I enjoy good friendships with extended families in Ilumán and Peguche, two of several indigenous towns near Otavalo — moreover, my wife, Patricia Glushko, and I, became compadres to our Ilumán friends when we helped baptize little Alejandra Lisbet in 2007.

    OTAVALO MUSICIAN FRIENDS
 

     My connection to Otavalo and its people began years ago during trips through Ecuador. I still recall the gravel road between Tulcán and Quito, a twelve-hour, grueling and yet spectacular trip in the buses of the 1970s. Otavalo was a welcome respite along the way, a place of beautiful Andean music, locally-woven textiles, and friendly folks. In the early 1990s I became acquainted with Luis Alberto Yamberla, who has since become my compadre, and he proposed that we arrange to bring his musical ensemble, at the time known as Inca Ñan (Inca Trail), to my home town of Bloomington, Indiana. We did manage to accomplish this Inca Ñan, which later morphed into Inti Raymi (Festival of the Sun), came to Bloomington several times to play in the Lotus Festival and to share knowledge of Andean culture, language, and music with my students and colleagues at Indiana University. Perhaps their most memorable Lotus Festival appearance was two weeks after 9/11, when they stepped into the breach when  so many international troupes were unable to travel.

     At the core of this talented group are two extended families, one based in Ilumán and the other in Peguche -- the former known for its yachaks, the native healers, and the latter for its weavers. Luis Alberto, his brother Manuel, and his brothers-in-law Enrique and Antonio, are the founding members of Centro Cultural Inti Raymi, who sponsored my research visit to Otavalo in 2005. Humberto and Alonso Díaz are two brothers from Peguche who have hosted me and my family and proved to be excellent consultants on Otavalo Runa customs. These friends and relatives have had great success playing the sanjuanitos of their region and other Andean music together over the years.

     A trip to Otavalo in 2005 gave me and my family the opportunity to meet families of the migratory musicians who had become our fast friends over the years. We had a great time getting our family together with their families, and found the women of our musician friends, especially Maruja and Carmen from Ilumán, and Marta and Maritza from Peguche, to be inspirational in their dedication to home and family. The children, including our Goddaughter, Alejandra, pictured here, like children everywhere, are just wonderful.

ILUMAN

Alberto and Maruja in Ilumán

     With the able assistance of Alberto, I found a willing sponsor for my work in the Otavalo area, the CCIR, Inti Raymi Culture Center. At a late-night meeting, the members of CCIR drew up a contract to assist me in gaining a better understanding of Runa traditions, as they put it: "Queremos dar a entender nuestra realidad de vida" (We want to explain the reality of our life.) In the following months, they followed through with this plan, enabling me, my wife Pat, and our son Michael to work as an ethnographic team and document many aspects of life in Ilumán. The photos and documents you see reproduced here will give you an inkling of what we have been doing with our Ilumán friends.

Alberto and Maruja

Antonio's mother is spinning woolen thread

Members of the Pinsaqui dancers