Ecuador

Monday, November 2, 2015 - Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)

After a good night's sleep, I felt significantly better this morning. After taking some cold medicine and stocking my bag with cough drops, I felt ready to take on the day. And what a special day it was...

Today we celebrated Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with our compadres. We got up early and got dressed in our traditional indigenous clothing. For Craig, it is a relatively simple process, with white pants, a white long-sleeved shirt, a navy blue wool poncho, and a black felt hat.

For me, it is considerably more elaborate. I wore a beautiful embroidered blouse which was hand-made for me by Aida and Rosa. I wore two layers of wool skirts known as anakus. These are basically two bed-sheet-sized pieces of wool fabric. A cream-colored one goes underneath, and a black one goes on top of it. They are wrapped carefully around my waist and cinched with a woven belt. I am unable to put them on properly by myself, so Rosa and Aida have to dress me. This is always amusing as I am so much larger than they are.

While Rosa and Aida scrambled to dress the kids and do their hair, I tried to finish getting dressed on my own to save them time and effort. I wrapped a piece of fabric known as a fachalina around my torso and tied it over one shoulder. I put on a gold multi-strand necklace, wrapped my hair in a woven hair wrap, and covered my head with a piece of black fabric. It seemed pretty straightforward, but Aida took one look at me, smiled, shook her head, and re-did every bit of it...including the necklace which she clasped much tighter so that it acted as a choker. They are very particular and everything has to be just right, but I feel helpless since I am unable to do it myself. And of course, we are always in such a hurry that there is no time to teach.

Sisa loves to wear her traditional clothing, but Aida hadn't been able to pick up her fancy anakus. Sisa instead had to wear play clothes to the cemetery, which initially upset her very much. But they dressed Yupanqui and Tayanta in play clothes in solidarity, and soon Sisa was feeling happy again.

We had a quick breakfast of hot dogs and fries, and then caught a pick up truck to Quiroga with Rosa and the kids. Aida stayed at home, and Antonio said he would meet us at the cemetery. Sisa sat in the back of the pickup. I was in charge of Tayanta, and she happily sat on my lap.

When we got to Quiroga, we got on to a bus to Cotacachi. I carried Tayanta and she once again sat on my lap. I have new respect for all of the women who navigate the public transit system with small kids. Even though she's no longer a baby, Tayanta is small enough that she risks being crushed or separated from us by the throng of people jockeying for seats on the bus. So she needs to be carried. Maneuvering inside the bus carrying Tayanta and keeping track of my bag was certainly a workout and challenge.

We got off the bus and walked past the Plaza de la Matriz to the cemetery. Along the way, we saw vendors selling flower arrangements, prayer cards, crosses, candles, and other decorations to bring to the cemetery. People stared at us, surprised to see a couple of gringos dressed in traditional Kichwa attire. We brought a smile to their faces, and people told us that we looked good.

We had been to this cemetery once before (Good Friday 2012). The cemetery is segregated, and highlights the disparity, even to this day, of the lives of the mestizos vs. the indigenous Kichwa people. The mestizo portion of the cemetery has well-manicured crypts and graves, each with plenty of space, and surrounded by low wrought-iron fences. There weren't many visitors in this section today.

The indigenous section was a stark contrast. It was packed with villagers paying respect to their ancestors. The graves were very close to one another. Most were marked only with simple white crosses (wooden or concrete), painted with the deceased's name and date of death. It was a festive and convivial atmosphere. Everyone brought food from home, and exchanged it with one another. They filled bowls with beans, rice, and potatoes, handed them to others, and received fruit or bread or corn in return.

It was all about sharing what you have with your neighbors. Everyone sat among the graves, eating together and chatting. Kids climbed on and dangled from the crosses. We saw many people that we knew from Morochos. Many people smiled and greeted us, happy to see us dressed in indigenous attire. Several Kichwa people shook our hands. One really old woman approached us and spoke in Kichwa, with a big smile on her face. She laughed with us and seemed genuinely delighted to see us participating in their culture.

There was live traditional music, and vendors selling ice cream and inflatable toys. It was really a special experience. Abuelita decorated her husband (Antonio's father)'s grave, and we also saw the grave of Aida's mother (the kids' biological grandmother).

After several hours of celebrating with the community, we walked out of the cemetery through the mestizo section. We passed three lovely nuns who stopped to talk to us. They admired our clothing and asked where we were from and how long we were staying. They were thrilled to hear that the kids were our godchildren, and posed for a photo.

As we walked back towards the bus station, Antonio bought some sugar cane pieces and handed them out to each of us. We chewed on it, extracting the ultra-sweet cane juice from the pulp. Antonio also bought a snowcone for the kids. We passed an area where tables had been set up and Kichwa people were purchasing and eating food. We saw a delicious looking whole pig with an apple in its mouth and peppers in its ears. As I took a photo, the woman called us over and invited us to have some. It looked delicious, but we were full from all the food we had eaten at the cemetery. We also saw some bread figures for sale.

Two blocks down from the bus station, we stopped in to see a native healer. Antonio wanted Craig to see him about his MS. We talked to the healer, though he is on vacation due to the holiday. We explained Craig's condition, and made an appointment for Wednesday evening at 5 p.m.

We waited for a while at the bus station for a bus which would take us directly to Morochos without stopping in Quiroga. We noticed several murals near the bus station condemning GMO's. This was the first time we had seen this message publicly displayed in Ecuador.

It started raining mere minutes after we arrived at the house (1:15 p.m.). There was thunder as well. What timing! Everyone was tired after the busy morning, so they all rested for a while. I logged in to work. We all had eaten a lot in the morning, but we had a light late lunch of tuna fish mixed with tomato and onion, broccoli, and rice.

After lunch a woman came who was selling bolts of wool for anaku skirts. Rosa and Aida weren't entirely happy with the ones I had (I am not sure why, but they were struggling with it when getting me dressed this morning and had mentioned that I should buy another). They called me over and measured a bolt of navy fabric against me. They said that they could make an anaku as well as a fachalina out of it. I purchased it from the lady for $15.

We swept the patio, hung the family's laundry on the clothesline. We played with Yupanqui and Tayanta, but Sisa wasn't feeling well. She had a fever and a stomach ache. I assumed that she had contracted the little cold/virus that Craig and I had. She went to bed before dinner.

The rest of us ate soup, lentils, cole slaw, rice, and chicken. Everyone was tired and Craig and I were still feeling under the weather, so we retired to our room at 8:15. We were asleep by 10:30.