Beautiful book (in every way)

A few days ago I attended a seminar about water and its conservation. Besides the regular lectures, facts and figures, something caught my attention: A book.

Fact: you can't get good quality books unless you pay what in local currency is a fortune (3 times more if you compare it to Argentina, for example) or some private company 'committed' with culture decides to do a 'good deed' and releases something decent.

That particular book was something else, good material, great printing quality, illustrations and writing not usual. It is called “Mitos y Leyendas del Agua en el Perú” (something like Peruvian Myths and Leyends of Water), with stories related to water, collected by school kids from all over the country! The stories were oral local myths or leyends that these kids collected to preserve them for future generations. The illustrations are peruvian andean iconography and are just amazing!

Kids, teachers and parents from Pacucha with one of the winners of the
contest, Rony, who's story is part of the book

I asked about it and they said it was not for sale, it was a limited edition printed by the World Bank and the ones they had were to be given as prizes for a raffle they were making at the end of the event. My bad luck is internationally known (friends abroad know about stuff that often happens to me, haha), so I got sad right away... But guess what!!! Yes!!! At the end of the event, 50 books were given and I was number 49!!!

Yesterday I wrote to the organizers to congratulate them for the event and to ask about the book, as some people were already asking me where to get it I thought maybe they would have some in storage for people willing to pay for it... The answer was the same, nothing for sale, and then something else that made me feel good: they called me a 'water ambassador', chosen by Yacu (the spirit of water in the Andean Cultures) and Pachamama (Mother Earth in Andean Cultures) to spread their message... I felt important! hahaha... So, every now and then I'll try to do so, maybe translate some of the stories and share with you the magic of ancient and popular myths and leyends from my country, from cultures that revered water as a god and preserved it for the future.

Kids from Callao get books as prizes for a contest