One of the biggest regrets of my life, if I had any, is not being able to learn Quechua while I was growing up. I was not taught Quechua, either at home or school. And living in the city made learning it, or even knowing about it, harder than it should have been. 

I do not speak it, and I know it’s because of my inability, but not for lack of trying. I even moved to Cusco so that I could hear it every day. But alas..! My brain doesn’t retain it. 

I know we can’t know it all. But still, every time I hear a song in Quechua something primal wakes up in my heart, and I hum to the melodies while listening to the unknown words that wake up a swirl of emotions in my latino heart. 

It is the same with all of them, William Luna with his “Niña chay” and “Valicha” make me think of lullabies because the lyrics are just soft and lovely. But lately, I have found a new song that makes me dance (Being bad at something does not prevent me from trying 😁) from Damaris “Tusuy Kusun,” which won her first place in “Viña del Mar”, which is the most prestigious music festival in Latin America. 

I will keep trying to improve my understanding of this ancestral language which not only accompanied the Incas but it is the vessel of our mystical culture. And which secrets are contained within it, still waiting for us to discover them.