SUBSISTEMAS Y COMPONENTES DEL MODELO

In the higher reaches of the western valleys, pasture begins to grow in December, following the summer rains. These areas are known as the costa. Unlike the altiplano, where pastures are grazed heavily throughout the summer, those of the precordillera may develop in the virtual absence of herbivores grazing down the growing plants. During winters following abundant rains in the upper parts of the western valleys, the pastoralists take their herds there to avoid the effects of the strong winds in the altiplano. Herders who decide to make the journey to the precordillera (known as the costeo) travel between 60 and 120 km to their destination. Most of the families in Isluga do not own lands in the valleys, and they therefore have to pay rent to the agriculturalists of the valleys. This is paid in animals, calculated on the basis of the number of adult animals (that is, animals older than one year) in the herd. Lanino reports that rent up until 1974 corresponded to 1 per cent of the number of adult animals: if the herding family brought 100 adult sheep and 100 adult llamas, it would pay one sheep and one llama. In 1975, the rent was increased to 2 per cent of the total number of adult animals (Lanino 1977: 55).

Whereas most families did not go to the costa in 1986, many families did in 1987, presumably because of the reduced rainfall in the altiplano from February to April 1987. The journey is realized in stages, of 30 to 35 km every day, over three to five days. The herds are taken back to Isluga at the very end of July or the beginning of August.

Enquelga people go to the costa at Alto Camiña or Alto Soga. On the other hand, many of the people from Manq”asaya go to Alto Chusmisa or Alto Chiapa, although some people from Pisiga Choque and Pisiga Centro also go to Alto Soga. Citing the work of Patricia Provoste, Lanino lists the destinations in the costa used by the various villages and hamlets of Isluga over a decade ago (Lanino 1977: 53–4). Martínez observed that an ‘ideological verticality’ existed in this cycle of nomadism, in which most of the communities of Araxsaya went to graze their herds in Alto Camiña, and most of Manq”asaya went to Alto Chiapa, but with a certain crossing over, for some of the Araxsaya communities went to Alto Chiapa, while some of Manq”asaya went to Alto Camiña (Martínez 1976: 260). This ‘crossing over’ may not be as rigidly maintained as Martínez implies. Although many people rent land from the agriculturalists, some herders may purchase land in the precordillera and this land becomes heritable property.

Some families do not take their animals to the costa, since the advantages gained in improving the body weight of the animals during the period of the costeo may be lost in the course of the arduous journey back to the altiplano. In addition, the Chilean state is exerting external influence to encourage families to remain in their main homestead in the altiplano throughout the year. There is a primary school in Enquelga and children are expected to attend for the full academic year.

Parents with children of school age wishing to go to the costa may have to make arrangements to have their children looked after by a relative during the family’s absence. CONAF also has a house in Enquelga (part of the Isluga territory is within the boundaries of a nature reserve), and local men are employed by this organization in the capacity of wardens and women as cleaners. Their herds may remain in the altiplano when most of the other herds belonging to Enquelga people spend the winter in the precordillera. Therefore, demands of Chilean national society are tending to erode this nomadic system. However, this form of nomadism is an important strategy employed by Isluga people to ensure against the vagaries of the climate when reduced rainfall limits the available pasture in the altiplano. It enables them to maximize herd sizes and avoid the over exploitation of pasture. This chapter has addressed issues concerning camelids, land and water in the Andes, and the changing relationships that have occurred between human groups and groups of herd animals. In the Andean highlands of northern Chile, outsiders have regarded the sparse vegetation as marginal grazing land. From an agronomer’s point of view, the land is considered to be ‘unproductive’, while from a traveller’s perspective, it might constitute a romantic ‘wilderness’. The Aymara, in contrast, have other ways of perceiving and utilizing their pasture lands as places for human activity (Dransart 1996). Their land is a nourishing terrain for both human and animal inhabitants. Chapter 3 will examine how people perceive the landscape which they inhabit, along with their animals, and in which they go about their daily herding activities. It will be seen that they do not consider their environment as an inert or neutral backdrop against which they conduct their herding activities, as the analysis of land use presented in this chapter may have implied.

3

Caring for herd animals