San Clemente: I like to plow it, plow it!

Thursday morning we met at Hotel Quito at 6am in order to leave for San Clemente, which is a small indigenous town of about 80 families that is located 4 hours north of Quito. We stopped for breakfast at Café de la Vaca and ate a great meal. You could also see the Cayambe Volcano from outside the restaurant







After another hour in the bus, we arrived in San Clemente. We were welcomed with a HUGE community lunch where each family brought a different dish.

After pigging out and taking a short descañso, we went on a two hour hike around the entire pueblo. We saw several haciendas (which were enormous) and learned about how the indigenous people used to work basically as slaves on the huge haciendas. The dueño lived in Quito and would require the indigenous people to walk all the way to Quito with crops and animals to sell. Since the walk was two days and the indigenous people were already overworked, it was common that one of them would die. It was mind boggling to think that this system was only abolished about 30-40 years ago. Here's a pic of a hacienda:

Next we all met our host families for the weekend. My friend Jacqueline and I stayed with Matias and his wife Magdelena, and their four kids (ages 7-14). We helped a little bit with dinner and since we were so exhausted, we went to bed.

The next morning, we woke up at the butt-crack of dawn (5:15am) to help make breakfast. We helped make tortillas on a pan over a little fire.

Next we all met in a field, removed our shoes (don't think about the cow poop...or sheep poop...or pig poop...) and absorbed the sun's energy. We all got to try our hand at tilling the field with a wooden til attached to two cows and under the guidance of an indigenous man. It was really hard!

After everyone got a chance to plow, we had a charla about working the land and dreams and their connection to cosmovision. We also talked about how technology had both positively and negatively affected the community; for example, all of the houses have indoor water and plumping whereas before all of the women and children would go to the river to gather the water. Romantic matches were created and there was better communication within the entire village, but on the other hand, now the townsfolk have more time to dedicate to more important things.

Next, we all piled in the bus and rode to a sacred mountaintop for a ceremony and another communal lunch. The view was beautiful, although the sunburn wasn't quite as cool.

The mountain one which we had the ceremony was on top of ancient Incan ancestors that was buried by the Spanish. When the Spaniards conquered parts of Latin America, they buried native temples in order to conquer and erase the former culture. The ceremony involved everyone sharing one desire or thing they were thankful for and drinking out of the same gourd and was to celebrate the beginning of the fall solstice.

After we arrived back in San Clemente (all of us were exhausted and sunburnt) we had to help prepare for the Temazcal, or the sweat lodge ceremony. We hung out by the fire for two hours while the fire (filled with rocks) heated up.

My friends Jacqueline, Katie, Kaitlyn, and Noah warming up by the fire

Here's a pic of the actual hut:

All 25 of us crowded in the tiny hut and they shoveled in glowing rocks and added water. Although they added different herbs and it was supposed to be a time for reflection and welcoming the fall season, it was actually the worst two hours of my life. It was extremely hard to breathe and anyone that knows me knows that my biggest fear is not being able to breathe. Still, the other students in the group loved the experience, and it WAS very interesting...