My travels

The past two days have been incredible.  We left Quito and traveled to Otavalo and Peguche.  I preferred these small towns compared to the big city of Quito. The scenery was beautiful and the people were very friendly.  When we would walk in the streets, the locals would yell "Bienvenidos! Bienvenidos!"  On our way to Otavalo, we stopped at the Equator.  This was so cool to see! But, my favorite part of the trip was learning about the indigenous communities of Ecuador.  The locals told us that they feel pressure to conform to westernized culture, but they hope to maintain their traditions so future generations can know the history of their people.  We saw a musical performance of a local family.  They showed us how to make the instruments. They hand-made each one.  Afterwards, we saw a shamanism demonstration.  It was difficult to understand because I have nothing that could relate to this ceremony in my own culture.  But, the "shaman" or practitioner of the ceremony is like the community doctor.  She performed the demonstration on a student who was in our group.  To remove bad spirits from his body, she rubbed him with candles, eggs, and oil, threw rose petals on his body, and blew flames at him.  This obviously seems ridiculous, but to these people this ceremony is a very important part of who they are. I really enjoyed learning about these indigenous communities and their traditions.

Here I am at the Equator!

These two pictures were taken at the market in Otavalo. I loved looking through all the crafts. I bought a lot of souvenirs!

I've enjoyed meeting the other students in the program.  We are from all over-- USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, and France.

Today I also went to Lake Cuicocha. We took a boat ride on the lake, which is at the foot of a volcano. If it were to erupt the lava would come from beneath the water!

Hopefully I will be able to upload the videos of the music performance and shamanism demonstration soon!