Right after breakfast, Carlos agreed to finish our interview with him. He is such a busy guy! I always see him running, upstairs, downstairs, through the patio. He always smiles and greets us. We were delighted to have pinned him down.
No sooner had we agreed on this, Sonita and Francis, the couple from France asked for a ride to Otavalo, so Carlos turned to us, asked, "Is it okay? I'll be back in an hour." We are learning that the key to the tranquility of Ecuador is flexibility. Of course we said yes. Of course it was more than an hour, but we had reports to write anyway.
Carlos is the third generation in the family in the hat-making business. His grandfather started it in 1923. Zoila, Carlos' mother, started working in the business at fourteen. She remembers walking to the town with her grandfather, the hats stacked on the backs of burros. That must have been a sight! She grew up, got married, and carried on the business, even through the time of her husband's desertion when Carlos was quite young. She's a strong, strong woman, and the business really grew under her leadership. In 2002, Carlos took over the administration from his mother after completing his studies in business management at the university.
Their business is thriving. Their sales grew over 50% last year and they are still growing. They make hats from straw, wool and leather in about 30 different styles each year, many of them new. Carlos was very kind to show us lots of the processes of making the hats today, although none of the workers were here on this Saturday. He remarked that it was important to keep sales going strong, not only for him and his family, but for the many other families who have income from the work. Zoila explained that they have many young workers from the surrounding area who are still in school, but working to support their mothers and siblings. They are absolutely delighted to be able to help the young men in this way.
Carlos' wife died two years ago, leaving him with two sons, Michael, 8 and Sebastián, 6. He hopes that someday they will grow up to take over the business. He also hopes that in the interim, he can find a woman to help him move the business forward. I got the sense that his wife had been very active with him in the enterprise.
The whole Rojas family is so hospitable! Sonita and Francis are clients of theirs from France--they have been here about two weeks. Carlos and his family host them every year as they pick out hats for sale in the winter months in France. Another client we met later today is Vilia, from Lithuania, who is also a customer of Carlos. When we first arrived, Zoila was very concerned that we would have the food we like (Vincent is a vegetarian and I am lactose reluctant, if not completely intolerant.) We really have felt welcome here, and a part of things if we wished to be and left to ourselves if we preferred that. They could not be kinder!
After lunch, we rode the bus to Otavalo market again, our third visit. The home office wants us to acquire some samples for them. We were astonished to realize that not everything on offer is the same all the time. Afterwards we had lunch at the American cafe and rode home to Ilumán on a very jouncy and crowded bus. Poor Vincent, with his tall self, kept hitting his head on the ceiling of the bus.
When we arrived home, it was nearly time for Francis and Sonita to go to the airport. Although they are leaving at 7 p.m. or so, they won't arrive in Strasbourg until 10:00 tomorrow night. Long journeys are so hard! We have really enjoyed getting to know them a bit through our fractured English/Spanish/German trans-language. We will miss Sonita's bright laughter and Francis' steady good will and support.
All in all, since we arrived, we have been becoming steadily more at home. Having that in place allows us to begin to allow other topics to arise, such as what we will do when we arrive home in April. I am also working on releasing the captive inner self that I have so rejected and ignored for all these years. It feels as if I may return home a different, freer person. Certainly I have taken a huge leap into the unknown just coming here where I speak the language so poorly, but I know that my work--our work here will bear fruit in bettering the lives of many artisans in the way that the universe works, so I am content. To be at home wherever you are, that is the goal.
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