This tale was told to Marisol by one of her nannies.
She said that in her mother’s town, one of her family’s neighbors, a man named Huaman went to bathe at a lake in Churin. While he was bathing, he saw a beautiful white woman with blonde hair down to her ankles. She was nude and standing on the other side of the lake form where she was beckoning him with her hand in a very flirtatious way. The man could not hold back for long and so, ensnared by her beauty, he crossed the river and went towards her. Many days went by and the man was not seen back in the town; then, Huaman was found at another town completely blind and incoherent. His family took him to a local hospital, but the hospital couldn’t explain the man’s sudden blindness, and so the family took him to a shaman. It was during a healing, that Huaman was able to tell them about his meeting with the blonde woman of the lake, the mamahuarmi. After the healing his mind was restored, but his sight was not, and he died many years later from old age.

The mamahuarmi is a very popular creature from Peruvian folklore. Unfortunately, there is not much study devoted to Peruvian myths and folktales; however, the mamahuarmi can be found in the recently released encyclopedia of Peruvian magical creatures titled, Seres Magicos del Peru compiled by Javier Zapata Innocenzi. A story similar to the one Marisol heard can be read in Relatos Magicos del Peru