chucaque

Like many North Americans traveling or living in South America, I’ve had some stomach issues while I’ve been down here. However, unlike most North Americans who pop some Immodium or Cipro, I have gotten to experience Andean “medicine.”

The other day my family was eating guinea pig for dinner and I was happy to have the excuse that my stomach was bothering me, so I would have to pass on the delicious meal. My family seemed worried. They asked me if my head also hurt. In fact, it did (I happen to know the common Western medical knowledge that headaches are often accompanied with diarrhea due to dehydration, but I didn’t say anything.). Then, they got very worried. They told me that I most likely had chucaque. Chu ca what? My host mother, Palmira, explained to me that Chucaque was bad spirits caused by shame. They asked me what could have caused these bad spirits to enter my body (bacteria, caused by street food, I thought, but didn’t say anything). I told them I didn’t know. They wondered what had shamed me that day. They were all very worried about these bad spirits which had entered my body. They told me that the bad spirits kill people and we would have to get these spirits out immediately. I restrained myself from rolling my eyes at them.

This is when it got even more interesting. I had heard about Peruvian witchcraft, but didn’t realize that my own family practiced it. Apparently it is more common than I had thought. Palmira stood up and told me she would take the chucaque out of me herself. She told me this is what her mom did for her and this is what she does for all of her children when they are sick. She explained as a matter-of-factly that it was important to get the chucaque out of my body right then and there. Then, she took a huge chunk of my hair and starting pulling… pulling HARD. I screamed “¿Que está haciendo?” What was she doing? She told me not to worry, it would hurt for a minute, but it was necessary. So I let her continue. She pulled chunks of my hair until we heard a crack, which apparently was a spirit leaving my head (honestly, I’m not sure what the crack was?).

I was relieved when this over, but then was told that that was only the first step to what my family called medicine for spirits caused by shame (and in hindsight what I’d like to call an exorcism of diarrhea). Next, my four foot tall host mother tried to pick up five foot seven me and crack my back in order to scare out more spirits inside of me. It was awkward, but I thought, finally this is over. No, no, the best was yet to come. I sat back down, confused, not knowing whether to cry or laugh at what was going on. All of a sudden, I feel a huge spray of water all over my face. My mom had just spit cold water all over me. I think I may have yelled out some English profanities. It may have been one of the weirdest things I had experienced. She actually spit on me.

Then she sat back down, and our family meal continued as normal. My family told me that I should sleep well that night and would feel better in the morning, as all of the spirits will have left. The weirdest thing about it all, I did feel better the next day.