Cotocatchi, Ecuador –
The man paused to rest for a moment.
He had just reduced an agave petal to a set of threads.
And he had done this by setting it against a long board that he was holding against his body, and running a rock up and down the length of the petal.
And then, he was back in motion again, picking up another agave petal and starting again.
We had witnessed him doing this to several petals already, and he would continue for several more.
All to reduce the petals to the fibers trapped inside.
We were visiting an indigenous village outside of Cotocatchi, and were getting the opportunity to watch as one of the tribe members was going through the process of taking the petals from a type of agave plant that was prolific in the area, reduce them to threads, and then weave a pair of sandals from those fibers.
The first part of that process involved a lot of physical effort.
A lot of sweat and toil.
While the later part required more dexterity, as he would first braid the fibers into a thin rope, which would later be wound and bound into a sandal sole, with a couple of straps added to attach them to your feet.
Once the entire process had been demonstrated, we were asked if any of our group wanted to buy a pair.
Those who wanted a pair were then sat down so their feet could be measured.
It seems these would be custom fitted, specifically for the person’s feet.
And they would be delivered to our hotel in a few days.
The buyers would not be wearing their new sandals back to our hotel that day.
Well, there’s nothing like having to wait to build your sense of anticipation. No instant gratification here.
Actually, this was the end of our visit to the village. We had started with a traditional meal.
Kinda like a large family meal, as we sat in a dining hall with a single long table, and were served various dishes family-style.
Our hosts would put several bowls of various traditional foods down, and we would pass them around, serving ourselves.
Very large kernels of Maize, oddly colored potatoes, and some chicken to go along with the vegetables.
Of course, we had to wait until the welcoming was complete. After all, we were a group of photographers being welcomed into their village, with a chance to record a glimpse of what their life was like.
Soon enough, the meal was over and we were led to another building where we saw a demonstration of their weaving practices.
The demonstration began with spinning the thread that they would be using when weaving, but soon our guide sat down at his loom and began the actual weaving of the fabric he was currently working on.
Once he had sufficiently demonstrated weaving, or he felt we had taken enough photos to satisfy our needs, or maybe it was that he had reached his quota for the day, the weaving exhibition ended and we were led back out and up the road to their school.
As we arrived at the school, there was the typical chaos of an elementary school class at recess. This was the location from which we would both arrive and leave (although I’m not sure it was the same class at recess both times).
On the edge of the playground were several of the village women laying out collections of trinkets that we could buy. Each woman had a collection of whatever her specialty was.
One had stacks of pieces of clothing that she had made. Scarves, knit hats, and some colorful sweaters.
Another had a variety of necklaces and bracelets, all created with various types of colorful stones.
And each of them sat there, working on a new piece when none of our group was examining her wares or trying to negotiate a price.
However, we weren’t at the school just to shop.
No, we were herded into the school’s main activity room where a group of young kids sat in a row against the wall.
Once everyone in our group was inside and situated, we were given a brief welcome to their school, and the children got up and put on a performance for us, doing a few dances in the open space in the room.
Mostly, these seemed to consist of them forming a circle and then going around in it for a while, all while holding onto the kid in front of them.
Once the performance was over, we were led back out for more shopping as the kids raced back to the playground.
Eventually, we were herded up and led back down the road to the work shed of our sandal maker.
As we arrived, he was hard at work breaking down the agave petals that he had a stack of.
Now, it may have been just my imagination, but it seemed to me that he enjoyed being the center of attention, with all of these visitors with their cameras crowding around, snapping photos of him as he performed his task.
However, once he had finished grinding all of the agave petals that he had, and we went to the other side of his shed, he was happy to sit down and pet his dog while our guide was once again the center of attention.
It was then that we got a brief lecture on how government meddling doesn’t always produce the desired results.
It seems the sandal maker had his own shed that he had built from collected detritus, and that he was more than happy living in.
It was warm and dry, two important factors that high up in the mountains.
But it seems that someone from the government saw his shed and determined that it wasn’t suitable for human habitation.
After all, it looked like something you might find in a homeless encampment.
So the government swept in a built him a new home.
A nice brick home.
Or rather, a cement block home.
Which was cold, drafty, and not near as comfortable to live in as his self-constructed hovel.
Not sure whether or not it’s dry, but since it had what looked like a solid roof, and I don’t remember that being one of the downsides of the shiny new shack, I’m going to assume that it was.
In short, the governmental busybodies had swooped in and upgraded his living conditions to something that looked much nicer, but he considered a significant downgrade.
Well, as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions…
For more photos of the Indigenous Village, click here.
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