This past week my friend who I traveled with, Chisara, had two friends from back home come visit her for a week and left yesterday, needless to say I did as much traveling in the past week as I´ve done in a month here for them...
They came on Wednesday night and that night we all met up at La Mariscal which as you may remember is the hip place for the youngsters to commute packed with clubs, bars and restaurants. They went to a club, I went home. The next day they came to school with us where many groups at school had stands up, mostly from marketing and business classes trying to sell food, or an oxygen bar, or a slack line(where you basically walk a tightrope).
Th
ere was a group that Thursday from the province of Esmeraldas playing and dancing the Carambe. Here are some pictures...
ere was a group that Thursday from the province of Esmeraldas playing and dancing the Carambe. Here are some pictures...
That Saturday Chisara wanted to take Alana and Alex(the friends visiting) to M
ascarilla. Mascarilla is a small town in the Valle de Chota north of Quito in the province of Imbabura, the same as Otavalo. So it took 3-4 hours by bus to get to Mascarilla, but we finally made it. It was very arid and dry and the entire Valle de Chota is known for it´s Afro-Ecuadorian population, mostly because of football(soccer) athletes.
ascarilla. Mascarilla is a small town in the Valle de Chota north of Quito in the province of Imbabura, the same as Otavalo. So it took 3-4 hours by bus to get to Mascarilla, but we finally made it. It was very arid and dry and the entire Valle de Chota is known for it´s Afro-Ecuadorian population, mostly because of football(soccer) athletes. The Afro-Ecuadorians in Chota are all descendents of slaves in the region where th
e major crop is sugar cane as seen in this amazing picture. In Mascarilla the artesanias are involved in a project where they make masks in an attempt to strengthen and represent black choteñan identity through the masks that they make from clay. They work with agencies in Italy and travel there once a year and masks are shipped all over the world. Chisara works there during most weekends through CARE. One of the artists, Betty, showed us around the shop and a video further explaining the importance of their project. She also demonstrated the Bomba which is a dance unique to the Valle de Chota where the women dance with bottles on their heads. It was very amazing and the music was very African, rhythmically.
e major crop is sugar cane as seen in this amazing picture. In Mascarilla the artesanias are involved in a project where they make masks in an attempt to strengthen and represent black choteñan identity through the masks that they make from clay. They work with agencies in Italy and travel there once a year and masks are shipped all over the world. Chisara works there during most weekends through CARE. One of the artists, Betty, showed us around the shop and a video further explaining the importance of their project. She also demonstrated the Bomba which is a dance unique to the Valle de Chota where the women dance with bottles on their heads. It was very amazing and the music was very African, rhythmically. 
Betty explained some of the history of the Afro-Choteñans and the sugar canes and this 
monument dedicated to their ancestors. They want to erect a museum dedicated to them as well but obviously will be pricey. This all exactly what I was looking for in better understanding and connecting the African Diaspora that we discuss so much in African-American Studies. Their agricultural way of life and everything is reminiscent of where my father grew up in Abernant, Alabama. The smell of the town was something that hit me as I could be in rural Abernant where my grandmother raised and killed hogs practically till the day she died in her 70s. It really was remarkable. From there we took two buses to Otavalo for the friends to 
purchase stuff like we did the first month, of course I again blew way too much money on gifts but it was worth it. Oh and here´s a picture of the 4 masks I bought below
monument dedicated to their ancestors. They want to erect a museum dedicated to them as well but obviously will be pricey. This all exactly what I was looking for in better understanding and connecting the African Diaspora that we discuss so much in African-American Studies. Their agricultural way of life and everything is reminiscent of where my father grew up in Abernant, Alabama. The smell of the town was something that hit me as I could be in rural Abernant where my grandmother raised and killed hogs practically till the day she died in her 70s. It really was remarkable. From there we took two buses to Otavalo for the friends to 
purchase stuff like we did the first month, of course I again blew way too much money on gifts but it was worth it. Oh and here´s a picture of the 4 masks I bought below
Chisara´s co-worker at CARE, Sophia, took us to the Teleferico which takes us to the top of the mountain Pichincha and also is the highest teleferico(gondala) in the world. Excellent views of Quito and the mountain/volcano. The volcano erupted in 1999 and is still active but no like the other one Turunghaua. Then she took us to Mitad 
del Mundo. It´s a city dedicated to celebrating the equator and claims to be positioned right on it although it is off by a ways it´s the closest you´ll get and is a popular spot for married couples to get married stattling the equator.
The next day on Sunday we took a bus at 11:45PM! to a beach town in the province of Esmeraldas called Muisne that is about an hr from Atacames the place we went before. However this place did not reak of poo, was not covered in clubs and tourists. It as muy tranquilo. We took a taxi around the beach and stopped at this one house where a guy cut down two pipas from this palm tree where we drank the juice inside and ate the meat around it, very cool. We stayed at a hostal where we were 
not torn up by bugs and had fun showing alana and alex around all week!!
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