Our House in the Clouds

Building a Second Life in the Andes of Ecuador

Häftad, Engelska, 2013

349 kr

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While many baby boomers are downsizing to a simpler retirement lifestyle, photographer and writer Judy Blankenship and her husband Michael Jenkins took a more challenging leap in deciding to build a house on the side of a mountain in southern Ecuador. They now live half the year in CaÑar, an indigenous community they came to know in the early nineties when Blankenship taught photography there. They are the only extranjeros (outsiders) in this homely, chilly town at 10,100 feet, where every afternoon a spectacular mass of clouds rolls up from the river valley below and envelopes the town.In this absorbing memoir, Blankenship tells the interwoven stories of building their house in the clouds and strengthening their ties to the community. Although she and Michael had spent considerable time in CaÑar before deciding to move there, they still had much to learn about local customs as they navigated the process of building a house with traditional materials using a local architect and craftspeople. Likewise, fulfilling their obligations as neighbors in a community based on reciprocity presented its own challenges and rewards. Blankenship writes vividly of the rituals of births, baptisms, marriages, festival days, and deaths that counterpoint her and Michael’s solitary pursuits of reading, writing, listening to opera, playing chess, and cooking. Their story will appeal to anyone contemplating a second life, as well as those seeking a deeper understanding of daily life in the developing world.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2013-03-15
Mått152 x 229 x 18 mm
Vikt399 g
FormatHäftad
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor240
FörlagUniversity of Texas Press
ISBN9780292745278

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Judy Blankenship is an award-winning photographer, writer, and editor. She is the author of CaÑar: A Year in the Highlands of Ecuador, and her photographic exhibition, The CaÑari of Southern Ecuador, traveled to museums, universities, and cultural venues across the United States, Canada, and Ecuador. With CaÑari colleagues, Blankenship has collaborated on several documentary projects with the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, including photographs, videos, audio recordings, and a bilingual Quichua-Spanish book.

"where we are" by Gerald LocklinIntroductionPart 1 1. Planting a Tree for Plinio2. On Becoming Property Owners in Ecuador3. How Much Will All This Cost?4. Construction Begins, Poco a Poco5. "You're Going to Live Here?"6. The Lives of the Workers7. Carnival: Sins and Repentance, Abundance and Reciprocity8. Sticks and Stones, Mud and Horse Manure9. We Become Padrinos . . . Again10. Strike!11. Putting Out Fires12. Personae non Gratae in Ecuador:(or) Why We Went to Peru Last Week13. On Becoming Residents of a Foreign Country: (or) "Just Go Get Married Again!"14. Leaving CaÑarPart 2 15. The Return16. On This Day a Year Ago17. Reality Sets In18. The Devil Is in the Details19. A Short History of This Place20. Moving Day21. The Wasipichana22. The Mysteries of the New House and a Mother's Visit23. Mama Michi, Curandera24. Coming Home to CaÑar25. Neighbors and Fences26. La Uyanza: A Gift of Sustenance27. Life in Town28. Living in Two Worlds29. Epilogue: What on Earth Are We Doing Here?Acknowledgments