Indigenous Worldviews (No. 3)

Bienvenidos from Ecuador! Today we started our day off early at 7 am with loud banging and the yelling of “rise and shine cutie patooties.”  As always, we had an amazing breakfast with multiple courses and so much food. When 9 am came around, we had some time to work on our CAP project. However, we pulled away at 9:30 am to visit the indigenous university called Jatun Yachay Wasi. The university is like no other, with about 400 students and a tuition of $400 US dollars per semester. It features a beautiful landscape with a relaxing and soft grass ground every step you take; perfect for summer. One of our words of the day today was pachamanca, which is an indigenous cooking method. We watched the ‘man of fire’ put hot (almost 60° Celsius) volcanic rocks into a hole in the ground, which was lined by organic fireproof material. The pachamanca was alternatively layered with corn, apples, potatoes, fava beans, etc, and the volcanic rock. Then it was left to cook after being covered with a special fabric made from a plant that they grew in their own garden and soil.

After the delicious lunch, we headed across the street to the Colta lagoon. The lagoon did not only have beautiful nature but also structure. It was like a playground, featuring some benches that you could only reach by walking on the stepping stones located just above the water’s surface. From the lagoon, we could see the mountains nearby. The mighty Chimborazo volcano appeared and we could see the whole thing for the first time this entire trip! We were able to explore the area for a while and look at dogs while resisting our temptation to pet them. There was also a small little hill we were able to climb, which gave a beautiful view of the whole area.

When we got back to the hotel, we had our presentations for the CAP project, where everyone practiced their Spanish for the presentation (good job!). We presented our ideas to Daniel, the principal of the Adolfo Kolping school. As an appreciation to the community for hosting us in the beautiful Riobamba, we are helping the Kolping school out in a few different projects. These projects include the repainting of the courts that the kids play on and adding some paintings of animals that are native to the area, as well as the creation of bulletin boards where students can share their art and inspire each other. Finally, we had dinner (which was delicious as usual), but this time we had a different hot sauce. Some daredevils decided to indulge themselves in 2 spoonfuls of hot sauce, which ended in tears (ahem Narain).

Tomorrow is our free day where we get to explore Riobamba with our new Liders del Dia: Yasmin and Sabina.