National Geographic - USA (2020-04)

‘IT’S A REAL FEELING OF CONCERN BECAUSE WE ARE

WATER, RIGHT? HUMAN BEINGS, WE ARE WATER.

THEY TELL US THIS SINCE SCHOOL.

THAT THE GLACIERS ARE FINISHING

IS TELLING US THAT WE WILL ALSO FINISH IN SOME WAY.’

CLARK ASTO, QUISPICANCHI DANCER

RIGHT

Men from Peru’s Paruro

nation pray before

a glacier during the

annual festival known

as Qoyllur Riti, which

means “snow star” in

the Quechua language.

Each spring hundreds

of thousands of Peru-

vians come to these

highlands in the Cusco

Region to sing, dance,

and pray as the Pleia-

des star cluster comes

back into view.

BELOW

Norberto Vega, pres-

ident of the festival,

hugs a young man after

a ceremony at the foot

of a glacier. “Each year,

when I see the glaciers

getting farther and

farther away, I feel like

crying,” he says. “We

feel very helpless ... We

have taken specialists

to the glacier to look

for ways to maintain it

or a way to control its

disappearance. But we

couldn’t find a way out.

I feel a lot of sadness

because I know that

over time I wasn’t going

to be able to keep

practicing the rituals

that are done in the

sanctuary, on the ice.”

PERU Colque

Punku

PACIFICOCEAN Glacier

SOUTH

AMERICA

13.54°S, 71.23°W PAGE 50