Sunday, August 4, 2013

Ben in Ecuador - Week 3

Week 3 - Excursion 1
This week’s excursion was at a hat factory. Though there wasn't a whole lot of tour to give, our group had too much fun trying on all the hats. We saw how each hat was made individually and shaped with different instruments. It takes a lot longer than I had previously imagined. We had dance classes and cooking classes just like the previous weeks, but this cooking class was a little weird. We made some odd concoction with plantains (platanos) and it wasn't bad, just slightly odd.


Week 3 - Excursion 2
Our next excursion was at a place called Kushiwaira which is actually an indigenous phrase for “wind of luck”. We spent the whole day with an indigenous guide who explained the lifestyle and customs of the indigenous people. We went up a hill to what he explained as sacred ground. Here we all had to request permission from the spirits to enter this sacred ground (we never found out if they actually said yes). We had to take off our shoes and everything. Next we were allowed to ride their horses and relax in the yard a bit. We then ate a parcoloma which is a meal set upon a cloth and then eaten straight from the ground. It was good, but there were so many bugs. My friend Joe actually ended up eating a grasshopper. Next we were let loose in the yard where some of us caught chickens and others rode a zipline. The guide then showed us how to ground corn into cornmeal and we called it a day.





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