Cecilia Lapp Stoltzfus was one of several students who wrote about the experience of making chicha from yuca (also known as manioc or cassava root). Here is her description:
We stayed overnight with San Juan del Río Bueno, an indigenous Quichua community of about 70 people that is accessible by floating down river for 3 hours in a canoe. While with the community, we tried to learn through participation, which meant that we started our day at 5am to the sound of the roosters. We began our day in the traditional way by spending the pre-dawn hours drinking wayusa, a tea made from leaves of the wayusa tree. Wayusa is related to coffee, and it is known to give you energy for a long day of work on your finca (farm) and to warn snakes to stay away.
After drinking wayusa we got to help Sylvia prepare and drink chicha, a fermented drink made from mashed yuca. Only women are allowed to make the chicha, so the women from our group were invited to learn how to mash mash the yuca and then chew it into bite-sized bits and spit it back out into the mixture which sits for 2-5 days to ferment. It feels a little bit like chewing mashed potatoes and then returning them to the bowl rather than swallowing- but it is a very important process because enzymes from saliva are required for the fermentation process. When it is time to drink it, you mix it with water and share generous amounts with visitors. It is an honor to be served chicha and invited to participate in making it as well.
Although our communities are so different in many ways, women from both groups were invited to participate in this ritual.
