Richard Brommer
Farmers in Ecuador still shell corn and preserve it by drying it in the sun. If they live near a paved road, they can use the roadbed as a clean, level surface for this age-old practice.
Grains are grown and harvested in traditional ways. Indigenous farmers in Ecuador harvest corn by hand, husk and shell it, and lay the shelled corn out on a flat surface to dry in the sun. Throughout Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia, wool is still spun by hand and woven on hand-looms into traditional designs. Clothing is washed in streams instead of in washing machines, and goods are bought and sold at local open-air markets, some of which have become world famous.
Explore More:
1. Go online and look for more examples of traditional practices that are still in use or are being restored in Ecuador, Bolivia, and Peru. If you find some interesting examples, report on them to your class.
2. Think about your own daily life—what you wear, what you eat, what your responsibilities are, what you do for fun. Do you grow any food or make any of your own clothing? Ask your parents what daily life was like for previous generations of your family. Has anything stayed the same? What’s different? Should any of your family’s traditional practices be restored? Why or why not?
Richard Brommer
Food market in Quito, Ecuador
3. Look up some of the traditional weaving patterns from Ecuador, Peru, or Bolivia. See if you can re-create the pattern on graph paper or on a computer, or figure out how to make a simple hand-loom and see if you can work the pattern out with yarn.
Share What You Know:
Ecuadorian villagers have returned to cooking traditional dishes made with quinoa, a high-protein grain that nourished the Incas, and this grain is now widely available in the United States. Find out where to buy quinoa and how to prepare a simple dish to share with your family or friends. See what they have to say about this ingredient. Tell your class, in Spanish if you can, about your family’s opinions about