Huasalata

This weekend was such an amazing experience. We had our first group excursion (with all of the U of I kids - about 10 of us- and some of Maria's international volunteers from all over the world, about 10 of them) to a Salasaca indigenous community called Huasalata. Its one thing to hear about poverty and development issues, but it was such a completely eye-opening experience to be there and see it. They had absolutely no access to health care, and this girl's mother was incredibly sick and they had to take her to a town hours away to even find a doctor. Most of the kids were undernourished, didn't have toothbrushes, etc. And there was very little education. No technology really, so they farmed with cows and horses and burros plowing the fields. The women had to hike down a mountain twice a day, cut about 50-60 lbs. of grass for the cattle to eat, tie it up in a bundle, and carry it back up the mountain on their backs (they told us if they take the cows down there to graze they'll get stolen, and the burro can only make it about 1/4 the way down so they have to do most of it.) And this is just one of their many chores. As we're walking by, a couple of us asked if they needed help, and they said yes, so we helped them with cutting the grass (with a scythe) and bundling it up and carrying it up. We were terrible at it of course, really slow and weak - I put the bundle of grass on my back to carry it up, and literally couldn't move because it was so heavy. It was really sad how quickly these women aged from so much hard work, too. But at the same time, it was uplifting to see how much happiness there was in the community - Our advisor knew several of them pretty well, so we really got to talk to a lot of people a lot - they played traditional music for us and taught us some traditional dances. Some of the kids hiked with us, then all jumped in the river and had a huge waterfight. Most of the group spent hours playign with the kids (while we were carrying the grass up the mountain). We found out that they really don't get tour groups that often, and really would like more, because it brings much-needed money to their community while allowing them to keep their traditional lifestyle alive, so we offered to make them a brochure and put it in the Mariscal (the touristy part of Quito), and a webpage, and spread the word among the international students to get more volunteer/tour groups to go there, and maybe sell some more of their tapestries. A couple of them are coming to the University on Friday to bring the sick mother for some tests (which our program advisor's foundation is paying for), so hopefully we can get them done by then to see what they think of them.

Also, this community was in the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my entire life (my camera died, but I'll steal pictures from someone else). We hiked down this beautiful lush green mountain to a river, took off our shoes and crossed, then hiked back up the otherside barefoot (probably not a good idea?), and the whole thing was just the most beautiful lush green canyon ever. It was amazing.

And now I'm back at school. Which is fine too, but not nearly as exciting. :)