sunburnt from Salasaca

Hello! I hope this finds you all doing well and for friends at UNC I hope you all are not too swamped with work this week before your spring break.

Sunday I returned from a weekend field trip with my Anthropology class to an indigenous community called Salasaca. It was a 3 hour drive from Quito and is also high up in the mountains (therefore, while I did not get burnt at the beach this weekend, I did this weekend!)

The drive was beautiful (as are most drives in Ecuador!) and as I woke up from a nap I looked out the window to see expansive farm land and our big bus seemed to frighten a few cows as we pulled into the hostal. Our weekend was spent at a hostal called Hostal Runa Huasi which is completely family run and tourist-oriented. Alonso, the owner, employs his family in different ways to provide an indigenous community experience for tourists (and they are really hoping for more so if you ever get the chance, they would love for you to visit!)

Alonso walked us through a demonstration of the entire process of making thread from sheep wool as his mother (on the left) and sister (on the right) demonstrated. We even got to participate as Alonso's sister walked us through the steps of combing the wool and then spinning.

I must say, it was definitely more difficult than it appeared! These steps of the process are female-dominated and girls as young as 6 learn how to spin. To fill an entire "scene", working at 8 hours a day, one must work for about five days! We were also shown the right hand of Alonso's mother, with very bent fingers due to so much spinning in her 70+ years. We were given a quick demonstration of how threads are dyed with natural plants and then were taken to the "studio" where Alonso's brother-in-law demonstrated the actual weaving step of the process (more male-dominated).

 To weave, Alonso's brother-in-law sat on a sack of hay and began working, alternating the threads using small wooden pieces to separate the needed colors. He worked quickly, but we could still tell that the process takes a very long time. For this, we were told that unlike many indigenous people, this family only sells their products in the studio at their house, mainly to tourists that understand the process, or to other community members. While they could easily make a better income selling their products (bracelets, belts, wall hangings...) at markets, they do not prefer that option because customers do not understand the time and energy that went into making the products (and after this weekend I have a very deep understanding and appreciation for the time and energy needed!). 

Alonso realized halfway through the demonstration that his brother-in-law did not have any traditional clothing on so he quickly gave him his poncho and found a hat for him to wear for photos. Alonso explained that he typically does not wear traditional clothing because whenever he travels outside of the community, he is often met with discrimination. Therefore, he saves traditional clothing for special occasions and holidays. Interestingly enough, the majority of men that we met (Alonso's family members) also wore modern/Western clothing but all of the women wore traditional clothing.

We were given a tour around the community of the Salasacas sacred places - sites around the mountain where Salasacas go to experience the spirit of the mountains and where they are able to leave offerings (anything from coca leaves to (what we perceive as) trash to food to live cuy (guinea pig) dressed in small clothing that they make). The views from these sites were incredible and it was easy to see why these sites were chosen as sacred.

On a later walk, we saw the Tunguragua Volcano ERUPTING! While we didn't see lava spitting out we did see lots of smoke. We also had clear views of Cotopaxi and Chimborazo (two of the largest volcanoes & mountains in the country). The clouds (per usual) were beautiful and pictures couldn't really capture the vastness of the valleys around the community (sorry!).

A musical performance on Saturday evening by family members (all men) gave us a taste of traditional Andean music. We all took turns playing a percussion instrument and all danced around a fire in the middle of the hostal patio (the musicians led the way).

While we were given a "true" indigenous experience, it was difficult to understand the community dynamics because we only saw the community through the eyes of one family. Apparently there are about 5000 members of the Salasaca community but due to the dynamics of the hostal, we did not receive a true understanding of the size of the community. However, it was interesting to learn (according to Alonso) that the community is always united on issues such as involvement in political issues and rulings. We also learned that many community members over the last 30 years have moved to the Galapagos Islands in search of different ways to make a living (field life around Salasaca is very difficult).

We were very well fed at the hostal and while one day I hope to create a blog post dedicated to all of the unique and fresh fruits in Ecuador, this is a picture of the fruit "tomato de arbol" or tree tomato. This is a popular juice here in Ecuador and we were lucky enough to drink juice from fruit that we saw growing on a tree right outside of the hostal! The juice tastes nothing like tomatoes, it is very sweet and doesn't really have an equivalent in the U.S.

It might seem that I write a lot more about my weekend adventures than my "work"-week adventures...Classes are going well and I am especially enjoying my Social Problems in Ecuador class and my Ecology of the Galapagos Classes. Currently, I am starting my final papers (professors make us start very early!) on Child Labor in Ecuador (for Social Problems) and Sea Lion Behavior (for Galapagos). In my Anthropology class, I will soon begin my final paper on Afroecuatorianos, a group that makes up about 5% of Ecuador and a group that I unfortunately know little about (hence why I chose it for my topic!). Yes, while it might seem that all I do is travel, eat, and relax, I am keeping up with my classes during the week even though I find it very easy to get distracted by planning and exploring the next place to visit.