This is the Rio Tomebamba in Cuenca, Ecuador. I wrote a diary entry while I was there entitled: “Sita-pati’s Guide to River Washing”, but I can’t find it now. I watched the women washing their clothes in the river and laying them out to dry on the river bank each day, and thought I would give it a go.

It took quite a while, and I wasn’t very good at it, but it was peaceful and honest, purifying and pacifying.