160

We were doing a total refurbishment [of the church]. We started to dig it all up and take it out, and there it appeared: the first skull, my first impression. At age seven, I was a kid. I saw a skull, then a femur. The bosses went to buy alcohol. They began to ch’alla. It was the first time I tried my father’s alcohol, to ch’alla. And then they were digging more out with the stones. I could not believe, then, that they were taking more out. And that was the excuse [why] every day, most of the day, they were drunk. The place was big. It was excessive, the [number of] bones we took. It was unbelievable. They were at every step, like finding any stone. Unbelievable. With my cousin, who rests in peace, we took them out by wheelbarrow. You enter the church and, on the side, where they baptise, we put everything there.

I’m not lying to you: we ended up with a mountain of skulls, everyone’s bones. I walked around with my coca each day – my father gave it to me daily because [the skeleton] is like a little spirit; they all have their soul. They must be of some of our ancestors. Really, I was quite affected: not by fear but by sadness. Also a little fear! But mainly, it was sadness. Because I personally believe strongly in ghosts because of several experiences that I have had in the cemetery. I always start to think, “Who were they?” It could have been an authority; it could have been… I don’t know, maybe an important person, or a simple llama farmer. Then [they have been] put in their place. And [with] that hindsight you have of the history, it makes you think. – Lucho