Protestant, where masses are carried out on Sundays (at 10 am the Protestant, and at 5 pm

the Catholic). Generally Sunday morning is used by the "Mulauquenses" to go to Pifo

for grocery shopping.

 When an economic crisis started in the country in the mid 1980's,14 Mulauco's

peoples experienced a shift in their economic patterns: from working in subsistence and

small-scale agriculture to more urban activities. Like many rural families in the highland

Ecuadorian Andes, they have had to look outside their Comuna for additional earnings.

The most affected were urban and rural people without permanent jobs. The inhabitants

of Mulauco lacked sufficient land to generate family income through agriculture.

Therefore, they searched the urban areas for something that could offer a wage to bring

home. The primary family income came from work carried out by the men in Quito or

surrounding areas as masons, carpenters, plumbers, and other more seasonal work.

Women, who up until then had worked primarily at home caring for domestic animals

and small crops, also had to find some income-generating occupation and thus, they got

involved in housekeeping and childcare activities in the neighboring towns of Cumbaya,

Tumbaco15 and the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, where families could afford to pay a

regular salary for such activities.




14 Like most of the countries in Latin America, Ecuador was severely affected by the so-called external-
debt crisis, which led to the most far reaching structural reforms in the country being privatization of state
owned industries and decentralization, among the most visible effects of the reforms. (see: Comunidad
Andina 2001) On March 6, 1987, the Northeast part of Ecuador also suffered a grade VIII earthquake,
which killed about 300 people and destroyed important components of the TransEcuadorian Pipeline,
which at that time transported all the Ecuadorian oil for export. Ecuador lost oil income for several months,
which increased the negative effect of the disasters (Resumen de efectos de los terremotos de Grado VIII,
http://www.igepn.edu.ec/sismologia/sismicidad/historica/efectos.htm)
15 Like Pifo, Cumbaya and Tumbaco are rural parishes of Quito. But these two towns have become
residential areas for prosperous families. Cumbaya and Tumbaco are 5 and 10 km. distant from Quito and
30 and 25 km. distant from Pifo respectively. Every day during working hours the transportation is
frequent between the corridor Quito Cumbaya Tumbaco, and Pifo.