In the Peruvian Andes, before someone drinks, they may tip a few drops onto the ground. It is not clumsiness. It is an offering to Pachamama, the earth mother, the living deity at the heart of Andean belief, and it tells you something essential about Peru: that beneath the Spanish churches and the modern cities, an indigenous worldview thousands of years old is still very much alive. Travel here respectfully, and you meet not a ruin but a living culture.
Pachamama is owed the first share
Pachamama, mother earth, is revered across the Andes, and the gesture of offering her the first sip of a drink, a few drops of chicha or beer poured to the ground, is a daily act of gratitude and reciprocity. At a deeper level, communities make despacho offerings, careful bundles of coca leaves, seeds, and symbolic items given back to the earth in ceremony. You do not need to perform these, but understanding that the land is regarded as a living, giving being reframes how you walk through it. Machu Picchu and the sacred valley are not just sites; they are still holy.
This is a worldview of ayni, reciprocity, the idea that you give back what you take, to the earth and to each other. The traveller who treats the landscape and its people as something to consume misses the entire spirit of the place. The one who moves with a little humility, who thanks, who gives back, fits into something old and graceful.
In the Andes the earth is not scenery you pass through. It is a mother you owe, and the first sip of the drink is hers.
On Pachamama
The coca leaf is medicine, not a vice
Visitors are sometimes startled to be offered coca, the leaf chewed and brewed as tea, mate de coca, across the Andes. In its natural leaf form it is a mild, traditional remedy, used for thousands of years to ease altitude sickness, fatigue, and hunger, and it is legal and woven into daily and ceremonial life. It is not the processed drug, and treating it with respect rather than nervous curiosity is the right approach. A cup of coca tea on arrival in Cusco is one of the kindest things the high country offers your struggling lungs.
Respect the living cultures, and pay for the photo
The Andes are home to living indigenous peoples, Quechua and Aymara above all, with their own languages, dress, and traditions, not costumes put on for tourists. The women you see in bright layered skirts and bowler hats in the highland markets are going about their lives. The respectful rule with photography is clear: ask first, and expect that taking a portrait often involves a small payment or a purchase. Someone in traditional dress, or posing with a llama, may reasonably expect a few soles for a photo. This is fair, not a scam. A landscape is free; a person's livelihood and dignity are not.
In markets, gentle bargaining is normal and expected, but do it with warmth and a smile, not aggression, and remember the few rupees you save may matter far more to the seller than to you. Peruvians, especially in the highlands, can be reserved and formal at first; politeness, patience, and genuine interest open them up. The culture rewards courtesy over hurry.
The rules worth carrying
- Treat the land as sacred. Pachamama, the earth mother, is revered. The reverence for sites like Machu Picchu is real, not historical.
- Accept the coca tea. It is a traditional, legal altitude remedy, not a drug. It genuinely helps.
- Always ask before photographing people, and expect to pay a small sum for portraits of those in traditional dress.
- Bargain gently in markets, with a smile, remembering what the difference means to the seller.
- Be patient and courteous. Highland culture can be reserved at first and opens to genuine respect.
A civilisation, not a backdrop
It is easy to treat Peru as a checklist, Machu Picchu, a llama photo, a pisco sour, and fly home having seen the country without meeting it. But the Andes hold one of the great surviving indigenous civilisations on earth, with a worldview, a language, and a relationship to the land that predates the Inca and outlived the Spanish. The traveller who slows down, asks before they photograph, thanks the earth, and treats the people as people rather than picturesque extras comes away with something far richer than a postcard: a glimpse into a way of seeing the world that the modern one largely forgot.
You can photograph the Andes in a day. Understanding that the people in the frame are a living civilisation, not a costume, takes only a little humility, and changes everything.
On the OJ Brazil and Peru trip the Peru leg moves through this living culture with respect, the coca tea at altitude, the markets entered gently, the photographs asked for rather than taken. Because the lost city in the clouds is why everyone comes, but the woman who lets you photograph her with a smile, for a fair few soles, is the reminder that the Andes were never lost at all. People never stopped living there.
Frequently asked
What is Pachamama?
Pachamama is the earth mother, a living deity at the heart of Andean belief revered across Peru, Bolivia, and the region. Andeans honour her with daily gestures like pouring the first drops of a drink onto the ground, and with despacho offering ceremonies. The reverence reframes sites like Machu Picchu and the sacred valley as still holy, not just historical.
Is it okay to drink coca tea in Peru?
Yes. Coca leaf, chewed or brewed as mate de coca, is a legal, traditional Andean remedy used for thousands of years to ease altitude sickness, fatigue, and hunger. In leaf form it is mild and woven into daily life, and it is not the processed drug. A cup on arrival in the high country genuinely helps with altitude.
Do I have to pay to photograph people in Peru?
Often, yes, and it is fair. People in traditional Andean dress, or posing with llamas in the highlands, may reasonably expect a small payment of a few soles for a portrait, since it is part of their livelihood. Always ask first. Landscapes are free, but a person's image and dignity deserve consent and sometimes compensation.