Hola a todos! Last weekend my program went to San Clemente, an indigenous community that's about 2-3 hours outside of Quito in the province of Imbabura. We went for 4 days and basically lived their lives, experiencing the beauty of nature and the hospitable people that live there. Their appreciation for nature, the earth, the sun, water, etc. is incredible and it inspired me so much. I feel so blessed to have had this opportunity to experience a completely different way of life. I even got to practice my Kichwa a bit, even though I really can't carry a whole conversation. This trip really challenged the way I view the world, the earth, God, food, water, etc. ¡Viva San Clemente! Here are some of the pics from our trip:
arco iris doble en Quito!
en el cafe de la vaca, desayumos: jugo de mora, pan, queso, y COLORING!
la comunidad indígena de San Clemente - que bella!
el perrito y la oveja estaban peleando
sweet little hut that i wanted to chill in :)
mi casa anfitriona -- que bonita!
this flag is not the gay pride plag, it's a "Wiphala" flag that is common in a lot of indigenous communities, & each of the colors has a significant meaning
Harvesting the fields con las vacas!
habían muchos caballos bonitos, en nuestro camino a nuestro picnic
Casey S. y yo :)
before we ate, we thanked Pachamama (Mother Earth) for giving us the resources to be able to eat the delicious food!
I should def. make this into a postcard!
mi madre y padre trabajando muy temprano por la mañana
getting the fire ready for the Pachamanka ceremony
my host mom gave me some of her beautiful clothes to wear for the day!
i know you're jealous of my alpaca hat!
Casey R. and I getting ready for the day in our beautiful outfits :) They sure weren't very comfortable though -- I give mad credit to all of the
This where we had our "Temezcatle" ceremony. About 15 of us were in there (with a big blanket covering the frame) for about 2 hours, with the doors closed, with volcanic rocks being added to the middle little by little. It was basically a sweating ceremony that was super physically and mentally challenging but it was such a great experience -- we were purified through our connection to the earth, wind, water, and fire. Boy, was it hot though! I thought I was going to die slash pass out a few times, but I pushed myself beyond my limits!
we're happy, even though it was way too early in the morning, IMO :)
got my boots on, ready for anything!
it was pretty wet that weekend, thank God for boots!
me making bread at 5am :)
feeding the chickens & hens in our backyard :)
yay tortillas! that pan was made out of the earth, so cool!
chillen on my bed!
el grupo entero en frente de una cascada :)
taking a break -- we were tired!
giving our thanks and appreciation to the sun...
before we started working on the fields
picnic!
preparing food for the Pachamanka ceremony
we had to tie raw meat into these sweet leaves so that the meat could cook in the ground!
burying all of our food with volcanic rocks
covering the hole back up
time to dance barefoot (for like 2 hours!) en la tierra para que la comida pueda cocinar
after 2 hours, the food was cooked & ready to eat!
this is the midwife in the community showing us how she delivers babies. this position make so much more sense than our Western tradition of laying down. Gravity is our friend!
Here is the community's doctor diagnosing Odetty with a cuy (guinea pig). He shook the guinea pig all over Odetty's body, so that whatever is going on in Odetty's body can be transferred to the cuy's body.
& then he ripped open the cuy (AH!) and diagnosed Odetty.
musica y baile durante la ceremonia de despedida
mi amigo Oscar -- he drew a "tree-person" on my arm :)
a Spanish/Kichwa rapper -- pretty cool :)
all of the students went up an thanked the whole community for their hospitality and for just generally being awesome and inspirational :)
Casey, yo, y nuestra familia anfitriona :)
