Last Sunday, I went to visit Tingo Pucará with my Rural Sociology Class. We met by Parque Carolina at 7 am and drove straigt up for three hours. A little exaduration, but we did gain about 1000 meters in altitude by the time all was said and done. We left the province of Pichincha and entered Cotopaxi. We stopped by the side of the road and looked around the Páramo. That translates akwardly to "alpine meadow," those long grasses you see way up in the mountains. It's too cold and nutrient-poor for farming but its perfect for grazing cows, sheep, and goats. The grass, paja, is also really useful for building roofs. You can even burn it if you want to. Its also really humid up there because it is literally in the clouds, so there is alot of condensation which eventually flows down the mountain and forms the rivers of the Andes. How cool!
Our second stop was Guangaje, the capital of the Paroquia (thats sort of like a county). It was market day and there were little tent stands set up all over the central square selling candy, produce, dry goods, clothes, and even llamas and sheep in one corner. Almost everyone there was wearing indigenous clothing witch is very distinctive and beautiful. We went into the church during the children's service, stood in the back, got stared at continuously until we left. The priest spoke in Spanish but all the songs were in Quechua.
Oh yeah Quechua. Its slightly differnt from the Peruvian Quichua, same origin, but the languages developed differently. Sierra Quechua is more standardized than the quite similar Oriental Quechua. Its the largest indigenous language in Ecuador, but there are at least five other major ones. Every day I smack my self on the head for not taking Quechua at USFQ. Future USFQ Anso students! Take Quechua! The grammar is completley foreign, its a slightly tonal language, closer to Chinese than Spanish, but its a huge skill to have here in Ecuador. Or Peru or Colombia, they will understand you there too.
We drove a few more kilometers to the community of Tingo Pucará which means Lookout on the Mountain. The Incas, when they were still around, used the spot for something, but nobody is sure what. There are some foundations and rubble of houses right on the point of the mountain, so they think they used it as a point for lookout or communication with people on equally high mountains or something.
Commnication would sure be hard, beause Tingo Pucará is almost always surrounded by clouds. Serious, freezing, opaque clouds. The visibilty is around ten meters, pretty unsafe to drive. The town has 25 families, and you can't see from one side of town to the other. Really, really cloudy. We sat in the one room school house, in the same style desks we have in our sociology class in Quito and listened to presentations from leaders in the community, the mayor, the leader of the women's group, the facebook page manager (look them up. I'm for serious) They were formal, following a written itinerary, clapping after each presentation. Speakers used a mixture of Spanish and untranslated Quechua. Kids chattered in the echo-y room, sitting on their parent's laps, and no one shushed them. A cell phone rung, silenced. Men are wearing ponchos in dark red, women in bright shawls, several pairs of socks and peticoats, but always with that thin line just above the knee uncovered and windburned.
We got divided into two groups and took a tour of the town. My group went first to the Pucará where it was even colder and even windier. We leared that the paja retains heat and that you can sleep in it if you are stuck outside. Our group of four was accompanied by four very enthusiastic little boys. We were all gasping at the altitude, but they were used to it and went leaping and running around.
After that we went to the community garden. You can grow some things in the paramo, but it takes alot of care and you can't do it on a large scale. The community used to use agrochemicals (is that even a word in english?), but the learned about organic farming and never went back. Our leader, George, said "queremos mejorar la agricultora, nuestra vida, nuestros campos, y nuestros niños...es nuestra trabajo, vengamos de tierra madre y nos da alimentación." Shoot, George. He said "We want to improve our agriculture, our lives, our fields, and our children...This is our work, we come form the mother earth and she gives us food."
We ate lunch in the community room. They town built a stone building to try to start a tourist industry. There isn't really much of that yet, its still getting off the ground, but I bet they will be successful because they are so insanely hard working and dedicated. lunch was tiny potatoes, thin soup, boiling water, and morocho which is like rice pudding with barley that you drink. It was good but would be my downfall (see next post, after I finish vomiting)
After lunch, we took some pictures, said a few things, including singing Jingle Bells (Why? They wanted the norteamericanos to show our culture) and got back on the bus for the rainy ride back.
An amazing experience. Just amazing. How beautiful culture is, the natural world, how people relate to each other and thier environment. How lucky I am to visit a place like that.
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