Cotacachi and Surrounding Area

Our day began when we met our tourmates at their hotel. We were greeted by this furry guardian. He never took his eyes off of us until we pulled out of the drive, then he went back to browsing the lawn.

Our first stop was the home of this gentleman. Luie explained that this man was struggling to make a living after the death of his wife. after a lifetime of working together to produce the hand woven mats he now worked alone which made the work take twice as long and infinitely more lonely. This man would make a mat in about two to three days. He would then sell it for about $4.00. The actual weaving of the mat was only a part of the labor involved in production of the mat. First there was the gathering of the reeds. The second step was the drying of the reeds. And finally the weaving of the mat. So in ordinary terms this man would gather the reeds, dry them, and weave the mat for a total return of $4.00.

These are completed mats awaiting a buyer. They measure about five by seven feet and are primarily used as sleeping mats.

This is the drying process. Simple, effective, and consuming no resources. sun and air are abundant, free, and non-polluting.

The weaving process. I can only imagine the lonliness this man must feel as he performs in solitude an act that was once done with a life partner.

After each reed is placed he pounds it in place with a stone.

No! These are not pets, they are a protien source.

This is the view from the mat weaver's front garden.

This is where the mat weaver we visited harvests his reeds. How many generations have harvested from this same spot?

Luis explains the many benefits of agave cactus.

I noticed that work always seemed to be equally shared and children were always close by, their little hands just itching to get in there and work too. This lady is using a backstrap loom to weave a traditional faja, a colorful strip of faberic used to hold back the hair of the wearer.

the loom the weaver is suing is called a back strap loom. It is traditional among the Otavalenos. The rawhide strap that passes behind her back has been in steady use for over two hundred years, a testament to the ruggedness of rawhide.

This is a faja in use.

This is a mechanical loom that does the same type of weaving. It will only loom one pattern. It will, however, weave a faja in two hours as oppossed to 4 days.

The weavers. Notice the woven mat. Those mats showed up everywhere we turned. They appear to have a thousand uses.

Even the dogs enjoy the reed mats.

This is a display of musical instruments made by a family from Louis' village.

Making a flute.

Tuning the instrument.

Playing a long flute.

More traditional instruments.

Corn drying on the ever present reed mat.

Walk way to the instrument workshop.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Healing-in-Ecuador to see the lovely town of Baños

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ecotour-Otavalo-and-Cotacachi for a look at Cotacachi.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Vilcabamba gives you a look at the Valley of Longevity

http://hubpages.com/hub/Bahia-de-Caraquez for a look at Bahia de Caráquez, a beautiful and peaceful (except for the parades) beach city.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Otavalo-Shopping-Therapy-for-the-Craft-Obsessed for a comprehensive view of Otavalo’s famous indigenous market

http://hubpages.com/hub/Zaruma for a look at this famous gold mining city. This one is a work in progress as we will be returning to Zaruma to explore the possibilities of using it as a permanent base.

Here or there, chickens look pretty much the same.

The child is the grandchild of the man in this photo. the weaver is a master at carding wool. People come from all over the world to stay in his home and learn to card wool. The weaver could not take a step without the child on his heels. Once during our visit the man got out of the childs sight and the little boy cried as if his heart was broken and grnadpa came running to comfort him.

This is how craft continues. The woman is his daughter and has been his apprintice since she was very young. the child is the son of his youngest son and he sits at grandpa's knee everyday.

Here is another example of a man missing his mate. When his wife was alive each would stand at either end of this assembly. He would help her with her tangles and she would help him. Now he prefers to work alone to sharing the task with anyone else.

Here is another back-strap loom using a rawhide back-strap that is about 250 years old.

Would you believe that this energetic and agile man is 78 years old?

This is the implement used to raise the nap on the 100% Alpaca scarves he is known for making.

this is one of the Alpaca scarves. We were told that many of the alpaca scarves sold in the markets have about 30 to 50% acrylic content even though they are touted as 100% Alpaca.

These scarves are 100% Alpaca. 

The house of the weaver was constantly filled with smiles. Our last glimpse back produced this photo.

Luis took us to see several properties after our ecotour. the thing that impressed me most was the fire places in the beedrooms of a condo we looked at. these are adapted from a mayan design.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Healing-in-Ecuador to see the lovely town of Baños

http://hubpages.com/hub/Ecotour-Otavalo-and-Cotacachi for a look at Cotacachi.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Vilcabamba gives you a look at the Valley of Longevity

http://hubpages.com/hub/Bahia-de-Caraquez for a look at Bahia de Caráquez, a beautiful and peaceful (except for the parades) beach city.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Otavalo-Shopping-Therapy-for-the-Craft-Obsessed for a comprehensive view of Otavalo’s famous indigenous market

http://hubpages.com/hub/Zaruma for a look at this famous gold mining city. This one is a work in progress as we will be returning to Zaruma to explore the possibilities of using it as a permanent base.

Cotacachi and Otavalo are not significant on a map but they are two must see places in my book. Otavalo is a much easier city to navigate than Quito and I feel safer there. It can't be beat for getting a good feel for the colors and testures of Ecuador. Cotacachi is a beautiful smaller city that is clean and safe and absolutely packed with leather goods.