Mountain Scenes

Friends: the Bishop of the Cotacachi ward seemed reluctant to find us much work to do for the members of his ward, us being old and decrepit and all. We decided after a week to move on to Banos. We have been there before and love the town and thermal baths. We also like hiking in the mountains that surround banos. (the N in Banos has a squiggle over that means it is pronounced Banyos).

While heading for a mountain path we encountered some people coming to town driving a mule loaded with tomatoes. It had just left the path which is an access trail to some houses, green houses gardens and orchards that are on the mountain side.

The next couple pictures are of houses on the mountain side. Every here and there water gushes out of the mountain. People try to build near these springs, but some run plastic pipe for long distances from them and most all have running water in thir homes and most also have electricity. Here and there are houses of cement and brick where every bit arrived on the back of a mule. No sense bringing an empty mule back from market.

The last picture shows a black cloud rising up from Tungurahua volcano. The actual top of the mountain is hidden in cloud. We watched 5 eruptions from the next mountain. It mostly spews smoke and ash, and if you can get a glimpse at night, some molten lava. It rumbles and booms and reminds the people of Banos that it is there. In 2006 it produced enough lava that it blocked the road to Ambato and the town was evacuated for 6 months till things settled down.

Pete

Harvesting Oka

Friends: One day we spent helping some Otavalans harvest choklo and oka. Choklo is their eqivalent of our sweet corn.. It is coarse, like field corn or sweet corn that has gotten old. Actually I prefer it to the sweet and tender kind. I especially like it grilled on a charcoal grill with melted cheese on it. I have a hard time going past a street vendor grilling choklo. The stalks were 7-8 feet tall, planted in clusters of 3-4 and hilled up to keep the wind from blowing them over. There is plenty of wind high in the andes. Secondary roots form in the hill that give the plants stability. Pole beans are planted at the base that use the choklo for support and run up them. I plan to begin using the same methods in the future, as corn getting blown over has been a problem for me most every fall. Actually the insides of the choklo stalks can be eaten. There is a sweet pith that you chew up and then spit out and keep the sweet juice. The cattle like to chew it up too except they don't spit anything out.

Oka is a tuber about the size and similar in looks to a large iris bulb (large thumb). It is used in soups. Ecuadorians usually have a bowl of soup with every mid day meal (almuerzo). Soups are usually lumpy, with chunks of broken choklo, potatoes, oka and pieces of meat in them. The plants are dug from the ground with a large mattox, about 3 times the size of any I have seen in North America. The mattox is the tool that has tamed the andes. The patchwork quilt of gardens high up in the mountains is all dug with a mattox, and on hills that are 45% and steeper. Where we worked was on a bench, no slope. The rest of the people come along and take the tubers off the plants, while Luis and I went ahead with mattocks. The oka is a low plant. The tall ones in the picture are quinoa. It is a very small seed grain about the size of sesame that grows well in the mountains, is very nutricious and is used largely in that area. It lends itself well to hand harvesting. It is used the same as we use millet.

We harvested about 500 lbs of oka. A little old lady about 4'-6" was getting ready to lift a bag that weighed about 100 lbs and carry it home. I offered to help but she flatly refused. Somebody helped her get it up on her back and picture 3 shows her trekking off the quarter of a mile to her home. It is well she refused my help. I couldn't have done it. It seems that the people who could most benefit from a wheelbarrow can't afford on. We see a lot of stuff getting carried on backs.

The last picture shows Luis, Rasa and Debbie breaking choklo kernels off the older ears, to be used in soup etc. The younger ears will be used like corn on the cob after boiling for two hours.

Cotacahi Ward

Friends: On Sunday we went to church in Otavalo. Cotacachi does not yet have its own Chapel. There are 8 chapels in Otavalo with three wards meeting in each one.

I thought these little kids in the nursery were too cute to pass by, in their miniature traditional dress. The women almost all wear traditional dress. What is traditional seems to loosen up a bit with the men.

The second picture is of a family we got to know a bit. The tallest fellow in the back speaks very good English and a bit of Korean. He had just returned home from Korea where he was with a group playing traditional music of Ecuador for eight months. He was to be home briefly then return to Korea for another tour. He plays several instruments including pipes of pan.

Debbie found a couple of friends in the primary. It isn't hard to find friends in Ecuador. The Otavalans, and Ecuadorians in general are very warm and friendly.

Pete PS what Pete forgot tell you about the little girls in the third picture is that those kids live in a house way up in the mountains-- dirt floor, chickens free to run in and out, smoke wafting out under the eves from their cooking fire. A 45 minute walk down the mountain to catch the bus for the 30 minute ride to Otavalo. Their parents have been members just one year, and were sealed in the Temple the end of December. The bus trip to the temple, a 10 hour drive one way cost 12 dollars return per person.Many cannot afford that very often in their lives. Debbie

Host Family

Friends: During the first two weeks of February, the temple was closed for maintenance. This was the third closing that we have been able to travel and see Ecuador. During this time Debbie and I decided that we would like to live with a family and help with construction or repairs or work in gardens. We were invited to come and stay with the Tituana family in Cotacachi, 5 mile from Otavalo. Luis is the bishop of the indigenous ward from Cotacachi. He is also a very industrious person. He has an export business, and exports hand knit sweaters. He has people all over Cotacachi knitting for him. He also has 4 employees that come to his house/factory every day that work for ten hours running knitting machines, and sewing liners in knit hats and gloves. Several downstairs rooms in back are dedicated to "the factory" with bales of wool skeins, sewing machines, cutting tables, knitting machines and finished product ready for export. All indications are that they are doing very well. All 4 kids attend private school. He drives the 2 youngest to Otavalo every morning early and picks them up later. We had an upstairs room right above the chicken yard. The rooster saw to it that we were up early.

The first picture is of the family with Debbie.

The second picture is of their house. Note what looks like a spinning wheel below the large window. It is one of three. Wool is purchased in large skeins that come in huge bales. The skeins are draped over the wooden frames, and the wheel turned by hand to wind the yarn onto spools that are used on the knitting machines.

Picture three shows one of the employees getting ready to start winding. The spinning wheel is actually a bicycle rim with wooden spokes attached. Very simple, but effective. In Otavalo, the men braid their long hair but the women do not. The women use a long colorful ribbon to wind around the pony tail. To the left of the worker is a wall blackened by wood smoke. A couple of cauldons ( oil drums cut in half) are there over fire places where the wool is dyed. Some they dye themselves and some comes already colored.

The deal was that Luis was going to find some people in his ward that we would work for while there, so we could learn how they live by working with them. As you will see in subsequent emails, it did work out that way, but not as much work as we had hoped for.

News from Ecuador

Dear Kids,

Debbie and I just spent the day helping some indigenous people harvest chokla a type of corn, and oka. Oka is a small tuber that you dig with a big mattox. We were up on the side of a mountain at about 12,000 ft. Look one way and you look over Otavalo to a volcano, and look the other way and we see Imbabura, another volcano.

While a group was at the temple a month ago from Otavalo, we met some people and expressed a desire to live with a family and do service during our two week break during temple closing. We told them we could build, do repairs or work in their gardens. It looks like we will be doing a bit of each. We harvested about 500 lbs of oka. When we were done, a little wizened lady about my age swung a 100 lb bag up over her back and trekked home about a quarter of a mile. I offered to help but she flatly refused. Good thing too. I couldn´t have done it.

Yesterday we did some painting for a family, a couple of rooms and an outside wall. Day before we dug up a garden with a mattox and pulled weeds to get it ready for planting.

We are living with an amazing family in Cotacachi, about 10 miles from Otavalo. He is bishop of the indigenous ward. He has been finding service for people in the area for Debbie and I. They have 4 kids. Tonight we will finish the last chapter in Revelations, and thus conclude their reading of the New Testament. The discussion will surround points raised in the institute manual. Previous to the NT they read El Libro de Mormon. Every night is like family home evening here except that the kids pay attention and contribute, all except Rudi who generally falls asleep.

I have never met a family like this.

I feel sorry for anybody who isn´t Debbie and I. This mission has turned out to be the most incredible experience. It has been perfecly tailored to us, by a loving Heavenly Father.

Pete