From Ancient Amazon Fishing to the Inca Civilization

While they wait after setting the nets, tension runs high. As a local expert puts it, you need at least eight people to catch one, so eight or more workers are mobilized for each catch.

Local fishermen set their nets and wait for the piraruca while maintaining intense tension and working together.

Even at the moment they think they have caught one in the net, the piraruca thrashes with great force, and because it is so strong, accidents injuring people happen often.

Because of these dangers that come with fishing, fishermen must always pay close attention.

This fish, which lives in the Amazon basin, is raised through aquaculture locally and used as a food resource. Locals farm it and use it as a food source.

Locally, this giant species is farmed and used as an important food resource.

An Amazonian legend tells that every night the piraruca turns into a mermaid and lures men into the lake.

Even though it is a food people are trying for the first time, its mild taste is a defining feature, giving a flavor like shark meat mixed with cod.

Even though it is a first-time food, a mild and familiar taste comes through, and many people enjoy it.

It is usually cooked as a fried dish that keeps the flesh intact, emphasizing a crispy texture.

In the days before money existed, cacao held such importance in this region that it served in place of currency.

The word 'chocolatl' also originates from the culture of this region's native people, and unprocessed 100% cacao powder has a strong bitter taste.

They prefer such pure cocoa, so much that they compare its additive-free taste to a plain poem.

A legend says the Inca settled where a golden staff sank easily into the fertile ground when they pushed it in.

During colonial rule, Spanish soldiers plundered the natives' gold. To conceal the embezzlement, they fabricated and reported the myth of a city of gold.

This false myth led to reckless investments and conquest campaigns in search of the golden city, resulting in tragedy.

The Incas had very sophisticated building techniques, including using heptagonal (seven-sided) stones.

Walls stacked tightly leave no gap even for a sheet of paper, making them sturdy and designed to withstand earthquakes.

The Sacred Valley preserves Inca-era ruins, among them stepped irrigation channels.

This channel system uses meltwater from the Andes and flows all year round, supplying water to farmland.

Although the Inca civilization fell, their lifeblood water still flows and remains the foundation of abundant harvests today.

Market prices are set in units of 1 sol (about 350 won), so cheap, and the variety of goods ranges from flowers to vegetables.

The guinea pig, native to the Andes of South America, is the main ingredient of 'cuy', a traditional dish eaten since the Inca era.

Cuy is considered a luxury dish eaten on special days like birthdays and festivals, and it is so historic that it even appears in a Last Supper painting at Cusco Cathedral.

When cooking it, the herb wakataya is added to remove the gamey smell and add a fragrant touch.

In the highlands, where temperature differences are large, potatoes are repeatedly frozen and thawed to drain out moisture, producing freeze-dried potatoes called 'chuño'.

Chuño made this way can be stored for more than 10 years as a long-term preserved food, and it is soaked in water and cooked into soup with regular potatoes or chickpeas.

Salt is harvested by slowly flowing brine through small channels into about 2,000 stepped ponds, and full-scale harvesting begins in the dry season.

The first salt harvested is called 'flor', a flaky table salt for eating; the second is 'rosada', which has a pinkish tint and is also used for eating. The third, harvested later, is called 'medicinal salt' or mineral salt and is used for medicine and industry.