This morning we woke up early and ate our breakfast. We left the lodge around 9am and drove to Saraguro. We checked into our hotel around 12pm and then left to explore. Diego said there are 12 indigenous communities. He also explained how the cross is very important to these people because one half represents man and the other women. Agricultural is very special here especially corns and potatoes. The main problem within this community is that a lot of the young people don't want to continue traditions and they want to move to the big city. Our first stop was to a local hat maker. He uses 1 pound of wool to make one hat but before he uses the wool he makes sure it is good quality. These hats are very resistant one of them was ran over and it was perfectly fine. Unfortunately, for this hat maker one hat is not worth all the hours that he puts into it. It is a very labor extensive process and he will never get as much money is deserved to him. Then we drove into the Andes mountain range and ate lunch with a local family. For lunch guinea pig was served but I ate the vegetarian option. After, lunch we passed around the unfermented agave drink and we said "Ashkandi ashkandi" which means cheers. Then we got back on the bus and got to our hotel around 5pm and relaxed until the presentation at 6pm. A local man came and presented on Saraguro tourism. During the presentation he explained to us that "Sara" means corn and "guro" means mountain. He explained the concept of red stamp tourcert which is when you send someone to see how they are doing with the tourists and give them recommendations. Tourism started in 2000 and they received $200,000 to start tourism in the community. They developed the program in 4 years. There main focuses are community organizations, teaching tourism in school, investing in projects, and marketing. After the presentation we went to Mama Rosa's shop. Here we saw a lot of handmade clothing items, purses, rugs, etc. The women explained that there are not enough wool on one sheep. They dye the clothing with plants and the colors stay forever they don't run. Similar to the hat maker it takes a lot of time to perform this process and they do not see the money that they deserve. Then we ate dinner with one of the indigenous groups. After dinner we had our own personal concert from the local group and we danced with them. Then we returned to our hotel for a good nights rest.
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