ABSTRACT
In the southern highlands of Peru, 30 kilometers from Cuzco, in “the centre of the world,” lies Anta Pampa. In earlier epochs it consisted of part morass and part lake, but it now forms a largely waterless plain some 3,000-3,500 meters above sea level. In the mountains which rise around it lie the comunidades indigenas “indigenous communities,” or comunidades campesinas “peasant communities,” as they are now called. During hacienda times the farmers of these communities were restricted to growing their crops on the rain-fed hillsides, often up to a height of 4,500 meters. However, during the turbulent years of the 1970s most of them also obtained plots of land on the pampa, where for the most part they grow potatoes and barley for the market and wheat, beans and maize for home consumption. Cattle raising is also important.
