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Finca Colibri
Pululahua Crater
Geo-botanical Park
Flora & Fauna
People & History
Location & Maps
Outdoors Activities
Picture Gallery
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People
& History
As mentioned in the introduction,
Indian natives lived there since the times of the Incas (around 1500 AD)
but not much is known about them. It is assumed that they dedicated themselves to agriculture and traded their
surplus with surrounding indigenous communities.
The first written historical fact about the crater is that in 1825 the
land inside the crater passed into the possession of the monks of the Dominican
Church Order. At that time in Ecuador's history the Catholic church was
the biggest land owner in the country and the various religious orders ran huge
agricultural enterprises. Natives worked in those big haciendas owned by the
church or individual Spaniards as huasipungeros (term for rural Indian
serfs). Although they received a modest remuneration for their work, they were
dependent on their patron (term for owner) for their well-being. Not only did
they have no choice as to buy their necessities in the hacienda stores but as
they were outside the legal frame work of the Spanish colony, were under the
benevolence of their patron. That particular hacienda in the crater
dedicated itself to the cultivation of the land, growing cereals and corn
and to the raising of cattle. It is also well-documented that the mining
of limestone took already place in those times and that activity lasted into the early
1970s. There are also rumors that gold and silver was found and mined in the
area.
In 1905, with the victory of the liberal forces under Eloy Alfaro over
the conservatives in Ecuador's civil war, all the land possessions of the
catholic church was taken away from them and placed under the administration of
a state government institution, the Asistencia Publica.
That is also what happened to the land in the Pululahua and this institution
rented the land back to the former native huasipungeros. In 1964, a new Agricultural Reform was instituted in Ecuador and under that scheme, the
land was finally distributed among the former farm workers. All the families received
plots of roughly 4 hectares and the respective titles to it. In 1966, the crater
walls and Pondoņa, the big hill in the middle of the crater were declared a
national nature reserve and the cutting of wood prohibited, which led in
the beginning to conflict with the inhabitants as they depended on wood for
cooking and heating purposes. Later with the availability of Propane Gas that
problem was defused. A gravel road into the crater existed before the time of WW
II as the mining of limestone was still going on and the product was transported
out of the area and then on to Quito by trucks. Water was piped into the crater
from a spring up in the hills for human consumption and electricity arrived in
1990.
Today's life for the community of around 160 people can be described as tranquil (one of few
regions left in the country without any real crime problems) but living on a
subsistence level. The farming activities allows them to have enough food for
themselves but very little is left for selling in nearby markets. All the work
in the fields is done by hand or with the help of an oxen team, there is hardly
any use of pesticides or fertilizers and very seldom somebody might rent a farm
tractor for tilling. Almost each family has somebody, who has an extra job to
support them with daily necessities. Therefore, many young people have been
leaving the Pululahua community as they do not see any future in the subsistence farming
practices of their parents and see a brighter one working in the bigger cities.
That leads to the sale of some native farms to outsiders like me who use the
properties as weekend getaways and recreational purposes.
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Pululahua Time Machine by entering the
crater you are transported back
to a time of centuries ago.
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