Guambiano - Settlements

The Guambiano have a dispersed settlement pattern; their dwellings are located along the trails and in the open spaces that traverse their territory. Their ancient rectangular huts of plaited cane and wood, with straw roofs and small circular rooms for menstruating women, have practically disappeared from the landscape. Nowadays, their dwellings are structurally very homogeneous. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the colonial style Lor U-form house, usually of adobe blocks and tiles, has imposed itself. Bamboo, guadua (a variety of bamboo), and, above all, eucalyptus timber are always found in regional dwellings. Whereas the typical colonial house predominates, the use of space continues to be determined by tradition. The kitchen is the most important place in Guambian dwellings, since it is the social space par excellence. Not only is food stored, prepared, and distributed in it, but it is also where visitors are received and where on cold Andean nights and dawns the family converses by the heat of the hearth, the fire of which is kept permanently burning.