Miguel Jesus Corte

By Gerald Skow

This is a story of a poor Ecuadorian, who moves from Gualaceo to the Oriente. This is a story of his life his dreams, and his endeavors to make his life a little better. Miguel Jesus Corte endures all the hardships and the suffering to find a better life for himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Dec 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781665509664

Gerald Skow

Born and raised in Clinton Iowa went to Augustana College in Rock, Island IL. Joined the peace corps 1971.

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© 2020 Gerald Skow. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 12/01/2020

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0967-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0968-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-0966-4 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020924210

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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M iguel Jesus Corte was born near Gualaceo, Ecuador to poor indigenous farmers. At the time of his birth there was no doctor present. The family would not have been able to afford one even if one had been available. As a result many children died that otherwise would have lived. Many more died before ever reaching school age. Poverty, ignorance, and disease were the major killers. These were the lucky ones. Miguel was one of the unlucky ones. He not only survived birth, but he made it to school age.

The history of the Gualaceo area goes far back to before the time of Columbus. The native Indian tribes of the area were conquered by the Incas. The Inca empire stretched all along the length of the Andes and included modern day Ecuador.. Then came the Spanish under Pizarro. The Spanish did not send their best citizens, but rather the worst of all humanity. Thieves, liars, cheats, convicts, and murderers abounded. Pizarro lied to the Inca emperor and then killed him. The priests in a mad fit of religious extremism, tried to destroy everything they considered pagan. The rule of the day became a history of man’s inhumanity to man. The rich exploited the poor. When the Spanish were driven out and the various countries of South America became independent, the only thing that had changed in regards of the lives of the people were that the names of the exploiters were different. From the time of independence onward to the present day, life for the poor had not changed. This had been the way it was for well over 450 years.

Over the course of years as the population increased, those that owned small parcels of land continually divided their land into smaller and smaller portions until these portions were so small that the people had to start to seek other ways to earn a living and to support their families. Miguel’s father only had a few acres with which he was trying to raise his large family. His children were going to have a very difficult time living on what little land remained when he died.

Gualaceo is located in the Andes and has an altitude of over one mile above sea level. Its location is near the equator, but due to its altitude, the climate is not hot, but rather quite pleasant. Eternal springtime, best describes it. Temperatures in the daytime average around 80 and lows at night around 60. Since Gualaceo is near the eastern part of the Andes, it receives enough rain to support farming. The heat from the vast Amazon basin to the East causes the clouds to push up against the Andes and heavy rainfall results. At times this rain manages to cross over the Andes and Gualaceo receives a heavy rain which causes the small Gualaceo River to overflow and cause some flooding in the lower lying areas.

The basic crops grown in the area are potatoes and corn, although some other vegetables are grown also. The basic diet is very high in starch with rice being the major food of consumption. Ecuador produces large amounts of rice in its coastal area, where the temperatures and climate make it an ideal area to produce rice. Rice is eaten with every meal, three times a day. A meal without rice is not considered to be a meal. Besides the vast consumption of rice, meals also consists of soup, usually containing noodles or vegetables, moté, corn which is cooked in water until it puffs up, and to drink, coffee. Coffee grows well in the Andes although it is not produced in the Gualaceo area. The people drink their coffee with large amounts of sugar which is also grown in the coastal areas of Ecuador. Many people mix the coffee with milk, half and half. Cafe con leche is part of being Ecuadorian. Many cattle are raised in the Gualaceo area.

Besides, growing potatoes, corn and a few vegetables, Miguel’s parents also have livestock. They raise only a few head of cattle for they do not have much land. A couple of pigs to provide cooking fat and to consume any garbage are also raised. Chickens abound running around outside the home and when able, even in it. They eat any insects they find and corn is given to them so that they lay eggs which can be eaten or taken to sell in the marketplace. The other animal they raise is the cui, or guinea pig. It is raised inside the home around the fireplace. Cui are a delicacy and are eaten only on special occasions such as weddings or fiestas. There are many fiestas for there are many saints in the church. The people are nearly all Catholic.

Dogs guard the farm. They eat whatever they can find or kill. For dogs life is very severe. They are starved and beaten. They receive no medical attention and fleas and other pest infest their coats. Cats eat mice and small rodents.

Gualaceo has a marketplace and that is where the people of the area bring any livestock they have raised to sell along with their crops of potatoes and corn. The marketplace is the lifeblood of the area. In it you can find every thing necessary to sustain life and even a few luxury items, for those that can afford them. Food, clothing, pots and pans, school supplies, medicines, firewood and fruits are all sold in the marketplace. There are also the games of chance. The lottery is a national pastime and it is one way a poor person can strike it rich. The local games of chance have the odds heavily stacked against you. Trago, the illegal national drink, is also available. Drinking is quite heavy amoung the poor of Ecuador. It is cheap and offers a brief period where the people can get drunk and forget their lives of misery and suffering.

The Panama hat is still produced in the area. During the time it was popular in the United States, many people moved to Gualaceo and Cuenca and worked full time weaving the hats. When the market collapsed, these poor were left destitute with no where to go or turn for help. The rich of the area made all the money at the poor’s expense. Such is the way of life for the poor of Ecuador. Any area that the rich can use to exploit the poor, they take advantage of it. They controlled life and did all they could to maintain their position of wealth and power.

The Spanish brought with them the Catholic church. The church was as corrupt as the rich. Rather than helping the poor and destitute, they exploited them also. The priest were fat and lazy and used God and Jesus to raise money for themselves, thus enabling themselves to live lives of ease and comfort. The bishop of Cuence weighed several hundred pounds and could barely even walk. Huge churches abound in Ecuador. They are a symbol of the faith of the people. The huge church in Cuenca is still not finished. It is the way of life for churches to take years, even centuries to build. In this manner the priest can always ask for money.

The church is the only way of salvation for the poor. Live a good life and you are rewarded with heaven. . Heaven is where good people go, hell is where the evil ones go. Jesus died for the poor of the world. He was crucified on a cross and a soldier from the evil Romans pierced his side with a lance.

There were also many good Christians that had suffered and died to help the poor. These are the saints. Everyone has a saint and every community in Ecuador has its saint. These saints are honored with a fiesta. The fiesta is the day when the poor of Ecuador celebrate. It is one of the few days of the year when you eat chicken and cui. There is much to celebrate and drinking and dancing last throughout the day of the fiesta.

The fiesta day begins with the priest leading the people and the statue of the saint through the community. The saint shows how much he or she has suffered by how much blood they have on them. Statues and pictures of Jesus all show blood gushing from the wounds inflicted upon him by the crown of thorns, blood from where the nails were driven into his hands and feet, and blood where he was stabbed in the side by the soldier. The same is true for the saints. The more blood, the better.

The priest use all this to exploit the poor. In the churches collection boxes for money abound at the feet of each saint. Where ever the priest can build a statue to some saint, there is the collection box for money.

This money is supposed to go to build the church or to feed and clothe the poor and needy, but the vast majority of it goes straight into the pockets of the priest.

Food and clothing donated by the people of the United States to aid the poor is sold by the priest also. You can go to nearly any marketplace in Ecuador and buy it.

There are some good priest who try and help those in need, but they are few in number. There are no beggars in the churches for they know that the church and most of the priest will not help them. The church is for spiritual sustainment and since there are so few other religions to turn to, the church maintains its control.

The government cannot be counted on to give any aid either. The long tradition of thieves, liars, and murderers is a well known fact of life in Ecuador when it comes to governmental officials. There are at times elections but the winners are too often those that lie the most or buy the most votes. Governmental officials are always looking for the bribe to help them do their jobs and a lot of paperwork exist so that they can take a great deal of time to do something and of course hide what they have stolen. Elected officials especially presidents rarely last for the tradition of the revolution is very much a reality in Ecuador.

Why should the military split the money with elected officials, when they can keep it all for themselves? In reality, the military dictatorships are better in the long run because they steal less and maintain peace and tranquility in the country.

The only time anyone is really in danger is when there is a revolution, but the vast majority of the fighting takes place only in the major cities. The people living in the rural areas of the country are basically unaffected. Because news travel so slow, it sometimes takes months for some people even to know that the government has changed.

Of all the presidents the country has had, you can count on one hand and then only use a few fingers, to count the good presidents that Ecuador has had in its entire history. The only way to know what any president ever did while in office, is to find his statue and read what the president thought he did to deserve to have a statue erected someplace in his honor. Politicians are good at erecting statues and having streets, schools, and other buildings named after them especially in their home towns.

The rich do not concern themselves with elections, because there is no need for them to risk being killed in a revolution. It is far better to use their power and influence or to pay the bribes, then to serve in some governmental position.

For the poor like Miguel, you stay on your land, raise your livestock and sell what you can in the marketplace. You live from one day to the next in the same manner that your parents lived. Each day is another in the long struggle to survive. Unfortunately, with each generation, the small farms become smaller and smaller making it increasingly difficult to survive and raise a family. When the farm becomes too small to support a family, then the difficult task of finding another means of support becomes a major problem for the poor.

Such it is with Miguel Jesus Corte. This is his story and his life. He is one that has to seek out another way of living and to find a way to support his family when his time comes to marry and have one.

Miguel Jesus Corte was unfortunate in that he lived and survived the first critical years of life when so many others, including some of his brothers and sisters, did not. Unfortunate, because life is so hard that the people believe that if you have a child that is born dead, then you are blessed by God for this child went straight to heaven and did not have to suffer in the hell that life has to offer the poor. By living Miguel had to face life as one of the poor. Just surviving birth is difficult without doctors or medicines, but many children die due to ever present killers that patiently wait to kill. Among these are dysentery, pneumonia, measles, and other common everyday diseases that in other parts of the world are almost unknown.

Life on the farm begins before sunrise. The cattle have to be milked and moved to new areas to graze. The pigs and cui also need to be fed. The women have to build a fire in the fireplace and cook the first meal of the day. There is no electricity or plumbing to provide water so someone has to go to the nearby stream and carry it back to the house. The house is made of adobe and has few rooms. There is the area with the fireplace where the family eats and another area where the entire family sleeps. Since there is little wood most homes have dirt floors. The people sleep on the ground, with a few blankets to keep them warm. Clothes are all piled together in the corners of the room. Many roofs are made out of straw or thatch and when it rains, they leak. Chickens like to search through the straw for insects and by so doing end up making holes in the roof which have to be constantly repaired. Some people are fortunate to have better roofs made of adobe or metal sheets.

After breakfast, crops need to be planted, weeded, and harvested. Clothes have to be washed in the nearby stream. There are no washing machines or driers. Everything has to be done by hand. First, the clothes have to be soaked to get them wet. Then, the soap is applied. After that you scrub the clothes on the rocks. Then you beat the clothes on the rocks to pound out the dirt and soap. Finally, you repeat the process until you are satisfied that the clothes are as clean as you are going to get them. You lay them out on the grass along the steam to dry and hope it does not rain. Washing is big task and needs to be done daily, for families are large among the poor.

Lunch is the same as breakfast and consist of a cup of coffee, a bowl of soup, and a bowl of rice. Diner will be the same as lunch. In the afternoon you mend the clothes. Pounding and scrubbing the clothes against the rocks causes the clothes to wear out much faster. Nothing is wasted and many clothes are simply recycled and used to patch holes.

If you are fortunate to have a few sheep or have brought some wool in the marketplace, then you can weave the wool into cloth and sew it into things to wear or blankets. Straw is woven into hats, among which, is the famous Panama hat. These are worn by everyone and whatever additional ones can be weaved can always be sold in the marketplace.

In the late afternoon the cattle once again have to be milked and moved to new pasture. Dinner has to be prepared and cooked. Nothing is ever wasted as there is a use for everything somewhere. The poor are very good at finding ways to use things that other people would never have thought of.

Once dinner is over, it is time for bed. There are no televisions and only a few people can afford a radio to listen to so entertainment is almost nonexistent. Nights are long near the equator because the earth is round and the sun almost always directly overhead. Because light is able to bend around the earth, sunset is at 6:30 and sunrise at 5:30. . Nights are long therefore, and with nothing to do but sleep, life is dull and routine. Each day is the same, except when market day arrives or one of the fiestas.

Marketday is a big day in Ecuador. Gualaceo is a canton, or county seat in the province of Azuay. Cuenca, the third largest city in Ecuador, is the capitol of the province. Because Gualaceo is a canton and large enough in population, it has a marketplace open everyday where the people can buy and sell. However, the biggest marketday is on Sunday, when merchants come from all over Ecuador to buy and sell.

People get up early to go market. They do not have cars and roads are very few so the poor have to walk and carry everything with them. Some have mules to help carry some of what they have to sell, but very few people have mules which means that they have to find someway to carry things to market. The men take a sheet and put what they have to sell in it and then wrap it up and tie it around their neck and shoulders. The women do the same. Since most women are carrying a baby, this is all they can carry on their back, so everything else they have to carry by hand. The entire family helps to carry whatever they