Otavalo, Part 1

Throughout my six months here, Kalamazoo College will be paying for me to go on a total of four excursions, one to each of the four regions of Ecuador: La Sierra (or highlands, which is where Quito is situated), La Costa (the Coast), El Oriente (named because it’s the eastern region, the jungle) and Las Islas Galápagos. This weekend was the first of these—our trip further north to the city of Otavalo, and the surrounding areas.

First, let me tell you my overall impression of the trip: it was incredible. When you’re living in Quito, which is a large metropolitan city, it’s easy to forget that you’re in Ecuador. I mean, you’ll be reminded if you pay enough attention to your surroundings and see that huge mountain range off in the distance, but otherwise, it’s easy to forget where you are, and just be caught up in your own life. I’ve felt a lot like that these first three weeks. And more importantly, I’ve realized that’s what has made me feel so homesick. Since I don’t feel like I’m abroad a lot of the time, I subconsciously feel like my surroundings should be familiar, and my family and friends from home should be close by. But of course none of that is true. It’s sort of a cognitive dissonance. And it’s made me miss home a lot.

But this weekend, I really felt like I was in Ecuador. We were experiencing really new things. We were seeing things we’d never seen before. We were meeting people who were different from us. We were experiencing a culture very different from the U.S. And it made me remember why I wanted to come here. And it made me remember what the point of this whole trip is. Most of all, it made me love Ecuador again. It made me love everything about this country.

So now, the long story of our trip. I’m going to go place by place and describe what we did, rather than go through every single detail and bore the crap out of you.

2:00PM—Board Bus

Chicken Count: 0 seen thus far
Tiredness level: awake
Llama Count: 0 seen thus far

Now, there’s a lot of stuff you don’t do on public buses, like take up two seats, or put your bag on the seat next to you, or pull out and use your camera. But this bus was just for us. Sixteen of us, plus one of our Ecuadorian friends, Gabrie, and our Resident Director, the useless and unintentionally funny Nelson, all alone on this huge bus. Immediately, we spread out and pulled out our cameras to take pictures of the route to school (I’ve always wanted to! Here was my chance!).

I’m amazed we all made it to the bus on time, considering Nelson didn’t even tell the four ecology students when/where we were meeting. Us liberal arts kids only knew because we sent the other Resident Director, Tania, who also had us for a seminar on Friday, to check. Let me just briefly tell you about Nelson. He’s pretty useless, and pretty confident in his useless actions. And he has problems communicating. Which I’ve been told is a cultural difference, but I think that’s crap. Overall, he annoys me. He is, however, really funny when he speaks. He does this thing where he’ll be talking, and then suddenly his voice will drop an octave and he’ll continue his sentence. On top of that, he has a very sharp voice. And occasionally, he’ll tilt his head up and squeeze his eyes shut. Combine all that, and it’s really funny.

Anyway the bus ride was long, but fun. We all pretty much get along and have a good time when we’re together, so it was really good. Everything was going smoothly. We stopped for a “Pee break,” which is what Nelson yelled to us when we stopped, but other than that, the journey north continued.

Around 4:00PM—Stopped at Mira Lago, Tourist stop

Chicken Count: 8 (estimate seen from bus + 2 at tourist stop)
Tiredness Level: bus-groggy
Llama Count: 4
Other Info: bus ride there is scary

Mira Lago, which translates to “Look Lake” in English, is appropriately titled because it has a beautiful view of Lago San Pablo. The Lago is huge, and beautiful. It’s right by a mountain, which I think is called Imbabura. Nelson talked for awhile about indigenous people and the significance of the volcano (mostly how important the earth is, and how necessary it is to respect it. He also told us how the Incas used to think there were giants in the mountains because the volcanoes looked like some sort of throne, or house, or something), and the significance of llamas (there were a few hanging about. Apparently, they’re really smart…). Then we walked back to the bus. And of course, right outside of the bus were two llamas, who we hung out with for awhile, waiting for everyone to gather. Then we boarded the bus, and left.

To make what could easily be a long story short, Nelson left Phuong behind. When we had our “Pee Break” he almost left three students behind even after we told him they were still in the bathroom. Anyway, Phuong had told Nelson as we were walking back to the bus that she was going to go to the bathroom. Nelson, being Nelson, forgot, or something, and we pulled away. (This, of course, added to my opinion of him being an idiot.) About fifteen minutes later, someone stopped us and told us we’d left a girl behind at Mira Lago. We looked around and realized it was Phuong. She’s a pretty sneaky, quite sort of girl, and she had mostly slept in her seat for the first part of the ride, so none of us really realized she wasn’t there. Plus, we were all moving all over the bus. I felt terrible when we realized we’d left her, but when we got back to Mira Lago and picked her up, she was laughing. She just hung out and waited. She didn’t have her phone on her, but she knew we’d be back.

So that was a little bit of excitement in an otherwise unexciting leg of the trip.

Around 5:15PM—Arrived at Agato, to visit the tejedores

Chicken Count: 15 (at least four at weaver’s house)
Tiredness Level: Bus-Groggy
Llama Count: 4
Other info: presence of a large bin of Cuy

For those of you following along in your Lonely Planet Ecuador Guidebook (ahem…Mom) turn to page 126, where you will find a quick blurb about the town of Agato, and the tejedores, or weavers, that live there. We went to the Tahuantinsuyo Weaving Workshop, where the weavers use traditional backstrap looms rather than mechanical looms brought over after colonization. When we arrived, we were greeted by two young boys who ran us around to the backyard of the workshop where at least four chickens were hanging out. They led us straight up to this bin of Cuy, or Guinea Pigs. Cuy is a delicacy here in Ecuador. They roast the Guinea Pig and serve it almost completely intact. I hope I never have to try any. One of the boys in our group, Thom, tried it the second weekend. He described it as interesting, but unappetizing (since you’re looking it in the eyes).

Anyway, then this woman came out and showed us how they clean and spin wool into yarn. It was kind of neat to watch. And she also showed us the tools they used to use, which were combs made out of pine cones. After we watched the yarn spinning, a little girl demonstrated the backstrap loom for us. It was really interesting. It was a time consuming process. The loom has a backstrap that you lean into to keep the weaving tight. And she would select which part she wanted to weave by hand. It made me appreciate technology a little more, and also made me want to buy something to show my gratitude to these people who stick to their traditions, even if it’s just to demonstrate. We all shopped a little, and some of us bought things. I bought a hat made of Alpaca wool. It’s really warm.

By the time we left, it was getting dark. We got back on the bus, where we proceeded to freeze for the trip to our hostal.

7:30PM—Arrive at Hostal Aya Huma, Peguche

Chicken Count: 17
Tiredness Level: sleeeepy
Llama Count: 4
Other Info: we weren’t even going to go to sleep for four more hours!

We arrived at the Hostal Aya Huma (Lonely Planet Ecuador guide page 125) around 7:30. It was dark already, and we were all freezing. But we went into this little restaurant and waited until Nelson checked us in (he had to ask how many boys we had in our group…oh Nelson. You’re so clueless). Then, we split off into pairs and put our backpacks in our rooms. Melissa and I, having roomed together before, paired up and somehow found our room through the weird numbering system. But we could tell, even at night, that this hostal was beautiful.

We all stood around and talked and looked at the stars for a few minutes until dinner. Then we went back to the restaurant. Once we got there and sat down, these adorable kids came in wearing the most beautiful masks and announced to us “We’re going to sing in Quechua and dance for you!” Then they proceeded to dance for us for about fifteen minutes. They were so adorable. They kept fighting with each other, and I have no idea who was leading the dance, because they fought a lot. It was so cute. And there was this adorable little girl in he middle of all the others, just sort of spinning around in circles. They were very cute.

While they were dancing, we started to get served our dinner. They, of course, started with an alcoholic beverage. I don’t remember what it’s called, but it’s made with a fruit juice and some sort of really strong alcohol. I think the juice was Narajilla (an Ecuadorian fruit I love), but I’m not sure. My friend Matt convinced me to take a few sips of it. I thought I might as well try it. It was pretty disgusting, and burned on the way down, which is what I expected from the smell. I ended up giving mine to Matt.

But we continued to have a fantastic meal of chicken, potatoes, salad and soup. It was great. We had this mulberry (or “mora” in Spanish) desert that I’d actually had at home before. It has chunks of pineapple in a mora sauce. Very good. After dinner, we had a bit of free time before we left again. So we talked for awhile, then got on the bus.

9:30PM—Arrive at Ilumán to visit Curandera

Chicken Count: 17 (not including the ones we ate for dinner)
Tiredness Level: exhausted
Llama Count: 4
Other info: dogs are loud; we woke up the whole city when we arrived

Our last and latest appointment was at 9:30, visiting a Curandera, or healer, in the town of Ilumán. According to Lonely Planet (page 126) Ilumán is known for it’s “shamans.” Our Resident Director Tania pointed out that we actually weren’t visiting a shaman. Shaman work more directly with the soul. Curanderas are curers. They diagnose problems and illnesses, like the evil eye, and rid the body of mal espiritus, or bad spirits. We arrived at the house of this Curandera, and she greeted us before disappearing to prepare for her healing. We had been discussing all day who was going to be cured. Tania had told us that usually one or two of the students volunteer to be healed, and that the healing is usually done in the patient’s underwear. Of course that made a lot of people think twice about volunteering. But still, two girls volunteered, and so the healing began.

Let me first say that none of us had been warned of what was going to happen. So we had no idea what was going to be done. If we’d been prepared, I doubt there would’ve been one volunteer, let alone two. First, the Curandera had the girls strip down to their underwear and rub candles all over their bodies. She then lit the two candles, and had the girls stand over a shovel of burning incense. Using the two candles to light three more candles, she began to pray, in Quechua, for the mal espiritus to leave. In one hand she was spinning some sort of bottle full of alcohol, and in the other she was holding the three candles. Then suddenly, she started blowing fire by taking a swig of alcohol and spitting it through the candle flame. She did that four times on each side of the girl’s body, saying things in Quechua that I can only assume meant things like “out!” or “leave!” Then, she blew out the candles, and just started spitting the alcohol all over the girls. Next, she lit a cigarette and started blowing cigarette smoke all over the girls. Then, she spit the alcohol and blew the cigarette smoke over these four branches she had laid in a cross on the ground, and she rubbed them all over the girls bodies. She did the same things with four eggs. Then, to keep the spirits from returning, she mixed a perfume and rose pedal mix and had the girls rub this all over their bodies. In the places they couldn’t really reach, she’d spit it on them.

Overall, it was really interesting, but really weird. We were all sort of skeptical of it, but it was interesting to watch. We all sort of felt bad for the girls because they didn’t know what they were getting into. Plus, we were all sort of laughing during the entire thing because it was so surprising. At the very end, Nelson told the Curandera to go around and spit this perfume mix over all of us. We all smelled good afterwards, but it was pretty gross.

11:30PM—Return to Hostal, go to sleep

Chicken Count: 17
Tiredness Level: dead tired
Llama Count: 4
Other Info: we all smelled good, but were really cold

To say that we were all dead tired would be an understatement. Normally, we all go to bed around 9:00. So we were pretty pooped. And we had to be back on the bus the next morning at 7:00AM to start the trip to Otavalo. So we went to bed (with a few incidents of spiders) and slept soundly until the next morning.

I’m going to stop here because that’s a pretty long post. Pictures up later!

Part 2 Tomorrow!