The very first thing you discover at AMA restaurant in Urubamba, a small city in Peru’s Sacred Valley, isn’t the meals – it’s the tiny voices.
Youngsters dart by means of the backyard, clambering over a wood play construction, their giggles carried by the crisp mountain air. Their working single moms – some within the kitchen stirring pots, others weaving vibrant wool into sweaters – can keep watch over them between duties.
Julio Chemi Sanchez Hernandez, the restaurant’s founder, had a easy dream: to create alternatives for single moms within the Sacred Valley and provide an area the place they and their kids may thrive. AMA has grow to be a spot the place travellers don’t simply cease for a meal however slip into an age-old proverb being delivered to life: It takes a village.
Intrepid has been partnering with AMA for years, bringing small teams by to listen to the tales of the one moms behind the restaurant and study what impressed Julio to begin it.
Julio settled in Urubamba in 2018 after travelling round his house nation of Peru the yr earlier than that. After spending time within the cities, jungles and mountains, it was his time in Cusco that left the deepest influence. ‘[In that time] I noticed the Sacred Valley and observed its superb power,’ he says. Julio explains that whereas he discovered many unimaginable eating places and accommodations born of that power within the area, he struggled to search out areas that supported weak individuals.
That’s why AMA was created. It means love in Spanish. Julio was raised by a single mom and is certain the not-so-secret ingredient behind her scrumptious meals was love. He wished to deliver that very same magic to AMA. ‘It’s not simple being a single mom, it is advisable care for your children on a regular basis, however they’ve power for all of it. I see the power, what’s its title? Love. So I selected to work with single moms,’ he explains.
Single moms in Peru’s Sacred Valley typically face vital challenges, from restricted job alternatives and monetary pressure to social stigma and the burden of childcare. With few help methods, balancing work and household will be robust. AMA addresses these challenges by providing jobs, coaching and a supportive area the place moms can work with out sacrificing time with their kids, an possibility they not often discover elsewhere.
Lupita Castro Arias (Lupe), AMA’s head chef, has a 17-year-old son named Jean Piero. Lupe separated from her husband when her son was seven. She needed to work to help him, however employers wouldn’t let her deliver her son. ‘I needed to go away him with my mother and it was very troublesome.’
She met Julio in 2019, when her son was 12, whereas she was working in eating places and accommodations. When Julio provided her a job at AMA, she couldn’t have been happier.
‘Julio elevates you up the ladder. He has a giant coronary heart. That’s why I belief him and he trusts me,’ she says.
Lupe explains that within the Sacred Valley, nearly no one provides single moms the sort of alternatives AMA offers. With the ability to deliver her son to work has made a distinction for Lupe. ‘As a result of Julio allowed us to deliver our youngsters right here, I used to be capable of spend [more time with my son]. The opposite moms deliver their kids, they do their homework. It’s regular, he offers us help for our youngsters.’
Julio shares that whereas he could not have kids himself, he has 45 single working moms counting on him. ‘That’s 45 households,’ he remarks. ‘I’ve 45 children. That’s quite a lot of duty.’
Because the son of a single mom, Julio discovered the artwork of not giving up. He says he is aware of how unimaginable it’s to have the ability to create one thing that helps individuals. ‘You probably have one thing in your thoughts, you could have a dream or you could have one thing to do… proceed believing in your self.’
AMA’s proof that it takes a village – not simply to lift a baby, however to construct a group the place everybody can thrive and, as Julio says, believing in your self is the place all of it begins.
Intrepid travellers can go to AMA Restaurant on quite a few journeys in Peru, together with Inca Path Specific and Sacred Land of the Incas.
