The Andes range from Ecuador through Peru to Bolivia. Seventy miles north of Quito, Ecuador, they are home to the Otavalo Indians. For generations, from one conquest to another, one culture to another, the Otavalos' bare feet have traveled the hillsides high in the mountains, carving canyons on their way to market.
The goal of Otavalo life is simple: survival. Each day, they hope for a more prosperous day than the one before. Their physical poverty predates the days of the Incan conquest, yet the Otavalos remain rich in spirit. Their strong sense of family and community fosters their faith and hopes for a better life. Their durability has been tempered with time, like the Andes.
Surprisingly, these simple people are now exposed to the temptations and demands of international trade. As artisans, their weaving skills have taken them from their porches to the markets of Miami and Madrid. By capitalizing on their creativity, they have the opportunity to realize their potential as a unique and independent people.
The Otavalo are originally descended from the Cara, according to mythical history. These people followed the Esmeraldas River away from the Pacific coastal regions and into the highland area that is now Quito and its environs. They were subjugated in the 1450s by the Incas, who were in turn supplanted by the Spanish at the end of the century. The Incan occupation culminated in fifty years of struggle and cultural disintegration. The town of Otavalo was declared as an administrative center, led by a robles (leader) who spoke Quechua (the language of the dominant element in the Incan empire).
The Otavalos' beliefs and village social patterns survived, but their language was significantly changed with the introduction of Quechua, which finally replaced their previously dominant language (that of the Cara) in the 1700s. Other Indians related to the Cara can be found today in the western jungles of Ecuador.
The Spanish conquest brought a new, disliked, but undisputable law to the Otavalos. The Spaniards had little respect for the Otavalos' territorial rights and survival needs, preferring to regard them as an abundant supply of cheap labor. Here lay the genesis of the exploitation of the Otavalos.
The Otavalos met the impositions placed on them by the Spaniards with seeming indifference. They watched stoically as their territory was reallocated and their status reduced to slavery. In these circumstances, they sought stability in their heritage, as they held on to what they could of their traditional lands around Mount Imbabura.
Throughout the continent, Spanish blood mixed with the Indians' to create the mestizos. In time, this group, with its varying blood ratio, became every bit as threatening to the Otavalos as the Europeans. Today, in factories where mestizos employ Otavalo labor, working conditions are poor and minimal wages afford little more than a life of subsistence. However, for those who have no land, there is no other choice. Mestizos also established the civil codes that govern the Otavalos' territory today. Social classification in the region is vague, but is based on blood and social standing. Whites of European or American descent maintain positions of social authority, and are usually educated and
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