Life on the Farm - Week 1

Hola amigos!

We've just spent our first week on the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm! As an organic farm, there are no chemical pesticides or fertilizers used. So they use compost as a means to naturally enrich the soil. And where do you get compost from? Poop. Lots and lots of poop. And where do get poop from? Well there are compost toilets to collect the human poop from tourists and farm workers, and there are farm animals (horses, cows, pigs and guinea pigs) used solely for their poop – never eaten! It’s a 90% vegetarian farm (occasionally there is some canned tuna).

Our daily routine is as follows:

6:30am we have an early morning routine (changes weekly)

7:30am breakfast (usually fresh fruit salad and granola)

8:30am morning gardening

12:00pm lunch (rice, legumes, salad)

1:30pm afternoon activity (changes weekly)

This week Marsh’s morning routine was tending to the pigs and Shaina’s was tending to the horses and cows. That really means shovelling their poop into a bucket and dumping it in the compost pile. Then feeding the animals – carrying cut grass from a field and grinding it for the cows and horses, or feed mix for the pigs. It’s not a glorious job but the whole farm depends on it! Other morning routines include watering the garden, tending to the guinea pigs, and helping making breakfast.

Our work in the garden this week included lots of hoeing and prepping garden beds for Marsh, and weeding for Shaina, and we both did some planting (beans, corn, yucca, onions, lettuce) and harvesting (onions, peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, turmeric, ginger, chillies, oranges).

This week our afternoon activity was ‘transformations’ which is making items in the kitchen to be sold in town. We roasted and ground coffee, made pineapple and cardamom jam, and passion fruit and ginger jam, and dried spices for a curry (ginger, turmeric, caraway). It was fun and nice to have an easier afternoon together. The kitchen ladies are quite entertaining to work with!

Right now there are about a dozen people taking a permaculture course at the farm, as well as about 4 other volunteers. Tourists come for 1-3 day tours and there is a family living there, and the farm staff. Typically there are around 25 people at the farm but this can go up to 50 depending on the day. More dishes to do, but also more hands to help do them! We have enough volunteers that we don’t have to do the morning routine everyday, which is nice. They’re a great bunch of people and it’s been super fun hanging out on the evenings and weekends together. We had a couple heated games of football/soccer with the whole crew. Unfortunately, English is spoken more often than Spanish but our Spanish vocabulary is improving.

Once a week, we have a cultural day. This week we went into Bahia de Caraquez to have a tour of EcoPapel, a handmade paper recycling business. It was started by the owners of Rio Muchacho Organic Farm and employs local women, providing an alternate industry to the environmentally destructive shrimp farming. Check out www.ecopapel.org – they make beautiful paper products decorated with wildflowers. We got to decorate our own bookmarks J

This weekend we all came into Canoa to do laundry, surf, eat pizza, and drink cervesas and fruity cocktails on the beach! We’ll be heading back to the farm this evening and back to the grind tomorrow! All in all, life on the farm is hard work but so rewarding. Eating the food you’ve worked hard to grow is so cool! Happy soil is a happy plant.

Ciao amigos!

M&S

P.S. Marsh’s Spanish farm name is Marcelito so feel free to use it! J

The Rio Muchacho Organic Farm

Part of the garden

The horses and cows pens

A typical lunch. The cups and spoons are made from gourds and the bowls from clay.

Loofahs! The green one is the live plant; this is peeled and dried in the sun to get the brown one - ready for the shower!

Marsh on the football pitch (at the Rio Muchacho school)

Shaina decorating a bookmark at EcoPapel

Disfrutar el Sol / Fun in the Sun

Hola amigos!

Esperamos que ustedes vayan bien! A petition, este post es en espanol. (No se preocupen, el ingles sigue!) Estamos en la costa de Ecuador. No hay internet en muchas lugares. Ahora, estamos en Canoa, una ciudad en la mitad de la costa. Vamos a contarles de nuestras aventuras desde nuestro ultimo post.

We hope you are all doing well! By request, this post is in Spanish. (Don’t worry the English follows). We are on the cost of Ecuador. There is no internet in most places. Right now, we’re in Canoa, a town in the middle of the coast. We’re going to tell you our adventures since the last post.

Pasamos un otro buen dia en Banos. Primero, fuimos en bicicleta 20 km en la Ruta de Cascadas y regresamos en bus. Despues, tomamos un bano de vapor en nuestra hostal. Se sienta en una caja individual por madera con las hojas de eucalipto y que llena con vapor. Se queda para 5 minutes, despues, se pone un toalla con agua fria sobre todo el cuerpo. Repetio 4 veces. Fue muy relajante y refrescante. Despues el bano de vapor, fuimos por masajes! Por el fin del dia, comimos en un restaurante Swiss, un fondue de res maravilloso! Que buen dia!

We spend another nice day in Banos. First, we biked 20 km on the ‘Route of the Waterfalls’ and came back by bus. Then we took a steam bath at our hostel. You sit in an individual wood box with eucalyptus leaves that fills with steam. You stay there for 5 minutes and then you put a towel with cold water over your whole body. You repeat 4 times. It was very relaxing and refreshing. After the steam bath, we went for massages! To end the day, we ate at a Swiss restaurant, an awesome steak fondue! What a good day!

El proximo dia, fuimos a Tena para ver la selva! No hicimos mucho, solo descansamos. Vamos a hacer un buen tour de la selva en Peru o Bolivia. El proximo dia, fuimos toda la ruta de la selva a la costa! Tomamos el bus de Tena a Quito, con una parada en Papallacta para banarnos en otros termales y para almorzar. Llegamos en Quito en la tarde, y matamos el tiempo hasta el bus salieron a las once de la noche a Atacames, en el norte de la costa. Llegamos a Atacames a las 5 de la manana, y tomamos un taxi a Sua, la vecina ciudad.

The next day, we went to Tena to see the jungle! We didn’t do much, just rested. We’re going to do a good jungle tour in Peru or Bolivia. The next day, we went all the way from the jungle to the coast! We took the bus from Tena to Quito, with a stop in Papallacta to soak in more hot springs and to eat lunch. We arrived in Quito in the afternoon, and we killed time until our bus left at 11pm to Atacames, in the north of the coast. We arrived in Atacames at 5am and took a taxi to Sua, the neighbouring town.

Andar en bicicleta en 'la Ruta de Cascadas' cerca de Banos

Bicycling on the Route of the Waterfalls near Banos

Sua fue tranquilo, con una playa mas o menos bonita. El hostal tuve un piscina! Estuvimos alegre para comer los mariscos frescos y la comida diferente de la sierra, pero el espanol en la costa esta mas dificil a entender. La gente no pronuncian los 's', por ejemplo, por "como estas" se dicen "como eta" Mas a aprender!

Sua was quiet, with a pretty nice beach. The hostel had a pool! We were happy to eat fresh seafood and different meals than in the highlands, but the Spanish on the coast is more difficult to understand. The people don’t pronounce ‘s’, for example, “como estas” (how are you), they say “como eta”. More to learn!

La playa en Sua / The beach en Sua

Pasamos un dia en la playa de Sua, despues continuamos a la promixa ciudad, Same. Same habia una playa mucha mas agradable. Nos quedamos en un muy buen hostal, junto a la playa, para dos dias.

Despues Same, continuamos al sur, hasta a la ciudad pequena Mompiche. Aqui, tomamos un clase de surf! Fue un buen lugar para aprender por que las olas fueron muy tranquilas. Ambos se subimos facilemente en la tabla de surf (con un empuje pequeno de nuestra profesor Jeferson). Nos gusto mucho el surf!

We spent one day on the beach in Sua, and then continued to the next city, Same (pronounced Sah-may). Same had a much nicer beach. We stayed in a really nice hostal, right on the beach, for 2 days.

After Same, we continued south, until the small town Mompiche. Here, we took a surf lesson! It was a good spot to learn because the waves aren’t rough. We both got up easily on the board (with a little push from our instructor Jeferson). We really liked it!

La vista de nuestra habitation en Same / The view from our room in Same

De Mompiche, vinimos a Canoa, donde estamos ahora. Los buses en la costa no son tan buenos como los en la sierra. Por ejemplo, de Mompiche a Canoa, esta mas o menos 150 km, pero el viaje fue 6 horas y necesitamos tomar 4 buses! La playa de Canoa esta nuestra favorita. Los olas son mas grandes y tomamos una otra clase de surf hoy.

From Mompiche, we came to Canoa, where we are now. The buses on the coast are not as good as those in the highlands. For example, from Mompiche to Canoa it’s about 150 km, but the trip took 6 hours and we had to take 4 buses! The beach in Canoa is our favourite. The waves are bigger and today we took another surf lesson.

La playa de Canoa / The beach in Canoa

Ayer fuimos al Finca Organica Rio Muchacho, 17 km de Canoa. Visitamos los jardines donde crecen frutas y vegetales, incluso el cafe y cacao. Vimos como functiona la finca, con banos de compostaje y reciclaje de agua. En la tarde, hicimos chocolate de cacao! Muy interesante y muy delicioso!

Yesterday we went to the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm, 17 km from Canoa. We visited the gardens where they grow all kinds of fruits and vegetables, including coffee and cocoa. We saw how the farm works, with composting toilets and recycled water. In the afternoon, we made chocolate from the cocoa seeds! Very cool and delicious!

Nos gusto tanto la finca que decidio ser voluntarios! Manana volvemos a la finca para un mes! Pasamos las mananas trabajando en la finca y las tardes hacemos actividades diferentes cada semana. Cada fin de semana, no hay trabajo, y podemos venir a la ciudad para usar internet y relajar. (No hay internet a la finca.) Vaya a www.riomuchacho.com para mas information.

We liked the farm so much that we decided to volunteer there! Tomorrow we go back to the farm for a month! We’ll spend the mornings working on the farm and the afternoons doing different activities each week. On the weekends, there is no work, and we can come into the city to use internet and relax. (There is no internet at the farm). Go to www.riomuchacho.com for more information.

Chocolate que hicimos en Rio Muchacho Finca Organica /

The chocolate we made at the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm

(Shaina is peeling the roasted cocoa seeds and Marsh is eating the chocolate with bananas)

Nos desean suerte!

Hasta la proxima semana,

Wish us luck!

Until next week,

Marsh and Shaina

xoxo

Shopping, Trekking, Climbing, and Relaxing

Hey Everyone!

Sorry it has been a while since we have taken the time to update you....so here we go!

Following our amazing trip to the Galapagos we were ready to leave Quito for good and see more of Ecuador. The first stop we made was in Otavalo (about 2 hours northeast of Quito) to see the Saturday indigenous market. Otavalo's Saturday market is Ecuador's largest and you can find almost anything you can imagine (from wide array of colourful handicrafts and knock-off designer clothing, to fresh fruit and veggies and food stalls).

Shaina walking the aisles of the market in Otavalo

We couldn't spend the day at the market and come home empty handed, so Marsh picked up an Ecuador soccer jersey and Shaina found some nice turquoise earrings and necklace!

After Otavalo, we headed south to Latacunga (1.5 hours south of Quito) which was the town we would use as a base for a few mountainous adventures. The first adventure was a 4 day/3 night trek on the Quilotoa Loop that was dubbed the 'best hike in Ecuador!' The trek ended at Lake Quilotoa (the huge crater of an inactive volcano that is now filled with salt water!). The trek started after a bus ride to the small town of Sigchos. After 4 hours of walking, some beautiful scenery in the Andes, and a couple of mean blisters on Shaina's left heel we arrived in Insilivi where we spent the night.

Shaina on the walk from Sigchos to Insilivi

The second day of the hike was a 5 hour walk from Isinlivi to Chugchilan. The scenery on day two was amazing as we walked along a river in a deep valley until climbing way up and out of the valley to Chugchilan.

Marsh on the walk from Isinlivi to Chugchilan

The view of the Canyon from just outside of Chugchilan

The 3rd day was the most physically demanding day of the trek and had us climbing for 6 hours from Chugchilan to Quilotoa (elevation 3900 meters above sea level). However, when we reached the top of the mountain, the view we found was amazing!

Lake Quilotoa

On day 4 we walked down to the lake to take for a closer look. We had read in our Lonely Planet that we would be able to ride horses back up to the top of the crater, but to our dismay there were no horses at the lake.....it turns out you had to arrange for the horses before descending to the lake....so we had to hike it back up before catching the afternoon bus back to Latacunga.

One of the reasons we had decided to hike the Quilotoa loop was to help acclimatize ourselves to hiking at altitude, as our next mission was to climb Cotopaxi (Ecuador's second highest peak at 5847 meters above sea level!). It is a two day task. On day one you drive into Cotopaxi National Park and up to the parking lot at 4500 masl, and then climb to the refuge (4800 masl) where you eat dinner and sleep until midnight. On day two you begin your climb in the middle of the night in hopes of reaching the peak (5847 masl) by sunrise at 6am before descending back down to the refuge and driving back to Latacunga (2800 masl).

Cotopaxi Volcano from the roof of our hostel in Latacunga

We were very excited about the possibility of conquering such a high peak! However, our confidence began to waiver when we started getting some bad "signs"..... First, Shaina got sick from gluten the day before we were supposed to head to the mountain so we postponed our trip by 1 day. Then, when we did go, our guide's SUV got a flat tire on the way to the national park.....and because it was Sunday it was hard to find a place that was open in order to fix the flat. However, after an hour or two we got it fixed and made our way to the entrance of the national park....only to find out that the park was temporarily closed because there were too many visitors that day and the road up to the volcano was too dangerous with all the traffic. After a 20-30 minute wait they reopened the gate so were still able to get into the park. By this time it was late afternoon, about the time we'd normally be in the refuge relaxing.

Marsh inside the park still excited to climb!

Although it looks like a lovely day in the picture, when we got out of the car at the parking lot the wind was howling and the temperature was just above zero. We still managed to climb up to the refuge just before dark (2 hours later than we were supposed to arrive), but on the way up Shaina's camel pack (water container) leaked due to the significant increase in altitude and soaked one of our sleeping bags! So after our dinner at the refuge, we crammed into one sleeping bag and tried to get some rest before the climb at midnight. However, things continued going south as Shaina became a victim of altitude sickness and was too busy puking to attempt the climb :(. Marsh still felt okay so when midnight rolled around he got out of bed, grabbed his crampons, ice axe, and poles and started the climb with our guide. It was freezing cold and the wind was howling but progress was being made. Marsh and Julian (the guide) had reached 5200 masl by 3am and were the highest of all the people attempting the summit. However, at this point the wind picked up another notch and the guides decided it was unsafe to continue (so you wouldn't get blown into an ice crevice) and everyone had to return to the refuge. Julian said that it was the windiest night he had ever seen in his 16 years of climbing Cotopaxi and one of the few times nobody made the summit. So that was the icing on the cake for our string of bad luck!

After returning to the refuge and waiting until sunrise, we returned to Latacunga for some sleep. Shaina was back to normal after descending back to 'normal' at 2800 masl in Latacunga.

So Cotopaxi did not go as planned but it was still a learning experience and we think we'll stick to the trekking and leave the mountaineering to the professionals....

Today (Tuesday) we headed to Banos for some R&R. It is a quaint town in the valley of the Tungurahua volcano which provides 4 natural not springs or thermal baths (hence the name on the town). It's a lovely spot, with nice hostels and restaurants. We're now on the eastern edge of the Andes, approaching the jungle, where we'll head next.

We spent the afternoon soaking in the natural thermal baths, alternating between hot and cold for 'la vida y la salud'. Tomorrow we're going to bike to some waterfalls and then come back for a steam bath and the spa! A welcome change from Latacunga and Cotopaxi!

The 'Virgin of the Holy Water' Thermal Baths in Banos

Next, we'll make a brief stop in the jungle in the town of Tena (we're waiting to do a jungle tour in Peru or Bolivia) and then it's back up north to the coast (to the town of Atacames - via Quito) for some beach time!

Hope everyone is doing well at home! send us updates!

Love, Marsh and Shaina

xoxo

P.S. we got our wedding photos back in digital format, so let us know if you want to see 1000 pictures of us! (and guests) :)