Hello Families and Friends!
We sure had a busy day today, but we had the most fun! From learning about the Puruha people from Cacha, Chimborazo to learning how to dance folk dances, it has been the best day so far. We learned all about the Puruha culture and how women were the faces of their road to independence-which was inspiring for us ladies. Even if history is starting to forget moments like that, we learned that we shouldn’t follow that path and preserve the honor of the women and follow their legacy.
We also had the chance to participate in a cultural ritual that acted as a purifier for our negative energies. Natural herbs were burned for the ritual that were then rubbed on us to cleanse us. We were all thrilled to be part of a one time opportunity! For lunch, the people of Cacha fed us a traditional plate called “cuy” (guinea pig), which we were scared to try, but did so anyways to experience the moment and show respect towards the Puruha people.
Later on, we had the pleasure to learn how to dance three typical Ecuadorian dances which was exciting because we all tried something new. The people guiding us even provided us with traditional garments like skirts called polleras and the men wore samaros which we appreciated because they put effort into interacting with us. Lastly, at our nightly meeting we had a very deep and open-minded discussion comparing Indigenous experiences to those of minorities in the United States. We discussed how us, young people, have the ability to make the world and America’s future brighter. As leaders for the day, seeing the group showing compassion and being open-minded inspired us to act up on it. We were proud to see everyone coming together despite coming from different places. This idea summarizes our day as we were faced with new things, but we were eager to try them. Thank you families and friends for keeping up with us and have a wonderful 4th of July weekend!
Warm Regards,
Luz and Sydney
IMG_1583 (video of Bryan getting cleansed)
Troopers for trying cuy! Personally don’t think I could do it.
Hope, we can’t wait to hear all about your experience eating cuy 😉 & the ritual. I
Miss you –
Happy 4th to everyone
Leif, you’ve always liked to try new foods!
Amazing !!! I love seeing the students all taking part in the culture from food to cleansing ritual it’s just awe inspiring… ” Hope ” we miss you very much and I am so proud of you and all the other students for trying the ( cuy ) you guys are tougher than me lol… I Miss you very much but continue having fun and taking in all this journey has to offer, Love Dad ❤
Awesome day! Thanks for the update.
It is so good to see all the kids having such a great time out there. Especially since we can’t communicate with them. Seeing my babygirl happy and smiling helps this process be easier. I’m sure I’m not the only parent to say I miss my child very much.
What a day you had! I’m so excited for all of you. Leif, way to go on eating the cuy!
Sounds like a great day! Great pictures! Very interesting what you learned today! Miss you Zach!
What a great day! Thanks for the wonderful report! Nice pictures!
Did the cuy taste like chicken? Happy 4th of July! Thanks for the update Syd & Luz. Sounds like an incredible day!!
I am SO SORRY I missed Leif’s phone call today!! I truly hope to answer the next one 🙁
FYI for the blog moderator: the picture of the boy eating cuy was Leif, not Zach. No biggie, I just saw that you are making changes. Have a great day in Riobamba!! Love, mom
Such an awesome experience!