Bua

We arrived in Bua, the small Tsachila village, a couple of days ago. The students seem to be integrating well with their host families, and we´ve been staying in the cultural center. Everyone in the community is bilingual Spanish-Safiki, so we´re all trying to get a few words of the local language, too. Yesterday was our first day of service work, 300 trees planted in one morning! I´m not sure the speed and enthusiasm will last four weeks, but we´ll see.

I found out about the Tasachila men´s dying their hair red (see pictures on the TBB website). This started as a shamen´s prescription to stop the Spanish diseases, such as smallpox. It seems to have worked! In any case, the practice was dying out, but has seen a revival as a result of the cultural center´s work the last four years.