| | This will be the final entry posted from Otavalo. For those of you familiar with our itinerary, be apprised that our final three days have changed. Tomorrow, we head south to Banos and Puyo. We will be able to experience both mountains and cascades, as well as the rainforest. I hope to be able to locate an internet cafe and continue posting blogs. If, by some chance there are none, then I will try to locate one on our final night (Sat.) in Quito. We fly home on Sunday.
We had our last class on indigenous health care today. We learned more about the Latino-dominated health care system in Ecuador that, because of prejudices that go back all the way to the conquest, discriminates ruthlessly against the indigenous and their own system of community healers. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, for example, has a code that makes the practice of medicine without Western-style schooling and a license issued by the Ministry to be illegal. In the past, this has led to the persecution of indigenous healers. In 1999, however, a new Ecuadorian constitution was adopted that specifically protected indigenous traditions. It did NOT specifically overturn the Health Ministry's code, but it gave indigenous healers a bit more latitude to practice. It is in this more liberal environment that people like Mario Incayawar are promoting the concept of collaboration between indigenous healers and Western-style doctors. This sounds wonderful in theory, but in practice, there is a lot of hesitancy on the part of the officially recognized medical community to collaborate. They would prefer that the indigenous healers simply become assimilated into more Western ways of practicing medicine. This is a standoff that will require lots of tact and patience to be resolved.
This afternoon we had a visit to the Museo de Textiles. There were exhibitions of wool yarn making, weaving (both pre and post colonial techniques), and reed basket making. Unfortunately, photos of the exhibitors were not allowed. Here is our group assembled around some of the yarn making equipment.
You will have to take my word on the fact that the following photo is Justine wearing a Quichua festival mask.
Sandwiched between the textile museum visit and our evening dinner and entertainment (to be described below) a couple of us took a hike back to the cascades just for exercise. It turned out to be another gloomy, rainy day--June is supposed to be one of the warmer, sunnier months. It is no consolation during our two-week stay to be told how unusual the weather is. As evidence of how gloomy, check out the following photo de los tres perros. Normally, street dogs like this don't let you get so close, but these guys were trying to stay dry and warm.
Being our last night, we were treated to a special meal and special entertainment. Ever since our arrival, we have been hearing about the important place of guinea pigs (Cuy, pronounced kwee) in the Quichua world. They are used in traditional healing practices, both for diagnostics, and for the actual act of healing. They are also considered to be a culinary delicacy. Cuy is served for auspicious occasions primarily. Tonight was one such auspicious occasion. Here is a photo of Tina finally getting to sink her teeth into a bite of Cuy. The fact it was deep fried apparently added to her eagerness. You go Tina!
We were treated to an hour or so of traditional Andean music by a local band called Folklor Latinamericano. At first, we were sitting around like dolts just listening politely, but the hotel manager would have none of this and stepped in and escorted Kathy to the dance floor to get the rest of us moving. You will note that one of the musicians is playing a violin. We were told that this instrument is not typical of most Andean bands, but is an Otavalo tradition. Actually, none of the stringed instruments are traditional Andean, rather, they were introduced by the Spanish. Instruments like the flute, drum, and pan-pipes pre-date the conquest.
Toward the end of the evening, we were introduced to our chef and food servers, who then joined us on the dance floor. In the following photo, Rachel, one of our taller students was ironically paired with the shortest of the food servers.
Once these guys got in on the act, the entire group eventually got up on the dance floor. At one point we had a conga line that circled the room and included the band. Here is a photo of a portion of the conga line.
I will leave you with a photo that captures some of the silliness that erupted at the table as we waited on the band to arrive. It kind of captures the demeanor of our group. These are carved rose petals, by the way.
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| | Posted 6/13/2007 9:55 PM - 53 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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