Greetings from the Andes mountains of Ecuador!!
on a three day trek through the highlands of the Andes
on a one night camping trip near the top of Cotacachi Volcano
This could be the last time we write before we disappear into the Amazon basin in eastern Ecuador (hopefully forever, according to Rich, and hopefully not, according to Ang). We plan to spend the next month volunteering with the organization Jatun Sacha.
If you remember from our last blog entry, we have been working with the org CASA Interam, a NGO started by our friend, Peter.
He has projects in 5 villages here in Ecuador and is putting together a long trekking trail to link these villages. We joined him on two legs of the trip as he searched for the best route. It was a great experience to be on seldom walked trails and to meet the community members involved in ecotourism projects with Casainteram.
Here Peter is leading us in a needed break. We spent a good amount of time in the paja grass of the paramo, the high altitude grasslands.
One trek we did was from La Chimba village to Pihal village. Above are some of the the villagers from La Chimba. They are all involved in the ecotourism project and will be the guides for this trail. Benecio, in the Che Guevara hat, is a very powerful young leader. It was a pleasure getting to know him and his great work in the fight for indigenous rights. We could see the wisdom and strength of the ancients in his piercing eyes.
The hike was beautiful with amazing views of misty paramo hills and dense cloud forests clinging to steep hillsides. Unfortunately, the last leg of the trail was cut earlier that morning with a machete. This made the steep descent slippery and challenging. We made it without any broken ankles.
The villagers from Pihal were waiting for us at the bottom. They had prepared a feast in light of the historic moment of the beginning of this trail. Their hope is that more groups of ecotourists will arrive to their village. They, along with the other communities that Pete works with, are developing small ecotourism projects in hopes of gaining some income. Pete is doing great work to help them in this project!
After that hike we stayed in another of the towns that Pete is working in, Peribuela. We stayed for 10 days and during that time we collected information for the book we wrote, printed and made 70 copies of. Hopefully the PDF file will be on the internet soon. We will let you know!
Above is the cover. It is a small book about the forest and community of Peribuela. It was a wonderful experience learning about this unique place. We learned a lot about the rare high altitude forest that the community has decided to protect. We studied the animals, medicinal plants, orchids, trees, and birds.
We also learned about their history and struggles to gain land and freedom from the Spanish hacienda system, where the indigenous people of Ecuador worked for centuries as slaves for the Spanish landowners. Now they have some land, but the haciendas still have the best, most fertile land in the valleys.
This is our wonderful guide, Don Jeronimo. We spent most of every day with him. Here he is holding the rare
arrayan aromatico from deep in the forest. The tea from this leaf is incredible: a mix between bay and lemon.
What a suprise (and a treat) to eat fresh wild blueberries in Ecuador. Unfortunately, we were a few weeks early for the peak of the harvest.
While in Peribuela Richard had a memorable debut as a beekeeper. His pants were too short and he suffered many stings that gave him quite an allergic reaction. Luckily, Don Jeronimo's wife 'cleansed him of his fear' by rubbing egg and leaves on his body.
Here Dona Lola is ¨healing¨ Ang with a warm fire and fresh tortillas that were more like pancakes.
During our time in Peribuela we went on some great hikes. Above is a photo of an incedible and powerful waterfall that we hiked for hours to find. The altitude is over 10,000 feet. What a brisk refreshing shower (for Ang) and bath (for Rich)!
We also climbled up to the paramo above the village and spent a cold night under the mountain. The temp dropped below freezing after dinner.
We had a nice warm blanket!
When our research was done, Peter joined us for another uncharted leg of the loop hike. It turned out to be a three day trek up and over the paramo and between two mountains and down to a lower valley.
The neighbor girls from Peribuela helped carry our bags. Well, they posed for a funny photo before we left.
During our hike it rained for over twelve hours, luckily most of that time we were in our leaky tent.
We had to cross several rivers that had swelled with the rain. The water burned our legs it was so cold!
We were happy to arrive in the quaint village of Piñan the next day. This village is located on the land of an old hacienda owner, who is kicking them off the land. It is a fascinating story that gives perspective to the struggle of the indigenous people of the area. Even though the area is part of an Ecological reserve established by the Ecuadorian government, this rich landowner still grazes hundreds of cattle throughout the land that once was his. Supposedly, he was paid for this land, but he still keeps his cows on it.
The people of Piñan will be moving their village only 15 minutes away. They have received help to buy the building materials, and they don´t seem to mind the move. The saddest part is that their traditional mud houses will be replaced by cement block, which is much colder, and much less pleasing to the eyes. This village scene will soon be lost. There aren´t many scenes like this left in Ecuador.
The walk down from the village was the most beautiful as we descended the paramo, with views of distant snow capped valleys, into the dense cloud forests.
After we arrived in the warmer tropical valley, and spent the next couple days soaking our sore muscles in a wonderful thermal pool! We ate delicious trout next to the river where they came from.
After a frustrating few days of finding a "publisher" for our book (a good printer and copy machine), we took a vacation from our volunteering and visited some other mountain communities.
The scenery was spectacular...
and the people just as interesting and beautiful.
We took a famous train ride through the mountains, including some narrow canyons and steep terrain. The main attraction is a section that goes under a mountain area called the Nose of the Devil.
adventures...
- visiting an art gallery in a community that started the famous Ecuadorian Tigua Art
- playing with llamas
- hiking around a crater lake
- the May pole dance
Once again, we hope you enjoy!
The view from the computer center. Yes, that is a volcano! 
This is the lovely family that fed us for the week. Delia made some mean cheese empañadas every morning.
Too cute!
Daniella, my playmate for the week, enjoyed counting how many times she could jump up and down. 30 times!
Doña María Mercedes has one of the last adobe houses in the area and she has a garden full of lemon grass, cabuya (agave), guava, platano, and many many herbs.
Doña María was harvesting her cabuya (agave) to sell and brought some sugar cane juice for the worker. Would you like some cane juice?
Sure, why not.
This is Don Julio, the neighbor, who we shared many meals with during our week. In this photo he is making the dried cabuya (agave) into thread which will be woven into bags, hats, baskets.
Here the cabuya is being made into a belt for Richard. 
