From the book: Ecuador, people and facts, Anders Rossing, UBV Forlag 1996)

"Now I only see my family at the end of the week."

Rafael Morales, Textile worker in Otavalo.

Far outside Ecuador people knows about the textiles of the Imbabura province. The center of production and sale is in Otavalo, which are the most popular tourist attraction in Ecuador beside of the Galapagos Islands. The textile tradition were here long before the Spanish came, and the Spanish understood how to keep it intact because of the economical potential. Otavalo delivered quality textiles to Quito and Lima. Nowadays, buyers from far away, also the industrialized countries comes and buy ponchos, wall carpets and clothing for their stores or resale to others. Rafael Morales , who are from a town called Morales Chupa, is one of the weavers. He is tired, because he has been working all night to be ready for the Saturday marked in Otavalo, and everything have to be ready for sale.

"I only see my family at the end of the week now", he says. "It was no problem before, then I had a bicycle and could ride home the ten kilometers every day. But one day I had no money and sold my bicycle. Because of the busfare which are higher now, I can't afford to go home every day anylonger, so I live at a small room belonging to my employer."

Rafael speaks positively about his employer, Seņor Lopez. He feels that he is being treated correctly, which is far from the truth in most cases when a native works for a mestis. He get food three times a day. Breakfast is only a cup of coffee and one slice of bread, lunch a plate of soup, and soup for dinner again. The potions are small and the work is hard, also because of the little light in the room he works. But to complaint? No way.

"I can come and go as I want to", he says. I just have to have three wallcarpets of 2,15x1,70 meters ready for every Saturday. It's what my employee demands, and he pays me when they are sold. It's of course the truth that Seņor Lopez sells one for a price five times higher than he pays Rafael, but that is how it always is.

To be ready with his work he got to work from around half past six in the morning to around six in the evening. Sometimes all night, like today. Despite all this hard work, he never earns even close to 15 dollars a week.

"You understand I can't afford to be ill, sometimes I feel sick, but I go to work anyway". Health insurance is a unknown word in this region.

To read more , look to the reference at the top. This book is available in Sweden and Norway at least.