Grandmother
Life stories

Another flip-flop

My grandmother was born in 1932. The midwife who attended to her mother charged ten sucres (the local currency at that time) for her birth; if she had been born a boy, the matron would have charged fifteen sucres. At that time, parents preferred male offspring. When a girl was born, the popular saying was: “yet another flip flop.” Since the flip flop is a sandal made of rubber used to walk exclusively inside the house, this saying hints at the relationship women had with domestic, the intimate and with confinement. My grandmother was the third “flip flop” in the family.

Zoila Miche

When she was 6 years old, my grandmother became an orphan. Zoila Miche, an indigenous healer, was like a mother to her. Ever since her childhood and mainly during her married life, Zoila taught her how to cook and cure, and passed on her knowledge of medicinal plants. At that time, knowledge about the use of plants was almost a requirement for functioning as a " housewife".

Accompanied by plants

Today my grandmother is 85 years old and lives alone. During the afternoons, she sits in front of the garden to feel “accompanied by the plants,” looking at them behind the sliding glass to avoid the intense cold of the city, which drops to 5ºC in the afternoons.

Barter

For the inhabitants of Cañar, an open door is a sign that the owners of the house are available to receive visits. The neighbors come to my grandmother's house looking for plants, she listens to their symptoms and gathers the herbs that she deems necessary. Sometimes she agrees to barter and exchanges medicinal herbs for humitas (a typical Andean food consisting of corn dough wrapped in the corn’s leaf).

Sugsus

Hummingbirds, sparrows, blackbirds and other kinds of birds visit her garden. Almost all of them are to my grandmother's joy except for the Sugsus: