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 picket 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 regulate 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 supply an area the place they and their kids may thrive. AMA has develop into a spot the place travellers don’t simply cease for a meal however slip into an age-old proverb being dropped at life: It takes a village.
Intrepid has been partnering with AMA for years, bringing small teams by to listen to the tales of the only moms behind the restaurant and study what impressed Julio to start out 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 affect. ‘[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 inns born of that power within the area, he struggled to seek 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 bound the not-so-secret ingredient behind her scrumptious meals was love. He wished to carry that very same magic to AMA. ‘It’s not straightforward being a single mom, it’s essential to deal with 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 important challenges, from restricted job alternatives and monetary pressure to social stigma and the burden of childcare. With few assist techniques, balancing work and household may be powerful. AMA addresses these challenges by providing jobs, coaching and a supportive house the place moms can work with out sacrificing time with their kids, an choice they hardly ever 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 assist him, however employers wouldn’t let her carry her son. ‘I needed to go away him with my mother and it was very tough.’
She met Julio in 2019, when her son was 12, whereas she was working in eating places and inns. When Julio provided her a job at AMA, she couldn’t have been happier.
‘Julio elevates you up the ladder. He has an enormous coronary heart. That’s why I belief him and he trusts me,’ she says.
Lupe explains that within the Sacred Valley, virtually no person affords single moms the type of alternatives AMA supplies. Having the ability to carry her son to work has made a distinction for Lupe. ‘As a result of Julio allowed us to carry our kids right here, I used to be in a position to spend [more time with my son]. The opposite moms carry their kids, they do their homework. It’s regular, he offers us assist for our kids.’
Julio shares that whereas he might 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 plenty of accountability.’
Because the son of a single mom, Julio realized 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. ‘In case you 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 boost a toddler, 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 a lot of journeys in Peru, together with Inca Path Specific and Sacred Land of the Incas.