Maria Ximena Bautista Valles

Trujillo, Peru

Back to Lic-Lic: an appreciation of our roots

In a country like Peru, where centralism is the principal cause of migration, it’s very easy to meet persons who have their origins in a different place from the one they currently live in. My personal story is not different, three of my grandparents migrated and had to establish themselves in a coastal city of Peru. But starting a life in a new place makes the environment, people, and behaviors influence the way of breeding the new family’s generations. This is why I acquired a different perspective when I lived for two months in my maternal grandparents’ birthplace, Lic-Lic, a small town in the Andes. Although many of the people from there were my family, we had different mores; however, this only showed how warm, welcoming, and generous the people from the Andes are. During those months I never felt away from home, because they always made me feel like I was already there. This traditional sense of community comes from our Inca heritage, when the decisions were always taken for the common benefit. The experience in Lic-Lic changed my life and made me even prouder of my roots, finally, it changed my way of living from then on.