Question of the day: Why is it important to maintain culture and how could some of these philosophies and traditions help to create a better world?
Getting ready for the day by going over the food for thought.
Today we went to meet a healer, named Adan Angull, who showed us around his land, and taught us about the different plants he uses to heal people and what they represent in his culture.
We got the chance to do a spiritual ritual as a grupo to connect with our family and with our ancestors. He performed spiritual cleanse on many of us, which involved using special herb to brush different parts of the body, as well as tapping on the body, and breathing on the leaves. This is done to release negative energies and help the soul feel free. Many of the students felt relieved afterwards and felt like it made a difference in their chacras-inner energies. Anahi described it like she had been wearing a heavy backpack and he suddenly took it off.
Preparing for the ceremony.
Sending love to our families!
Serena doing the cleansing ritual.
While students were being cleansed, others were taking pictures and relaxing by the river. Later, we got a chance to sit down and really talk to Adan about why he heals and what’s really important to him in his culture. He told us that he had been healing his entire life. It was what his parents did, and that it’s important to him to continue that tradition within his family. Adan plans on teaching his wife and children how to heal as well. He also shared that his favorite part about being a healer is that he gets to help others and that healing is different and more effective then Western medications because sometime it’s the soul that needs fixing in order to heal the physical body. He then played a Andean flute which he said is used to make people feel happy and get people to dance. We ended our experience with Adan by giving him a gift that he really enjoyed, taking pictures and a short hike back to the bus. All in all, it was a very special and personal experience for us.
Alexis by the river!
After gathering a taste of culture through our encounter with Adan Angulo, we took a step even further into the plentiful cultures Guaranda has to offer through a visit to La Guilena. Our visit to La Guilena began with a delicious meal prepared by the owners Maria Dolores Charvez-Larrea and Raquel Larrea. The meal consisted of tradition carnaval cuisine, tying into our question of the day surrounding the significance of culture. After a tasty lunch with Maria Dolores, we dove deeper into our cultural experience by creating masks similar to the ones worn during Guaranda’s Carnaval. The mask plays a key role in carnaval culture, so throughout the day this served as a great way to remind us about indigenous traditions. The masks were a great way for us to not only show off our artistic skills and talents, but also to introduce to the group a taster of our individuality.
All of our masks!
Destiny serving hot chocolate!
After indulging in a tasty traditional meal from Maria, enjoying some delicious hot chocolate made from three types of chocolate, and creating our masks, we had a water fight! This was a quick way for us relax and bond as a group in the spirit of the carnivale. Many of us expressed later in the day how much we were able to bond through this activity.
After drying off from the water fight, we were greeted by Tayta Carnaval. The music and traditions shared with us from the Tayta lead to many joyful laughs and memories shared between us as we danced throughout La Guilena.
After returning from the last activity, we were given free time, during which many students met in the meeting room to play uno and sing songs together. After free time, we played a game to get our minds focused, where we had to count to 21 as a group, and if two people said the same number we had to start over. We sadly only made it to 17, but we continued to practice throughout the evening. After getting our minds focused, we had a quick meeting about our Community Action Project, which we will further work on throughout the trip. We then all went to dinner. After dinner, many students went to the supermarket where we were able to get any snacks or small items that students needed. On the walk back to the hostel, we were greeted by a group of dogs that were very friendly (again no one is a allowed to touch them; we can only look and aww). We also met a group of tourists that were from California, and it was very exciting to finally see other tourists. After returning to the hostel, we did our nightly meeting, and went over lesson plans for English tutoring that starts tomorrow. Wish us luck!
Today was a very impactful day full of eye opening information and really cool experiences, and we are ready for more days like it!
Sincerely,
Destiny and Faith
Wow, this sounds like everyone had a great day full of new and awesome experiences! Taylor – I know you are being tortured by seeing all the dogs and not being able to pet them. Dad is wondering if you are using your hydration pack since he doesn’t see it in the pictures ?. Good luck to everyone teaching tomorrow, I know you will do great!!
Love you Tay!!
Love, Mom and Dad
Taylor! Love seeing that beautiful smile again this morning!!! I can’t believe all the amazing things you’re experiencing. So happy for you. And PS, I read more carefully- had you REALLY never tasted pineapple?!? LOL
Taylor, your Global Glimpser has photos and blog is so awesome. Please bring home the tapping techniques! So interesting. Much love to all of you. Auntie DiDi!
Sorry about grammar error above, hit submit to fast because I was so excited about all the photos and stories this morning.
Hola Alexis
A very busy day.
It looks very peaceful there.
Destiny and Faith, thank you for the updates.
What a blessed opportunity Alexis love you be safe Enjoy ?
Taylor –
LOVED the pics today! You look so happy. This looked like a blast, and I love the masks. How cool to experience all of these cultural traditions.
Thinking of you!
Sarah & Mike
Hard to believe you fit all of that in ONE day! The colors of Ecuador are breathtaking! Carter- I hope you are keeping an open mind and are trying all that the culture has to offer .. joe is holding down the fort .. literally .. guess it is insane now… can’t wait to talk to you on Friday .. love you , mom?
What a wonderful experience meeting a Healer name Adan Angull! Who showed you around his land, talk to you about the different plants used for healing and what they represented in his culture.
What an awesome time being a participants making mask and learning about his culture.
Hi Zarmani continue to learn and grow
Love you Grandmommie
Good Morning Taleya, it look and sound like you are enjoying yourself. I know it is a wonderful experience for you..love you!
Wow! It sounds like you all had an amazing time. Being a nurse myself, I am very interested in learning more about the culture of healing there. Your masks look beautiful. Continue to be rivers…Jalynn it’s great to see your smiling face. Love Mom
Dianita Elmore
Look like you all are having fun learning the culture. Glad to see Destiny working serving hot chocolate. Maybe those skills will come back to Chicago with her
I miss you so much !
Hi pictures look good looks like your having a great time love you grandma & grandpa
BECCA! I MISS YOU!!! Can’t wait to see you when you get home and fill you in on all the tea! Band camp is killing me slowly but i’m pushing through and lollapalooza is days away and guess what!? I’m probably sick so that’s great! anyways i love you and can’t wait to see you!
much love,
peyscan
Destiny and Faith, what a dynamic duo! I thoroughly enjoyed your article today. It looks like you all are having so much fun diving into the Ecuadorian culture and learning amazing things. I hope the remainder of the trip is just as fruitful. Best of wishes with tutoring tomorrow! Love and miss you Pumpky <3
Ady,
What an amazing day you had! I hope your first day of tutoring went well.
Can’t wait to read more about this amazing journey.
Love you!
Hi Carter Madden! I love the great colorful pics of your daily activities ! I feel like I’m there in spirit with all of you. It’s amazing how much you do and see in one day! Looking forward to more pics of the kids learning English . How fun is that! Love and Miss you! Granny and Grandpa Lee
Wow… amazing pictures. It’s so nice to see everyone having a good time. Anahi enjoy and have lots of fun. Mom and dad say hi. Love you!!
Becca!
Oh my goodness, I had no idea you would be on this trip with my cousin, Taylor! I hope you’re having a great time. I’m loving looking at the pics!
-Ms. Reichle 🙂
Hello Destiny
Thanks for sharing your wonderful experiences with us. Enjoy and absorb every moment. I can’t wait to hear all the stories when you’re home. What a fantastic adventure!
Hi Carter Madden. We really like the beautiful pics of your daily activities. It’s like we can be there with you in spirit. Can’t wait to see your students. Enjoy your day ! Love you, Granny
Wow! What an exciting day. Becca, I am anxious to talk about the healer with you. Please journal about the experience so you remember when you get home. The landscape – WOW – what a beautiful country! How can you not feel at peace! I love seeing all your masks. Thank you for sharing them in the picture with us! Destiny and Faith, great job describing the day.
Becca and friends,
What an experience this is! This blog is going to be such a big help for everyone to remember ALL the adventures you are having.
The English tutoring experience will be in my prayers for understanding and learning for the the tutors and students.
Hi Taleya, looking at all the pictures, I can’t wait for you to tell me all about your experience. We love and miss you very much
Alexis what blessing to be part of this experience love you Enjoy
Hi Zoe,
It looks so pretty over there. The landscaping is beautiful, you can see how fresh is over there. All your friends look they are having a lot of fun. Try to remember everything so you can tell us more when you get back. I love you and miss you very much!
Great write up Faith and Destiny. Looks like you all are having an amazing time. I miss you so much my love. Can’t wait to see more of these cool pics. We miss you very much.
Hey Faith! Nice write up and great pics! The spiritual cleansing sounds really interesting, I’m sure you mother will want to know more about that. lol! We miss you so much! Happy to see you having a great time and learning a lot. – Dad