Baobab: Stills and Photos #1 - Fog Catcher
Baobab: Stills and Photos #1 - Fog Catcher |
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All photos © 1998, Baobab Productions Inc. Photos by Marlene Bedford or David Mowbray |
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Fog drifts in over the 12,000 foot plateau of Pachamama Grande in Ecuador. The dark sheets suspended in the path of the moving cloud condense it. Water drips into gutters and then is piped down to the village. Pachamama Grande has not had a safe, reliable drinking water supply until this project was completed in December of 1997 |
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The fog catchers are a relatively simple technology that is now being used in parts of the world where there is a lot of fog or cloud, but little rain and no well water. The first large installation was in Chile. This one in Ecuador uses the clouds that actually form in the afternoon in the valley and then rise up over the mountain at night. |
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This woman and her daughter are small scale farmers. Their sheep
and pigs root and graze in the steep mountain slopes around the fog catchers.
Pachamama Grande means "Great Earth Mother" and it is clear that the people who live here are very close to the land. While many villagers speak Spanish, they have also kept their original language alive. |
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It's thousands of feet to the valley bottom but the sure-footed
sheep don't seem to mind.
Driving to this isolated location is an experience not to be believed. The track, which clings to the mountain side, is rock strewn, muddy and just about as wide as a compact car. There are no barriers of any kind to stop a vehicle from plunging into the valley below! Yet local people make this trip every day, often on horseback. After you see the view on the way up, you can understand why. |
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Even in a spot as remote as Pachamama Grande, children steal the
show. The children greet rare visitors such as us very warmly.
We arrived just at the end of Carnival, the celebrations leading up to the Christian period of Lent. In Brazil there are parades, in New Orleans there are wild parties. In Pachamama Grande, the men dress as women and serenade the village with music. |
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