Many of the mountains in Ecuador are cultivated right to the summit. The crops are wheat and potatoes. The indigenous people eat a delicious bowl of salted cooked wheat which somewhat like a soup. Corn is also cultivated, but not relied on like it is in Mezo-America.
Potatoes can be grown at altitudes higher than corn. The potato is the real subsistance food of the Andes. Only by chewing the coca leaf , which alleviates the effects of altitude sickness, such as dizziness and fatigue, are they able to farm at such altitudes.
The Ecuadorian farmers generally farm with hand tools and sometimes plow with the help of a mule or horse, as do indigenous farmers throughout the countries I have visited. It's a hard life, but close to nature. They have little materially beyond what they need to live, but much to be proud of in their traditional way of life.
The staff of life in the Andes is the potato digger. Sort of a pick-like shovel, it has a metal spur that is at a right angle to the shovel, which is used by the farmer to step on, creating leverage to turn up the earth deeply. With this tool, and a wad of coca in his mouth, the Andean survives.
ARTIST'S COMMENTARY (continued)
"Southern Ecuador"
July, 1988
egg tempera on hand made paper
9 x 11.75 inches