Today has officially made our 5th full day in Riobamba, Ecuador. We visited a Indigenous family living on a farm. Our partner on today’s trip was Cesar Ayol. He currently resides in El Molino, Guamote. He owns his own piece of land for almost 20 years.The view was very beautiful, and high up on the mountains. All of the Glimpsers had a very warm welcoming to Guamote.

Most of the housing in El Molino is built on the banks of the Guamote river, causing easy access to irrigation and fertile soil. Families on this farm take good care of their crops and livestock (cows, sheep, goats, guinea pigs etc.) Some sell their products at the local markets near by their town. But Caesar sells his own products in Riobamba and even Quito.

This is an excerpt from one of the Líderes del Día:

“Today, I got to experience a whole other side of life I thought I would never see. In a matter of a few days, I went from being in a community with buildings and suburban houses to farmland and full of happiness. I was put to work that was exhausting, dirty, and a lot of traveling but still put a smile on my face at the end of the day. First, we hiked for about 25-30 minutes to the top of a mountain. Our task was to harvest barley but our personal goal was to complete a month’s work in one day which was achieved! I saw people that worked and walked barefoot through the fields and didn’t have much wealth (at least what most of of think as wealth), but the amazing and heart-warming part was that they didn’t care. I saw children playing with each other, getting dirty and just rolling around in the yard with big smiles.”

One task that one of the groups had was to straighten a hill and to dig and shovel out dirt and grass within three hours. It was very tiring for the group and two students ended with blisters. It took about a group of ten to level out the hill. However, we helped one of the indigenous ladies to try and design a pig coop. This opened our eyes and showed us how hard these families worked in order to survive.

One of our biggest tasks today was to make a big feast for the Glimpsers. We made food from the fresh produce from Cesar’s family garden. Carmen, Cesar’s daughter was the one that helped us create the feast that included vegetable soup, rice, fried catfish, salad, and guava juice. Although today’s kitchen wasn’t in the best condition, it opened our eyes by showing us we don’t need much to create something with meaning, which is very important to the Indigenous people.

Overall, today we experienced things that we hadn’t before. It definitely showed us how much we should appreciate our lifestyles back home because these Indigenous families work much harder to make a living.