Microempresas in Salinas de Guaranda Research Essay

Salinas de Guaranda: most considered to be just a small community lost in the Andes
mountains? but, its actually much more than that. Salinas de Guaranda is a hardworking
community where its people have overcome poverty over the last 30 years by putting all
their sweat and effort in working and trying to make their town come forward.
A small group of Italians , came long years ago and found Salinas as a humble town. They
started creating and promoting the microempresas which means small scale factory, bussiness
or industries; such as the dairy factory, yarn factory and much more with the ideas of the
priest Antonio Polo who helped to boost the economy of the whole community.
This project has improved lifes in all aspects such as health, education, alimentation and the
structure of the whole area.

One of the most succesful microempresas are the Queseras El Salinerito.

The queseras elaborate different types of dairy products such as butter, yogurt and cheeses
(mozzarella, dambo, camembert, gruyere, parmesan, etc.)
The first cheese factory with the largest production capacity is located in the cabecera
parroquial, but there are a dozen of this factories all around the community.
This whole project was made posible thanks to the support of the swiss corporation which
brought all the necessary machinery and tecnology for the making of the products. (Borja, P.
(n.d.). La experiencia de desarrollo de Salinas de Guaranda, Ecuador. Retrieved March 8,
2015,

from

http://www.agriculturesnetwork.org/magazines/latin-america/mas-que-el-

dinero/la-experiencia-de-desarrollo-de-salinas-de)
The necessary tools or ingredients for making cheese and dairy products are found in the
same community. Because of this the jobs are endless for the people who live in Salinas,
there are many of them and thats how they make their living. For example, the ones that work
in the stables wake up really early in the morning (around 4 am) to milk the cows, since is

Microempresas in Salinas de Guaranda Research Essay

better to milk them earlier before the sun rises. Cows there produce 20 liters or more per day
which is better for the quesera because they can make more cheese.
Salinas have people who sells the cheese, elaborate them and mature them, thus more jobs are
created around town. This helped the community with their economy and brought the town
forward.
A lot of tourists are charmed by the taste of this delightful cheese that has an amazing and
different taste. But this is not the only impressive things about this microempresa, the making
and manufacture is something amazing to watch you can observe the whole processes of how
the cheese is made and you learn more of where they come from.

The hilandera is an industrial company equipped with imported machines from

Canada and Europe, that transforms the wool into yarn. It is responsible for the processing of
wool from sheeps and llamas in quality yarn sold on the national market (also used locally by
the company Texal).
About fifty people work in this factory, distributed at convenient schedules for the workers,
allowing them to work four days and rest four.
Fabric Salinas Texal is a small artisanal Factory. This company is responsible for the
production and marketing of issues with sheep wool yarn. Sweaters, hats and other high
quality fabrics are exported to countries like Germany and Italy. It is remarkable to watch the
process of how yarn is made. You can see how at first they wash the wool and clean it and at
the end the wool becomes harder converted into yarn and ready to elaborate the products.
This textile industry offers a lot of Jobs also as the quesera and also it produces a lot of
incomes that help the community to improve every day.

Microempresas in Salinas de Guaranda Research Essay

You may think that the cheese, chocolate, wool and other products made by the
citizens of Salinas de Bolivar, are the ones that attract the tourists?; but the thing that really
attracts tourism are the making of them in a communitary Enterprise.
Salinas has various activities to do and visit, thats why it gets so much attention from tourists.
Some things you can visit is the minas de sal which have a lot of history from the past
because it was the main source of their economy many years ago; you have the 2 floored cave
that has a wonderful view from the mountain of all the city, visit all the microempresas where
you can see the making of various of the best national products, you can milk the cows, the
indigenous community that you can visit and lots more.

People from this Little town are always working hard to show their best of them to
tourists, they put all their effort in all these activities and the most important part of it, is that
they work as a team. They help each other and they look up for one and other. Eventhough
some are black, some are indigenous, some are catholic, we are a community. We go and face
challenges together, no matter what (Ramirez, W. (2015, February 27). Community system
of Salinas de Guaranda (personal interview).
The microempresas had helped the community a lot. Salinas became from beeing a really
humble and small town to a unique hardworking community that has some of the impressing
factories that produce some of our best national products. Thanks to the ideas of priest
Antonio the microempresas such as the cheese company El Salinerito, Texal fabric and
more of them, had changed the life of the whole town. Now they have a lot of tourism that
come to visit them for the beauty and charm of the community, interaction with the locals and
try of new experiences.

Microempresas in Salinas de Guaranda Research Essay

References
(Borja, P. (n.d.). La experiencia de desarrollo de Salinas de Guaranda, Ecuador. Retrieved
March 8, 2015, from http://www.agriculturesnetwork.org/magazines/latin-america/mas-queel-dinero/la-experiencia-de-desarrollo-de-salinas-de)

(Ramirez, W. (2015, February 27). Community system of Salinas de Guaranda (personal

interview).

Microempresas in Salinas de Guaranda Research Essay

Microempresas in Salinas de Guaranda Research Essay

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