Zamora, Saraguro and beyond

I spent the last few days touring around several sites in southern Ecuador with some of the board members from my organization and their families that were visiting from the States. First stop was Zamora in the upper Amazon basin where we saw some indigenous Shuar people performing their traditional dances. Then we were off to Saraguro in the Andes about an hour and a half north of Loja to check out the local market and weavings of the Saraguro indigenous group. The board members continued on to the city of Cuenca and I finished up the trip by visiting another Peace Corps volunteer, Jaime, who lives in a small town called Ñamarin just outside of Saraguro. Enjoy the photos below!

The good life

Dense Jungle

Bombuscaro River in Zamora

Orchid

Shuar Dancing

Shuar Elder creating a bowl for drinking chicha, a fermented yucca drink

Crowds watching the Shuar woman make the bowl

Shuar child and Kichwa man

Kichwa onlookers

US Congressman, Jared Polis, who was part of the group giving a talk in broken Spanish

Saraguro traditional dancing

Roadside indigenous mother and child

House in Lagunas, just outside of Saraguro

Happy pig

Traditional Sarguro weaving on a loom

Making a belt

Beautiful detail

Weaving demonstration

An 8-year-old weaving a belt

Barefoot Sarguro woman heading to the market

Church in the center of Saraguro

Saraguro woman

These traditional hats are made out of compressed wool, but feel more like concrete!

Box o' chickens

Lots of bananas

Lunchtime

Chit chat

Saraguro

Local kids + dog

Local kids + 2 dogs

Cutest little girl ever

Her German dad, Felix, works with my organization and married a woman from Saraguro

Saraguro house

A little too much liquor...

Baaa!

Jamie's Peace Corps site

One-eyed man in Jamie's town

Moo

Baaaa

Jamie's town

Corn hanging to dry