This morning I am in the market looking for someone who can advise me about the fevers, lately I have been getting them every few weeks. I see 40 or 50 Women sitting on the ground with babies on their backs slung in bright red blankets. Before them are bunches of onions, carrots, and sacks of potatoes, pottery and woven saddle bags. There are many conflicting odors in the air. Some smell like Jasmine and other smell like the sheep's heads sitting on a table covered with flies.

The market is exciting and depressing. It's exciting because of all the bright colors, and I see many women breast feeding. I see more bare breasts in one glance then I've seen in my entire life. Some have extremely long nipples.

It's depressing because they have no sense of cleanliness and sit on the ground with flies crawling over their fruit and breads. There were many different types of corn and stacks of dried fish from the coast. They are stiff and look like they've been run over by trucks.
An Indian lady leads me to a toothless, old, man she calls a Curandero (a healer). He is sitting on the ground. In front of him there are small piles of herbs on a dirty gray cloth.
'Good morning papasito, how can I help you?'�
'About every two, or three weeks, I get a fever with chills for about two days.'�
'You are experiencing Soul Loss.'�
'Soul loss?'�
'Yes you are losing your soul. I can see it in your eyes and the way you walk. You are soured on love, you don't like Peru, your hope is almost gone, your soul is leaving you, but you don't care.'�
'Do you have anything that can help me?'�
'Maybe. I have two things, Sillu Supay (Devil's Seat) and Sangre de Drago (Dragon's Blood), but they only work if you have faith and I see you have lost all faith.'�
'So don't waste my money?'�
'Oh you can waste it if you like.'�
'Oh and another thing I have fleas. Do you have anything for fleas?'�
'Yes, when you wake up in the morning toss back your covers and quickly catch one. Roll it between your thumb and index finger rapidly to daze it and then crack it with your fingernails.'�
'I have a lot of fleas.'�
'Well pull the covers over you and wait a few minutes and do it again.'�
As I start to go he says, 'Have you tried Coca?'�
'No, but I've seen the cholos lying in the streets passed out.'�
'That's the Chicha, not the Coca. The Coca is a holy plant. Mama Coca brings sunshine to the mind.'�
'Thanks, but no thanks.'�
'One last thing,'� he says. 'Try dancing. Sometimes dancing gets a young man's hope back up, and find a blanket with legs, but this time don't give her your heart.'�

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