Saraguro--March 3-4

I went on a weekend tour to Saraguro, a small town about 2 hours south of Cuenca, with my friend, Nancy, and others.  Saraguro is a town, whose residents are a proud people, who value their culture and customs and are working hard at maintaining them.  Most of the people wear traditional clothing, many continue to speak Quichua, and many are trying to go back in history to practice their religion from the past.

The ride their was interesting and our guide, Wilson, spoke so well.  It was a great history lesson on route to Saraguro.  We were met by Juanita, our local guide, who only spoke Spanish.  Wilson translated, but I am happy to report that I understood most of what she said.  We stayed at Achik Wasi, a nice hostal.

Not long after arriving we went to a weaving factory where beautiful scarves, ponchos, tablecloths, etc. are woven.  There must have been close to 30 handmade looms in the factory.  The work is laborious, but beautiful.

a waver at the loom & our guide

spools that haven't yet been dyed

many, many looms

And outside the weaving factory were a group of men & boys playing beautiful traditional Andean music!
















Later on we took a chiva (bus without sides) ride we up to see the magnificent countryside.  I must admit that there were a few times that I wondered if the vehicle we were in was going to make the steep incline.

me in the chiva

The views were interesting & breathtaking.

Juanita, our guide

the chiva in front of the church

Lo & behold, when we came down from our excursion, there was a magnificent rainbow.  I couldn't stop taking photos of it!

We went to a workshop where a man makes the traditional hats worn by many of the local people.  It takes 2 days to make one hat, which costs $60.  It is a painstaking, complicated process, starting with carding the wool, getting it to the right texture and shape, using interesting hand-made machines.

Saturday night we were treated to musicians, who played local music and we danced!

On Sunday we walked to a special place where we witnessed a healing ceremony.  Along the walk we saw a pig,

lambs.

and beautiful views.

 The healing ceremony was interesting, replete with flower petals, various medicinal drinks, and many symbolic things.

From there we went to the town square,

 where we saw the church

 and people dressed in their
typical, traditional style.

 The day ended at a gas station where I took this beautiful photo

and then saw a man putting gas in his truck that had a pig and a lamb in the back of it!