Last night was so late, we had a chance to sleep until 7:30 a.m. Wonderful sleep, I love it so much! After breakfast, Judith from Minga Ecuador came to escort us through the vast indigenous market in the Plaza de Ponchos. Yes, that is actually its name, although many thousands of other things are sold there, including fruits and spices. We saw some unusual products we had not seen before, Vincent took photos of everything and everyone, especially the older people with their weathered faces, full of mystery and experience.
Incredibly, Vincent saw a woman in the market whom he recognized from four years ago. We had bought a poncho from her. Even more incredibly he was not only right about that, but he found her picture on his computer from our last trip here. I am blown away by his memory sometimes. Me, I can barely remember what I had for dinner last night--or if I HAD dinner.
After a couple of hours, the colors, the scents, the variety and sounds of the street musicians all began to feel too much to me. Everyone had "a special price" for us, but anything we buy has to be carried around with us for the next two and a half months. So it was, "No, gracias," over and over all day long. People were kind, though, not pushy; however, if we lingered too long at a booth, the owner would be notified by a watchful neighbor and launch into his or her spiel. I felt terrible not buying anything. It was a great time to practice Spanish, however! We met Ignacio Ramirez, silversmith, who had grown up in Charlotte, NC. He was young, late 20s or early 30s, does beautiful work in both silver and alpaca inset with semi-precious stones. He had worked in Rio for a while, but the heat drove him away. Humid and over 100 a lot of the time there, he reported. I talked with him about his work, which he was very proud of and seemed to have a passion for and got his phone number for Chris, who is always interested in meeting artisans in the market. Ignacio told us he had patented a number of his designs (although it is nearly impossible to protect an artist's ideas anywhere in the world). His worked to me seemed very fine, and it was clearly the work of one person. I hope he did well today in spite of the rain. It can be so devastating to rent a space, set up before dawn and have the weather drive all your customers away.
Judith has no English, so she was a very patient sounding board to practice with. She is one of fourteen children (six girls), the thirteenth, actually. Her mother died of cancer when she was two, her father when she was thirteen. She has two children, a son and a daughter, and the daughter has given her a one-year-old grandson. She had pictures of them all on her phone--also pictures of her three dachshunds in princess dresses--and we spent a wonderful time at lunch hearing her stories about her "loco" brother and watching videos of the baby learning to walk. After we'd been in the cafe about an hour, it began to pour--really pour. Not the misty sort of stuff we've been having, but a rain threatening inundación.
We really felt for the vendors--we've been there ourselves so often! They were taking down as fast as they could, an old woman was holding up a tarp with a stick so that the rain would go away from her stall into the street instead of onto her shawls and scarves. Everything was packed into sturdy four foot high reinforced plastic bags, stacked onto the backs of pickup trucks and carried slowly away through the traffic filled streets.
After lunch, we met up with Chris at Miguel's shop, "La Tierra." Miguel is a leather artisan we met in 2011. At that time, he was so inspiring as he talked about what motivated him and excited him about his work. In 2015, he has moved to a much bigger shop, and he feels it is much better, has a better offering of high quality products, not just "tourist stuff." He spoke about the competition from people copying his designs, an omnipresent complaint, not only here but in the Philippines, Laos, Guatemala, Peru, and Bolivia. He said, never mind, he just keeps thinking up new ideas. He is inspired by the beauty of nature, and that keeps him going. He is getting very interested in photography and wants to build a gallery of photos above the shop. These would not be for sale, just enjoyment. He also spoke of doing a great deal of exercise lately, eating healthy foods, meditating and not exhausting himself trying to make sales. It's better, he says, if people just refer you to their friends and you gain a reputation. Then people will come to you when they need something.
His wife and two sons were there as well and were very pleasant in greeting us. I doubt he remembered us, because Chris has brought so many visitors to his shop in the past four years, but we certainly remembered how impressed we were with him four years ago and were glad to see him doing so well.
Afterwards, we went to dinner with Chris, who told us that Luis (maker of the sweaters for dogs) had already brought him some samples to take back to the U.S. We had a good talk, a long talk, and arrived home about 9:30. It's 12:30 now and I wonder how to summarize this day. We certainly feel as if we are contributing something to Minga's future success and are very much looking forward to the next few weeks.
Our theme song for the past few months has been "Glorious Unfolding." From thinking we were selling our house and moving to Colorado to where we are now has definitely been a roller coaster ride, and we are still not certain how it will end, but every single day of our lives we have been guided and blessed. Things have kept on unfolding for us; we can only trust that will continue to be true as we go from one day to the next, trying to be faithful in a little.
The heavens just now opened as if a bathtub full of water had been emptied on our heads. I have NEVER heard such rain, not even in the Philippines! Time to go to sleep--we've an early start and a journey back to Quito by bus in the morning. Adiós!
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