Sat 7th

Today was a really interesting day- we went to visit a local indigenous community of Kushi Wayra about 45 minutes from Cuenca. The visits are organised by the community and is an opportunity to learn about their way of life. The project began with a group of women from the community working together, it has grown to 20 women being involved. The number of women involved in each visit depends on how many visitors there are- we were lucky it was just us! We had three women plus a man organising our day, and they all seemed to have responsibility for certain aspects of the visit.

To start with one of the women showed us around the plants and explained how they use them medicinally. She explained that for 18 years she has been working with pregnant women and uses the plants and herbs for various remedies and well-being during the pregnancy and the birth. The women do not go to the hospital, even nowadays, and she has delivered many babies, most with no complications. It was then breakfast time and we got to try another local dish which was big pieces of corn mixed with egg, it was very nice. We also had 'canelazo' which is hot drink with a measure of sugarcane alcohol in it- only one though! We also had some of the drink without the alcohol as they drink it like tea. We saw the women preparing lunch, cooking on a wood fire with big pots. We went for a walk around the community, the houses were quite spread out and scenery very pretty. Everybody has some land and a cow. They told us there are about 300 people in the community, but there are more women than men as men sometimes emigrate to work abroad. The small primary school has about 30 pupils. We went to see the community's cheese factory and saw how the man showed us how they make cheese. He turned out to be a man with lots of jobs and must be very busy as he is also working on a building project of a house which will become accommodation for tourists- the view will be spectacular. He showed us the house in the afternoon as we went on a walk. It was very muddy and slippery and I slipped and fell over, resulting in very muddy trousers, it was a real 'you've been framed' moment! Lunch was delicious- we had a big meal of corn, rice, beans, vegetables, salad, potatoes and chicken. It was put on a table cloth and we each had a spoon and just ate from the centrally organised food, ie no plates. This is typically how they would eat, especially at get-togethers. Usually it is called a 'pampa mesa' because they eat outdoors but it was too wet to do that today! Most of the food would not have needed to be bought as they grow vegetables and keep chickens. The diet is very healthy and the way of life simple- people have what they need to live and they are happy.

The man later showed us how they grind corn to make corn flour, with a big stone and smaller stone. The women showed us how they cut wool from the sheep- it was quite funny as they used the scissors we have in school- I had a go at cutting some but was a bit scared of cutting its leg. Next stop was the guinea pig house- lots of guinea pigs! Apparently they are eaten when they are 3 months or older. We could have guinea pig as part of our lunch but we declined! The final part of our visit was to see their musical instruments and hear their traditional music. Unfortunately the women who usually sing were in Cuenca at the market selling the cheese but they still tried to show us the music. The people were really friendly and enthusiastic in sharing their way of life with us.At times like this I am even more glad that I can speak Spanish as it meant I could translate for Mum (even if not perfectly!) and I could chat with the people, ask questions and so on. All in all it was a very interesting and worthwhile visit.

Whilst in Cuenca we also made a bit of a plan for the rest of Mum's trip. Seemed weird as I am so used to not making plans! But we need a bit of a plan if we are to fit in the places we have decided to visit- of course unfortunately there isn't time for everything but I think she will get to experience a variety of places here in Ecuador :-)