**3. Results**

#### *3.1. The Vocable Llayta: Alternative Names and Their Meaning*

Llayta is the Aymara name that refers to colonies of a cyanobacterium that grows in the Andes highlands and is consumed by rural and urban communities in South America (Figures 1 and 2). Alternative names for Llayta can be found in several languages: Spanish, Quechua, Kunza and Mapudungun (Table 1). The variety of names for the vocable Llayta stresses the cultural and anthropological diversity of representations associated with this feeding practice.



#### *3.2. How Much People Know about Llayta*

All participants were interviewed to assess the type and level of knowledge they have on Llayta. Table 2 provides extracts of the answers given by 10 participants (7 adults and 3 students). Only 8 of the 19 participants had some perception about Llayta; the others (58%) lack any knowledge about it. The extracts in Table 2 corroborate that 7 participants have had personal experience of Llayta, i.e., direct knowledge. Only one teacher expressed indirect knowledge about Llayta since the information was second-hand (Table 2). Compared with adult participants, the oral expression of knowledge used by the fourth-grade students from Putre to refer to Llayta were few or absent. When asked to draw an image of Llayta, 11 out of 12 students were willing to participate and their drawings were far from a correct depiction of the colonies. As an exception, one student emphasized that his mother used to cook Llayta and her drawing was the closest image to it. Another student said: "*no*, *yo no*" (No, I do not (know Llayta)). A third student asked: "¿*Esa es la Llayta*? (Is this Llayta?), referring to a drawing made by another student. Table 2 is a compilation of the representations of Llayta.



#### *3.3. Fields of Representations for Llayta*

Table 2 shows the extracts from the ethnographic registries. These are the descriptions and references that sustain the field of representation of Llayta for 7 adult participants, which can be organized in the following 3 semantic fields:

#### 3.3.1. What is it?

"Es un musgo que se trae de Caquena"; "es un musgo parecido al cochayuyo, es la misma que venden en el agro". "Ésta es nacional"; "la Llayta es un tipo de alga de mar, de agua dulce y de mar también hay".

"It is a moss brought from Caquena"; "it is a moss similar to cochayuyo (seaweed), it is the same that is sold at the market", "This is national"; "Llayta is a kind of marine alga; from freshwater and also from the sea".

#### 3.3.2. Where is it from?

"De súcuro se trae", "De súcuro de ahí al fondo pues"; "Ahí arriba de Puno"; "ésta es de río"; "en Parinacota hay río de esa, ahí florece"; "la Llayta es de por acá también"; "Hay en las lagunas, en Caqueña en Tacna y aquí arriba Caquena"; "de la altura, de Puno, de Juliaca, bofedales eso está en la altura, en agua dulce en los ríos crece por ahí, bueno acá en la frontera con Perú, tripartito, Visviri, ahí también crece"; "Llayta, arriba hay, arriba"; "Parinacota, ahí si hay Llayta"; "la Llayta es de por acá también"; "en Caquena"; "Eh ... Yo no las he visto pero sí me han dicho que ahí en la laguna está la Llayta, pero de verla no"; "en Caquena".

"It is brought from Sucuro"; "from Sucuro, back there"; "from Puno, up there"; "this is from a river"; "at Parinacota, there is a river where it blooms"; "Llayta is from here too"; "it is from ponds, at Caquena, in Tacna, and up here in Caquena"; "from highlands, at Puno, Juliaca, wetlands, this is at the highlands, it grows in freshwater rivers, well, here at the border with Peru, Visviri, where it also grows; "Llayta, it is up there, up high"; "Llayta is at Parinacota, for sure"; "Llayta is from here too"; "at Caquena"; "Eh ... , I have not seen it but I was told that over there at the pond, there is Llayta, but I have not seen it"; "at Caquena".

#### 3.3.3. What is it for?

"Para picante"; "si picante prepara rico ahí comen"; "los peruanos los comen la Llayta y el cochayuyo"; "Llayta come... el segundo come bonito, así que coce para ... es como carne para ... se prepara eso"; "como carne, como picante cocino acá"; "la Llayta se usa para el picante"; "la he comido no más, pero no sé qué me ha hecho"; "¡no! y los picantes de guatita"; "ahí le ponen la Llayta ... "; "lo traen y lo hacen secar, y seco lo venden en los negocios para cocinarlo se la remoja"; "ah yo <sup>s</sup>í, porque mi mamá cocina".

"For making picante dish"; "yes, picante dish is good, they eat it"; "Peruvian people eat Llayta and cochayuyo"; "Llayta is for consumption ... , so you cook it ... , it is like meat ... ; like meat, like picante I cook it here"; "Llayta is used for picante"; "I have eaten it but I do not know how to prepare it"; "it is brought here, it is dried and it is sold dry to restaurants"; "it is soaked before cooking"; "yes I know it, my mother cooks it".

When asked for places where Llayta can be found, one informant from Tacna, Peru, used the vocable "*chuncuru*" (an Aymara synonym for Llayta) instead of using "*Sucuru*", the right geographic site to where Llayta can be found. This mistake can be explained by the phonetic similarity between both words.
