The last week has been really interesting for the research. I have met a couple of people with exciting and complex migratory stories. And I didn´t even have to ask them, they gave me all the information!
In the touristic town of Otavalo (world wide famous for its handicrafts) a couple of young kitchua otavaleños (a brother and his sister) we shared the pick-up with and their elder parents. They have two brothers living in the Big Apple selling handicrafts in the streets. He was so willing to go to the US (which he kept on confusing with New York) in spite of his almost lack of geographical knowledge of the country. However he did know quite a lot about visa procedures, deadlines and fees, how can anyone do not know about the Twin Towers collapsing and have such a fine knowledge about tiring official paperwork?!
June 23th, in the town of Ibarra, capital of the province of Imbabura, I met a woman in the bus with an exciting migratory story to tell. I spent the night in her house with she and her teenager dauthger. Fifteen years ago she migrated to Belgium. The story is so long and intriguing that I will write about it somewhere else. The time I spent with her also made me realise of several ethical and methodological issues I must take into account as soon as possible before carrying out any further fieldwork.
In the touristic town of Otavalo (world wide famous for its handicrafts) a couple of young kitchua otavaleños (a brother and his sister) we shared the pick-up with and their elder parents. They have two brothers living in the Big Apple selling handicrafts in the streets. He was so willing to go to the US (which he kept on confusing with New York) in spite of his almost lack of geographical knowledge of the country. However he did know quite a lot about visa procedures, deadlines and fees, how can anyone do not know about the Twin Towers collapsing and have such a fine knowledge about tiring official paperwork?!
June 23th, in the town of Ibarra, capital of the province of Imbabura, I met a woman in the bus with an exciting migratory story to tell. I spent the night in her house with she and her teenager dauthger. Fifteen years ago she migrated to Belgium. The story is so long and intriguing that I will write about it somewhere else. The time I spent with her also made me realise of several ethical and methodological issues I must take into account as soon as possible before carrying out any further fieldwork.
Pasamos las fiestas de San Juan, la festividad del Sol para los indígenas otavaleños, en la ciudad de Ibarra. Asistimos al Zapateado, donde las comunidades (una especie de entidad geografica pequeñita, más pequeña que las parroquias, pero con connotaciones étnicas) de toda la provincia se reunian en Ibarra y bajaban zapateando la avenida principal vestidos con una especie de pellizas en las piernas ellos y el traje típico ellas (con una blusa preciosa, con bordados, una falda recta azul, y una especie de sandalias ibicencas). Dormimos en casa de una chica de allí, la casa que se habia construido con el dinero que reunio de su migracion a Europa.
