Backpackin´ Mama!

The moment I saw my Mother walk through the airport immigration doors, toting her huge backpack and bursting with nervous excitement I was flooded with pride. I was proud and delighted that this year my Mom, Jacqueline Wood, had decided to alter her usual resort-style vacation plans to meet me in Ecuador, South America! For eight adventure-filled days I was able to show her my backpacker lifestyle and share with her my love for Latin America.
There was quite a role-reversal because she was not accustomed to the language, culture and customs. She has guided me through life for over twenty five years and now I was given the chance to repay all her years of kindness. For long bus rides I stocked up on snacks, just like she had done during our childhood road trips. I translated everything from Spanish to English, bargained for good prices, taught her about local customs and took her to the colourful, bustling markets to sample the Ecuadorian cuisine that I have come to love.
An amazing week was spent exploring the rain forest, cloud forest and Andean mountain ranges of Ecuador. We went bird watching, rode (read: galloped) horses along a trail near a gorgeous waterfall, and had fun bargaining in the markets.
After bouncing around in dusty buses we decided to try a therapeutic steam bath ceremony. Beginning with a barefoot walk down a stone path we were told to reflect on our negative emotions until we came to a cliff where we purged this nonconstructive energy by screaming. With a renewed sense of well being we were told to crawl around in the garden, on our hands and knees, as a sign of rebirth! Immediately following we were taken inside for a series of steam baths interspersed by being showered with freezing cold water! It was an exhausting, unforgettable ceremony that may be coming to a spa near you because my Mom thought it would prove to be a rewarding and thrilling business opportunity back in Canada…
Following the themes of cold water and crazy activities, a death-defying white-water rafting trip quickly became the highlight of our week. Tumbling down a wild river, enclosed by the jungle, we frantically paddled through Class 4 rapids along with our fanatical guide Manuel. Just when I gained confidence and felt like I could master any fierce, rip, roaring current I was thrown overboard and disappeared under the boat, lost in a torment of waves. Luckily we had been trained, for all of twenty minutes, prior to our rafting departure. Summoning all of her maternal strength, my Mother caught hold of me by my life jacket and hoisted me into the boat with one mighty haul!
When she wasn’t busy saving my life my Mother was active taking pictures of every little thing that caught her eye, in order to share her exciting explorations with family and friends at home in The Soo. My stepfather, Richard Wood, and my Mother have never ventured very far from the typical resort-style vacation. Their love for scuba diving and, in my opinion, the ridiculously short vacation time Canadians are allotted, has confined them to prepackaged getaways to Mexico and the Caribbean. This year she surprised me when she announced that she wanted to come visit me in South America. And every day in Ecuador she would exclaim, ¨this is not a vacation, but an adventure! ¨
However brief, we definitely created some extraordinary Mother-Daughter memories here in the beautiful southern hemisphere along the equator, and I am looking forward to our next adventure together somewhere in Asia 2009!

Preserving Indigenous Cultures

Trundling along bumpy dirt roads, for three jarring hours, in a milk-truck, I was awestruck when I finally arrived in the beautiful village of Guargualla. This gorgeous, indigenous community is nestled high, 3400 meters above sea level, in the Andes mountains of Ecuador. In this remote town I observed the Kechwa native standard of living; subsistence agriculture, a constant battle for survival against the elements, and their struggle to maintain their Kechwa roots while adapting to Spanish and Western influence.
Spending a month there, with the help of a volunteer agency, my boyfriend and I taught English and Environmental Conservation (in Spanish!) to thirty-five children ages 5 to13. There was no school there ten years ago so this whole education thing is still quite fresh. The kids were so fascinated and curious about us, it was a real pleasure to be surrounded by so much enthusiasm. When we weren’t teaching we joined members of the community with their daily tasks; 4 o’clock am farming, potato harvesting, wool fabrication, and mud-hut construction. Group gatherings are often organized at one house to help with hefty tasks, without payment, except for camaraderie and lunch. At one such gathering we helped fix a farm that had been devastated by a landslide. These people, who work so hard to live, have no problem helping others on their day off, all for the betterment of the community. What a humbling, eye-opening experience!
Their constant energy and fortitude never ceased to amaze me. Imagine slinging a hoe, walking up extremely steep cliffs or chasing around runaway cows all the while having your child attached to your back! Babies stay tied to their mothers, in shawl-like fabrics, for the first two years of their lives. There is a close bond created and reportedly these indigenous groups have much lower rates of anxiety, depression and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (S.I.D.S).
I felt very privileged to be a part of this supportive, peaceful community. Only a handful of foreigners have been fortunate enough to visit Guargualla. Three years ago it was illegal for indigenous persons of Ecuador to be involved in the tourism industry! Thankfully that has changed, but like aboriginal politics around the world Ecuador needs to focus on preserving and appreciating the unique nature of Kechwa culture.
At night, snug in my mud-hut, beneath millions of brilliant, twinkling stars, I contemplated if the next generation will embrace or ignore this native group. Spanish and English culture has infiltrated this mountain village. Food products, clothing, television and other modern day practices have been embraced in places like Guargualla, yet has anyone been encouraged to include native traditions, like Kechwa practices, into contemporary life?
The people of Guargualla are extremely intelligent and innovative. It will truly be heartbreaking if indigenous groups like the Kechwa disappear. Will technological advances and the expansion of education help or hinder their society? If they can receive quality education and economical help they will have a better standard of living and a chance for cultural survival.
Indigenous peoples share universal issues in dealing with the established, or invading, society. There are over 5000 indigenous worldwide, most threatened by cultural transformation: permanent loss of language, lands, encroachment on traditional territories, and disruption in traditional lifestyles due to contamination of water and land.
On home soil, in Canada and around Sault Ste Marie, we can help defend our native culture. I believe it is important for the human species as a whole to preserve a wide range of cultural diversity and the protection of indigenous cultures is vital to this endeavor.