Runa Tupari

Exploring Agricultural and Culinary traditions

A member of the host family or a native guide will take you on a grand tour of the home gardens where you will admire, identify and taste the numerous species that they grow. Most families keep from 60-100 species of plants - most of them native to the Andes - and you will learn about their properties, folklore and uses. Colourful and weirdly shaped Andean roots and tubers, tree-like bean plants, apple-sized hot peppers, colourful maize, tree-tomato, quinoa and many of the "lost crops of the Incas" are maintained by the indigenous farmers of Cotacachi. A veritable pharmacy of medicinal plants is also grown for everyday use and your guides will share with you their knowledge about them.

Next, you will visit the farm plots to observe the farming practices employed in subsistence and commercial agriculture. You will observe the management of cabuya, the agave-like plant, which has many uses in these parts, as fiber, used in the manufacture of traditional shoes, its sap for the production of the drink "chahuarmishki" and other uses, such as shampoo. Depending on the timing of your visit you may be able to participate in communal works or "mingas", a tradition dating back to pre-hispanic times. Mingas are organized for planting, weeding, harvesting, etc. and in some cases include ancestral rituals. After the tour you will have the chance to harvest the fresh ingredients that will be used in your meal and help out in preparation, if you so desire. Your hosts are expert cooks who use a great diversity of local products to prepare soups, stews and other regional dishes and will be happy to show you how the meals are made.

Please consult the "Guia Agro-Culinaria de Cotacachi" for additional information and to further enrich your experiences.

Agro-culinary Calendar of Cotacachi

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JANUARY Juchay Pukuy Anticipation of the first fruits of the earth	FEBRUARY Mushuk Pukuy First fruits of the earth	MARCH Pawkar Waray Equinox
Festivals: Bara chinbachi (change of village governments) Typical foods and dishes: Ara papa (wild potato).	Farm labors: Mingas (communal work parties) to clean irrigation ditches Typical foods and dishes: Sambo, young corn, beans, peas, young faba beans.	Festivals: Mushuc Nina - New fire Pawcar Raymi - Andean New Year dedicated to the Ñusta or princess (20th of March) Carnaval - games with water and flowers Typical foods and dishes: Dishes prepared with freshly harvested young grains.
APRIL Ayriway Quilla	MAY Aymuray Quilla Village festivals	JUNE Inti Raymi Quilla Sacred festival of the Sun
Festivals: Holy Week, Novenas, Processions in the villages, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Romerías to the churches Typical foods and dishes: Fanezca (exclusively for Holy Week), sweets of sambo or pumpkin, young corn, potatoes, rosquilla, fritada, chugshutanda (baked tamates), shugshuapi (young corn beverage) chuchuca, galloapi, musuguitaya, chachalusi, colada de cao, zambo, zapallo, melloco, young faba beans, oca.	Festivals: Fiestas in the villages of Morochos and Tunibamba (rituals, election of ñustas, traditional games) Typical foods and dishes: Maíz cao, torta, chuchuca, choclo mote.	Festivals: Inti Raymi - ritual baths, Jatun Punlla (taking of the Plaza), dancing and offerings in all of the villages Oyanza (Harvest festival) Festival of Saint Peter and Saint Paul Typical foods and dishes: Faba beans, quinoa, avocado, eggs, chicken, young corn, beans, potatoes, peppers, cheese, chicha de maíz, mote, mazamorra, guinee pig, tostado, fritada and sambo seeds.
JULY Anta Situwa Crossing of Cuicocha Lake	AUGUST Kapak Situwa	SEPTEMBER Koya Raymi Quilla Equinox
Festivals: Huarmy Punlla (women´s festival) Festival of the founding of Cotacachi. Typical foods and dishes: Tortilla de maíz, mote pelado, colada de mote.	Farm labors: Seed selection and storage of the previous harvest Typical foods and dishes: Quilla mote, sambo seeds, peppers, potatoes, morocho blanco.	Festivals: Fiesta de la Jora (maize beer). Tarpuy Raymi (planting), Festival in the village of La Calera. Farm labors: End of soil preparation and initiate planting of crops Typical foods and dishes: Young peas, potatoes, mote, guinee pig, chicken, peppers, fruits, bread, sweets, pineapple, chicha de jora.
OCTOBER Tamya Raymi Quilla Month of the rain	NOVEMBER Aya Warkay Quillaç Day of the dead	DECEMBER Kapak Raymi Quilla Solstice
Farm labors: Mingas (communal work parties) for planting maize, barley and wheat Typical foods and dishes: Dulce de sambo with tostado, tortilla de maíz en tiesto.	Festivals: Cushumbi - Traditional tournament of spinning tops Wakchacaray (November 2) - food is shared at the cemetery in honour of the dead Typical foods and dishes: Pan de finados (bread shaped as figures of children, ponies, doves); colada morada, champús, mazamorra con churros, pototoes with sambo.	Festivals: Huarmi Pascua and Tuta Misa - midnight mass Typical foods and dishes: Quinua, mote, mazamorra, chuchuca (soup), llamachaqui (to take to the cemetery), quimbolito (to eat at home), gallina de campo.

FRUITS	Common name in Spanish	Scientific name (Latín)	Common name in Quichua	Common name in English
	Maíz	Zea mays	Sara	Corn, Maize
	Mora de Castilla	Rubus glaucus Mora de Castilla	Ccjari-Ccjari	Blackberry
	Taxo	Pasiflora cumbalensis	Tacsu	Passionfruit
	Tomate de árbol	Cyphomandra betacea	Quiro tomate	Tree tomate, tamarillo
	Uvilla	Physalis peruviana	Ahuaymanto	Groundcherry
	Babaco	Carica pentagona	Babaco	Babaco
	Capuli	Prunus serotina	Ussun	Black cherry
	Durazno	Prunus persica		Peach
	Granadilla	Pasiflora ligularis	Tintin	Passionfruit

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