mountain side madness

(kat´s turn) it all began two weeks ago in the gringo filled town of vilcabamba, ecuador. we had decided to volunteer for two weeks on this farm project, Sacred Suenos, and all that we knew was that we were to show up early Sunday morning. we met up with the other American couple we would be spending our volunteer time with and Jen, our host. leaving all but one outfit each (so as to make use of the communal clothes closet we were promised), we showed up with our chacos on and one small backpack. we left town in a taxi and hiked two hours UP into the Andes. i don´t remember much of the scenery because i was staring at the ass of a stubborn, wheezing donkey named Bonnie, who was ambling up the narrow path, carrying up our food for the week, along with some chicken wire.


Bonnie the donkey

the Sacred Suenos site is inaccessible by road, so every person or piece of supplies that is needed must make it up by its own two feet or via donkey/horse. the vision for the project, as started by a swiss-canadian named Yves seven years ago, is to make this piece of land on a mountain side that has been deemed ¨good for nothing¨ into a producing piece of land for the self-sustaining permaculture community. a challenge indeed that Yves and Jen are willing and excited to take on with the help of their transient community of volunteers who pass through from all around the world.


upon arrival, we were instantly met with a lot of creativity. structures have been made out of cob and adobe, but since there is not enough sand around, they have substituted strips of plastic from all of the packaging of food. compost is a complex system, with different containers for donkeys, chickens, regular compost,and my favorite- the ¨skanky garbage¨, for those things that do not fit into any of the above categories and will have to be carried down the mountain to be disposed of in town (ie. butter wrappers). everything has a purpose (ideally three purposes) on the farm. nothing is wasted. containers and washed and reused. old clothes are made into siding for housing. a pressure cooker is used for nearly all meals, so as to use less energy. there is no electricity, so when the sun goes down, the candles go on and bedtime is early. there is a makeshift solar shower with the most magnificent view of the mountains. bathroom facilities... if you have to pee, find a bush. if you need something more, just use the bucket that will later be emptied by you or one of the other volunteers in the ¨humanure¨ pile (apparently human waste is great fertilizer for the fruit trees growing on the farm).

the shit bucket, (humanure is good for the fruit trees)


an average day looked like this: waking up with the roosters or sun around 6am. breakfast and ready to work by 8am. the cooler hours were in the morning, so we would each work on our assigned task until lunch time. over the two weeks, we worked on things like trail building, luke helped put on a roof, weeding, collecting green and brown leaves for the compost piles, one day i got to make a new compost pile (layering it like a lasagne), scooping up donkey droppings that are a great addition to the compost, macheting weeds that the goats don´t eat, disassembling structures, cutting old plastic bags into strips for cob, on and on. then, we would all gather for lunch- a vegetarian feast generally and lots of long, leisurely conversation as the afternoon heat or rain rolled in. lots of reading in hammocks in the afternoons and then evening watering of the plants in the garden. candle light conversations, leftovers, popcorn, cards, and laughs until exhaustion usually set in around 8:30pm. pretty tough life, huh? it is amazing how doing a bit more physical labor than usual can really tucker a person out. in addition to our tasks each day, we would each have a community job to do, whether it was feeding the animals (aka trying to keep the ten chickens in their cage while changing their water), doing dishes, making lunch, checking the water tank level, or emptying the ¨shit bucket¨.

although i was out of my comfort zone from day one, luke is a great encourager and helped me see all the reasons we should stay. overall, it was a great opportunity to be helping hands and listening ears. without fail, the sunset was spectacular each night, the Andes mountains just adding to the views. after traveling for a while, it was great to put down in one spot and get to know some people, beyond the simple pleasantries exchanged in a hostel. it was nice to be around people who are different than we are and who challenge us to think about why we believe the things we believe and why we choose to live the life we do. we are thankful to Jen and Yves for welcoming us into their lives for a short while.

onto Peru tomorrow... via the adventurous border crossing at Zumba.

(written by luke) This week, our adventure took us to the Pacific Coast of Ecuador. The trip was defined by long bus rides, cloudy days, the president being kidnapped by the police, getting sick, and swimming in the warm Pacific Coast.



We decided to treat ourselves to a ¨whale watching tour¨ off the town of Puerto Lopèz and hike on the isla de la plata, where rare birds are in abundance. This is a prime area for humpback whales and their babies to play, so on the boat ride, we were able to see several whales breach including a baby. What we forgot is that we both get sea sick very easily. ME ESPECIALLY. Before long, my breakfast was completely gone from my stomack, and needless to say, the rest of the 1- 1.5 ride there and back were quite sickening. On the island were hundreds of bluefooted boobies and other colorful birds, and we were also able to go snorkeling in the choral area with the bright fish- a first for me!

blue footed boobies


The next day we went to the protected beach los frailes, a pristine beach with no one in sight! That evening we moved to a secluded eco-resort where we were able to camp. The front desk guy looked at us a little funny when we asked to camp, because the weather had been cloudy and rainy, off and on. We were determined to camp, so we slept with the sound of both ocean waves and rain that night. The next day one of the staff said that they felt bad for us, so they wanted to put us up in one of the cabins for the same price as camping! So we moved to the more luxurious part of the resort.

That day we noticed that many people were intently watching the news, so we asked what was up. Well, they said, ¨the police just found our they got a pay decrease today, so they kidnapped the president and are holding him hostage in the police hospital¨. Airports were closed, streets had burning tires, people were in the streets, we were at the beach! a perfect place to be. That night the military rescued the president, and in the end some 7 people died in the gunfire. Life is back to normal now, other than the pro peace and democracy rally that we ran in to today in the streets of Cuenca.

From there, we ventured farther south, and landed in the surfing town of Montañita. Little did we know, this was the PARTY town of Ecuador, and the thumping bass from the clubs kept us up till all hours of the night. One strange phenomenon that we have seen here is that when one business idea succeeds, neighbors tend to do the EXACT same thing. so in this town, on one street, there were no joke, spaces for 30 coctail stands, all with their fruit and hard alchohol on display, and with rival music, anywhere from power ballads to raegeton. People could buy mixed drinks for a mere $1.50, and on one occasion we even saw a bartender deliver a mixed drink to the police man on patrol that night. We didn´t need to drink to enjoy the people watching on the steets of Montañita, although we were eager to escape the noise.

We left back to the mountains on Sunday, to ride busses all day through the windy roads up the Andes. little did we know that our stomachs would once again protest, and we ended up getting off the bus at some gas station, and told them they could continue on, we would catch another bus. Intrigued by the foreigners, the gas station attendants and their whole family came to talk to us, and later invited us to stay the night in their extra bed room. A blessing it was, although our stomachs were outraged by the mixture of bumpy rides, weird food, and some bug that had been bothering them for days. Upon waking up, found the strength to continue to the beautiful colonial city of Cuenca, and will soon be hiking into the hills to volunteer with a organic farm community called Sacred Sueños for 2 weeks. http://www.sacredsuenos.com/
We´ll send another update in about 3 weeks. We miss you all very much!