From Saquisili, which is in the valley,  it was no easy task to reach Macas Grande.  The cobblestone road switchbacks as it climbs steeply into the mountains.  We were told few outsiders make it there and even fewer make it by bike.  We were said to be the first tourists.  Once you get there you have the feeling that you were learning important lessons of life.  Macas means warriors.  This is no surprise when you reflect on, though a generally quiet people, they have a high level of self-confidence and pride.

Unlike most indigenous people of Ecuador the Macas own their land out right.  Most of it is steep hillside property, but they have been successful enough eking out a life that the from an original community of 30 people in 1937 they have grown to a population of about 7000, and they have money saved to buy additional land to accommodate the future growth.

After greeting and getting settled into the community center, we went to visit to the health center while the finishing touches were made to lunch.  The medical assistant walked about two hours every morning up the mountain to get the health center.  A doctor comes about once a week.  The health centers best hope is health education.  It sounds like Macas Grande is generally a pretty healthy community, which is a good thing because they can't even get all the vaccines they need.  If there is an emergency they have to find a vehicle in the community (generally there may be one or two, if they aren't broken or already in town) or someone has to run down the mountain.  There is no telephone.

We figure that the days of no telephone in Macas Grande are numbered.  Our guides traveled with cellular phones.  There activities of making phone calls didn't go unnoticed -- perhaps they were the first ever phone calls initiated from Macas Grande.

As we walked around the community we could here music coming from a house on the hill across the valley.  The festivities were the third day of a four day wedding celebration.  We were invited, but to be culturally sensitive in the presence of the party were would be expected to do some heavy drinking.  Not being a group of heavy drinkers, we opted out and kept ourselves busy in activities with other members of the community.

Macas Grande has a fairly autarkic economy -- it doesn't have a lot of trade with other economies.  Almost all the food for our meals came from local farms.  The main dish was malloco, papa and habas (yellow tubers, potato and fava beans).  After lunch we walked up the hillside and looked at what was growing on the steep farms.  The crops included choclo (corn), habas, papa, quinua (kinua), cebada (barley), oca (tastes like sweet potato) and squash.  At the Nicholas's farm house (a town leader and our main host) they kept rabbits, cows, donkeys and 100s of cuyes (guinea pigs, a national delicacy).  In their spare time they weave ponchos.

The cell phone story adds a new twist when we were up on Nicholas' farm.  A friend of his knew that the phone was in the community and called to speak to Nicholas.  Aqui, Macas Grande's first incoming phone call.  Nicholas was pretty impressed as well.  We figured that on his next trip to town he would be getting a cell phone plan and come back to the community and rent out use of the phone!

Coming down the steep path the women were more sure footed carrying a baby and a load, than our group did with two free hands.

Dinner provided an opportunity to try additional products from the local farms.  The menu included oca, habas, chocho (beans), queso (cheese), agi (salsa) and tinfo (a soothing herb tea that is good for a cough and stomachache).  It was a table full of tasty food.  We  ate like royalty.

We got to learn more about the community at an evening meeting with some of the community leaders.  They govern themselves with a five person management committee, which is elected for one year terms.  Any member of the community over 18 years old can stand for election and everyone can vote.  One of the main institutions of the Macas is the "minga" or work team.  These can be 100 to 150 people.  They build and fix community infrastructure and work on farms.  There is both private property and farms and communal land in the community.  The Macas run their own justice system through what was described as a community process.  Cases are often resolved with restitution or punishment like whipping or a cold shower.  To avoid problems of a small gene pool, men can bring wives into the community.  The reverse is not allowed -- women cannot bring men into the community.

At least once a day so far there was a discussion on the social dynamics:  It seems that a large number of Ecuadorian men between the age of 18 and 35 move abroad, in Spain, the U.S. or elsewhere in Latin America and do immigrant labor.  In some towns there are virtually no men left in this age range.  In Macas Grande, they say only one man from their community has left!

To balance the discussion we introduced ourselves and answered some questions about our lives and what brought us to Macas Grande, but the topic that interested the community most was what could they do to have more tourists visit their community.  That conversation went on for close to an hour.

By the time the final hands were shaken and hugs exchanged it was late.  There was no question that we had had a full day.