Ecuador 11/27/2014 - 12/2/2014 |
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Friday 11/28/2014 - Indigenous Remedies, Quality Time with the KidsWe woke up at 8 o'clock a.m. I felt great, but Craig was exhausted. It was probably a result of the change in altitude. We got dressed and headed outside of our casita at 8:30. Aida was at work in Otavalo, where she works for an indigenous family who produces textiles. She does cooking and cleaning for them as well as helping with their wares. Sisa was in school.Shina Tayanta immediately came out of the house, running toward us with her arms wide for hugs. She is such a sweetie. Yupanqui was still sleeping, but woke up before breakfast. We had coffee, scrambled eggs, papaya juice, and rolls. One adorable anecdote about Shina Tayanta: We were eating breakfast and she sneezed. I said, "Salud", the Spanish equivalent of "Bless you," literally "Health." This is the same expression used for "Cheers." Tayanta heard me say this and immediately held her glass of juice up in the air, and repeated "Salud!" as a toast. Then we played outside. We gave the kids magnetic wooden tangrams puzzles and we enjoyed playing with them. They made freeform shapes on the magnetic board. Yupanqui brought the wooden building blocks outside and we played with them too. The weather was beautiful. Sisa came home early from school at 11:15, because her teacher was sick. Sisa joined it playing, following the patterns that were included with the tangrams. She made pictures on the magnetic board such as a train, giraffe, fish, and ducklings. Yupanqui wanted to play too and they started to fight over the magnetic board, but I showed Yupanqui how he could use the patterns as puzzles and place the correct pieces on the pattern even while Sisa was using the magnetic board. He enjoyed this and completed several pictures all by himself. The activity kept their attention for quite a long time. Then Yupanqui made up his own flower pattern on the magnetic board. For lunch we had quinoa soup, chicken fried steak, lentils, rice, and a tomato and onion salad with fresh orange juice. We played outside with the kids some more. Antonio caught the 2:19 bus to Otavalo as it passed in front of the house. Knowing that Craig has Multiple Sclerosis, the family used traditional natural medicine to try to improve his condition. They know that his legs have been weaker since his MS attack last year, and he walks with a bit of a limp. They focused their energies on his left leg. They applied a natural balm to his left knee and massaged it. They said that the knee felt "cold". We had brought an art project for the kids to complete...balsa wood picture frames which could be decorated. We put a photo of us with each kid in the frames, and then had the kids color the frames with markers. Tayanta colored the back of hers, and I colored the front. I also helped Yupanqui. It was a fun activity, but by the time we were done, both of the younger kids were covered in marker from head to toe. It was a good thing that we had brought washable markers! Then we went into the kitchen to color in their Sesame Street and Clifford coloring books. Antonio returned home at around 6:30, and Aida at around 7:30. We helped the family with their laptop, which can access the internet via a 3G dongle. We showed them Yupanqui's baptism video. We had dinner of soup, beef stew, rice, beets, and a potato pancake with pineapple juice. Then, for the first of four nights in a row, the family applied traditional medicine to Craig's left leg before we went to bed. Shortly before 9 o'clock, we went to our room, Craig sat on the bed while Rosa and Aida wrapped his left knee with aliso leaves; securing them by wrapping his leg in a scarf and a belt. He was to sleep like this, and they gave us instructions to wash the leg with hot water in the morning. The used aliso leaves would be burned in the fire. We said our goodnights at around 9:10. I wrote in the journal and went to sleep at 9:40. |
 Our casita  Playing with tangrams  Massaging Achi Taita's legs  Decorating photo frames See all photos from this day |
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