Enchaquirados, reviving the ancestral queer culture in Ecuador.

#Ecuador #Queer

Adri Salido

Photographer based in Lisbon, Portugal

In Engabao, a town located in the coastal region of Guayaquil, a group of transsexual fisherwomen define themselves as Enchaquirados, referring to a homosexual group of young servants, who were mainly assigned to religious and sexual tasks in a form of ancestral queer culture. pre-Hispanic, which occupied the coastal territories of current southern Ecuador and part of Peru. Currently, in an Ecuadorian society that on numerous occasions rejects any type of gender identity that goes beyond the conventional, this group of transsexual fisherwomen have found in Engabao a place where they can develop their lives and work with respect. What they deserve. Here they are free and in general, they can live their sexuality openly, talking with the elders of the town, playing with the children of other women who run around and maintaining relationships with other fishermen in the area.