After about a 4-hour bus ride, we arrived in San Clemente on Thursday (9/29) just in time for a community potluck-style lunch that had been prepared by all of the host families. Everyone welcomed us warmly and the food was DELICIOUS – tons of different meat, potato, corn, rice, veggie, and tamale dishes. The women of the community seem to bring their embroidery with them pretty much everywhere they go, and it was neat to watch them meticulously working on their beautifully intricate and colorful blouses. After lunch we went on a mini-tour of the village, which used to be an “hacienda,” or plantation, with extremely harsh working conditions (akin to slavery or indentured servants from what I gathered, up until only about 25 years ago.) We walked through all these huge fields and up what felt like a gazillion hills (they don’t believe in using switchbacks here…it’s all just straight uphill at 10,000 ft altitude!) and took in the stunning mountain views and the wonderfully peaceful silence of the whole area. After our 3-hour “walk” which included mini-history lessons about the village from our guide, we arrived back where we had eaten lunch and got to meet our host families for the weekend! There were more of us than there were families so we roomed in pairs (which ended up being a really good thing, I’ll explain why later…), and Phoebe and I fortuitously chose the most precious family we could have possibly imagined – a sweet-spirited farmer named Raúl, his shy wife Susan, and their adorable 12-year-old son Eddie.
The next morning we rolled out of bed at 6am (they get up even before that to start working in los campos), and after a delicious breakfast of yogurt & granola, eggs, and fresh-made empanadas, we trekked up the ridiculously steep hill and stopped at one of the campos for a brief lesson on how to till a field. It looks pretty self-explanatory – you just push a plow attached to two cows through the dirt – but it was surprisingly difficult! We only had to do one row back and forth – and let me tell you, it takes some serious strength. I have so much awe and respect for the men in the community who do it all day every day. I’m pretty sure we also looked completely ridiculous attempting to direct the cows/plow while awkwardly holding a whip. But to be fair it was our first time!
Temazcal is a traditional indigenous curative ceremony that is thought to purify the body and is used as a cleansing of mind, body, and spirit. It’s difficult to explain, but essentially it is a sort of sweat lodge that is produced using heated volancic stones that are placed into a pit in the ground, within an enclosed circular dome structure (the “temazcal”). The whole event was certainly unlike anything I’ve experienced before – it was incredibly hot and completely dark, and you had to focus closely on breathing and relaxing because at times it felt claustrophobic and it was difficult to breathe deeply. The whole ceremony lasted about two hours, and although it was a bit intense, afterwards I did feel quite relaxed and cleansed.
Unfortunately that night, I got food poisoning for I think the first time in my life, and what I certainly hope was the last. I ended up being fine, but let’s just say it was NOT a fun few hours, and as I mentioned earlier I am so glad that Phoebe was there to help me because if I had been alone I probably would have freaked out. Needless to say, in the morning I was completely exhausted and still felt sick, so I went back to sleep while everyone else went to our next activity. Around 11am I managed to get out of bed and felt much better albeit still pretty weak, but I dressed in the traditional indigenous clothing like everyone else and joined the rest of the group and host families where they were in the process of making yet another massive lunch. The preparation for this meal consisted of another traditional ceremony called “Pachamanka” – the men of the community dug a huge hole in the ground, filled it with hot rocks and piled in all the food on top, and then buried it all again. After about two hours the food was finally done, and although I had absolutely no desire to eat anything at the time, it was very cool to see the food being dug up, cooked and ready to eat.
That night we watched a demonstration (staged, not real) from the community’s midwife about natural techniques that they use during childbirth. Then we witnessed a traditional cleansing from the local medicine man, which was probably the most shocking part of the whole weekend. In order to diagnose his patients (two students in our group volunteered) he shook a live cuy (guinea pig) all over the person’s body until the cuy “absorbed” the patient’s sickness (the guinea pig dies in this process). He then examines the cuy by opening it up, and determines what sickness or issue the patient has by seeing the defects within the cuy’s body. I was of course trying to be as culturally sensitive as possible, but the whole thing was SO strange, and honestly a little disturbing. Regardless, it was a fascinating process to observe.
Well, that was pretty much the whole weekend as best I remember – it was certainly very interesting, engaging, thought-provoking, and immersive. The community of San Clemente has tourist groups constantly coming to visit, experience their way of life, and participate in their traditional practices, so it was clear throughout the weekend that most of the things we did were done regularly, and the host families are used to having foreigners stay with them. It was interesting because part of me felt like everything we were doing wasn’t actually authentic – that they were only doing it because we were there observing and engaging with them – but it was also clear that the people feel strongly about their culture being preserved and revitalized, and because of that the ceremonies we participated in still felt significant. Either way, the people of the San Clemente were wonderful and kind, and I am grateful for everything they shared with us and taught us about their community.
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