My name is José
ECUADOR: An extract and photos from a conversation with José, a Quitu native, as translated by my tour guide, while travelling through Latin America.
Hola, my Spanish name is José, but my Quechuan name is Husiy. I am 72 years old and live about 50 km south of Quito. My Quitus ancestors (you can see where the city’s name came from) have lived in these mountains for many centuries before the Incas came around 1462. They did not last long because the Spaniards came and conquered the Incas.
But even with Hispanic colonisation, our language, dress and way of life have hardly changed. I did not have any schooling, but my granddaughter will be able to go to a local school when she is old enough.
Our small community of several extended families are farmers of mostly root vegetables and maize, because not much else grows at this altitude. We have sheep too. Our main source of income is from breeding guinea pigs and selling them at the markets on Thursday. We do not eat them. Our diet is mostly vegan. We keep the rare all-black guinea pigs and sell them at a higher price to shamans from deep in the Amazonas for medical, spiritual and health reasons.
I dug the foundations for my house and built this shelter more than 40 years ago using materials only found around here. There is no water or electricity, but we now have gas bottles to cook with. I walk for an hour with a mule and two big barrels to the nearest spring to get water. This life may seem primitive to you but it’s all I’ve known, and all I ever will. Thank you for visiting my home.