NHESP 2009 Update 6

Buenos!

It feels like just yesterday that I was sitting in the stable at Palugo writing the last update. Time is flying by so quickly! And yet we’ve accomplished so much.

I don’t believe we’ve properly introduced our Ecuadorian students, so I’ll just take a moment to do that. Nati, which is short for Natividad, is 20 years old and comes from a family of 10. Like the other two students, she is from San Clemente. She doesn’t speak much English at all, is very sweet and thoughtful, and wears the traditional clothes of her community. When the rest of us are hiking in our mountaineering boots or rain boots, Nati still hikes in her little black sandals and her ironed pleated skirt. The other two students, both boys, are cousins and are named Tupac and Roberto. Tupac is 18 years old, very generous, sweet, energetic, musical, and is constantly trying to learn English. Roberto is 17 years old and has a knack for art, is really sweet, and insanely generous. 

It has been a joy having the three students become part of our group. Everyday we learn a little bit more about each other and practice our home languages.

When leaving Palugo, everyone had a bounce in their step, ready for our expedition. We walked into the town of Pifo and caught a bus that took us to Lago (lake) San Pablo. It was a sleepy 2-hour ride. When the bus dropped us off, we walked down a road that stopped directly on the edge of Lago San Pablo. Tomas kidded with us and said that we had to swim across. We were looking at Joey’s map, trying to figure out how to get around the lake, when suddenly a boat appeared! The boat driver agreed to take us most of the way around the lake and was excited to show us a few things on the way. He pointed out a boat that was made from just a bunch of reeds tied together. It was quite impressive. When we got off, we started trekking on a road, passing women and children washing clothes in the river, loose pigs, cows and many dogs. After a bit, we heard rushing water down from where we were walking. We decided to hike down the steep hillside, and found a beautiful grand waterfall where swam and played under the falling water. It was so cleansing. Afterwards we ate a quick snack and proceeded on our trek. Traversing on the sides of mountains, overseeing a couple of towns below us, and balancing on logs over rivers, we finally made it to a bus stop to catch a bus to the city of Ibarra. 

There, rushing though the streets we caught another bus up to San Clemente. We were admiring the women’s traditional outfits, gold necklaces, pressed skirts, hats, black slippers and elegantly embroidered shirts, just like Nati’s.

When we arrived to San Clemente Manuel greeted us. He is the man who had the vision for San Clemente, which was to preserve the tradition of the indigenous people, After a sweet welcome we were introduced to three members of the community, who would be taking 2 students into each of their homes. Some students would also be staying with the families of our three Ecuadorian students. Geoff and I were paired together, and right away parted from the group to go off with Mathias, our San Clemente father. Mathias lives with his wife Magdalena (one of Nati’s older sisters), and their four children. The family didn’t speak any English, so it was a wonderful opportunity to practice Spanish. When we arrived to their house, Mathias told us that his family was our family now, and that we could ask for anything. He was very humble. We went outside and Mathias proudly showed us their medicinal herb garden. It started to rain for the first time in a long time, and Mathias thanked us because he said we brought the rain with us. That night we peeled potatoes with the whole family, and then ate a rich dinner of quinoa veggie soup, mashed potatoes that were rolled into balls, stuffed with cheese and then fried, and tea. After dinner I helped their daughter, Flor, with her drawing homework. It was a full day and it felt wonderful to get into our beds.

The next day we walked up to Roberto’s house and met everyone else. It was fun sharing our experiences with each other. The work that we would be doing to help the community was plowing their Abas field. (Abas are similar to a large bush bean). We each got a turn, directing the oxen and giving orders in Kichwa: “Isa, Isa”, for “go, go” and “Shoooooww”, for “stop”, and many more like staying in the rows, or turning. Many of us were amazed by the deftness and skill of the oxen and asked more about their training. We found they always place an old ox with a young ox to pass on the training and that the mountain people have been using oxen for a very long time because of their skill and easy keep. (Mules are also a favorite).

After lunch we picked out our graduation shirts that we would embroider with the help of our host moms. Everyone’s designs looked so beautiful and colorful. Once we all made some progress, it was time for a soccer game. So almost everyone went down to the school field and played an energetic match with some of the locals. Then we went over to Tupac’s house to meet with Louis, the local shaman. He diagnosed one us using a guinea pig. He took the guinea pig and whacked the body allover her while she sat next to him, and then proceeded to peal the guinea from its skin and diagnose several ailments of hers by looking at the inner bleeding of the guinea. The Ecuadorians believe that the guinea pig is the poor man’s x-ray. It can show everything that is wrong in your body. It was quite an amazing experience.

Leaving San Clemente was very emotional for all of us. In the morning we had an indigenous walk with both Manuel and Juan, Tupac’s dad. Juan showed us the community’s agricultural calendar that was carried on from their ancestors. It showed the importance of celebrating the solstices and equinoxes. During planting and harvesting, they celebrate the beautiful connection between the earth and humans. Juan explained to us that the community of San Clemente is trying to recuperate their lost traditions. When one of the students asked if it was part of a religion, Juan answered that they are just practicing old methods, and that it’s real life and they’re just trying to figure out how it works. A lot of their methods were taken away from them when they weren’t allowed to speak their own tongue and were degraded in the society. Today there’s still racism, but it’s gotten a lot better. The people of San Clemente are standing for the pride of being indigenous. They just want to be respected, as they respect others. We finally realized why Nati always wore her beautiful skirts and delicate blouses and why all three of our Ecuadorian students were so eager to be with us and so amazingly strong.

After the agricultural calendar, we took a look at and learned about their sweat lodge. The lodge is considered the womb of mother earth (Pacha Mama). A beautiful ceremony, using a total of 9 stones that represent the nine months of gestation, is held four times to represent the sun, water, earth and wind. The lodge is used four times a year to celebrate the equinoxes and solstices. The structure was stunning and perfectly arranged. It was fascinating to learn about.

Our departure was so sweet. After lunch Manuel sent us off with kind words from his heart, telling us that each of our host families had rainbow scarves for each of us as gifts. The rainbow is nature’s flag and the sign of the indigenous. Each color signifies something from nature. For example, red represents fire, green represents nature, blue represents the sky, and yellow represents the sun. Each of our host families came individually and placed a beautiful rainbow scarf around our necks. It was very touching. Before we left San Clemente, we quickly went to Nati’s house. She gave each of us students a handkerchief, and both Marcea and Tomas shirts that she embroidered herself. Then we were off! Up, up and up towards our first base camp, followed the whole time by Roberto’s dog. By the time we reached our camp, it was dark and we were all stiff and tired. It was a wonderful day.

The next morning when we were eating breakfast, we had a surprise visit from Roberto’s older brother who came to fetch their dog. Then once we were all packed up, we started on our grand adventure up to the summit of Imbabura at 4,563 meters. 

There was incredible plant life once we got closer and closer to the top. Some of us were having a very difficult time with the high altitude. But we all made it to the top! Walking through clouds, seeing a condor flying, eating dried fruit at the top and being altogether made the dizziness from the high altitude all worth it. Going back down to where we left our big trekking packs felt so nice after such an accomplishing hike. That night, after dinner and shares around the fire, we split up for solo sleeping. This is something we had done once before, where we find our own special place to sleep by ourselves.

The next morning I woke up to hear somebody loudly remark, “They’re gone? I knew it!” I right away knew that they were talking about Marcea and Tomas. Thus, our solo group day started. We packed up camp, ate breakfast, and headed for the hills. We would have to hike a mountain together and get to the other side to Zuleta, which was where Marcea and Tomas were waiting for us, by nightfall. It was a long hike. First through pine tree farms, then sliding down steep hills surrounded by low branches and thorns, and then to Cubilche, the mountain we had to hike. By the time we arrived to Cubilche, almost all of us had already finished our water. There would be water at the top of the mountain, but all of us were so thirsty. The closest source of water was a 20-minute walk away, but everyone thought it would be best to push through until the top of the mountain. It was definitely a struggle. The group started pulling people up the mountain and helping them with their bags. It was amazing how close everyone was. Tobias and Tupac had swiftly gone up to the top, and at one point while the rest of us were slowly following them, we saw Tupac running down with a full water bladder, filling everyone’s bottles! It was so sweet. At the top when we finally all made it, we arrived to the water source, a volcanic crater filled with water.

 It felt so wonderful to be at the top. We sang in a circle, like we always do, before eating lunch. Right when we left, it started raining. So our walk to Zuleta was wet. We marched to the songs of many frogs, along grassy roads, down slippery muddy paths, and into the sleepy village of Zuleta by 6. Seeing Ross and Lily was so exciting, and it was reassuring to see Marcea and Tomas. We met our hosts for the next few days, Herman, his wife Carmen, and their three sons. We ate a nurturing soup and drank hot tea, and right away went to bed in our cozy dwellings.

These past few days at Herman’s have been very informative. We made covers for our main lesson books, sheaths for our new machetes, dyed hides, and one night we stayed up until 4am making bread with Mama Pito who kept falling asleep against Jackson’s knee and would doze off while shaping bread. Her husband also joined us, in his poncho and special hat, and fell asleep within the first five minutes of his arrival. They are really old, and generous to stay with us so late. We learned a lot more than just making bread. We would not have made it without Tobias who entertained us with his guitar playing and singing until 4 in the morning. We also learned how to butcher a sheep. Before the killing, we had a ceremony where we stood around the sheep in a circle and shared our thoughts. It was very beautiful. After the slaughtering, we first skinned it and then cleaned it’s organs. Trina was very excited about dissecting the heart, and Erica took the skin off of a leg for her machete handle. We were all very into it. And that night we feasted like never before. Some said that it was the best meal we’ve eaten yet.

The next few days was a flurry of activity with leather and scissors and pencils flying everywhere, finishing our projects. This evening when we placed all of our elegant Main Lesson book covers and machete sheathes and some little other extra projects up against the wall in the golden afternoon sunlight, we could finally take a breath and admire how all our hard work had paid off. This evening we also finished up our feast of the mutton and boiled bones as we packed and planned for our next adventure, Glacier School on the ridges of Cayambe! It’s getting late and we depart early tomorrow morning to catch our bus, so I must go to bed! Thank you all for your support and wishes! We can’t wait to show you all our beautiful crafts. We wish you all warm weather as we depart for the snow!

Ciao!

For the NHESP, this is Melody, your Friendly Scribe.

P.S. Erica wishes her brother a very Happy Birthday and was thinking of him as we hiked through the pouring rain to Zuleta on the eleventh of October.