Mis Aventuras en Ecuador: Saraguro

This weekend we went to Saraguro. It was a 4-hour drive each way because we had to take a different route due to landslides on the shorter one. It's been raining a LOT lately. Wisconsin gets snow; we get rain. Hmm...

Anyway, once we reached Saraguro on Saturday, we went on a short hike to this place where we had the wonderful opportunity to drink something called Mahongo (I think it's something like that- not positive). Basically, it's one step before tequila in the fermentation process. It comes from the Agave plant. Ick. I took a small sip (picture below), and the taste was not something I'd like to experience again. Some people said it got better the more you drank, but I think that's just because their mental faculties were beginning to fail them. This was at 2 in the afternoon. Oh dear. We hiked a bit more to a place with a FANTASTIC view. Wow.

When we returned to the city, we had a couple hours to do whatever we wanted before supper. I wandered around the city for a while with some other people in the group- got to see an indigenous wedding. That was cool. I felt a little intrusive though (and VERY conspicuous being one of only 6 Gringos there), so I didn't stick around for long.

Saturday night, we went to this place to eat, and the food was delicious. It was really good soup, then chicken with flavored rice and mote and other veggies, and the fruit for dessert. The flavor was amazing. (Sometimes, it seems like the food here is a little bland, but this stuff was great.) After dinner, some indigenous men played music for us, and there was dancing and fun had by all. The music was so beautiful, and the men were so talented- all of them could play multiple instruments and played them very well.

Sunday morning we got up early and had breakfast at our hostal. Our hostal was really nice- it was situated on a hill overlooking the city, and everything in it was pretty new. Very nice. Breakfast was eggs, bread with cheese inside, grapes, and hot chocolate (I had two glasses of that ;) ). After breakfast, we went on a hike up this really steep hill/ mountain to a cave where we got to have a "shaman experience." There was a waterfall right next to the cave, and the atmosphere was just incredible. The whole shaman thing was kinda weird for me. For those of you who don't know, a shaman is pretty much like a "medicine man" for the indigenous people. He depends on herbs and nature to "heal" people that come to him with their ailments. He believes in the "Pacha Mama" (Mother Earth) and her "power" over everything and also in the powers of air, land, fire, and water. I don't know... We stood in a circle around the shaman and his two helpers while he performed his ritual. It was interesting- interesting to see what a good amount of people down here believe in. We had smoke blown on us, this alcoholic something sprayed on us, but before that, we got to drink this stuff he gave us. Oh my goodness. I thought the stuff from Saturday was bad. NO. That was mild compared to this. It was some alcoholic drink of some sort, and we drank it out of a shell- just a little bit. OH MY GOSH. I took my sip, and my mouth felt like it was on fire. My tongue went numb, and my lips were burning. It was the worst tasting thing I have ever put in my mouth before. And I kept burping it up for the rest of the day. Ew. Like I said, the whole experience was interesting, but SO contrary to everything I believe in. They pray to THINGS and gods and ideas and depend on rituals and acts to get things done; I pray to the one true God who hears me and knows what's best for me. I think it's really good to know more about other religions- I feel rather ignorant on that topic. Anyway...

After that, we hiked the treacherous way down (I slipped many times-- it was still raining and VERY muddy on that steep hill-- but luckily never actually fell), then went into town to do some shopping. The Saraguros are known for their beautiful beaded jewelry. I bought a good amount of gifts while there. Then we went to lunch and headed home. The ride felt a lot longer than 4 hours, and I was very glad when we got home.