Inti Raymi

It’s that time of the year again. The summer solstice interpreted and celebrated all around the world in so many different ways is certainly one of the most important rituals for the Kishwas from the Sierra. Inti Raymi or Fiesta del Sol in Spanish is their way to thank Pacha Mama (mother earth) for providing them with abundant crops this year and praying for another year of good harvests. I had the chance to go with a group of Kishwa visit different communities outside Otavalo and take part in the festivities. It was definitely not the touristy Inti Raymi type of party they give out in the centre of Otavalo for all the gringos to capture on video. That said the gringos did have a key part in this event as the christian NGO World Vision was funding the bus rental and the stops were based on their different project sites. Every where we stopped you could see kids with their World Vision hats, T-shirts and bags. Nevertheless the Kishwas were definitely running the show and abiding by their ancestral customs.

This consisted of stopping in front of different family houses who invited the gang to jam and dance on their porch. The dance has only one basic move: stumping ones feet in the ground, going in circle around the musicians who decide when we have to change the rotation. We usually got interrupted by the hosts who served us large quantities of food and chichi wherever we stopped: cuy, rice, mote, beans, frijol, chicken, potatoes, bull meat, etc. We ate so much that day it was ridiculous, I was impressed at the generosity of the hosts and the quality of the food. The chicha which is a drink of fermented corn was either disgusting or delicious depending on the house but I didn’t get sick from anything I ingested that day. It was pretty funny just to crash on random family porches up in the mountains around Otavalo to dance, eat, drink and move on to the next spot.

I’m glad I had a chance to witness and participate in a celebration of Inti Raymi. Last year I had to go to the Awá general assembly that is usually scheduled during those dates. The Awá don’t have such a celebration, in fact they have little rituals and these are mostly around their traditional medicine. This year’s general assembly was moved to July in order to accommodate the president’s travelling around the USA. This coming weekend is San Pedro, another sierra Kishwa tradition and I am heading to Tabacundo to check it out with my dear Ecua-family.

Work wise, I’ve been a little frustrated with the lack of communication with the Baboso teacher who once again cancelled the Friday class as he was attending a workshop. If I hadn’t bumped into the Baboso president that morning I would have hiked back and forth for nothing again. The FCAE office reeks of bad vibes and personal feuds which I am lucky enough to stay out of and remain neutral, at least on the surface. That’s not hypocrisy but professionalism. In the office it doesn’t matter who you like or not, you must treat everyone with the same respect and courtesy. The ones you have a beer with after work is up to you.

I just came back from a two day workshop about the education ministry’s reform. I was asked to be the secretary and take minutes which I am quite bad at as I write down every detail ending up with 25 pages of notes. There were about 40 of us there between teachers, students, parents and representatives from the ministry and other development NGOs. I felt the workshop was pretty productive and reached its objectives: getting the baseline data to write a proposal on how to implement the new education model in the Awá territory. I am part of the team who has to draft the proposal starting work next week and hopefully having the completed document ready to present to the upcoming general assembly. I had a few interventions during the workshop but my last one came out quite emotionally. In the final part when we were asking who should take part in the proposal writing team the discussion derived into money matters which really hot a chord in me. As I spoke some sense into them I couldn’t restrain my frustration and it came out a bit aggressively. It wasn’t my intention and I felt bad about it later: Ecuadorians and especially the Awá aren’t used to be spoken to like this. Nevertheless my point came across and we managed to wrap this thing up on time.

My situation in Lita perhaps also has something to do with my mood this week. Believe it or not I am still waiting for my bloody bed! It’s supposed to be ready and delivered today. Right. I’ll believe it when I see it. How absurd is it to get a bed with less than 10 months of service remaining. On a more pleasant note, I witnessed my first cock fight last weekend in Lita. It was way more exiting than I thought it would be. These animals are really well trained killing machines. Their trainer fixes a small needle like piece to their leg hoping they could get a victory blow to their opponent with a fierce jump in the throat. One combat lasted less than a minute thanks to this trick. It’s hilarious to see the men get so emotional during the fights shouting encouragements to their “boy”. It’s a huge deal in the Lita area. Men treat their roosted better than their wife and children. Some even feed them meat to make them tougher. So life goes on here in Lita but I can’t deny that a few days of vacations would be sweat, that won’t be until august though.