The Cradle of Futbol

One of the coolest things about Ecuador is how, for one of the smallest countries in South America, it is incredibly diverse — geographically, environmentally, and culturally.

Two weeks ago, I got a dose of this cultural diversity. You don’t have to travel more than an hour to experience a completely different culture.

We took a field trip to the Rio Chote Valley and the Afro-Ecuatorian community of Juncal.

I took a bus from my village to Cayambe. It takes about an hour. From there, we boarded another bus to go to Juncal, which is a very small town on the border of the Imbabura and Carchi provinces. The people on the bus to Cayambe were mostly native and mestizo. On the bus to the Rio Chote Valley (which took 90 minutes), it was almost exclusively filled with Afro-Ecuatorianos.

I had become so accustomed to the modest, conservative culture of Cayambe that the in-your-face feel of Juncal caught me by surprise a bit. People talked, were clothed, and handled themselves differently. Apparently, the Afro-Ecuatorian population arrived in this location as part of the sugar trade — I believe they were slaves at the time — and have stayed here since.

Today, Juncal’s main export is its soccer talent. Five players out of the 22 on the national soccer team came from Juncal. And amazingly, the town is just recently getting its first soccer stadium. Before now, all soccer had been played on the dirt roads or cement.

Walking through the town is a very weird experience because many of the buildings are rundown. Right next to some of these homes are really nice, modern looking ones. The news homes were built by the soccer players for themselves and their families.

We talked with a local (and helped him peel some onions). He talked about how the kids here grow up with the dream to play soccer and it is one of their only opportunities to make it out of Juncal.

In addition to soccer, the town is known for the Afro-Ecuatorian culture, namely the bomba dance. This style of dance involves a woman dancing with a glass bottle on her head.
We asked the Juncalis (?) how they celebrate their festivals. Apparently, every festival involves bomba dancing. Other than the bomba, the Afro-Ecuatorian culture is dying away. Many of the older festivals are no longer celebrated. The national Ecuadorian calendar has superseded most of the traditional, seasonal celebrations from this once vibrant community.