The Civilization in the Backyard

When Telmo Pereira purchased 200 acres of a plateau to cultivate in the northern Ecuadorian cloud forest region of Intag for $1.50 in 1949, he had no idea that the lot he had picked sat atop a pre-Incan city. Having recently left the army, the then 24-year-old farmer walked 160 miles from the southern border of his native Colombia to the land he now stands on with other things on his mind, primarily the woman he had followed there.

Sixty-eight years on, Telmo remains a legend in his own family. He went on to have six children with the woman who led him to Intag, with many grandchildren following. As the family grew, so too did the property, and entering his 90s with failing eyesight, the patriarch decided to divide a large portion of the land in six parcels to pass on to the next generation, keeping a separate section for himself. But his gifts of land came with a clear stipulation to his offspring: Never must the plateau slip out of the hands of the family.

Telmo’s plan to divide the responsibility between his six children has met with mixed success. Three of the children moved away, with little interest in the family property. This has left three to tend the land: Jorge, the eldest brother at 65 and apparent natural successor of the father, sharing with him a confidence with a plow as well as his accentuated speaking style; Hernando, a year younger than Jorge and an economist, hunter, and romantic; and Romel, 53, the youngest.

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