Andean Culture and Cosmovision


Our second day of the trip was spent exploring quito’s historic center, and our first introduction to Andean culture. What an great introduction to this country!

Day three started our customary Ecuadorian breakfast of fruit, toast, eggs, and a surplus of coffee. After that, it was time to hop in the bus and visit Javier’s friends’ permaculture garden made of various sustainable inventions to conserve water and energy. We were taught of the simplistic but appropriate technology of an earth oven, about alternative methods for recycling gray and black water, and later, about the feasibility of turning $200 into an eco house. However, this turned out to be only a war, up to the concepts Javier would present to us later back at casa magnolia. These ideas took the form of a two hour lesson from Javier, detailing the tragedy of the recent earthquake in Ecuador, analyzing the shortcomings of the Ecuadorian government, and explaining to us his personal philosophies regarding life, love, and sustainability. After his poetic speech, we all ran upstairs, quickly drawing our plans for our future Eco lodges, ready to abandon material wealth forever and sell our clothes and possessions to fund a campaign against Monsanto. This kind of passion, excitement, sense of purpose, and finally having met people who think as you do is common here. I have found it is just another day of living in Ecuador.

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IMG_0324Annika bowman, on behalf of the seeds of change group