This morning we have come to Otavalo, an indigenous city near our host community where there is a large and famous craft market every Saturday. The large plaza is full of homemade stands where Otavaleños sell all sorts of local crafts, from instruments to ponchos to paintings. Everyone was excited to come here this morning to purchase crafts for themselves and for loved ones at home.
Later today, we will be dancing the afternoon away at a celebration in our community! All of the communities in this area are continuing to have Inti Raymi harvest fiestas, and Eugenio Espejo is hosting one (in our honor) this afternoon. Many of us will be getting dressed in the traditional indigenous clothing. We have been practicing a local song and dance, and we will also be bringing a traditional plate of food to share with community (including the Andean delicacy of qui, guinea pig!).
We spent this past week working at different projects in the community, including painting a large and colorful sign advertising the village cheese production. We also had many other experiences, such as climbing into the paramo to visit community alpacas, having `limpias` from a traditional Yachak (shaman), playing music and singing with local musicians, and making empanadas for dinner.
Last weekend, we stayed at a lovely hacienda high in the mountains close to Volcan Cotopaxi, a glacier-covered volcano. Unfortunately, we had a few upset stomachs as well - but it luckily passed relatively quickly! Those of us who stayed healthy were able to climb high up to the glacier snow-line. We definitely felt the altitude, but it was quite amazing to be up there.
We are leaving our community on Monday. We will spend a day in Quito before flying into Coca, a city in the Amazon, from which we will travel to a lodge in the Amazon for a few days. Though our stay here is almost over, I`m sure many more adventures are still in store for us.
Saludos from Ecuador!
Suzanna and Josh
