Otavao day 5

On our last day in Otavalo, we woke up at dawn and piled into the back of a truck and traveled a long distance, standing, to some natural warm springs at the bottom of a beautiful ravine surrounded by farmed mountains. We experienced a cleansing ceremony with an indigenous shaman and were purified both individually and as a group. He played music with natural instruments, burned natural incense and spoke in Kichwa. Then, many students jumped in the water and bathed in the springs with smiles.

And THEN, long & colorful table cloths were laid out on top of long natural grass mats on the flat ground, and a thick row of many kinds of beans were poured out along the 10 foot long cloths and then surrounded by rows of rice & potatoes. We were each given a spoon and we knelt down to eat the delicious food on top of the earth. All of us surrounded those cloths and dove into the food, experiencing a traditional ceremonial way of eating close to the earth, and filled our bellies with the heavy and substantial food.

We left that valley with our tummies full and our souls cleaned. What a unique and amazing experience that will stay with us forever.

That afternoon, we stopped at the “Mitad del Mundo” monument, hence we took pictures of ourselves at the Equator, with one side of our bodies in the Northern hemisphere and the other side of our bodies in the Southern Hemisphere. I flushed toilets on both sides, and it is true, the water swirls counter-clockwise in the North and clockwise in the South.