Long live Los Chagras. I had the honor of spending the last few days with tierradelvolcan at their Haciendas hacienda_el_porvenir and El Tambo. I have a lot to say about my incredible time with these people, but I’ll start with the Chagras, the name for the Central Andes indigenous cowboys who have been taking care of these lands for centuries. The name Chagra comes from the Quechua word, Chakra, meaning “piece of land”, and dates back to the 17th century when the Spanish conquistadors needed cowboys to manage the bulls they had brought with them. A horse being a major status symbol of the time, and Chagras were some of the few with indigenous blood that were given horses to ride. While the origins of Chagras comes from a dark period of time in Ecuadorian history, this culture is alive and well and continued with pride. We had the honor to ride with a few Chagras during our time at hacienda_el_porvenir and to hear the stories of the deep rooted traditions. I’m bummed to be missing t...