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!

and the adventure continues...

so our bikes are gone and we have joined the masses of travelers that take to exploring this country (the size of Nevada) by bus. Clutching our Lonely Planet book and comparing notes with other backpackers, we find the best deals and the must see places. that being said, we have found ourselves in a variety of places in the last week.


At the Otavalo market

first, we visited otavalo, a town up in the mountains, a few hours from colombia, most well known for it´s indigenous market. after a night of camping, and lots of mate overlooking the stunning, lush mountainside, we descended into the town to explore the market. if you have never experienced an open air market, i suggest that you make it a priority in your lifetime! it is one of luke and my favorite experiences in latin america. the otavalo market is a strange juxtaposition of indigenous culture and the present day. women and men, all dressed in their traditional attire lug their crops, artesania, and anything else, hoping to sell it during that day, so that their load will be lighter on their trek home. tourist mill about (easily identified by the large camera hung from their neck) hoping to find something ´original´ to take home with them as a souvenir from their trip. little do they know that millions of other visitors to ecuador carry home that same hammock, wool socks, earrings, etc. since luke and i will be travelling for quite awhile, we managed to avoid buying any trinkets. we did however enjoy the food market. fruits, vegetables, grains, rice, you name it and it´s for sale. you could wander the streets for hours and that is exactly what we did!

from the northern highlands of otavalo, we headed south of quito to the town of latacunga, the jumping off point for our trip up, up, up into the mountains in search of the quilotoa crater and the lake it contains. the bus ride up was windy, and we caught a glimpse of the volcano cotopaxi (stunning, especially since it had previously been hiding behind clouds). finally we arrived at our long awaited destination. for all of you oregonians, just think crater lake. for everyone else, think about the most impressive sight of nature you´ve seen and this lake was comparable. where once stood the tip of a volcano now lies only the crater and the water that has filled it in to form a lake. indigenous families vie for our business, offering us hats knit from llama and alpaca wool and a room to stay for the night. it´s disheartening to know that we will probably be their only source of income for the day, as tourism is slow right now. the lake was definitely a place to sit and contemplate God´s majesty!


Laguna Quilotoa- Ecuador´s crater lake

we left the solace and solitude of the lake for the most popular tourist town in ecaudor- BAÑOS. it´s most popular for it´s thermal hot springs that are poured into two pools, situated near a waterfall at the end of town. one is tepid and the other is nearly too hot to touch. we were the only foreigners there when we went. nice, but we were definitely spoiled by our time at papallacta and the hot springs there. along with the hot tubs, baños is also a hot spot for outdoorsy adventures, such as mountain biking, rafting, bridge jumping and the like. luke and i tried our hands at biking (surprised?). we rented mountain bikes and rode 60km to the town of puyo, the gateway to the jungle. the route we took was called the ¨ruta de las cascadas¨ (route of the waterfalls). it was impressive! comparable to the columbia river gorge, there was not a shortage of waterfalls along the way. the most incredible was the ¨pailon del diablo¨. we were soaked! but dried quickly on our bike ride. it felt great to be back on bikes, if only for a day! after that, we were ready to escape the hip cafes and all the tourists that we saw in baños and head for a slower, quieter pace of life at the BEACH!

Baños Hot springs

the quickest route to the coast took us through Guayaquil, Ecuador´s biggest city. a loud, dirty and busy city, we were happy to leave after one night. and now we find ourselves in the sleepy town of Puerto Lopez. Blue fishing boats bob off the shore and people just seem to walk slower here. we are definitely enjoying taking it easy here and taking the time to enjoy the small things we are often so busy in our lives at home to notice.

Want to see more pictures? go to
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2097373&id=42005546&l=d74d249aa2

the rocky road

(written by luke) Those of you who told us that biking in South America was not the greatest idea...YOU´RE RIGHT! Whew! There, I said it. The last few days have been quite an ADVENTURE. Not your normal ¨vacation¨ or ¨travel¨. Adventure, I think, is best defined by trying the unknown. That is what we did. And we found it to be incredibly difficult. Here are some stories and lessons learned from the last few days. (we had to wait until our emotions subsided to a normal level to write this).

Wednesday- we wake up with the idea in our minds that we are ¨biking the mountains today to continue our adventure¨. Too stubborn to see that the weather was not the greatest, we left the Papallacta paradise hot springs on our fully loaded bicycles. The road is dirt downhill for about 1 Km, then about 2 Km uphill. First drizzle, then sprinkle, then the roads that we are walking our bikes uphill become muddy. Yet, we are too stubborn to go back. We make it to the highway, and begin riding. The altitude and grade of the road are suddenly too steep- we must rest about every 50 yeards. This continues, the rain comes and goes, and worse of all- the road never shows a downhill! Some weak attempts at hitchhiking and 3 hours uphill later, we find a shelter from the cold rain and ask God to just help us get out of this! Finally we boldly stick out our hand and waver it up and down (thumbs up means ¨hey look at us, we are doing great!¨ hand out means ¨a little help, please?¨) The next pickup truck comes, and what do you know- it stops! ¨we are going to San Rafael, they say. ¨perfect¨ we say (not knowing where San Rafael is). The road we see keeps climbing. It climbs so high that it begins snowing! At this point, we didn´t even want to ride our bikes down that giant 30km downhill road. We make it to a town, and find a place to stay, and eat some pizza and chocolate.


kat pushing her bike up the dirt road, just barely out of papallacta.

the mountain pass we struggled up before finally admitting our need for help.

a dry hut where we found refuge from the downpour on the side of the road.


Thursday. ¨surely we just need to find the rural roads, the ones with less traffic through the smaller passes¨. We continue determined. Today we follow the compass south- around a mountain and to a town that we are assuming is ¨over there¨. The morning ride is delightful! Everything we hoped for! Children in the rural street, a calm semi-paved road, people staring at us, smiling, waving. The road climbs in front of this spectacularly jagged mountain. At last! we have found the ¨rural route¨, the one withouth the trucks and busses. We ask if this road connects to the other side. Some say ¨of course¨ and other say ¨no way!¨ We continue up. We then begin walking, because the road, or big path, is cobblestone and steep. ¨just to the other side¨ we say. The road narrows. Another person tells us that sure, we can get through, but as we get higher, we only see horses and motorcycles going up this road. It ends at a farm. UhOh. We stop to rest, and are soon chased off the area by the herd of cattle going to be milked. This road does not pass through. so down we go. We have the hard conversation- we have now tried 3 days to traverse the mountins, but all we have found are bigger mountains, exhaust, long stares (truck drivers would stare for so long that it seemed that they might run off the road)difficult roads, and no good map of anywhere. Maybe it´s time to travel like everyone else. Once again, waver the hand and hop into a pickup truck.

on the cobbled path that we thought would lead to victory!

cows chasing us from our beatiful view of the mountains we were trying to pass.

Friday. We pack up our valuable bike gear, all the extras that made this attempt possible and pack them into a box to ship away. Our bikes, Pete and Ethel now look very sad and naked. It was a somber morning, knowing we would be selling our dear friends, who have taken on a personality and have followed us closely all the way from early dating to marriage. They, without problems, travled the San Juan Islands, the Oregon Coast, Mt. Rainier, and countless other places. They did not have a single problem here in South America (in fact on the other side of the world), yet we must get rid of them. We took them down to the 2 main bike shops (mostly mountain bikes) that we learned about and in a painful exchange of bartering, left both our bikes for a meager $40. It´s not that the money matters. It´s that these two bikes, which have tremendous worth to us, are practically worthless to anyone else.

naked Pete.


Lessons learned: Don´t shy away from an adventure. What we did was unknown, and we do not regret the attempt! To make life memorable and interesting, you must do those things that are risky. We have no shortage of ¨honeymoon¨ stories. As well as honeymoons are good for adventures together, they are also a wonderful chance to get to know one another. Kat and I have fully learned that we are about the most determined (or you could say stubborn) people. Now we travel with a $33 hiking backpack, a Jansport, and 2 buckets with stickers from Portland to remind us of home.

It is a strong lesson to part with something that is very dear to you- it´s a reminder that Kat and I have each other, and things are just things. Kat is the most amazing person to be with- I am learning about this every day. Her attitude is always positive, and even in the cold rain, she puts on a smile. She could have blamed me for coming up with this idea and convincing her that it would be fun, but yet she gives me grace.

Biking was one of the best ways to see the small towns, and admit to locals that we needed help. We met countless people because of our need for directions, help, and even the occasional 35 cent ice cream cone. While biking won´t continue, we will continue to be bold in our asking questions in attempts to be close to the actual people and culture. We have in fact, ridden on the back of 4 pick up trucks already, and don´t plan to stop.

the ups, the downs, the highs, the lows

so we admit, bringing our bicycles along on this trip might not have been the best idea we´ve ever had, but thank goodness for what some might refer to as our stubbornness. we prefer to think of it as persistence. yesterday, we decided to hit the road after spending enough time in the busy, capital city of quito. our bikes, loaded up with all that we brought along on this trip (suddenly weighing a LOT more), as our main mode of transportation. following the vague, squiggly lines that looked like roads on our tourist map of quito would be our method of navigation.

it took forever to finally escape the city and the road we found after that didn´t seem much better. it was a six lane highway (thank GOD it had a shoulder) that might have very well been the panamerican highway. at home, honking is a rare gesture used when someone does you wrong on the road. here, a honk can mean anything from ¨hey look at those gringos!¨ to ¨if you don´t get over now, i WILL run you over¨ to ¨keep up the good work¨ or at least that´s what we took all those honks to mean. after a ton of uphill riding (Oregon coast is nothing compared to this), we decided we better ask for directions.

asking an older gentleman on the side of the street how we get to papallacta, he replied, always take your right turn. when you get to a pavement road, then and only then, take a left... sounds easy enough, right? however, not even a block down the road, we came to a Y intersection. asking the lady sitting right (just for confirmation), she assured us that we should take a LEFT. so, we did. and we ended up in a small little town called La Merced. a town that probably doesn´t see many visitors. after enjoying our 35 cent ice cream cones, we decided we better figure out our plan of attack. asking some street vendors, they assured us the only way for us to get to papallacta was to take a truck taxi. we consented as we were exhausted and tired of following directions that were surely leading us in a circle. they called up one of their friends and we were told to wait 15 minutes.

the truck finally arrives and who should be the driver, but our old man friend we had originally asked for directions. he just laughed at us and told his vendor friends about how we obviously didn´t listen to his directions. silvio and his grandson graciously drove us up, up and up even more to the small town (not even really a town) of papallacta. the big attraction here is the thermal hot springs. there are mountains on all sides of us, lush, green ones that are dotted with cows and other grazing livestock. it is one of the most magestic things i´ve ever seen. and to enjoy the view from a hot soaking pool, there are no words. lets just say that all the frustration and exhaustion of yesterday melted away as the moon and stars appeared in this rugged, mountainous place. we are in paradise.


the thermal hot spring pools at the resort.


what we found when we finally made it to the mountain town of papallacta at 10,800ft.

sidenote: every sunday in quito, several main streets are closed off and open only to bicycles and foot traffic. hoards of people take to the streets to enjoy the day, get outside, and be with friends and family. since our bikes were just recently put together, we decided to do as the locals do. we found all sorts of bikes and just as many different kinds of riders. we cruised through quito´s parks and stopped to listen to music, watch people doing aerobics in the parks, skateboard and art demonstrations... probably the most entertaining way we could have spent a sunday morning. for all you portlanders: just think sunday parkways.


ciclopaseo in quito: basically the equivalent of sunday parkways in portland


luke riding the streets of quito for ciclopaseo.

ya llegamos a ecuador!!

luke and i made it last night to quito, ecuador after a whirlwind of a day in chicago with hannah (it was wonderful to see her in her element and to see the place that she calls home) and too many hours in the miami airport. we arrived to a warm evening, lots of fast buses and taxis everywhere, honking, spewing exhaust, and hardly staying in their lanes. after making it to the hostel, we crashed into bed, our bike box and other luggage almost trapping us in the room. this morning, we were met with an amazing view from the 5th floor terrace of the hostel. the city of quito lies in a valley and is surrounded by mountains on all sides. the homes and buildings extend as far as the eye can see.


our crowded hostel room at the secret garden.

what better way to see a city than to just walk out the front door and go? that´s exactly what we did. on our wanderings, we found an incredible basilica with the most intricate stained glass windows, all depicting various moments in the life of jesus. we found the plaza grande, lots of stairs to climb, a park atop a hill with 360 degree views. when hunger found us, we enjoyed tasty pan dulce (sweet bread), empanadas de queso, papas fritas, fresh fruit, and un almuerzo. the prices are right here in ecuador. the country is using the US dollar and has been for the last 11 years. a lunch plate cost us $1.50 each (and left us stuffed to the brim with fresh fruit juice, potato soup, chicken, rice, and vegetables). the fruit was a mere 60 cents for two bananas, mandarins and grapes.


the basilica we found that sits atop a hill in quito.

the fact that both luke and i speak spanish is proving to be most helpful and has allowed us to enter into social situations that other tourists obviously steer clear of. tomorrow morning, we meet up with our two dear friends rueben and luis, who are visiting from portland. then, in the afternoon, we hope to swing by the mennonite church here in quito to meet some of the missionaries there. then, on monday, we hope to take off in search off some hot springs up north called papallacta.

now, the task at hand is to re assemble our bikes and pray that they work just as well here as they did in the states. and so begins our adventure...


our first breakfast in quito. pan dulce, terere, and a great view!

we're wed and now we're off!

It's 10:30pm and somehow we are supposed to be awake at 3:30AM so that we can make it to the PDX airport to catch our flight out of the country (with a pitstop in Chicago with Hannah and from there, on to Florida). Our minds are racing a mile a minute and last minute to do lists keep appearing. After a crazy week, our panniers are packed, our four shirts are picked out for the next 6 months, and our two bikes are squished together into ONE bike box. Now, the reality of what we are about to do is setting in!

The wedding was this weekend and what a special event it was. Many thanks to all the friends and family who traveled from near and far to spend the day and weekend with us! It meant to see so many old, familiar faces, and meet those who mean so much to our loved one (me meeting Luke's Kansas friends and him meeting all my out of town family and friends). A huge thank you to our parents, families, and friends who worked their tails off to make the wedding go off without a hitch. We felt so well loved and supported throughout the whole process.

Perhaps we will finally have time to soak in all that has happened as we spend our 10 hours on an airplane or as we relax at the hostel we've booked in Quito, Ecuador through the weekend. Goodbyes are tough, but we are excited not only for our own adventure, but also to see all that happens in the lives of all who we are leaving.

Adios!