ayacucho region. But during the dry season, Marcela’s family got most of their water from the glaciers in the mountains. The snow would melt, or se derretía, and the water accumulated in wetlands, or humedales, near the town.

Marcela: Los picos nevados de la montaña acumulaban mucha agua. Y cuando la nieve se derretía, nosotros la recogíamos en los humedales. ¡Cuando yo era niña, había mucha agua! Los nevados eran nuestra reserva y eran esenciales para nosotros.

Martina: Marcela’s town was so small that there were no secondary schools. In order to attend high school, her parents walked her every week to a neighboring town about five hours away…it was a long hike, or caminata. Every morning at 2 am the sky was still full of stars…but Marcela knew it was time to leave for school or they wouldn’t make it on time.

Marcela: La caminata era dura, ¡pero muy linda! Mamá y papá nos contaban muchas historias interesantes sobre las montañas y las estrellas, comenzamos a conocer nuestra cultura Quechua.

Martina: Marcela and her family are part of the Quechua indigenous people, native to the mountains of the Andes mountain range. In Marcela’s culture, water sources are sacred. Her community thinks of water as a living being that needs to be nurtured and protected. They think about it as showing the water their affection, their cariño.

Marcela: Nuestros padres y abuelos nos enseñaron a ser amables con las personas y la naturaleza. Y, para los Quechuas, el agua es una persona que tiene su propia cultura y forma de ser. Cuando aprendí eso, entendí que hay que ser amable con ella. Aunque sea solo una gota, el agua debe recibir todo nuestro respeto y cariño. Y, al igual que las personas, el agua va a donde hay cariño.

Martina: But something was impacting the water supply in Marcela's community. Every few years, the waters on the Pacific Ocean heat up, the temperatures rise, and they bring about long droughts. These recurring events are called “El Niño.” Since the 70's, El Niño has become more intense and frequent, because of climate change. As a result, the glaciers began to melt and now, they’re almost extinct in the Ayacucho region.

Marcela: Cuando nos levantábamos temprano a recolectar agua, ya no encontrábamos, y tuvimos que empezar a competir por ella con animales silvestres y pájaros. Era estresante porque yo no quería competir con los animales. Como consecuencia de esta situación, las mujeres y niñas tenían que buscar agua en otros lugares o levantarse más temprano que los animales para recolectar el agua. Era triste vivir así…

Martina: Marcela’s parents knew that if the glaciers melted, it could potentially cause a water crisis in their community. They hoped that their two daughters could learn how to help the community preserve their livelihood…with agriculture.

Marcela: Nosotras éramos muy buenas alumnas y queríamos estudiar mucho para poder ayudar a nuestra gente. A nosotras nos encantaba la vida en el campo, así que pensar que podíamos ayudar a nuestra comunidad era muy emocionante. La agricultura siempre nos interesó y queríamos practicarla en armonía con el ambiente.

Martina: In 1978, when Marcela turned 15, she moved with her siblings and cousins to the city of Ayacucho, located some 60 miles away from her home. Marcela and her sister Magdalena had always done everything together, and now they were going on a new adventure.

Marcela: No podíamos seguir caminando cuatro horas para ir a la escuela. A veces, nos dormíamos en clase porque estábamos muy cansadas. Por esta razón, mis padres y mis tíos compraron una casa en la ciudad. Por fin podíamos estudiar tranquilamente. Continuar con mis estudios era muy emocionante.

Martina: After getting their high school diplomas, Marcela and Magdalenda went to school for Agricultural Engineering.

Marcela: No era normal ver a dos mujeres en la facultad de ingeniería, y mucho menos dos hermanas. ¡E incluso menos dos indígenas! Sentimos muchas veces discriminación de otros alumnos, pero a la vez mucho cariño de nuestros profesores.

Martina: The first day of classes, Magdalena overheard people gossiping about how they were from out of town. It troubled her, but Marcela told her to concentrate on what they were good at: math. The sisters quickly became the best students in the program. They, along with their siblings, were able to study thanks to their parents.

Marcela: Decidimos concentrarnos en los estudios y ser las mejores alumnas de la facultad. Si teníamos buenas notas en la carrera, podíamos graduarnos y volver a nuestra comunidad a ayudar. Todos los profesores les decían a los otros estudiantes: “Tienen que ser más como las hermanas Machaca”. Y eso nos hacía sentir muy bien y nos motivaba a seguir estudiando.

Martina: Marcela and her sister continued to excel in their studies. By the end of the 1980s, they graduated with honors, with a degree in Agricultural Engineering.

Marcela: Recibir nuestro título profesional fue increíble porque trabajamos muy duro para lograr ese objetivo. Además, estábamos felices porque pudimos compartir en la universidad nuestra cultura y agricultura andina. Y también porque pronto íbamos a volver a nuestra comunidad.

Martina: By the start of the 1990s, Marcela and Magdalena returned to their community. They were in their late twenties now, and they were thrilled to come home. But what they found there shocked them. A harsh drought had struck Ayacucho. The Glaciers were gone, rivers were dry and rain was nowhere to be seen.

Marcela: Nosotras habíamos estudiado por años, pero la situación era muy complicada. Mientras no estábamos, la comunidad pasó por momentos difíciles. Había poca agua y el paisaje estaba muy afectado. Teníamos que encontrar las soluciones para la comunidad. Pero, ¿cómo lo haríamos?

Martina: In 1992, Marcela had been back in her community for a few years, and the effects of El Niño had only grown worse. Her community had faced the worst drought they could remember. One of Marcela's uncles, Nemesio, was really worried. He called the sisters to his farm, where he kept his cattle. When Marcela arrived, she saw the cows had grown very thin.

Marcela: Nuestros hermanos de la comunidad necesitaban ayuda porque su situación era muy dura. Ellos decían: "Aquí están nuestras hijas que salieron de nuestro pueblo para estudiar. Han cumplido la promesa de sus padres y han regresado para ayudarnos. Ya no estamos solos". Teníamos que ayudarlos, así que empezamos a buscar soluciones para los problemas.

Martina: The sisters had learned the most modern techniques around water preservation, but they worried that wouldn't be enough. So they decided to talk to the local elders, to see if there was any ancient knowledge that could guide them in their mission to pump water, or bombear agua.

Marcela: La comunidad estaba desesperada porque no había agua. Querían bombear agua a más de mil metros de altura. Desde un punto de vista técnico y económico, eso era imposible de hacer en esta zona. Entonces, decidimos buscar soluciones en el pasado.

Martina: They consulted their great uncle, Nemesio, who gave them their first clue. When he was a child, his grandparents used to build structures in the mountains to capture water. They used the water mostly to feed cattle. This sparked the sisters’ curiosity.

Marcela: Nunca habíamos escuchado sobre esas estructuras incas y preincas. En la universidad, nunca nos enseñaron esas técnicas. Pero decidimos hablar con las personas mayores de la comunidad para saber más. Necesitábamos encontrar una solución basada en la misma naturaleza y, sobre todo, sostenible.

Martina: In their search for a sustainable solution, or solución sostenible, the sisters went to different towns interviewing elders. One of them was able to recall the name of this structure: “qochas.” It was an ancient pre-Incan word that meant “lagoon.” The idea was to make artificial lagoons, using small dams, that would capture rainwater on the mountaintops.

Marcela: Él nos dijo que, cuando era niño, la tradición era hacer lagunas artificiales. Esto se hacía cuando había mucha sequía. Queríamos verlas porque eso nos iba a ayudar a construir las lagunas nuevas. Estábamos emocionadas porque podíamos usar nuestra propia cultura para encontrar una manera de cuidar el agua. ¡Era perfecto!

Martina: The elders described how the ancient lagoons in the mountains acted as reservoirs during times of drought. The water accumulated in the reservoirs and filtered through small underground channels, until it reached the rivers. The sisters took inspiration from these tales and came up with an idea to make lagoons, built out of stone, or piedra, and clay, or arcilla.

Marcela: Imaginamos que podíamos construir lagunas muy lindas como estas, a base de piedras y arcilla. Los ancianos nos contaron cómo se hacían en el pasado. Nosotras adoptamos esta técnica.

Martina: The sisters developed a plan to build new lagoons by combining ancient traditions and their engineering knowledge. They would take care of the water in the ancient Quechua tradition…and protect nature at the same time. To build the reservoirs, they used local materials and lined the bottom of the reservoirs with native plants and algae to filter and nourish the water, just as their ancestors had done.

Marcela: Las lagunas construidas en mi comunidad son un depósito de agua de lluvia. Pero además de recolectar el agua de lluvia, tenemos que hacer mantenimientos cada año. Hacemos trabajos de protección en las lagunas y también rituales.

Martina: After planning how to make the lagoons, they had to decide where to build them. There was a field in the mountains that, during the dry season, kids used to play soccer. During the rainy season, the site became flooded and muddy, a signal that water could accumulate there.

Marcela: La primera laguna que construimos se llama “Apacheta”, es un lugar que los niños y jóvenes usaban para jugar al fútbol. En la temporada de lluvia, el agua se mezclaba con la tierra y, uno o dos meses después, se convertía en lodo. Era un sitio con mucho potencial.

Martina: Without any funding, the sisters decided to build the lagoon themselves with help from their family and community. They planned to build barriers along valleys in the mountaintops, to prevent water from running down the mountain. And so, the first lagoon was built.

Marcela: La primera laguna se estabilizó solo después de cinco años. Ahora, es una gran laguna que no se seca, ni siquiera en años de sequía severa. Ahora hay más agua.

Martina: There were still long periods without rain in Ayacucho. But now, the community could keep their food production going, in spite of the droughts. They were getting more resilient to climate change. Marcela felt pride, orgullo.

Marcela: Era un orgullo ofrecer una solución a nuestra comunidad y poder colaborar con un tema global como es la escasez del agua. Lo hicimos aplicando los conocimientos de nuestra propia cultura.

Martina: Over a period of 20 years, the sisters have built more than 120 reservoirs in the mountains of Ayacucho. This has brought water, not only to the indigenous communities there, but also to the city where they studied.

Marcela: Ahora las personas pueden cultivar papa y otros vegetales en los periodos secos. Es decir, que tienen más productos disponibles en el año para el uso personal y para la venta. Las lagunas ayudaron a la comunidad a mejorar sus actividades productivas. Gracias a eso, encontramos una solución a la crisis climática en nuestra comunidad. Todo funcionó tan bien que hemos compartido esta experiencia con otros pueblos y países.

Martina: Marcela Machaca lives in Ayacucho, Perú, with her family. In 2014, she won Perú’s National Environmental Award for her work with the reservoirs.

This story was produced by Sebastián Rodríguez, an environmental journalist based in San José, Costa Rica.

We'd love to know what you thought of this episode! You can write us an email at podcast@duolingo.com and call and leave us a voicemail or audio message on WhatsApp, at +1-703-953-93-69. Don’t forget to say your name and where you’re from! Here’s a message we recently got from Camara from Trinidad and Tobago, in the Caribbean:

Camara: I just listened to "El arte del cafe." It was one of the best stories I've ever heard. And it was the first time I was able, you know, to fully understand a Duolingo podcast. So I'd just like to record this moment and send you guys a voice note saying to keep up the great work.

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And that’s it for this special season of the Duolingo Spanish podcast. You can find the audio and a transcript of each episode at podcast.duolingo.com. You can also follow us on Apple Podcasts or your favorite listening app, so you never miss an episode.

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The Duolingo Spanish Podcast is produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media. Our producers this season were Gabriela Saldivia, Maria Martin, Tali Goldman, Laura Tillman, Norihelys Ramos, and Sebastián Rodríguez. Our managing editors are Natacha Ruck and David Alandete. Our production manager is Román Frontini. The production coordinator is Javiera May. Our assistant producer is Andrés Fechtenholz. Audio editing and sound design was done by Andrés Fechtenholz, Daniel Murcia, and Mauricio Mendoza. Our supervising Sound Designer, in charge of Mixing and Mastering, is Antonio Romero. Our sound supervisor is Martin Cruz.

I’m your host and executive producer, Martina Castro. ¡Gracias por escuchar!

Credits

This episode was produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media.