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We woke up at 7:30 a.m. and texted Craig's brother Steve a happy birthday message. It seemed ironic that in such a seemingly isolated place, we had better cell service than we even do in our own house. Nobody has land lines here, so cell phones are essential for any kind of modern communication, and coverage is widespread.
We got dressed and went outside. From behind the casita we could see Fuya Fuya. It was hard to believe that we had climbed it yesterday! We walked around to the front of the casita and down the pathway through the garden to the main house. We took our usual seats on the wooden bench at the table. Antonio was already gone for the day, but we ate breakfast with Felipe, Aida, Rosa, and Sisa. We had a fried egg, papas fritas, croissants with jelly, cheese, coffee, and pineapple juice thickened with oatmeal. It was a nice hearty breakfast. We had a great chat with Felipe on all kinds of topics: politics, education, dream jobs, etc. Even though we live in different countries and have totally different kinds of jobs, we have some of the same philosophies about life. Then at around 11 o'clock we headed off with Rosa, Sisa, and Max the dog for a walk. The way the land is here, it is surrounded by ravines. The land juts out like narrow fingers, and neighbors who can see one another's houses may be separated by a steep-walled ravine. We walked up the dirt road, uphill, past a small school and a Catholic church with its newly painted red roof. At this altitude, even a brisk walk taxed our lungs. We live at sea level, and there was definitely a noticeable difference at 10,000+ feet. Agave plants lining the road were massive; the leaves alone were up to 6 feet tall, not counting the tree part. The volcanic soil is very fertile here. There are plants growing everywhere, and we saw some interesting specimens without even leaving the dirt road. One had a flower that was spherical with pointy orange and green spines. We continued walking until we reached the community center. Rosa led us around, showing us a room where wool thread is stored. The community owns a herd of alpacas and they share in the wool that they yield. It was an idyllic community in many ways. People farm their own plots of land, and everyone benefits from their communal wool production. Rosa led us into another room where women from the community were selling items made from the wool. I saw a knit hat that I really liked. The woman who made it encouraged me to try it on. We remarked that it was way too small for my "grande cabeza americana" (big American head). The Kichwa people are significantly more petite than us, and they thought this was quite amusing. We joked and laughed together. I tried on a few other hats and wound up with a brown hat with a large tassel. It would keep me warm while shoveling the driveway at home. Next we went into a room that was used as a day care. Every morning, the teacher walks to the each kid's house and takes them to the community center while their parents work. The room was full of art projects and toys. There were some little kids playing who said hola to us and were very friendly. Some adults were putting up tortora reed estera mats (like we had seen being made two days ago) as room dividers to separate the classroom into smaller spaces. Sisa rode on a ride-on car and I took her picture. We then walked back towards their house, and stopped at one of the other community guest houses along the way. It looked just like our casita at Rosa and Antonio's. Women seated outside were busy unraveling scraps of fabric to use as pillow stuffing or sponges. Nothing is wasted here. Rosa talked to some of her friends and then we walked back to our house. Antonio's mother was preparing mote (boiled corn) over the fire in the little outbuilding in between the house and the casita. Though they do have a modern kitchen that Rosa uses (complete with gas stove, oven, refrigerator, and freezer), Grandma appears to prefer the traditional way. She sits on an estera mat on the ground in the little cinder block structure which has a fire pit at one end. Sisa picked up some corn kernels from the ground where they had been left for the chickens. She sat next to me on the threshold between the patio and the house. She would place pieces of corn into my outstretched palm. Her little hand was so tiny next to mine. She was definitely starting to become more comfortable around us, not needing to be in the presence of Rosa or Aida when we were near her, and even initiating interactions with us. We went into the kitchen while Rosa cooked lunch. Sisa was being a bit rough with Chipi the cat, and he scratched her on the upper lip and nose. Sisa got angry at Chipi and lashed out at him a little. Lunch was corn and potato soup, mote, broccoli, and beef stew with carrots. It was quite hearty. We had fresh naranjilla juice to drink. The juice is always prepared fresh in the blender and served in a plastic pitcher which has a plunger for stirring up the contents. Everything was delicious. After lunch, we got into the truck with Felipe, Rosa, and Sisa. Felipe drove us to the nearby town of Cotacachi, which is known for its leatherwork. We split up. Craig and Iwalked up and down the streets, browsing in various shops, looking at all of their reasonably-priced leather goods. Craig realized that he could use a new belt and wallet, and found one of each that he liked and purchased for a good price. There were great deals on leather jackets and hats. I liked many of the purses but didn't really have room to carry one in my luggage. As we wandered, we kept an eye out for postcards. We thought that it would be good to write them out during our free time in Morochos and mail them when we got back to Quito. They were not very easy to come by, but we eventually found some. The streets in this part of the city were laid with pavers, in a shape which resembled an 8 pointed star, a motif associated with the indigenous people of the area. There was a small town square with colorful statues of musicians and leather artisans. When you looked down the side streets, you could see beautiful green mountains in the distance. The architecture had a Spanish colonial flair. The scattered clouds played with the afternoon sunlight. The sun and shadows made it all the more atmospheric. We met back up with Rosa and Sisa, as well as Felipe, who had bought a nice leather hat which made him look like Indiana Jones. It really suited him and I took a picture. As we drove back to the house, Craig and I sat in the back seat of the truck and Rosa and Sisa sat with Felipe up front. Sisa watched Felipe shifting gears with interest, and she kept grabbing the 4 wheel drive shifter and trying to move it. Her little tiny hand reached for the large knob and it was very cute. As we headed back up into the hills, we recognized the farms on our way back toward the house. We were getting more familiar with the area, as we had already been here for a few days. We passed a field where shafts of late afternoon sunlight permeated a thin veil of smoke - it looked other-worldly and beautiful. It is such a gorgeous landscape everywhere you look, from the volcanos and mountains to the lush green fields. We passed a woman whose herd of goats were standing up on their hind legs eating leaves from a tree. Maybe this was how giraffes evolved! Felipe tried to take a picture with his nice camera but the woman told him not to photograph her goats. As we passed some beautiful fields of purple lupins, we knew that we were almost home. When we arrived back at the house, Antonio's mother was cooking some fresh tiny round potatoes over the outdoor fire. She let us taste them fresh and hot out of the pot. They were so hot we could barely hold them. She also gave us some toasted corn. It was a delicious snack. Aida peeled potatoes with a knife sitting on the stoop outside. She is very adept at this and long curlicues of dirty brown potato skins fell to the patio. She was wearing a traditional Otavaleña skirt with a red zippered hoodie instead of the traditional embroidered white blouse and woolen sash. Antonio's mom had been drying corn kernels on a tarp laying in the sun on the concrete patio. Now that the sun was waning, Felipe helped her to transfer the corn into a square basket. Sisa was still mad at Chipi for scratching her earlier and she let him know it. However, she was definitely warming up to us and started to show off a bit. She had a little broken segment of a jewelry chain which she would throw up into the air and then chase after it. It was refreshing that she was so entertained by such a simple item. It kept her attention for quite a while. Sisa was intrigued by my camera and I would show her pictures as I took them. She could recognize and identify her mom, Rosa, or Antonio. Any time she saw pictures of herself she would say "Wawa", the Kichwa word for baby (our godson Eddy in Guatemala does this too; he never says the Spanish equivalent of "me" or his own name, but "nene", baby). I always find it fascinating to observe little kids and try to determine how much they know or understand at various stages of development. Even though I no longer work in the field, I was an early childhood education major in college. The sky grew rosy as the sun set. We tried to capture the color with our cameras. Antonio arrived at the house and it was the first time we had seen him all day. He and Rosa are definitely a team when it comes to taking care of the tourists that they host. If he is unavailable, she picks up the slack. We made small talk and he asked about our family, so I broke out the small photo album that we take on trips with us for just such occasions. He and Rosa stood together outside looking at the photos. Antonio spoke a little English and I spoke a little Spanish and we managed to communicate about the photos. They loved the picture of our fat cat Brownie. They were also intrigued by the photos of our godchildren in Guatemala. Antonio had to attend a meeting (the Otavaleños are very organized and have various community responsibilities), so he left for the community center. Rosa invited us into the kitchen and we looked at our photo album with Sisa. Sisa saw the photo of our goddaughter Aracely when she was 2 years old, and thought it was herself. When she saw the picture of Brownie, she hugged and kissed the photo album. What a cutie! Rosa taught us to fold the paper napkins into flowers and we set the table. The family really started to warm up to us today. It's amazing how suddenly that can happen. I definitely think that the photo album had something to do with it. Instead of just observing their day-to-day lives, we shared a bit of our own with them. We interacted on a personal level rather than just being outside observers of their culture. Antonio returned from his meeting with computer printouts of maps of Morochos. Craig has always enjoyed looking at maps. When Antonio realized how interested he was in it, he told us we could keep a copy. He pointed out on the map where the communal aplacas are kept, high up on a nearby hillside in the direction of Lake Cuicocha. It is interesting that the community owns the alpacas and collectively employs a caretaker for them. They then share the wool that is produced (as we saw at the community center). Antonio started to play his flute as Sisa danced around the kitchen. The relationship between the two of them is very special. You can tell just how important his granddaughter is to him, and how much joy she brings into his life. I took a video of her running in circles around him. I played it back for her and she really enjoyed it. Soon it was time to eat, so I put the camera away. That made her angry. She was obviously overtired from the day's activities. We had chicken broth with potatoes, cheese, and noodles for soup. Dinner was beef, rice, noodles, and a yellowish mixture of potatoes and corn. We had fresh passionfruit juice to drink. As usual, the food was delicious. After dinner Felipe talked tourism with Antonio. They discussed the idea of creating some mountain bike paths in the area. Craig and I were able to pick up bits and pieces of the Spanish conversation. They were both excited at the opportunity of bringing additional sustainable tourist activities to the area. Felipe said that he would like to come back with his bike in a couple of months and scout out some trails. At 9 o'clock we said our goodnights and headed back to the casita. We looked at the stars from the garden and they were absolutely amazing. I wrote in the journal and we went to sleep at 9:50. View Larger Map |
          Sisa dances to Antonio's flute music  
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