Doña Teo

Legendary medicinal herb store 

In San Antonio de los Cobres, , right where the maps mark the corner of Marcenaro Boutell and Pellegrini streets, an energetic blue door leads to the most extraordinary Andean apothecary in northern Argentina.

It is the medicinal herb store of Doña Teófila Martínez de Olmos, who is proud to say that she has more than fifteen hundred varieties, all from the puna and the altiplano.

It is a mixture of antique shop, haberdashery, grocery store and pharmacy, since some doctors send their patients there with indications for their owner. 

At the first query we asked her, Doña Teo was already suspicious and did not hesitate to inquire, "Why so many questions?" When we told her about @tripticity_ she shared with us about her disappointment with some journalists who some time before had passed by her store, feeling used and even ridiculed. We understood her anger and her reluctance to attend to strangers. 

Little by little we got into the mood. We bought a hundred grams of suiko and another hundred grams of healing arcayuyo, and by then she offered us the bingo of the parish of San Antonio de Padua, which we honored without hesitation. Even though she was a bit grouchy, true to her strong personality, she confessed that besides being the mother of eight children and grandmother of "about 20 grandchildren", she is a catechism teacher and prepares brides and grooms in San Antonio de los Cobres for the pre-marriage course.

She knows about herbs like few others and she is also a folk singer (coplera). A real surprise turned out to be Teo.

In truth, when listening to her life story, one feels small, very small, before such a testimony of overcoming. Orphan of mother and father, she has been working since she was conscious, she could barely learn to read, and yet she does not hesitate at the age of seventy to get on a bus to the south of the country to sell her llama wool fabrics whenever necessary.

Her store is a must in the capital of the puna, although -attention- she does not always answer the door. It is necessary to ring the doorbell and implore that destiny conjures in favor of the good spirits of the hostess.

A Sey native, she settled in San Antonio de los Cobres many years ago, she can't even remember how many. Today her naturalist apothecary surprises the traveler. It is only a matter, as always, of getting away from the GPS a little bit and walking through the adjacent streets looking for stories like the one of Doña Teo.