Sons of the Moon: A Journey in the Andes

by Henry Shukman

Book Overview

Henry Shukman is the first travel writer to seek out the Aymara the sons of the moon. His extraordinary writing brings readers the vivid colors of the people as well as the austere splendor of the landscape.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684192047
• ISBN13: 9780684192048
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Interesting travelogue and introduction to Altiplano Indians

_Sons of the Moon_ by Henry Shukman is an account of the author's several months of travel in the region of South America known as the Altiplano, an at times nearly barren plateau that is more than 13,000 feet high, located on the western side of South America, embraced by two arms of the Andes, the Eastern and Western Cordilleras. Roughly three hundred miles across east to west and a thousand miles north to south, this region, though seemingly barren and desolate, has been fertile in other ways; two of the greatest American empires - the Tiahuanaco and the Inca - arose in the region, and for two centuries after the Spanish Conquest it boasted the richest city in the Americas, Potosi, a city founded beside one of the largest silver mines ever recorded. After the wealth of Potosi was exhausted, the region fell into oblivion, an impoverished, backwater plateau home to pure-blooded Indians surviving on potatoes and herds of llamas and alpacas. The book describes the four months the author spent crossing the Altiplano, starting in northern Argentina and heading north to Peru (though he spent the bulk of his journey in Bolivia, as Bolivia owns the largest part of the Altiplano). Shukman's main objective in his travels was to seek out traditional Indians. Largely by hitching rides on trucks (the main form of transport for many in the region), as well as by bus, bicycle, and doing a good deal of walking, Shukman visited some extremely remote villages on the plateau, where he spoke with a wide variety of people, witnessed religious ceremonies, participated in fiestas, viewed native dances, sampled regional cuisine, and examined ancient ruins. The reader learns that most of the Indians of the Bolivian Altiplano are Aymaras. For most of the first millennium AD they held an empire centered on the temples of Tiahuanaco, their empire stretching into northern Peru and into Chile. By 1000 AD their empire had disintegrated into twelve small, squabbling kingdoms and by 1500 had been incorporated into the Inca Empire. However, the Incas might not have recognized the Aymaras of today, as only the most remote Aymaras continue their traditional lives. Most became what are known as Cholos, which is a class, not a tribe. These are Aymaras who have largely abandoned agricultural life and taken to the towns, towns the Spanish began in the late sixteenth century. Viceroy Toldeo of Upper Peru and his successors instituted policies to create towns for Indian villagers to move into, towns with a plaza, a seven day week, and the perfect conditions for the growth of markets. With both a regular day and a regular place, the weekly markets grew in popularity and importance to such a degree that a class of Indians, the Cholos, arose who made marketing their main economic activity. Cholos are predominant in this book, as indeed they are the most conspicuous Altiplano Indians. They wear a distinctive dress; the women wear bowlers or derby hats and very colorful sweater