The Quechua people make up several indigenous populations in the Andean region of South America that speak the Quechua language. In Ecuador, there are 2.5 million Quechua speakers, and hundreds of organized Quechua communities in various parts of the country. One such community is found on the island of Anaconda, between the Napo River and its tributaries in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where we were invited to visit.
The locals in this area use long wooden boats with “I think I can” type motors to navigate the mighty Napo, and as many places are only accessible by boat, we got used to the hum and sway of these boats over the few days we spent in the jungle.
As we pulled perfectly to shore at the Quechua village, the little village girls came to greet us with bracelets they had woven out of local grasses. We accepted them gratefully as we walked together through cacao trees and yucca plants to a house on stilts. (Note to travelers: If you do this, bring some coins with which to reward the girls, as they will ask you for money.)
A man and a woman demonstrated some things for us, speaking in Quechua and using an interpreter, including how to make chicha, how to use a blowgun, and generally teaching us about their ways of life. Some of these are traditions of the past, some are current:
1. Houses are built on stilts and made of palm wood. The floors and roofs are made of palm, while the walls are made of bamboo.
2. A Quechua boy’s parents will choose his wife for him, and marriage used to happen around the age of 13 (this is one tradition that has changed a bit with the years).
3. When a couple gets married, the entire community is invited and served. This happens 3-4 times per year and it’s the only time the whole community (about 45 families) is together in one place. Sometimes they save food for up to a month to have enough for the party. After the couple gets married, they live with one set of their parents for 2-3 years until they can build their own house.
4. Houses are built during a “minga” which is a communal work day. The couple building the house will provide food and drinks for community members who come and build. This way it only takes a couple of days to put up a house, and it’s communal, so everyone helps each other when it needs to be done.
5. They keep fires going in their “kitchens” for cooking and smoking. They cook with wood but always keep stones in the fire so they can put pots on them.
6. Above the fire they hang a basket that they use to smoke fish. Without refrigerators, food will spoil if not preserved, so they often smoke fish to preserve it. This is how they save up food for weddings.
7. Termite nests are collected from trees and burned around the house in order to keep away mosquitos and sand flies.
8. They make tea out of the guayusa plant, which is similar to yerba mate and contains a significant amount of caffeine. Rather than drinking coffee or eating chocolate for stimulation, they drink guayusa tea, without sugar, before heading out into the jungle or to school or work.
In the middle of this demonstration, a cell phone rang next to me, transporting me right back to 2015. It’s hard to believe they still do some of these things, as times have changed so much.
9. The community has a Shaman, a local medicine man or doctor, who still carries out traditional cleansing ceremonies to help those in need of healing. The Shaman drinks water boiled with ayahuasca wood, which is hallucinogenic, and after 20-30 minutes they can start seeing and healing people. The first step of the cleansing is a ritual using the leaves from a Suru Panga plant.
10. Shaman were typically male in the past, and it used to be that when one died, his eldest son would take over, and so on. However, now with many children going off to school, they will train anyone who wants to be a Shaman to do it. Shamans do not charge money, but are often gifted with extra fish or bananas or some sort of minga.
11. The people use the shells of giant snails with small holes cut in the end for communication. They can use it to call mingas, or call a Shaman if someone is sick, or for other things with various sounds. (We saw some of these snails; let’s just say everything is bigger in the jungle.)
12. Although there is “no religion” in these areas, they have taken to celebrating Christmas and New Years.
13. The women make jewelry and go to town once a week to sell it. With the money they make, they buy pots and pans, plastic containers, machetes, boots, and soaps, etc. to bring back to the village.
14. They farm some things such as cacao, bananas, plantains, papaya, and pineapple to sell in town as well.
15. School classes are held in either Spanish and Quechua or Spanish and English. Children go to primary school from ages 6 to 12, and then high school from 12 until 18. They have the option to go away to university after that, but apparently most don’t go.
Although this visit felt like a blast from the past of a history that we’ve never been part of, at the same time there was a strange dichotomy of modernity present, especially when the cell phone rang in the hut. There was an element of pride in the people for having their traditions and their ways be something that can be shown and put on display for tourists, but I questioned whether our presence was good for these traditions or not.
What I did take away was the fascination of learning about the simple ways of this Quechua community, regardless of whether the traditions are past or present, and the brilliant reminder of what it looks like to live resourcefully off the land even in modern times.
