Day Four: Local Artisans and Indigenous Culture

Today, we traveled two hours by bus to explore rural areas of Ecuador.

Otavalo

We got to spend a couple of hours at the Saturday market in the Plaza de Los Ponchos in Otavalo, which is in the Andes mountains two hours north of Quito. At this crafts market, one of the most well-known in the Andes, indigenous weavers from the villages around Otavalo sell woven textiles, wool ponchos, blankets, hats, wall hangings, sweaters, shawls, scarves, tagua carved jewelry, and folk music instruments. Anne and I learned the art of haggling to try to get a good deal. Although it's awkward and a little frustrating, we got the hang of it and even had a little fun along the way -- maybe a little too much fun.

Gualsaqui

Next, we traveled about 45 minutes to a village called Gualsaqui. This indigenous community's Nazarene church is an E=H ministry site with 28 scholarship recipients. 

The culture here in the countryside is very different than what we've seen so far. The people are humble and reserved. The greetings are not kisses on the cheek but a small handshake. Most people here don't speak Spanish but speak an indigenous language called Quechua. 

[A little side note about Quechua: The Quechua Indians of the central Andes are the direct descendants of the Incas. Quechua is the name of the people here in the central Andes of South America and it is the name of their language, which is spoken by  nearly two million people in Ecuador. Quechua words that have been assimilated into the English language include puma, condor, llama, and coca. The Quechua celebrate Catholic holidays such as Christmas and Easter, but they have not abandoned their ancient holidays. For example, in the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, the Inca sun festival -- the Inti Raymi Festival -- is still celebrated.]

We were greeted by the pastor, Luis, who quietly spoke to us about classrooms that were under construction and gave us a tour of their beautiful garden.

Pastor Luis is on the far left in the hat.

We then gathered in the church so the pastor could pray for us and then took a 10-minute walk uphill to visit the home of Jose Manuel (the home is shown in the above photo, bottom left).

Jose Manuel told us his story in Quechua, which Pastor Luis translated into Spanish, which Roberto translated into English. Several small children were running in and out of the home as he spoke. Jose Manuel had been working a construction job seven months earlier and had fallen from about two stories up. He had been badly injured and, although happy to be walking again, he still struggles to walk and to lift heavy things. With tears in his eyes, he told us he is now unemployed and is not sure how he will support his family. Before we left, we gathered around him and laid our hands on him as his pastor offered prayers for healing and protection.

We walked back down to the church, with a handful of children following us, and gathered to pray together one more time. 

Then we had a two-hour bus ride back to the hostel, where Roberto's mother cooked Chinese chicken salad for us. Madre Lourdes and her husband, Jose, joined us for dinner, and Miguel from Casa Adalia brought EsperanzArt jewelry for us to buy. 

We debriefed with Cameron and gratefully headed off to bed.