Note:Kathleen Smith is a student at USM. Her trip was aided by USM’s Latin American Student Travel Fund
A fair trade
We had last week off and so I went back to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile to visit friends and talk with some of the local women about the work they do in weaving and other textiles. This was a gold mine week for lots of reasons: cultural experiences, language acquisition and the possibility of a future project there.
I went to a trueque on Sunday. A trueque is an exchange of goods without the use of money–barter. It was held just over the border in Bolivia, with people from the Atacama area of Chile and the Bolivianos.
I hitched a ride at the customs station just outside of San Pedro and went with a family to the traditional location where they have held these for many years. We were the first group of Chilenos to arrive, but when we got there all the Bolivianos were set up and waiting. The family I was with introduced me as the wife of one the two men, explaining that would make me a little more acceptable and a little less gringa.
The location was at 4,000 meters in a flat spot between two volcanos that are probably 5,000 meters high or more. It was absolutely barren and windswept, and at 9:00 a.m. it was very cold. The Bolivianos brought their handmade textiles (ponchos, gloves, hats, blankets) made of either alpaca or llama wool. The Chilenos brought fruit, various seeds and nuts from the indigenous trees, hard bread, used clothes, shoes and a variety of other household items.
The Bolivian traders were almost all women (with a baby on the back and another holding onto their skirts), while the Chilenos were a mix of men and women, but more men. The Bolivianos arrived in three large cargo trucks, packed in the back with all their goods in large plastic sacks (like those used for packing grain, etc.), while the Chilenos arrived in their own private vehicles, usually 4 x 4 pickup trucks, which had short beds and back seats–very practical for transporting goods and people.
After all the Chilenos arrived, we sat for about two hours just waiting. Finally the last of the caciques (local leaders) arrived and there was a ceremony. Each of the caciques made a little speech, welcoming everyone and asking that the trueque be successful. Then they filled two cups with chicha and one of the Bolivian women came out and put some coca leaves in one of the cups. Then all the women came through, one by one, to put more coca leaves in the cups. There was music and then the trading started.
I hadn’t brought anything to trade, but I saw a beautiful blanket made by the first woman to put down coca leaves, so I decided to try to trade my Mickey Mouse watch (seven or eight years old, so probably a collectors item in the U.S.), but no one wanted it!
One man said he would trade for my coat, but as it belonged to my “husband” I thought it best to not trade that away. I finally found someone that would take my shoes in trade for a big sack of some kind of nuts, and the woman with the blanket would take those in trade for the blanket. So I spent the rest of the day wrapped in my beautiful new blanket–but without shoes.
Somewhere in Bolivia there is a man walking around with a very nicely broken in pair of L.L. Bean hiking shoes. He had a huge smile on his face and said he would think of “the gringa” every time he put on his new shoes. How nice to be remembered.
No place for a woman
Another interesting experience: I went to Sociare, which is a small town (population 500) about 200 kilometers south of San Pedro. It is part way up the mountains from the solar at about 3,500 meters. They only have electricity from 7 p.m. to midnight, so in the middle of the night the stars are absolutely incredible. The Milky Way looks as though someone had taken a paint brush and painted a white streak across the sky–it is that bright!
I went walking up into the mountains above the town and came across a group of men cooking their lunch. I stopped to talk to them for a while and discovered something very interesting. There was some kind of animal skin (it looked like a llama, maybe) drying off to the side of where they were cooking. I asked if I could go look at it, and they said yes, but that I couldn’t take any photos.
I said fine, but when I went closer, another man who was standing off to the side washing some clothes, said that I couldn’t go any closer. So I went back to where the group was cooking and they explained that the other man was the cacique and that the animal skin would be used to make drums for a ceremony.
The reason I couldn’t go look at it any closer was because I am a woman and not allowed to participate. They were filling a rock pool with water diverted from the irrigation canal above and were getting ready to bathe before they ate. I don’t know if all of that was part of the ceremony or not. As this was my first time talking to them, I didn’t want to bombard them with questions, but when I go back I will try to find them again.
Abrazos to all,
Kathy