ANOTHER PAMPA MESA

Interestingly enough, I was invited by my landlord, an Ecuadorian, to join him and his family at a fiesta. Turns out the fiesta was for the baptism of several young people. One  was the child an indigenous family with whom they are very close.

The native family on the left and the In-Laws of my friend becoming God parents for the little boy.

After the ceremony, the family will put on a "PAMPA MESA" and feed   everyone and I mean everyone. There must have been well over 100 people who through out the evening arrived at their home to participate.

 The home 

 Food being prepared

The kitchen with more food cooking.

A simple table

With everyone gathered around to eat..

Now understand, I was the ONLY gringo attending this gathering of family members, close friends and it seemed like most of their neighbors. The food arrived in front of me. A full plate of rice-potatoes-shredded pork- and sitting on top was a "CUY"

Cuy is the national dish of Ecuador and is------

Thats right---Guinea Pig!!!!!!

Now I had never before eaten this animal  and really was not sure I wanted to, but what was I to do. There were at least  15-20 people watching this Gringo. What would he do ??????

Eat it of course-----

 This " delicacy" was enjoyed by everyone

-------especially my friend Felix

Me--not so much. I thought it was very salty and wondered " where is the meat"

Afterward we all danced the night away until 4am.

 This beautiful lady is teaching me some Ecuadorian dance moves 

Unfortunately this is where my camera battery died so I am unable to document the rest of the story.

However I am told that  I danced with almost all the ladies there including some elderly ones wearing their traditional dress, ---some younger ones who were even carrying a baby strapped to their back and best of all my friends teen age daughter who said to me " Where did YOU learn how to dance."

Now this was an experience of a lifetime. 

PAMPA MESA

The City Government of Cuenca does an absolutely wonderful job of providing very special events for all to enjoy. One of the most fun, that I have really enjoyed has been, FREE, a bus ride to near-by communities to see their town and their special history and culture. I have now joined 6 different trips so far.
One that was particularly fun and interesting arrived in a town called"Llacao" From there we were asked to walk along a long windy road  to a sacred area called a PACHAMAMA or mother earth. The place was located on the top of a flat mountain  with a just gorgeous overlook back to Cuenca.

 One of two buses transporting us around

 The town dancers put on a show for us

After the dancing., we were asked to walk along a dirt road to the top on the mountain  The hike took us about 45 minutes to arrive at the top

 A look back from where we came. It really was a beautiful walk and
spectacular view when we reached the top

 Standing on top of the Pachamama

The city of Cuenca is located in a wide valley know to locals as "The Basin"

At the top a number of Indigenous people had assembled

 This gentleman was giving a very impassioned speech. From what I could understand and was told, he was saying that many years ago, the city wanted to build its airport here on their sacred land . They defeated the plan at the time, however the city is again trying to  revise the idea and he was advising us of the plan and asking no, pleading for support

Afterwards a Pampa Mesa was prepared. A Pampa Meas is a "common table" A mat or cloth  is spread on the ground and food is placed on the mat.Everyone sits around and  shares what they have. The mat is narrow enough so that all can reach the food and eat any and all  that  they wish 

 Prior to partaking of any of the food, the gentleman in this white on the left, asked for the oldest person to come forward. This person happened to be me.Now,  I was one of only a small handful of  gringos on the trip of two bus loads of people.

  As soon as I " volunteered" a little old lady was so happy to take my hand and lead me around the "table". She had in her hand a small pot into which we gathered small portions of most of the different dished spread before us.

The food was blessed with a small ceremony and we then dug a small hole and buried the food. The Ecuadorians present certainly enjoyed my participation and were all over us taking pictures.

After our "feast" we hiked back to our buses using some remaining portion of the Inca Trail. It was now apparent why we were asked to walk up on the road Walking on the Inca trail and participating in this special " Pampa Mesa"
What a special experience for me.