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On February 9, 10 and 11, 2024, the First International Meeting of Bearers of Ancestral Knowledge in the Context of Latin America and the Caribbean was held in Tiwanaku, organized by our friend the Bolivian empirical botanist and healer Carlos Prado Mendoza, with the aim of recovering ancestral wisdom from Abya Yala (The Americas) in matters of governance, health and food. Takiwasi was represented by the psychologist Tito Flores, a member of the therapeutic team, and our close friends, the Bolivian priest and healer Rosendo Gualinga and the psychologist Eduardo Araya from Santiago, Chile.

The Bolivian Catholic University and the Legislative Assembly participated and many events took place like the “Exhibition of Native Art and Andean Amazonian Shamanic Paraphernalia” and the presentation of the book “Memory of Traditional Andean Amazonian Medicine. 1000 Ways to Prevent and Cure Diseases” written by Carlos Prado Mendoza.

In addition to researchers, students and scientists, the meeting was attended by indigenous representatives of the Andean Community of Wiracocha (Chile), the American Council of Indigenous Peoples (Peru), Association of Indigenous Peoples and Elders Ancestral Knowledge of Tierradentro (Colombia), Council of Indigenous Healers of Argentina, Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (Colombia), ancestral sages of Mexico, Q'eros communities of Peru, chaski-huasis of Ecuador, among others.

The city of Tiahuanaco is located 70 kilometers northwest of the city of La Paz, by road, and at an altitude of 3885 m above sea level at 15 km from Lake Titicaca, in an area populated by Ayamara indigenous people. The Tiwanaku culture is considered to be one of the longest-lived cultures in South America, lasting 25 centuries from 1500 BC. until the year 1000 AD.

Tihuanaco is the spiritual and political center of the Tiwanaku culture, which began as a small settlement that became a planned city between 400 and 900 AD. and that collapsed around the year 900 or 1200 AD. This culture is essentially defined by the spatial organization of its civil-ceremonial functions, with the center of the city located according to the cardinal points and built with imposing carefully sculpted carved stones. A complex underground drainage system controlled the flow of rainwater.

Links
- Complete meeting program
- Press release of the meeting
- Video of the meeting
- Tiahuanaco, headquarters of the International Meeting of Bearers of Ancestral Knowledge
- Tiwanaku: spiritual and political center of Tiwanaku culture

Photo gallery