MoxieStyle

All of my life I’ve heard how Halloween was linked to this really scary holiday celebrated by tribes called Day of the dead. I always thought it was an evil thing. Obviously, there are some people who probably do take it to extremes, but here, in Ecuador, it is really a pretty cool tradition.

Halloween isn’t really celebrated here. A few people have started borrowing this tradition from the US, but for the most part, it is nothing. However, the following 2 days, Nov. 1 & 2 are really big deals. The celebration dates back to the Incas or even before. They call it “Dia de los muertos” which means “Day of the dead”.

On Nov. 1, the families gather and bake bread babies and decorate them to represent family members who have died. In the evening, everyone tells stories about that family member to help the memories continue. Then on the 2nd, everyone visits the grave sites and leaves food, flowers, etc. as gifts for their dead loved ones and they eat the bread babies. I’ll admit, it is a little odd, but it seems to be mostly about honoring and remembering your ancestors which is kinda cool.

I think it would be nice if we had a holiday that was about remembering our heritage like this instead of just trying to score tons of candy.

Did you know that it is perfectly legal to purchase tea leaves that are from the coca plant (same thing they process to make cocaine)?

Living high up in the Andes mountains of Ecuador, I recently discovered this secret. Here the coca plant isn’t used so much for it’s hallucinogenic purposes as for it’s true medicinal purposes. It is largely used to help overcome the fatigue and other sicknesses that result from living at such high altitudes. For centuries the people of this region have chewed the leaves of this plant to help them cope with mountain living.

Naturally, the first time we were offered “Te de Coca” we laughed and couldn’t believe it. Our kids thought we were partaking in some horrible drug activity. The tea itself tastes pretty much like any other tea and we didn’t really notice any of the affects they promised (increased energy, etc.).

Of course, I had to go Google it when we got home and it turns out there is so little of the chemical they extract for drug use in the tea that it is perfectly safe and normal. You can even buy it in the US through Amazon.com. Coca Tea at Amazon.com (although it’s a TON cheaper here!)

How’s that for useless information!