Today is Diana´s birthday, and so we thought it would be nice to share a bit more about how we met as well as provide an update of our activities in Chota to date. We realize it´s been a long while since our last posting, so thank you, to those of you who are still with us, for your patience.
As you know from our last posting, Diana and I met now three months ago in Quito, Ecuador, where we are both currently undertaking dissertation research on La Bomba (a music genre of the Afro-Ecuadorian communities in the Chota valley). I expressed some of my thoughts on our meeting in the previous entry, but I also want to include Diana´s thoughts and perspectives as this is no longer just about me, but us.
Hi everyone, this is Diana writing. I am very happy today since we are going to Papallacta , a great place to be. Here is the link http://www.termas.com.ec/espanol/index.htm if you want to see how beautiful it is. I have to say that I recommend having the honeymoon before you get married… it is a lot of fun! Anyways Pacho and I are soulmates no doubt, for many reasons. Once you see us together you can perceibe it. I love Pacho with all my heart and soul. When we are bless to have a child, if it is a female we want to call her Alma, which meas soul, since that is what we feel: our souls came together. Here are our pictures in Chota
http://picasaweb.google.com/dianaruggiero/DianaYPachoEnChota02
I´m also pleased to announce that we are getting married here in Ecuador this coming August! We´ll keep you posted with the details.
A quick update on our activities in Chota . . . The Chota valley is a region just northwest of Ibarra, traversing both the provinces of Carchi and Imbabura. It is a semi-arid region in the highlands, though lower in altitude and generally warmer than the rest of the sierra. It is technically known as el valle del Chota y el cuenca del rio Mira. It takes its name from the two rivers that cut through the valley, the rivers Chota and Mira. What is unique about this area is its people and history, as the region is predominantly populated by Afro-Ecuadorians who are descendants of Africans brought as slaves to work the sugar cane plantations owned and operated by the Jesuits. In total, there are about 38 communities in the region, many of them former sugar cane plantations. As a result of the region´s history, the traditions, customs, beliefs, and lifeways of the people of these communities are quite distinct from both the highland indigenous and mestizo communities and the nearby coastal Afro-Ecuadorian communities. While our respective dissertations center around the musical tradition known as la bomba (a song form unique to this region), we are very much interested in speaking to broader social issues, specifically identity and social relations (or the current dynamics of race and racism in the region and in Ecuador in general).
At the moment, Diana and I are staying in the community known as Chota, a beautiful place with wonderful people who have taken us in and have treated us very well. We´ll be posting photos, no doubt, of the community and people soon. The children in particular are adorable. In fact, we can´t even walk down the street anymore without a hoard of children shouting, singing, and trailing behind us (or jumping all over us)! Diana is especially good with the children. We´ve spent many evenings teaching them songs and playing games with them.
As for our research, we are doing interviews and attending events whenever the opportunity arises. This is Ecuador, so nothing happens exactly the way we´d like or exactly when we´d like it to happen, but that´s ok because it also presents us with other opportunities to get to know the people and the significance of their traditions. In casual conversation what really comes out is their sense of solidarity as a community. We also learn about the reality of daily life for many here in the region and in Ecuador generally: mother´s trying to raise multiple children without the help of the (often absent) father, parents or siblings working in distant places (Quito, Spain, etc.), both men and women working hard for meagre wages, ever present racial discrimination, and so on. Everyone is simply trying to survive. They may not have all the material items that we posses in the states, but make no mistake, they live more richly in other ways.
Well, this is as much time as we have for this posting at the moment, but we hope this finds everyone well. Thanks again for staying in touch, we´ll keep you posted with news on our wedding!
Un Abrazo,
Pacho y Diana
