Agustin Mayta Condori shows a sick alpaca, which he predicted would die the next day because of subfreezing temperatures in the southern Andes in Peru. Thousands of alpacas have died in the region. Rodrigo Abd/AP hide caption
Peru Peru
Supporters of Peru's President-elect Pedro Pablo Kuczynski cheer during his victory announcement in Lima on Thursday. Cris Bouroncle /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
Each province represented at the festival used to carve out heavy chunks of ice from the glacier — symbol of water and life — to bring back to their communities. Sebastian Castañeda Vita hide caption
Former circus lions plays after being released into an enclosure at Emoya Big Cat Sanctuary. Themba Hadebe/AP hide caption
The history of this sweet little drink traces back to Spain's conquest of Peru, and a drink called ponche de huevos, or egg punch. Courtesy of Alyson Levy hide caption
Jackie Rodriguez Peña prepares a frog smoothie at her stand at the Mercado de las Brujas in Lima, Peru. Mollie Bloudoff-Indelicato for NPR hide caption
A woman breast-feeds her child as she waits to donate milk to a milk bank in Lima. The donations are used for babies whose mothers can't provide breast milk. Ernesto Benavides /AFP/Getty Images hide caption
The Inca were innovators in agriculture as well as engineering. Terracing like this, on a steep hillside in Peru's Colca Canyon, helped them grow food. Doug McMains/Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian hide caption
Sergio Pacheco learned the healing songs from his father at age 6 and went on to conduct his first healing ceremony at age 8. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption
Maria Nieves Nashnato Upari and Jose Manuel Huaymacari Tamani are teaching Kukama to children in hopes of keeping their "maternal language" alive. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption
If your neighbors are getting on your nerves, here's what you'd say in Kukama: "They're living like dogs: one minute laughing, the next minute shouting, the next minute fighting."
Victorio Dariquebe Gerewa displays his bow and arrow at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption
Peru's alpacas are blessed once a year, during rainy season. The blessing declares: "Let there be a great abundance of alpacas, so that the alpacas should be like the condor and appear to fly from one mountain to another." Courtesy of the Center for Traditional Textiles of Cusco hide caption
"Monky" silk screens posters for some of Peru's top chicha bands. Joshua Cogan hide caption
Standing in their backyard in Cochas Grande, Peru, Katya and Blanca Cantos, hold the fruit of their labor. The gourd at left shows scenes from a potato harvest. The just-started gourd at right will tell the story of an ancestor's epic trek. Josh Cogan/Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archive, Smithsonian Institution hide caption
Mixed ceviche from Peru: The Cookbook. Courtesy of Phaidon Press hide caption