A morning of confusion and schedule changes. Albert and Magdalena drove us to Otavalo with their goddaughter, a cheerful woman who talked more than an hour without pausing for breath. We drove through the small town of Cayambe which is absolutely bustling with building fever. It reminds me of some of the valleys in northern California, very beautiful, mostly rural, not very far from Otavalo. I could maybe live here, I think, at least part of the year. (Very tentative statement here--not sure I could stand missing family and friends). Albert stopped so that we could try bizcochos, which were amazing with dulce de leche (like caramel). We arrived in Otavalo around noon, Albert picked up Romel, the country rep here, and dropped the three of us off in Peguche. Romel introduced us, promised to meet with us soon and left us with a charming couple who apologized because Romel had indicated we were coming on Thursday, two days later!
Carlos and Sulema, we soon discovered, are just wonderful people. We catapulted right into a full-scale interview lasting about two hours. They both speak a little English from their travels in the U.S. and Europe selling clothing and performing music. Their primary language is Kichwa, the indigenous tongue spoken by the Incas. As is typical with many indigenes, Sulema and her two daughters, indeed, all the women of the family wear indigenous dress. Carlos and his son and brother-in-law wear U.S. casual attire--t-shirts and jeans. Ironically enough, I learned that the indigenous dress of both women and men derives from Spanish costumes of two hundred years ago, when the people were still hoping to win their freedom from slavery. No one but historians knows this, of course, so the customs--and the costumes--continue.
The women's outfits consist of a long, slim white skirt with a black outer skirt split up both sides. This is supported by a woven and embroidered belt wrapped several times around the waist and tucked at the terminal end back into itself. The blouse is white, with frilly 3/4 sleeves and a ruffle around the neck. It is typically embroidered all around the neckline and both sleeves, sometimes also the ruffle. Their black hair is braided and wrapped part way around the braid is a thin, embroidered cotton ribbon. It is traditional to wear many gold chains around the neck and gold earrings. It is not real gold, of course. It was only real when gold was $35 an ounce. They wear sandals with a sling back and black felt uppers. The boys, I am told wear white sandals in the identical pattern. This outfit makes every woman look beautiful, in my honest opinion.
The work of this family centers around tie-dyeing clothing. Carlos' father is a weaver and Sulema's family has been into clothing construction for generations. The story of how they met is quite unusual. He was born in Otavalo, she in Peguche, two or three miles away. There was no chance they would meet in Ecuador. In 1994, they were both in Holland at an international fair selling Andean clothing. They met and the relationship continued to grow when they returned home. They married four years later and have been living in Peguche ever since. Carlos and she started their own business when they married, and they love what they do, love working together--in fact, Carlos' favorite part of the business (other than making sales) is the back-and-forth of creating clothing designs together.
Her favorite part is the way designing clothing engages her imagination and creativity. Their tie-dye shop is on the square in Otavalo, but most of their sales are for resale. They have some tourist business in the shop, but most of the sales from the shop are to the other vendors in the Saturday market, one of the most famous markets in South America. Their clients were mainly from the U.S. and Europe until 2009, when the Depression hit. At that time, Carlos had to work really hard to open up markets in South America. Their biggest customer currently is Chile, followed by Brazil and Argentina.
They both love the challenge of creating new designs, so they are ready and willing to create anything a client might want. They are both highly creative and very well-matched as a couple. As parents, they are admirable. Even their four dogs are chilled out. I've not heard one of them bark, and they don't cringe or jump on people the way so many others do. The day we arrived, one of their dogs was followed home by a small puppy who looked exactly like him. He was immediately adopted into the family.
Carlos told us that even though he has traveled throughout Europe, the U.S. and South America performing Andean music with a group and selling their CD's, he would not want to live anywhere else. He loves Peguche (it is a music capital), loves his work, loves having his family around him. I think he is the most thoroughly at home man I have ever met.
As soon as our interview concluded, Carlos engaged us in helping him resolve a quality control issue with the office in the U.S. After supper we all went up to his workshop to help with correcting the problem. It took about two hours, and afterwards, we fell into bed, thoroughly tired and happy. Vincent noted that of the four artisans we have interviewed so far, all four are strong couples. That either means that the family that works together stays together, or that for everything in the business to work, you really have to like being together.
Our room is small but very, very clean, and the mattress is a real one. We'll wait to find out about hot water in the morning. We feel like we've landed in a little oasis of kindness here. Symbolic of their love and their attitude are their children's names: Apawki, age 4 (son of sun and moon), Punllay, age 6 (star of the sunset) and Saya, age 16 (sweet memory). We are very excited to be here and looking forward to talking and working with them again tomorrow.
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