Pimampiro, IMBABURA
The traditional exchange in Pimampiro, which takes place before Holy Week, lasted more than 24 hours this year. This is an ancient custom, practiced in this city in the province of Imbabura, which consists of exchanging products without the use of currency.
This year, hundreds of people arrived from Carchi, Esmeraldas, Imbabura, Sucumbíos, north of Pichincha and south of Colombia to Tierra del Sol, as this city is known, located on the border with Carchi.
In the deep-rooted “cambeo” products from different climatic floors and regions are exchanged, explained Edison Cabrera, institutional communicator. “This is a unique activity in the country, where money doesn’t circulate or apparently doesn’t work, but solidarity among families prevails,” he said.
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The tradition attracts many families who wait for this date to visit the city. Edelmira Robles, for example, arrived in Pimampiro with potatoes and mellocos from Carchi. This despite the fact that the tuber maintains a high price. The farmer indicated that she was going to exchange them with fruits and other warm weather fruits to share them with the family on Holy Week.
Potatoes, peas, zambos, pumpkins, beans, lupine, corn, cheese, broad beans, mellocos, among other ingredients for the preparation of fanesca, were the most desired by visitors. Added to these harvests is a diversity of fruits such as peaches, oranges, tangerines, ovos, apples, queen claudia and prickly pears.
Armando Chávez, mayor of Pimampiro, stated that this is an ancient tradition that has been carried out in the canton for hundreds of years and has been passed down from generation to generation. “The variety of climatic floors that Pimampiro has and the diversity of products that are grown make this canton a strategic point to carry out this activity, which is certified as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Ecuador.”
Chávez said that, as authorities, they are facilitators for the traditional event to take place, which is an initiative of the population.
Diana Aguas, a resident of Valle del Chota, prepared the products she was going to exchange the day before. She arrived with yuccas, plantains, and mangoes. “We were very anxiously awaiting the barter, since due to the pandemic we have missed this meeting for two years, which is very nice, it allows you to exchange products and meet people from other climatic zones.”
Aguas commented that they agree with those who come from other regions to meet in their communities, to visit them in the following months and continue promoting the exchange of products.
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According to Chávez, these spaces become an economic alternative in which money is not used to stock up on products from other areas, which in many cases are difficult to obtain in the city.
“This system is something that represents us as a canton, it is an ancient activity that we have been practicing, we carry it in our genes,” says Edwin Túquerez, from the Mariano Acosta parish.
He arrived with beans and various vegetables to barter and stressed that, in indigenous communities, agricultural plantings are planned so that the harvests come out this season.
The importance of ‘barter’
On December 26, 2017, the traditional barter or ‘cambeo’ of Pimampiro was inscribed on the Representative List of Intangible Heritage of Ecuador, through Agreement No. 137 of the Ministry of Culture and Heritage, after a process of investigation and support developed jointly between several institutions.
The activity of bartering in this canton in the north of the country dates back thousands of years when the first settlers exchanged coca, which was produced in large quantities in this sector, with salt, gold and other products from the center and south of the country. This practice has been passed down from generation to generation and continues to this day. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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