Ecuador

Monday 6/13/2011 - Shopping for Traditional Clothing

We woke up prior to our 8 a.m. alarm. Craig slept better than the night before, but still fitfully. At 8:30, we went to the kitchen. We ate breakfast with Rosa and Sisa. We had a veggie omelet and croissants, lemongrass tea, and fresh juice. Aida was at work cleaning houses in Otavalo, and had taken Yupanqui with her. Antonio came in and played a 15 string mandolin for a few minutes. He is so musical, and Sisa always enjoys when Papi plays his instruments.

We gave Sisa a Dora the Explorer coloring book and crayons and sat coloring with her at the table. Her colors of choice were orange and green. She chatters as she colors. She has good fine motor skills and likes to color the tiniest areas, even when using oversized crayons. She filled the pages with little curlicues which looked like the number six. When she saw a monkey in the coloring book, she immediately ran off and returned with her stuffed Curious George. It was a nice quiet time activity.

A camioneta (collective pick-up truck) arrived at the house, and Antonio said it was time to go to the community. We hopped in the back of the pick-up and went up to where yesterday's wedding had been. Antonio wanted to collect his amps and equipment, but it turned out that they weren't done with them. There were a bunch of elderly men sitting and drinking together. The party had apparently lasted all night. There was a kitten here, and Sisa enjoyed playing with it.

With nothing to transport after all, the camioneta left. We walked back to the house, stopping at a "store" along the way. This was really just someone's house with a sign out front. There are no real stores or places of business in the community; it is a residential agrarian community. But some people buy surplus goods and sell them out of their homes. Antonio called out to the family and someone came out to take his order: two bottles of Coke (for Craig and myself) and a package of Perlitas candy for Sisa.

When we got back to the house, we got the coloring book out and sat on a tortora reed mat on the patio coloring. Antonio told us that he would be going to play music, and we would be going with Rosa to Cotacachi for baptism preparations. I asked when we were leaving, and he said 4 or 5 o'clock.

Antonio left, and after a few more minutes of coloring, Rosa told Sisa it was time to go. Sisa didn't want to put the coloring away. It was now 11:15, and it turned out that we were leaving right now? What happened to 4 or 5 o'clock? Even when we think we understand, we seem to miss a key word or two which makes all the difference. Maybe he meant 4 or 5 minutes?

We quickly got ready and by that time, a camioneta was already parked outside. We hopped into the back of the pick-up. We bounced down the road, Rosa and I sitting on a wooden plank behind the cab and Craig and Sisa on the wheel bulkheads. Sisa eventually sat between Rosa and me, and I held onto her to keep her secure. We passed through Quiroga, where we would normally get a bus to Cotacachi. But the driver said he would take us to the Cotacachi market for an additional dollar, so we agreed.

Our first stop was a clothing stall near the Cotacachi bus station. As the godparents, we would need to buy traditional Otavalan clothing to wear to the baptism ceremony and party. While the men's outfits consist of white trousers and a white button down shirt with a blue wool poncho and a felt hat, the women's outfits are much more complex. And of course the locals are half our size, so finding everything in a large enough size to fit us would be a challenge.

Rosa had me try on a pair of traditional black espadrille shoes which were about 3 inches too short. They found the largest pair they had and I tried them on. They technically fit, but would be no good for 10 hours of dancing that awaited us at the baptism fiesta. Craig, whose feet are the same size as mine, also needed a pair (his in white). It was hopeless that we would find what we needed at the market, so the woman called someone on the phone, and from what we understood, commissioned two larger pairs to be made for us by Wednesday. We had to trust that this would work out.

Next I tried on some maki watana bracelets. These are long strands of coral or red colored beads, as the color is deemed protective. Rosa didn't like the first pair I tried on (not fancy enough) so she chose another pair with more pizzazz. They cost $2. She wrapped them properly around my wrists, winding them until they covered about 2 inches of my wrist, and then she tied them off.

Then they had me try on an embroidered blouse with three dimensional blue flowers. It fit nicely, but Rosa was not thrilled with the design. She chose a different one, but when I tried it on it was definitely too small...I couldn't move my arms.

We tried another store. They had a pair of white pants for Craig. but the waist was obviously too small. There were a bunch of Otavalan women there and they giggled, one of them good-naturedly saying "Gordo!" indicating that Craig was too stout for the pants. We all had a good laugh.

I tried on another blouse at this shop, but it was much too small. I said that the first one fit best, so we went back to the first shop and I tried it on again. This one definitely was by far the most comfortable. They found a matching woven belt (wawa chumbi) and hair wrap (cinta) to go with the blue colors of the embroidery. They got a piece of black wool cloth lined in white to wrap around my head. This is called an uma watarina. The white edging symbolizes purity. I had to sit on the curb so that Rosa could reach to put it on my head. Everyone laughed as they tried to dress me because I am a giant compared to them.

There was a small plastic chair, and Sisa sat right down in it. She then dragged it out onto the curb. When it was time to leave, she didn't want to get up. Craig and I would joke later that a chair was a novelty to her, as at the house they don't really have them. There isn't time to sit down with all of their daily chores, except at mealtime. The kitchen table has two benches and one chair. Outside, there are stools made from tree stumps and Craig and I are afraid to sit on them for fear of breaking them.

After purchasing my clothing, we went next door to the fruit and veggie market. Rosa bought some lettuce, cauliflower, beans, root veggies, and a large, heavy bag of sugar. Craig carried the bulk of it. Sisa was starting to get whiny so Rosa bought her grapes and yogurt.

We got on a crowded bus and had to sit separately. It was 25 cents apiece for a ride to Quiroga. In Quiroga we changed to a bus which was full of schoolkids returning home. We sat separately again and paid a quarter apiece. We were dropped off right in front of the house. It is really cool that although they live in a 100% indigenous rural village, public transportation stops right in front of their house. You can even catch a bus to Quito!

Once home, Sisa took a much-needed nap. Rosa made barley soup, rice, lettuce, beans, and fresh juice for lunch. We asked when Aida would return, and they said Wednesday at 6:30. That was 2 days from now! We hadn't known that she and Yupanqui would be staying overnight in Otavalo. We said that we would have made sure to see them off this morning, had we known they would be gone for days. Rosa said that they usually stay until Friday night, but would be coming home early this week to prepare for Sisa's baptism.

At 3 o'clock, we went back to our room and took showers. The water is warm, but only if you keep it flowing at a very low volume. We rested until around 5 o'clock. Then we went to the kitchen. Sisa had just woken up and was a bit shy but I got the coloring book and crayons and she followed us outside to color.

Antonio arrived in a pick-up truck with his amps, and we helped him to put them away. Antonio's mother, known affectionately by the family as Abuelita, came in to the kitchen. She prefers to cook over a fire in the traditional ways, but she was not averse to lighting a piece of paper on fire from the gas range burner to give her fire a head start. She went out to her outdoor kitchen and cooked her dinner.

Antonio then left for a 2 hour band practice. He is always hustling from one job to the next. Antonio has had a bruised nose and cheek. We asked him what had happened (expecting maybe falling off his bike) but in actuality he had passed out and fell down onstage after playing music at a festival for 3 days straight.

For dinner, we had soup (with fresh popped pocorn), potatoes, beef, carrots, and spinach, as well as fresh juice. It was much chillier tonight than it had been yesterday, and the soup warmed us up. By 8:15, we could tell that Rosa was shutting the house down for the night. Sisa was shy about giving us goodnight hugs but I scooped her up and we each gave her a kiss.

We've only been here for two full days, but we are already slipping into a routine of waking up soon after sunup, and going to bed soon after dinner.

We had missed Aida and Yupanqui today. We were glad that we had given the kids their gifts on the weekend because we hadn't been aware that the family wouldn't be together again until Wednesday. It is so cool to be part of their everyday lives, helping with chores, playing with the kids, etc.

Back in our room, I typed up notes from the day, and Craig read Kristin Hersh's "Paradoxical Undressing" until we went to sleep.