Indulgences

1. Kuka

   Coca leaf

   Usage

   The leaf of a shrub grown in the Andean hills. Tucking leaves in the cheek and chewing — akulliña — is an everyday habit in the highlands, and bags of it are sold in markets and on the street. It blunts hunger and tiredness and is held to help with altitude. ⚠ Legal in Bolivia and Peru, illegal to take out. Many countries, Japan among them, ban importing the leaf and the tea bags alike, and travellers have been stopped at airports. Finish it before you leave

   Grammar Note

   Kuka is coca, a plant that grows in the mountains. Its leaves are chewed and are said to be good for curing all kinds of illness. Akulliña is the verb 'to chew coca'. ⚠ Kuka and quqa ('tree') differ by one letter and are different words

2. K'usa

   K'usa (chicha, fermented grain drink)

   Usage

   A cloudy brewed drink made by fermenting maize or quinoa. In Spanish it is chicha. It is passed around at festivals and communal work. ⚠ It contains alcohol. Homemade or street-stall versions may use water and vessels that were not boiled, and at high altitude, combined with dehydration, it can hit hard. ⚠ On the highlands it can be hard to refuse a drink that is offered, but there are phrases for people who do not drink

   Grammar Note

   K'usa is a drink brewed from quinoa seeds. In the past the Aymara ancestors drank water and k'usa from a qiru (vessel). It is also spelled without the apostrophe, Kusa

3. Thayacha

   Thayacha (frozen isañu dessert)

   Usage

   ⚠ A seasonal sweet that depends on highland frost. Isañu tubers (Tropaeolum tuberosum) are laid out in the sun to sweeten, boiled, cooled, then put out overnight on the thatch (jichhu) of the roof to freeze, and eaten the next morning. A version made from tapuya also exists. Markets sell it in small bowls

   Grammar Note

   Thayacha is built from thaya 'cold' and means 'something frozen'. There are two kinds, one made from isañu and one from tapuya. Both spellings thayacha and tayacha occur

4. Chukulati

   Chocolate

   Usage

   The confection made from cacao beans. Bolivia has wild cacao in its Amazon lowlands, in Beni and elsewhere, and bars made from it fill the souvenir shops of La Paz. Ordinary bars are on sale in highland kiosks too

   Grammar Note

   Chukulati is chocolate, a sweet made from cacao beans. The Spanish took it to Europe, added sugar, and from there it spread across the world

5. Jamp'i

   Jamp'i (toasted grain)

   Usage

   Barley, maize or broad beans toasted on the fire. Sold by the bag in markets and at long-distance bus stops, and eaten by the handful as you walk — the highland snack. It is also ground on the stone (piqaña) into flour (aku) for drinks and porridge

   Grammar Note

   Jamp'i is roasted barley, broad beans, maize and the like (ground on a stone mill, k'iyaña). It is also spelled janp'i

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