Laundry the Sierran way

7.11.10

This morning I woke up and got my clothes together to learn how to wash my clothes by hand with my madre. Yes, it's a process in which the people use a rock, dry detergent and also a bar of soap with a brush. First we soaked my clothes in water and dry detergent for at least an hour. Then, you use water, the brush, soap, and rock, to wash the clothing. It felt a little bit like a Disney movie or something, where all the women get together with their wooden racks and scrub away! I learned with a pair of jeans, using the brush to get rid of dirt stains and what not. It’s exhausting work. My madre told me that on the coast, the people use as little water as possible because it’s expensive to use the water. I can imagine washing jeans to be very difficult there, and since it’s so hot it might be necessary to shower more often and thus wash clothes a lot more as well. I like spending time with her because she has so many stories about her life and her family, it’s great practice for my Spanish and I learn a lot about the family history, and about how strong and resilient my madre is.

After my laundry lesson, I went to meet up with the girls from Tabacundo, and we went to cayambe for the World Cup championship game. Before I left my madre told me to meet her at her mother’s house to kill some Cuy, or guinea pig, because we would have that for dinner on Monday night. There's gonna be mass held at her mother’s house for Alejandra’s birthday (my madre’s daughter).

Once i arrived at abuelita’s house, some people from the family were there but they weren’t killing cuy. Instead they were making some cookies called alfajores. It’s two small sugar cookies with some caramel in the middle, then the outside is coated with caramel and coated with coconut shreds=delicious! My madre’s nephew, David, was playing the guitar and singing some songs. He’s a very talented musician, and it was a great, relaxing evening spent with some of the family.