Simple Lifestyle Close to the Earth

Sign leading to Kichwa villages outside of Cotacachi
see all photos »

Cotacachi is a small town in the northern Andean highlands of Ecuador. Many of the towns in the northern highlands are known for specialty artisan products. In Cotacachi´s case, it is finely crafted leather goods. Nearby Otavalo is the weaving town--specializing in handcrafted goods from wool or cotton, such as sweaters, scarves, tablecloths, tapestries, etc.

While we had read up before we left on what we might expect in the towns of our area, we were not expecting what exists in the fabric of life all around the towns. Cotacachi is surrounded by numerous small, indigenous villages. Life in these villages appears little changed for hundreds of years. People still live very close to the Earth, farming small plots of land by hand, keeping a variety of farm animals, living in small adobe (or more often now, concrete block) houses. The villages around Cotacachi are Kichwa villages--this is both the name of the indigenous people and of their language.

Old Inca stone and cobble road--the system that connects the villages
see all photos »

The roads leading to the villages are very old Inca roads, built out of stone. They still are used as the main connecting system despite their age. It is amazing to be trekking down one, thinking that these stones were laid hundreds of years ago in a era before wheels (or motors) ever touched them, just feet and hooves and paws.

In general, people walk everywhere. Cars are very expensive in Ecuador, and it is not a given to have one. We personally love this aspect and think it is a blessing not to have vehicles dominate the landscape. Walking is the normal, natural, given mode of transport for everyone--young, old, schoolkids, moms carrying babies on their backs, women herding small groups of cows or sheep, men going to work in town, people returning from shopping in town. You also see bicycles, and you definitely need a heavy duty mountain-type bike to handle the rigor of the bumpy stone roads!

Farmhouse and hand-tended crops
see all photos »

I have been amazed how everything on the village farms is done by hand. I have not witnessed literally one piece of mechanized farm equipment in the villages. People till the soil and weed their plots with huge, wide-bladed hoes. They form high furrows and then dig a wooden stick into the earth and drop in seeds by hand. The standard crop is one of nature's perfect permaculture guilds: corn, beans and squash, all planted together, with the respective seeds dropped collectively in each hole.

Permaculture in action--corn, beans, squash all growing together
see all photos »

A wide variety of farm animals are also kept by village families. We see cows, sheep, pigs, chickens, goats and horses--none of these in big herds like you might see in the U.S., but each family keeping a small variety of them all. And of course, the animals naturally balance out the entire farm system, eliminating the need for expensive and polluting chemicals like fertilizers or insecticides. The chickens are allowed to roam the fields, eating bugs and adding their fertilization. Cows provide nutrition from milk, but also fertilize with their manure and eat "leftovers" of the farm cycle, like dried corn stalks. Pigs of course provide fertilizer with their manure and eat anything you offer, eliminating most food waste from the home. Sheep provide meat and wool.

Piglets tethered by side of road to forage for food during the day
see all photos »

And it is not just villagers who live closer to the Earth. One of the first things you notice in looking at any town we have seen is that practically every available plot of land is used to grow food. Not the vegetable gardens we might have at home, but usually plots of corn/beans/squash in every vacant lot and backyard, all tended by hand. Also farm animals are everywhere, even in town. Cows are often tethered on grassy plots in between houses. You might see pigs tethered by the side of the road, rooting around for food in the grass and earth. We see a small group of horses and another of sheep and goats out our back window. Cows sometimes roam into the street, crossing from one grassy plot to another, and vehicles just edge around them or stop and wait.

Cow tethered by roadside to graze
see all photos »

We love the pace of life that this more simple, less mechanized lifestyle offers. And we feel grateful that it appears to be a viable, valued lifestyle. That the villages, while not rich by any means, feel full of life--alive, not in decline. And it makes me reflect deeply on what it really takes to live sustainably on the Earth--not just for me or you to live sustainably, but what it truly takes for the whole human race to live sustainably. I believe it takes a much simpler lifestyle for all of us, and what I see maintained in these villages is like an invitation or lesson to me on what we all need if we are going to sustain, and not continue to deplete, our planet.