Week 27 from Quito Ecuador

This week I took the chance and got my hair cut and permed.  After my experience in Mexico a couple of years ago I was a bit hesitant but it turned out just fine.  Sis. Kaneen suggested the shop, which is right in our building.  It was a bit pricey at $45 but I’m used to getting it done for free from my daughter.  I’ve been spoiled.  

I spent a lot of time this week preparing the video for the missionaries that are leaving this week.   I’ve also worked on another project for the Richardson’s that I’ll have to wait until next week to tell you about.

We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father this week.  The many, many prayers offered on behave of our little grandson, Matt, have been answered.  His prognosis at the beginning was not good and I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to see him again in this life, but his improvement over the last few days is miraculous.  He has come from near death to now talking and moving all his limbs.  It has been a roller coaster ride but God is good and has blessed this family beyond anything we could have hoped for.   One more blessing we can add to the many that our mission provides for our family.

Matt clapping along to singing

Saturday the senior missionaries took a trip to Santo Domingo to see visit a living historical village of the Tsachilas people.  It was about a 3 hour drive southwest of Quito.  It was an overcast day with lots of clouds and a touch of rain. It made for a very pleasant day with not the heat that there would have been.  The roads were anything but straight, swerving back and forth going from 9,000 feet in elevation in Quito down to 1,000 feet in Santo Domingo.  I, unfortunately, got car sick again.  But this time I was prepared with my large zip lock bag.  Though I was too sick to enjoy the scenery we did pass a few waterfalls along the road and the mist of clouds made everything look a bit mystical.

 When we got to Santo Domingo our driver, Patricio, didn’t know where to find the village and we drove around asking people for directions, none of which helped until we finally paid a taxis driver to guide us there as we followed.

 As we drove along we saw a few small huts or homes in amongst large plantations of banana plants and cacao plants.  When we finally made it to the village to see the local Indian people we were told that it was closed because no one else was there but a few women and children.

Even so they took our money which was $5 each and Erika, one of the young women took us around and showed us some of the sites, pointing out some of the plants such as the banana plants, the cacao plant (from which we get cocoa), and the acholo plant. The seed of the acholo is what the men use to die their hair, mixed with animal fat.  The hair is cut short on the sides and the top is shaped to look like a helmet.

The Acholo plant, where they get the red die 

for the men's hair and to put on their bodies.

The acholo pod starts out as a small flower 

Gradually matures to the pod

Becomes a mature pod that they break open and crush the
seeds inside to get the red dye. They come in two varieties - green...

and red

They also have the cacao plant which is where we get cocoa powder from.

This is the cacao pod.

When it is cracked open they get the seeds which are covered
in a thick, white, sweet gooey substance.  The seeds themselves
are very bitter.

After they get the seeds out of the pods and clean the white
gooey stuff off...

they spread them out and dry them in the sun.  They are then
processed into the cocoa powder that we use in cooking.

A “witch doctor” or sharma gave us a demonstration of a ceremony that he performs to seek help from the healing spirits. He said it was alright to take pictures so I took a video of it.

A little background of the Tsáchila people taken from Wikipedia:
“The Tsáchila are an indigenous people living in the provinces of Santo Domingo de Tsáchilas in Ecuador . Their language is the Tsafiqui, linguistic family Chibcha , meaning true word.  They were called the Colorados or the red people by the Spaniards because of their red hair and sometimes red skin.
…their traditions say that during a time when a smallpox epidemic decimated the population of Tsáchilas a witch-doctor spoke with spirits for advice on how to heal the sick of the epidemic, the spirit led them to a bush and told to completely cover their body with the juice of the fruit pods. After several days the fatal cases decreased dramatically. They are considered to be forever in debt to the spirit of that plant for protection that it gave them against smallpox.
The largest population of the area is Santo Domingo de los Colorados and was named in commemoration of this ethnic group. The majority of Ecuadorians recognizes physicians-sorcerers of Tsachilas as having medicinal herbs.”

After we saw the demonstration Erika took us on a walk through the forest and showed us many of the plant life they you use to survive, from what you use for food, to build their homes and the medical plants.  As we begin she warned us that the trail was muddy but we didn’t really understand how muddy or treacherous that meant the trail to be.  It took us over 2 hours of what someone called our “jungle boot camp”.   There were places where the trail was not only muddy but very steep, both uphill and downhill.  A couple of the seniors fell in the mud and got mud on their clothes.  Lynn kept saying how much he was enjoying the adventure.  Some of the rest of us were not quite so happy.   As we kept going further and further into the forest we began to wonder if our guide knew where to go.  We were proved right when, just after climbing a very muddy, treacherous path she decided that we had made a wrong turn and had to go back down.  I was ready to ask for our money back and couldn’t believe we were having to backtrack after having to struggle up the hill side.  Lynn just said we should probably pay more for being able to be part of a great adventure.   It was a very hard hike and if I had known how hard I probably would not have gone on it and missed seeing some of the beautiful and interesting plants and trees.  I felt even more sympathy for Sister Kaneen who has bad knees and really struggled with the hike more than I did. When we finally got out of the forest and back to the village some of us looked a bit worn out with muddy shoes, sweaty clothes and hair dripping in sweat.  It made for a great memory but not one I would want to repeat.

Still smiling even if a bit rough around the edges.

They had some of the children show us a couple of dances and gave us a sample of cooked green bananas and wild pig.  Most of us were a bit hesitant to try, for fear of getting parasites.  I did take a tiny taste and it wasn’t too bad.

We then left to find a place to eat lunch.  Our driver took us to the local mall where we were able to have our pick of several different food vendors, KFC being one of the choices.  We finished eating and headed back home.

I tried to sleep a little and was spared getting car sick again on the way back.  We made one stop in Arillanquin where there were several vendors selling candy.  Lynn bought a package of molasses candy for a dollar.  I must say it was definitely an adventure but was glad to get back to Quito.

This afternoon we had FHE at the Kaneens.  We did an activity where we came up with the things we would need in emergency situations.  They gave us a sturdy bag to put our 72 hour kits into and encouraged us to be prepared.

A few of us stayed a little longer and visited.  The Phelps shared with us their engagement story, which we found rather amusing.  They were both a bit older, in their early 30’s when they met and married.  They met while chaperoning a group of school children on a trip to the Grand Canyon.  They dated for quite some time.   When Elder Phelps’ roommate moved out he mentioned that he needed to find another roommate.  Sister Phelps wrote up an application to be his next roommate and gave it to him.  He wrote up an acceptance letter and gave it to her with a ring.