NHESP 2009 Final Update

Your eyes are soft with sorrow

Now hey hey that's no way

To say good bye...

-Leonard Cohen

Dearest readers,

We can hardly believe that in less than 24 hours, we will be on a plane flying back to the States. The energy today is quiet, but also a bit chaotic. People are packing their personal gear, as well as closing things up with their big jobs. The air is full of emotion. Excitement, sadness, mellowness, etc.

This last week we packed a lot in to our schedule. We worked on our big job pages for the main lesson books, as well as putting last touches on to the Choza. Each of us chose a post or rafter, engraved a design into them, and then oiled them. Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time to put a roof up or do adobe, but it still looks great!

One of the days we took an early bus to Otavalo, the craft capital of Ecuador. We arrived and wandered through the colorful market where there were gorgeous items to purchase. Hammocks, ponchos, bags, dolls, tapestries, clothes, raw material, you name it. It was special to be there, amongst the proud locals who are selling their handmade goods. We enjoyed a traditional lunch together after everyone made their purchases, and then went to share pie! We had had so many conversations about pie, and now were able to eat it. Pineapple, lemon, raspberry, blueberry and chocolate. You can imagine how tasty it was.

On Friday night we had quite the fiesta. Ross and Lily made immense burritos that filled us after three bites. Afterwards, Gabby and Sebastian, the couple that accompanied us on the mountains, came to Palugo to teach salsa dancing. Music and dance filled the night. Trina and Hannah M. ended the night with an enthusiastic funk party. (Trina was deemed the "winner".)

Saturday we prepared for graduation. Throughout the week Marcela had helped us with our presentation, so on Saturday we practiced only a little and cleaned the Chozon and dwellings. That night Misha, who arrived on Thursday, showed us a beautiful slideshow of his family trip of the Green River in Utah. It was inspiring and many of us expressed wishes to follow their footsteps on a similar trip. Thank you Misha!

On Sunday, we had the big day! Guests started arriving after lunch. One by one, group by group they came. Parents and friends from San Clemente, (our three Ecuadorian students' town), German from Zuleta, the owners of the Tatoo company, and then the families who work on the farm at Palugo. It was great to see everyone and to feel their support. All of us looked super spiffy in our bright, clean, white embroidered shirts. We ate dinner all together and played music outside. Adela had prepared the veal that Oso, her massive dog, killed a couple day's before. It was great to have it, along with potatoes, salad, juice, and other dishes. After dinner, the San Clemente folks shared their unannounced presentation with us. I had been wondering why they came with llama chaps and interesting masks. Music began and the two men with the chaps and masks began to dance. The other members of their community danced behind them in a line, taking short quick steps to the music. Slowly the audience joined the dance, and by the end we were all dancing around in a circle. German's flute playing was beautiful.

Trekking to Cotopaxi

Then came our presentation! I won't go into details because most of you will see the presentation at the NH graduation. It went wonderfully without a bump, and everyone loved it. The Ecuadorian student's certificates were presented to them, and the air was filled with gratitude. Manuel, San Clemente's main spokesman, expressed in kind and sincere words how grateful they were, and gave Misha, Ross, Lily, Marcea and Thomas each gorgeous ceramic traditional bowls filled with habas and corn. The owner of Tatoo also expressed his gratitude, giving Misha a shirt. We gave out our thank you cards that we made and little bottles of maple syrup. It was a bittersweet time. To end the evening we watched a great slideshow that Jackson, (our photographer), had put together with Thomas. It was amazing to see where we had been!

Right now it's night-time and everyone else is sleeping around me. We are all in the Choza together because we cleaned our dwellings today. We had a late night at Marcea and Thomas' home, sitting around a fire, making bread on a stick, roasting veal meat, and sharing our feelings about closing the semester. Adela, Mathius, Nicole, Michael, Marcela and Misha joined us for a little bit, which was really sweet because it was our chance to say goodbye to all of them besides Misha. We played music using the drums that some people had made. Then we gave our secret Santa gifts. These were a gift that we gave to the person who's name we had picked from a hat earlier on. The gift was supposed to be something really special to the giver, and that s/he was attached to. Everyone received really nice things. It was a good idea of Thomas'. A little reminder of letting stuff go and sharing it with people you love.

Well my fellow readers, right now it is 1:30am, and we're waking up at 3:15. It's going to be a long day of travel! So I must rest.

It was an absolute pleasure sharing this semester experience with you.

Thank you for all your support!

Adios y paz,

Melodia

Thank you Marcea and Thomas!!!!

PS: Please join us on Saturday, Dec 13 at 3 PM at the Monadnock Waldorf School to celebrate our semester experiences. We start with a slide show followed by a presentation and finish with the graduation ceremony. A silent auction will help us raise some money for the scholarship fund to support our Ecuadorian friends, Naty, Tupac and Roberto. Their presence was invaluable. Thank you all!!!

NHESP 2009 Update 12

Step by step the longest march

Can be won can be won

Many stones do form an arch

Singly none singly none

And by union what we will

Can be accomplished still

Drops of water turn the mill

Singly none singly none

 

Dearest Fellow Readers,

We are back at Palugo after an amazing 18-day expedition! What a great adventure we had. This whole semester we've had a view of Cotopaxi, the second largest mountain in Ecuador, standing at 5,897 meters above sea level. Over this last expedition we walked all the way from Palugo to the summit of Cotopaxi, about 70km. The ultimate trek! We could barely believe it when we were standing at the base of this majestic beauty. But, I think I'm getting a little too much ahead of myself. Let me take it back to where I left off in the short update I sent last.

So our first two days of trekking were amongst the clouds on mountain ridges and grassy pastures where bulls roamed. On the third morning three students went back to Palugo to rest, leaving the rest to finish the trek to Antisana by themselves. So they had a solo! Although they were partially led by a friendly park ranger, Manuel. The next morning Thomas and Lily met the group, and were later followed by Ross, Marcea, Erica myself and Hannah. It was wonderful to have everyone back together and hear our different stories.

When we woke up the next morning, there was a beautiful huge rainbow right in front of our base camp. Ross and Lily surprised us with a fruity oatmeal. We then had time to prepare for our skills test. Before the actual test, we had lunch and were entertained by two Ecuadorian wolves that were super friendly as well as very sneaky. They almost ran off with Hannah Miller's bright blue underwear! There were five different skills that we would have to know. One was making a fire, maintaining it, and taking it down. Another was building an anchor, strong enough to secure our fellow comrades, using a knot of our choice that we had learned. The third skill was knife sharpening, so they were sharp enough to shave with. The next was reading and orienting maps. Finally, the fifth skill was knowing how to assemble 7 specific important knots. Happily everyone passed! We enjoyed pasta with peanut sauce and cabbage salad for dinner, and headed to bed early to be rested for the climb up to Moraine camp the following day.

This was the camp we would stay at before going up to our high camp on the glacier. Once we arrived to Moraine camp, we set up camp, and then brought our mountaineering gear up to the edge of the glacier to lighten the load for the following day. That night it was very chilly, but we still enjoyed a rice and lentil soup for Thomas’ birthday. Erica, who had been back in Palugo for a rest to recover from a stomach illness surprised both Thomas and I with a chocolate cake that Adela had made for our birthdays. It was quite a night.

The next day we headed up to high camp. Imagine pitching tents on top of the icy snow and having a view of the sunset above the clouds. We were served hot chocolate in our tents and ate delicious pesto quinoa. What a place to fall a sleep in!

The hike up to the summit of Antisana commenced at around 3am. I know I already mentioned this in the last update, but seeing nothing but the sparkling snow beneath us and the trains of headlights that looked like Chinese lanterns was magical. We were walking up the mountain to greet the sun that would rise in a couple of hours. Thomas said that while other people were dreaming in their beds, we were living our dreams on the mountain. There were a few steep and technical areas on the glacier, but everyone who left from high camp made it to our summit, which was 50 meters from the actual summit. There wasn't any visible way to get to the actual summit because of shifts in the glacier, but we still all felt like we reached the summit. What a view we had! A layer of clouds, with Cotopaxi peeking above them, along with all the other tall mountains in the region. It felt so exciting to be there and experience the glacier with each other. I personally felt I had been given a gift from the entire world, since it was my birthday! Truly special. The descent back to high camp went smoothly, with Thomas and Mathias testing our self-arrest skills by suddenly yelling "Tension! Tension!" and sliding rapidly down the mountain. That warmed us up! After a fine lunch that the folks who stayed behind prepared for us (Ross, Hannah C. and Naty), we descended even further all the way back to base camp. The llamas from the area were there to greet us. We washed up and started preparing dinner. We accidentally opened up a can of condensed sweet milk, so we made sweet birthday popcorn, which was a lovely treat! We had a long meeting about how we felt about the closeness of the group, and what it meant to be in a community. Then we happily and sleepily went to bed.

Since it was Thanksgiving day the next day, during lunch we shared in a circle about what our families do to celebrate the holiday. Then we all got excited and started taking about our favorite pies. I'm pretty sure everyone was a tad bit homesick. But the games we played afterwards took our homesickness away quickly. Since we had the whole day to rest and talk, we decided that we haven't been playing enough games during this semester. So we played capture the flag and quite a few other classics. The altitude was definitely noticeable by our easy tiredness and heavy breathing, but it was still a bunch of fun.

I guess I don't need to go into full detail about every single day and where we stayed each night. I'll say that we ended up staying at the base camp of Antisana for two nights longer than expected, while we waited to see if Tobias would feel better. His stomach didn't feel any better, so he ended up going back to Palugo with Marcea and Geoff. Our group decided that if one of our members were sick and had to go back to Palugo, that another student would go with them to be their care taker. Geoff would catch up with us when we got to the base of Cotopaxi. Until then, the rest of us continued our trek. Through fields, on mossy soils, under hawks and past rabbits, we went along mountain ridges. It truly was a beautiful trek. On the evening that we left Antisana, we were settling in at our campsite and Hannah C. accomplished her dream of catching a roaming horse that was nearby. She managed to do so with just her scarf. The rest of us were watching from the tarp, and Erica said, "Either that horse is really old, really tired, or Hannah is magical." It was amazing to see how tame the horse was with Hannah. It even let her sit on it! Incredible. Hannah's smile afterwards was priceless.

When we arrived to the Cotopaxi side of the mountain range, we stayed at the campsite for two nights. Marcea and Geoff met us, and Hannah M. switched with Geoff, to go back and be with Tobias. Francisco, who dropped them off, left us with fresh mangos, yogurt, banana and zuchinni bread. Marcea also brought the mandolin with her, which Lily really enjoyed playing on the remainder of our trek. Walking towards Cotopaxi, everyone was noticeably stronger. It was the best trekking day we ever did together, because we stayed together at the same pace. We camped at a high altitude, above the clouds with a fantastic view of Chimborazo, Ecuador's tallest mountain. We could also see an erupting volcano! The next day we didn't have very far to walk to get to the lodge where we would stay at the base of Cotopaxi. It was a cozy little place with two cabins and a loft for us to stay in. Once we rested for a bit, took showers and settled in, Mathias drove up with Ross, Hannah M, Tobias, and his cousin Sabastian with his wife Gabby. We hadn't seen Tobias for a few days, so it was really nice to see him again. The owner of the lodge made us an incredibly delicious dinner with four different courses. We all found it odd to sit at a table with glass windows and a great view. There was also a heater by the couches, so it was super cozy. That night we all slept really well. 

The next day after a yummy lunch that Marcea made all of us, we started ascending up towards Moraine/high camp. It was all up hill for 5.2 km. Luckily we had two horses to carry up all of our food and group gear. In the direction we were heading, directly over Cotopaxi we could see lightning and hear thunder. We were also hit with a good amount of hail, which didn't send off the warmest welcome. The Moraine camp was nice with rubber tents and a stove. After eating a little something and meeting about who had their heart set on going up Cotopaxi, we went to bed early, since we would have to wake up at midnight.

Waking up so early wasn't so bad. We shared a delicious oat raisin chocolate colada. It was really warming. Gathering our gear we hiked for about an hour up to the glacier. Hannah C., Jackson and Bryson stayed behind at camp but their hearts were with us. The climb was like Antisana... but different. The snow sparkled to the bright full moon, it wasn't as steep or as technical, and the sunrise was beautiful. There we were, on top of the clouds. As we got closer to the top we could smell sulphur and see smoke coming out of various crevices. At the summit there was a huge crater covered in snow. Everyone was so excited to have made it. Trina and I had been saving our last mangos for this moment, so we enjoyed them on the glacier. We were blessed by the morning and headed down soon enough. What a rewarding and proud feeling it was. We carried this feeling all the way back with us to Palugo.

Once we walked back to the lodge, we had to walk even more downhill to meet our bus. Everyone was sleepy and took little catnaps on the ride home. When we arrived back at Palugo, Adela brought us an amazing dinner of quiche, meat loaf, soup, rice, salad and chocolate ice cream cake!! Thanks Adela! Such rich food after simple but delicious expedition food! It felt good to be back and we were all very grateful of Adela.

Well my fellow readers, you are now caught up in great detail of our expedition. It was certainly an experience and an accomplishment, walking all the way from Palugo to the summit of Cotopaxi. Being back at Palugo, people have told us that they're impressed with how much we're glowing and how we seem to have grown tighter together. We went over the schedule for these next days with Thomas, and every moment is packed. We are working on engraving little personal drawings into the choza, our garden house, working on projects and academic work. There is a lot of preparation for coming back to the States!  We are also going to Otavalo to go to the craft market there, we will have a salsa night taught by Sabastian and Gabby, and doing many other exciting things. It's odd to think about leaving Palugo, the place we've called home for the past three months, and to part from each other. But we're also very excited to see all of you in less than two weeks! Wow!

 

With hugs all the way from the glaciers,

Your scribe,

Melodia

 

Geoff would like to wish his father Daniel a Happy Birthday.

Hannah M would like to wish her brother Jake a Happy Birthday and says she will make him a rockin’ birthday cake in a couple weeks.

Hannah C would like to wish her Aunt Dietra a Happy belated Birthday.

Jackson would like to wish his sister Sofie a Happy Birthday. She is now 19.

 

                                    

 

 

NHESP 2009 Update 11

Dearest readers,

My dear readers, we are all together, safe and well. It’s amazing how many super changes and adventures have happened so far on our second expedition. Right now we are at our base camp in Antisana. And Mathias is about to take unneeded gear back to Palugo, so I need to write a very brief update to send back with him.

We left on expedition on November 18^th . Walking right out of Palugo, we came to a cobble stone road surrounded by grazing cows. It was a beautiful day to walk through gorgeous fields, over grassy hills and passing friendly horses, we made our way toward our camp for the night. We were greeted by Chagras, Ecuadorian cowboys, who were on horses and were curious of what we were up to and where we were going. When we mentioned Cotopaxi, they exchanged surprised looks and remarked that it was a loooong way!  Our campsite for the night was gorgeous, surrounded by flaky paper trees and easy access to water and  wood - ideal. The next morning we enjoyed the fresh delicious yogurt that Marcela sent along. We ate it with quinoa and pineapple. Then we started off on our second trek day. Along mountain ridges we walked, amongst the cloud with occasional glimpses of Antisana. Sometimes bulls walked alongside of us, giving us odd company. On the third day we go to our base camp at Antisana, where we prepared for our ascent

Most of us summited Antisana, which was fabulous. It was exceptionally special for me as it was on my birthday. In the picture you see us resting on the top of Antisana with Cotopaxi in the background above the clouds on the right side

There is so much I want to write and tell you, but it will have to wait until we return to Palugo. Everyday we grow stronger and closer as a group and I am certain that everyone will have some wonderful stories to tell when we return.

With thoughts of sparkling glacier snow and excitement for what’s to come,

I leave you dear readers.

Peace,

Your scribe for the NHESP 2010, this is Melodia 

NHESP 2009 Update 10

Buenas tardes a todos!

Tomorrow we’re leaving bright and early on our next expedition, so this will be all the news until our return in two weeks.

These last few days have been filled with different exciting events. We had a second informative geography lesson with Michael, talking about the mountain ranges in Ecuador, the different altitudes we were at when on our last expedition, different ways that mountains form and various types of rock. Michael has a lively way of teaching, and it was fun to have a class together.

The next day a lot of us were in the kitchen, cooking and cutting up vegetables and beef to go into the food dehydrator, when we were visited by a group of Outward Bound semester students with Michael. They were all Americans, with ages ranging from 18 to 29. It was really exciting because it was the first time we connected with other students around our ages. We had a very brief visit, sharing where we were from and how our semesters were going so far. We all wanted to spend more time with them, but knew how busy everyone was. Michael will be leaving in a couple of days to go up Antisana and Cotopaxi with the group before we go.

We finished the frame of the choza, YEAH!!! (the garden house that we’ve been working on for Palugo)! The rafters are all up, and everything is ready for tiling and making adobe walls. We’ll do that when we come back from the expedition. It’s still a feeling of accomplishment for everyone.

Our semester’s terrace is also coming along beautifully. We are going to have so many veggies for our graduation here in Ecuador. Potatoes, cabbage, corn, beans.

For the past week we’ve had two bins filled with a mixture of alpaca and wool, that we’ve been cleaning in preparation for making felted hats. We were hoping to get the hats done by the time we left for expedition, but it looks like that will also have to happen after we get back. The other day we had a felting class with Marcea, teaching us how to make our future hats.
Yesterday was a different and fun day. We all got our mountaineering little back packs and headed down to the main road to meet Thomas and Mathias with a truck, ready to take us rock climbing. The place where we went wasn’t too far away. The climbing faces were huge with routes made, some of them by Michael. Thomas and Mathias lead four different routes for us, all being close together. Almost everyone climbed and took turns belaying. The watermelon Mathias brought was refreshing and cooling for the hot sunny day. When we weren’t climbing, we were practicing tying knots, preparing for our skills test. Erica and Trina tried out leading on the faces. It was fun to take a break from being at Palugo. On our way back we went to a tree nursery where there were also trout ponds. We could choose any tree we wanted to plant back at Palugo. Trees like palm of the puma, elderberry, black walnut, papaya, guava, rosemary, and many others were chosen. On our way back to Palugo it started raining, a blessing for the locals because they have been in the longest drought they’ve had for a long time. We walked back up to Palugo in the rain and everyone with their trees in their arms. There was plenty of time once we got back to relax and write journal entries.

We were asked not to enter the Chozón, our common space, because Marcela and Damian were rehearsing their theatre performance. Marcea brought us fancy clothes to borrow for the night, because we were supposed to go to the performance in formal wear, and Marcea didn’t think quick dry pants and long underwear would cut it. The guys all got to wear colorful traditional ponchos, and the ladies wore skirts. Some of us even pulled out our jewelry that we bought in Shiwakucha. We all looked clean and sharp. Entering the Chozón, it was set up beautifully. Candles everywhere and tables with tablecloths. The name of the performance and dinner was called “Fine Dining”, “Feeny Deeny”. And the name really suited the set up. We were served delicious tuna on spinach leaves, mashed potatoes, lentils, and brownies with tea. Throughout the dinner Marcela and Damian entertained us with improvisation. Thomas’ parents also came, and a few other guests. It was good cheer and fun. Thank you Marcela and Damian!

So today we were left to organize and clean everything before leaving on expedition. There are still things to do, but everyone has been very productive with their time. Joey gave us a wonderful presentation on where we are going on our 17 days on expedition, Erica and Tupac wrote up a packing list for both group and personal gear, Hannah M has been working like crazy, organizing all the food for our expedition, Susanna sharpened and oiled all the tools for the choza and made some sheathes, Tobias got our water filters assembled, Geoff made some super good beef jerky, I dried a bunch of fruit and some vegetables and made a lots of granola, Joey figured out our routes and laminated our maps to take with us, Jackson made energy bars and cut a normal size shovel to a smaller more portable size, Trina made a bunch of tea mixes all for different purposes and organized the med kit, and Bryson organized camp gear. Everyone else helped a lot, and we all feel prepared to leave! A few of us still have to plant our baby trees and finish our journal entries, but otherwise, we’re all set! It’ll be a little more than two weeks before I write the next update. We’ll have hopefully climbed both Antisana and Cotopaxi. What stories we’ll have to share!

Until then, we all wish you a very cozy and Happy Thanksgiving! You can think of us on Thanksgiving Day, when we’ll have descended from Antisana’s summit, and will be at our base camp, huddled into our tents. It’s all an adventure!

Peacefully and with gratitude,

Your scribe, Melodia, for the NHESP

Erica has a quote to add:

Amaranth

A favorite food throughout the Americas since ancient times, when the toasted and sweetened seeds were molded with honey into cakes offered to the Gods. Also known as “garden spinach,” it can be prepared in any way that one would spinach. The mature seeds make an excellent, protein-rich grain. A tablespoon of the fresh leaf juice is given three times daily for anemia, as the plant is rich in iron, calcium, and vitamins. The leaves and branches are boiled and cooled to use as a wash for wounds, sores, and rashes.

-Rosita Arvigo in Satsun.

Trina would like to wish her sister Siena a happy early birthday. Welcome to the year of fourteen. It’s a good one. Hopefully.

Trina also wishes a Happy Thanksgiving to the Powers clan.

Jackson would like to say Happy Thanksgiving to his family. They’re all wonderful and nurturing human beings. He thinks their loving is a miracle. Blessings on their souls. Especially Lulu.

Tobias would like to thank his parents for the supplements. He’s already feeling better.

NHESP 2009 Update 9

“You work that you may keep pace with the Earth

and the soul of the Earth.

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons,

and to step out of life’s procession.”

-Kahlil Gibran

 

Greetings all readers!

 

Our first week here at Palugo flew by just as quickly as the long-tailed hummingbirds that we often see. We finally got back into our regular routines, even though the rhythm of expedition and the songs we learned in the jungle still echo in our hearts.

 

 One of the things we’ve really been enjoying is our kitchen and having easy access to a variety of foods. Erica made two amazing lasagnas, Trina whipped up an unforgettable banana cream pie, she and Joey made really tasty donuts, Geoff and Bryson served some rich brownies, Tupac made some traditional mashed potato onion pancakes stuffed with cheese. In addition he and I also made some French toast served with some of my yogurt, Tobias and Hannah M. baked a delectable coffee cake, and, well, the list goes on. So it’s been a week of celebrating food!

 

We also had our Noche Chozonera which went really well. The pizzas that we made were the best yet, and we used some of the fresh pesto that Marcea made. The number of guests was around 20, and we were the presenters of the night! We worked with Marcela and Damian before hand to fine tune our presentation using our puppets. The curtains were pulled and the audience could only see hands holding puppets. The presentation commenced with a lively introduction to Kroka, which was followed by new hands and puppets acting-out our experiences in New Hampshire. For this part of the performance, Tobias and Bryson went full out with their rapping and beat boxing. It was very amusing. Next came our time in Palugo before the expedition, with special effects like paper clouds, grass, a wooden spoon, knife, carrot and sun screen all being packed into a backpack. This was to express us getting prepared for and leaving on expedition. Then came the expedition part of the show. To demonstrate our time in San Clemente, Tupac, Roberto and I played and sang a song in Quichua that Tupac’s parents wrote. The expedition group also showed our puppets going from village to village, mountain to mountain. To end, a group gave a closing, saying what we’re up to now and where we’re going on our next expedition. We then watched a slideshow that Jackson put together, showing selected photos from our expedition. It was a very nice night.

 

Saturday was dedicated to academic work and having our parent calls! We were all so happy to talk with our parents, and walked back to the chozon with a bounce in our steps, but also shocked to realize how quickly the end of the semester is coming. Our daily work included, finishing main lesson pages, journal entries, sharpening knives and machetes, knitting or embroidering shirts. A very accomplishing day it was. In the evening we even learned how to make healing herbal salves from Marcea. Those of us who attended the class got to keep our very own 1 oz. containers of the salve. We used beeswax, lavender oil, sweet geranium oil, eucalyptus oil, calendula oil, olive oil, and plantain oil. Such lovely ingredients!

 

Sunday was exciting because we had our second cooking lesson with Adela, Thomas’s mother. After lunch, she came with her two sisters Irene and Veronica. We learned how to make Colada Morada, a thick purple healing drink made with juices and a bunch of special herbs. We then made Huahuas de Pan, which were sweet breads that we baked with walnuts, chocolate, coffee, cinnamon and brown sugar. It was a fun process and such a treat to eat them for dinner.  We learned to make these particular foods because they are made during this time of year in celebration of the Day of the Dead.

 

During breakfast on Monday morning, Hannah C’s 19^th birthday, Thomas and Marcea told us that half of the group were going to go on individual vision quests for the day and night. The other half would leave the next morning. All we had for the vision quest was warm clothing, knives, water bottles and rain jackets. That’s it! So Marcea and Lily took us to individual spots around the farm and dropped us off. We were told to just stay in one spot, create a circle and not move. It was a time to be introspective and self reflective. We didn’t have any food for the rest of the day, so it was also time to fast and cleanse our bodies. The next morning, after a freezing night without our sleeping bags, just us, the earth, the hum of sleeping hummingbirds, the shining stars and the far off barking of dogs, Marcea and Ross came around to each of our spots and told us we were going to go for another day and night. They brought fresh water with them to refill our water bottles and a banana. I’m telling you, a banana never tasted so sweet and rich before. It was amazing. Marcea asked if we would need anything else for the upcoming night, and I believe that most of us requested another pair of socks and our puff jackets. These items really helped to maintain us for the next night. Many of us slept a lot better. That evening though, the sky darkened rapidly with heavy thunderous clouds, and sure enough, it started raining. So we had to individually gather grass or whatever we could find to make shelters. Luckily the rain only fell for around a half an hour, so we didn’t get too soaked. It was a good experience though!

It is interesting how being out in nature with very little protection and so vulnerable to the elements, makes one appreciate things on a scale much larger than usual, for instance, food or the sun. For me personally, I felt the sun was the element most important for my comfort level. I would wake up at various moments through the night hoping to see the sun rising to save me from being cold. Then in the morning, when the sky was changing color, the clouds were being illuminated and the dewy grass was sparkling, I felt like it was worth a whole night of being super cold. It was like a meditation.

This morning Marcea picked up those of us who were in the first group, and we headed back to the chozon for a delightful light breakfast made for us by Ross. It felt wonderful and a little odd to have food in our bellies again, it was great to be back. We met with Thomas and Ross, cleaned up, did laundry and read a reading that Thomas gave us to ponder over. Then after lunch, we worked on the garden house, squaring, making rafters and notching. We also received a lot of mail! So thank you to all our friends and family for sending us so many nice letters and little gifts.

 

I don’t feel like I have much more to say. We had a hardy delicious beef veggie stew for dinner, and then people stayed in the kitchen preparing various foods. Geoff is working on beef jerky for the next expedition and I made some yogurt with Naty. Hannah M. got started on her meal planning for the expedition, and Bryson started cooking up some English muffins. Francisco, Thomas’s dad delivered our sleeping bags, all clean and with an intense perfume smell. It reminds me of a perfume shop. I wonder what kind of dreams we’ll have tonight!

 

Well, my fellow readers, what more can I say? Tomorrow the other half of our group will arrive from their vision quest, and we’ll have a hardy breakfast waiting for them. We’ll then do some work on the garden house, and will get started on felting hats or making drums. Thus, our week will continue until we leave on next Wednesday for our next expedition!

 

   Thank you for all your support and encouragement,

Wishes of warmth, peace and humbleness,

Melodia

 

Jackson would like to wish his little sister Zoe a happy 34^th birthday. He would like to acknowledge how fast she’s growing up and how every time he blinks his eyes she seems older. He thinks that this is truly a miracle.

 

Marcea would like to send all her love to a dear friend who has embarked on a journey. Please take care Dan and know I will always love you and forever miss you.

 

I would like to wish my sweet Oma a very happy birthday. Know that I’m thinking about you and look forward to giving you a big hug when I return. Also a very happy birthday to Lili! Lots of hugs.

NHESP 2009 Update 8

Hello Everyone! Happy Halloween and Dia de los Muertos!

We are back at Palugo! It feels so great to be here after our month long expedition. Everyone is organizing group gear and their belongings. We are resting and staying at Palugo for two weeks before we go off on our second and last expedition.

We have had quite an adventure since I last wrote. Getting on the Jatunyacu River was exciting. Unfortunately, Bryson wasn’t feeling well enough to come on the first stretch with us, his stomach was bothering him. Hannah C. and Naty didn’t join us either as they didn’t feel

comfortable with the rapids. The three went and stayed at a hostel with Lily and met us two days later. For the river portion, we were joined by Nadino, a 19 year old indigenous young man from Shiwacocha, the village we were heading to. Nadino was an intern in last year’s Ecuador semester, and has participated in previous semesters with his brothers. He has very long silky black hair and an intricately painted face. It was a great joy to have him with us. In terms of river vessels, we brought a zodiac raft, a kata-raft and three kayaks, which were brought in the event of a needed rescue and were used by the Dammer brothers and their cousin Sebastian.

The first day of travel was tough for a few of us because our stomachs were feeling awful. Let me just say that the motion of the rapids didn’t help. Thank God we felt better the following day. It was a long, very sunny and fun day on the river, filled with paddling, mud baths and swimming. The Rio Jatunyacu is joined by the Rio Anzu creating the Rio Napo, one of the leading tributaries to the great Amazon.

That afternoon, when we reached out camp site, we were greeted by Lily, Bryson, Naty and Hannah C. What a gorgeous campsite we had, a vast rocky beach, green mossy vines hanging over our tents and kitchen area, majestic clouds in the distance and the sparkling Rio Napo. Mathias, Sebastian, Michael, Nadino, Lily and Ross cooked us all a very delicious dinner of rice, beans, plantains and guacamole. So special!

The following day we simply crossed the river, pulled out the rafts and deflated them. We sent unneeded belongings with Mathias, Michael and Sebastian who were returning to Palugo. While we were getting everything together, 11 monkeys passed us by! I guess they were taking their morning stroll in the town. It was quite a scene. Soon we headed off for a 30 minute ride in the back of two trucks to the start of our trek to Shiwacocha. It was a hot and very humid trek. Luckily we didn’t have to carry all of our tents or pots, so all the backpacks were fairly light, except two packs that were loaded with the kataraft. Within three hours through the green jungle we arrived to Shiwacocha, a village community on the Rio Arajuno, consisting of a few thatched roof houses in the midst of the jungle. We resided in the chozon of Nadino’s family, under mosquito nets for four nights. It was such a wonderful visit.

Isolina, Nadino’s mother was very inspiring as she works with medicinal herbs, practices midwifery, does lots of crafts, works in the garden and is the mother of 10 children. She and her husband, Samuel, were engaged when she was 13 through an arranged marriage and they are both healers. With our cuts that were bothering us, Isolina took us to a Sangre de Drago tree, where she cut slits into with her machete and extracted a few drops of the precious and healing liquid onto a banana leaf. Her husband Samuel travels sometimes by plane to small communities where he is needed.

After our arrival, we shared lunch with Isolina, her mother, Mercedes, and Nadino. To cool off we went for a dip in the river with Nadino. He took a few of us with their dugout canoe that must have been 30 feet long. It is moved with two long bamboo poles. When we came to rapids we had to get out of the canoe and walk it up. It was lots of fun. For dinner that night we ate fish from the river, broth, sweet corn and yucca. We also drank chicha, a fermented drink made from yucca.

The next morning we separated into two groups. One went to gather palm leaves to work on repairing the thatched roof, and the other went to harvest yucca with Isolina. Yucca is a very special plant. We used machetes to weed around the yucca plants, then took the leaves off and piled the branches in a separate place. We cut down the plants and focused on pulling up the roots and harvesting the yucca tubers and peeling off their two outer layers. When we got back to the house, we boiled the peeled yuccas until they were soft enough to start smashing in a giant bowl that could sit seven or eight people around. Isolina, Hannah, Erica and I cleaned our mouths and then started chewing the yucca and spitting it back into the bowl. After each of us had chewed around 10 bites, we mushed up all the remaining clumps and then put everything in a bucket to ferment and turn into chicha.

The next day we made beautiful crafts. In the morning we walked to Nadino’s uncle’s house where the children climbed up their pilche trees and threw pilches (they look like gourds) down to each of us. While some of the group went back to the house to carve out their pilches, the rest of us went to gather vines for making baskets. What a beautiful walk- especially barefoot. Two of the villagers took out their axes and started cutting down a huge tree as the vines themselves were too high to reach. Because of its huge roots, the falling tree ended up taking down a whole other tree with it! We gathered the roots and headed back. Walking back, we passed four or five children who took a bunch of grapes out from the baskets on their heads and handed them to me. It was sweet.

Weaving our baskets we got a lot of help from the villagers. It was amazing how fast they were and how they never got overwhelmed with all the pieces to weave. The baskets all turned out beautifully. Before dinner Isolina found a deadly poisonous lizard that ended up being killed by a broom. It had impressive green and black stripes on the tale and was about 8 inches long.

The next day was Halloween and Lily’s birthday, we built the balsa wood raft and assembled the kata-raft. Those who worked on the balsa raft went to harvest the trees and then floated down the river on the logs. A long solo time in the afternoon allowed for reflection before we made jewelry with Isolina. She had feathers, shells and beautiful red seeds with black diamond shapes. It was quite a special opportunity to learn the local crafts from Isolina.

Finally the real celebration of Lily’s birthday began. A few other members of the community joined us and wanted to put on a show. Since they don't celebrate birthdays they wanted to show us what a traditional marriage ceremony and celebration might look like. Thomas and Marcea played Lily’s (the bride) parents, and Isolina and Samuel Nadino’s (the groom) parents. There was a lot of singing, dancing and drumming. They even brought a generator to bring more light into the room and to set up the radio. What a birthday Lily had! And what a special last night we had in Shiwachocha.

Waking up at four we headed down to the beach with Nadino’s family and a few other families. Everyone told us to return and they were so warm and kind. Personally, it was hard to leave, but I grew excited about the possibility of returning. And then we were off! The balsa raft had some troubles in the beginning. We had to stop on a rocky beach and search the jungle for more vines and palms to add more lynching. It also helped that fewer people went on it after the reparations. It was such a gorgeous day to paddle and the river was perfect to swim.

When we arrived to our destination, we disassembled the kata-raft, and left the balsa raft for a traveler who might be in need of one. As we left on the long motor canoe, I noticed two young boys getting onto our balsa raft and starting to take it down the river. This was a perfect ending to our adventure. And with that we headed home to Palugo.

Yesterday was dedicated to organizing and readjusting. We got to sleep in, shared a wholesome delicious brunch together and laughed a lot. The energy was light and it felt really good to be back. Last night, since it was Dia de los Muertos, Lily suggested that we each share a story or thought about someone in our lives who had died. It felt good to share stories with each other and to remember those loved ones.

Today we are working in the garden, weeding potatoes, working on the garden shed that we’re building for Palugo. Geoff, Hannah M. and Jackson are building stairs on the side of the hill, and I’m here in the chozon finishing up this update!

One of the songs we’ve been singing a lot is El Camaleon (the Chameleon). So I’ll write down the lyrics for you.

El camaleon, cambia de colores

Asi segun la estacion

El arco iris tambien, cambia de colores

Asi según las estacion

Sea verde, sea rojo, sea amarillo

Cualquer color puede ser, menos el gris

Por que grises seran los dias en que de vi

Cuando te perdi, mi amor

Badabam bam bam bam bam x6

Geoff would like to wish his mom Mary a very Happy Birthday and hopes that she’s well.

Humble wishes of happiness, peace, warmth and bliss,

For the NHESP, this is your Scribe, Melodia

NHESP 2009 Update 7

Hola a todos!

I always am so excited to write and share our Ecuador experience with you. It’s always a pleasure.

These past few days have been very intense, physically especially, but also very wonderful. Leaving Herman’s house early in the morning, we headed in the back of trucks to Cayambe. Getting closer and closer it was exciting to catch more and more glimpses of the majestic snow covered mountain. We dropped Marcea off so that she could head back to Palugo for the weekend, and then continued on our way until we reached the spot where we left some group and personal gear behind. The last few miles we walked to get more acclimatized. For some, it was a challenging walk as we were hit strongly by the altitude. For others the walk was quite enjoyable and empowering. Each step brought us closer to that magnificent mountain and the glacier school.

Our base camp was placed in a large, open and silent valley with a river where we could get washed up. On our day of arrival, we had a nice solo time. The clouds moved in and out of the valley very rapidly and it was amazing to think that our base camp was actually in the clouds. The second day at Cayambe we got all of our mountaineering gear as high up as possible, so that the next day we could ascend with little on our backs. It was a slow paced and challenging hike at the altitude of around 5000m above sea level. Up sandy dunes and steep cliffs we went, even coming across ice, as we got higher. We left all of our gear under a boulder and had fun building a stone wall to protect our stuff from the weather. We practically flew down the mountain back to base camp in the sandy terrain. We bounced, leapt and hopped on down! Journal time and a delicious dinner waited for us at “home”. I forgot to mention that for some reason the spoon bag wasn’t packed so we were “spoon-less” until people started carving new ones. The next day we woke up at 3:30am. By 5 am we were climbing up the mountain, first with headlamps. The dawn with the rising sun and swirling clouds was spectacular.

We picked up the pace, now that everyone was stronger and more acclimatized. We headed through ravines filled with colorful rocks and boulders, until we got to the snow line. Michael was great in teaching us how to use our crampons on the ice, always with our ice picks. Our final task was to tie up in teams, sharing one rope that was attached to our harnesses.

Up, up we went, around blue ice structures and over crevasses. It was a whole new world to explore and learn about. Slowly but surely we got more confident with our crampons. That night we had a feast around a fire and under the Milky Way, a feeling of accomplishment in our hearts.

Leaving Cayambe behind and walking down the road with our gear we felt very light and excited because we were closer and closer to getting to the jungle. We rode on the backs of trucks to where we had left off some gear and finally hopped on a bus for about an hour to go to Cayambe City. There we were happy to reunite with Marcea. The city felt over stimulating and strange, with all of the people and the smells of exhaust. We bought caramel milk cream and biscuits for the long truck drive down the valley of Oyacachi. The trip was filled with singing and we enjoyed our intensely sweet snacks. Oyacachi is a sleepy village tucked away in lush and vibrantly green mountains. Some of the houses still have their traditional moss roofs. It felt very gnome like. We headed to the nearby hot springs, which were even hotter than the hot springs we had visited with April before she left. At a very cold river nearby we could take a quick dip to ‘cleanse’ ourselves before going back into the thermal springs. It was so nice! That night we had a delicious dinner cooked for us, and then we sleepily went to bed.

Our reason to stop in Oyacachi was to make the traditional Oyacachi wooden bowls, the main income for the village. So the next day was dedicated to making bowls. Six wood masters greeted us with pure excitement on their faces. We had lots of help with the carving of our bowls. The wood, called Aliso, is native and hard to work with for beginners. Nevertheless they all came out very beautiful in the end because we had help from the gentlemen. Unfortunately towards the end of the day, using the special tool that we used to carve out the bowls, the Azuela, Trina cut her leg. She ended up getting 6 stitches in the medical center that was conveniently located across the street from where we were. Because we had a lot of walking to do in difficult settings in the next few days, Trina wasn’t able to come with us and went back to Palugo with Ross at 4 am the next morning. The rest of us woke up shortly after, packed our bags, ate a hardy breakfast and colada with dumplings and headed off on our 18 km trek.

About half of the trek was on a road, heading down the valley past lush green mountains. It felt mystical to be in the cloud forest. One of the locals of Oyacachi walked with us until we almost came to where the trail began. We enjoyed his company. The rest of the walk to base camp was very, very muddy. We all arrived at camp looking like true bush walking adventurers. It felt good to set up camp, eat a wholesome dinner and fall asleep to the lullaby of the rushing river.

The next day we had a river reading lesson by Thomas and then after lunch a 3-hour solo time. Joey did not come back from his solo by the time dinner was already being served and it was getting dark out. We started to get worried about him, but then he came with a big grin on his face. He had caught a fish! A beautiful trout about 10 inches long. The next morning we all had a taste of his fish. It was delicious!

We left camp promptly after breakfast and used ropes to cross a sketchy bridge with large holes in it and covered in vines. Once we were all safely across, Marcea, Thomas and Lily left ahead of us. So there we were, alone as a group, exotic bird calls around us and the smell of fresh, dense and alive cloud forest. The trek was beautiful and always interesting because we had to squiggle beneath fallen logs, climb over them, climb over steep cliffs and bush walk. Everyone stayed together for the whole way, only occasionally having to wait for those who stayed in the back. We found a beautiful spot for lunch. Just imagine large mossy boulders right on the edge of the rushing river. It was perfect. Almost all of us went for a dip before eating our lunch of crackers, mustard, cheese and sausage. It felt so good to have a break and to refuel. We got back on the trail soon enough and stayed on it into the evening. Out came the headlamps, we were tired, dirty and oh so sore, but were determined to find Lily who was waiting for us. Joey, our navigator, would occasionally take off with his machete, looking for paths with footsteps, which could be Lily’s. Finally, Joey found Lily. Excitement filled the air, and everyone started to move faster and was yelling, “Lily, Lily we are here!” And there she was along with Marcea and Thomas. They had chocolate waiting for us. It was amazing and so good to see them. They sent us off with ropes to cross the Santa Maria River on another sketchy bridge, and to pitch our tents for the night. About half the group immediately fell asleep, and others stayed up until 1:30am, because it took so long to start a fire. It was impressisive how motivated some were to make soup, which apparently was a success.

The next morning, Marcea, Thomas and Lily joined us for breakfast and we packed up camp. What a pleasant surprise to right away see Ross and Trina who walked with us to where Michael and Marcela were waiting for us. Back to some sort of civilization we drove in trucks for about an hour to El Chaco. There we said good-bye to Marcea and Thomas who would rest for a couple of days. We ate a delicious fresh salad and sandwiches and excitedly read our letters, which Michael brought with him… thank you so much, parents and friends, for all your letters!!!!

From El Chaco we took a bus through lush mountainsides to Tena. We were shocked by the intense heat and sun when we got out of the bus and went to our hostel, called El Establo de Thomas. It was a seriously relaxing and beautiful environment. We had 3 cabins to ourselves, fluffy beds with mosquito netting, a bathroom with showers in each room…we felt like we were on vacation! A river flowed right by, where we could go for refreshing dips and wash our clothes. Imagine blue Macao’s, and parrots flying above, monkeys playing in the nearby trees, yes monkeys! They were so fun to watch. After we were all clean and refreshed, we agreed to spend our group money and eat out for dinner. Dinner was amazing. We went to a local hot spot and we each paid $3 for each dinner. What a feast: chicken soup, a choice of pork, beef or chicken for our main dish, a bunch of rice and beans, salad and delicious plantains. It was amazing, oh and there was refreshing juice as well. So falling into our fluffy beds when we got back was like a dream in itself.

Today we all woke up slowly to the sweet calls of tropical birds and the balmy morning breeze. Breakfast was at 8am, the latest we have had breakfast at Kroka yet! We ate delicious banana bread Trina had baked at Palugo, a rich fruit salad, granola and yogurt. We reflected on our solo hike, what the group did well and what we could improve, as well as what we personally could improve. Then we worked on our big jobs. Later three taxis arrived and we all left the wonderful hotel with all our gear. When Trina and Jackson saw some banana trees, the taxi driver pulled out his machete to take down the bunch of bananas. Now how often do our taxi drivers in the US do that!

After a short drive we arrived to the edge of the Jatunyacu River, where we will put in our rafts tomorrow. The shore here is rocky and delightful to walk on because of the big rocks. As we set up our tents, passing locals from the overhead bridge stared at us in amazement. After lunch we went straight to work to put together the rafts and kataraft. We still had time for swimming and kayaking. It is so hot and humid here. Even our dear Ecuadorian students are taking dips every so often to cool off. Bryson and Tobias found a cliff to jump off of into the river. A lot of activity is happening everywhere.

Right now we just finished dinner, which we shared with Marcela, Michael, Mathias, Adela and their cousins. It’s dark out so I am writing with my headlight, people are still organizing gear, others are sleeping, the moon is shining and the river is flowing. Everyone is ready to get on the river tomorrow, after we have the river safety and rescue lesson in the morning. I think everyone is really enjoying our expedition together and the group is getting stronger every day. We all talk about home and how we miss our family and friends, we also talk about how we wouldn’t want to be anywhere else but here right now. This is truly a special opportunity. With much appreciation and gratitude, BUENAS NOCHES.

For the NHESP, this is MELODIA, the scribe.

NHESP 2009 Update 6

Buenos!

It feels like just yesterday that I was sitting in the stable at Palugo writing the last update. Time is flying by so quickly! And yet we’ve accomplished so much.

I don’t believe we’ve properly introduced our Ecuadorian students, so I’ll just take a moment to do that. Nati, which is short for Natividad, is 20 years old and comes from a family of 10. Like the other two students, she is from San Clemente. She doesn’t speak much English at all, is very sweet and thoughtful, and wears the traditional clothes of her community. When the rest of us are hiking in our mountaineering boots or rain boots, Nati still hikes in her little black sandals and her ironed pleated skirt. The other two students, both boys, are cousins and are named Tupac and Roberto. Tupac is 18 years old, very generous, sweet, energetic, musical, and is constantly trying to learn English. Roberto is 17 years old and has a knack for art, is really sweet, and insanely generous. 

It has been a joy having the three students become part of our group. Everyday we learn a little bit more about each other and practice our home languages.

When leaving Palugo, everyone had a bounce in their step, ready for our expedition. We walked into the town of Pifo and caught a bus that took us to Lago (lake) San Pablo. It was a sleepy 2-hour ride. When the bus dropped us off, we walked down a road that stopped directly on the edge of Lago San Pablo. Tomas kidded with us and said that we had to swim across. We were looking at Joey’s map, trying to figure out how to get around the lake, when suddenly a boat appeared! The boat driver agreed to take us most of the way around the lake and was excited to show us a few things on the way. He pointed out a boat that was made from just a bunch of reeds tied together. It was quite impressive. When we got off, we started trekking on a road, passing women and children washing clothes in the river, loose pigs, cows and many dogs. After a bit, we heard rushing water down from where we were walking. We decided to hike down the steep hillside, and found a beautiful grand waterfall where swam and played under the falling water. It was so cleansing. Afterwards we ate a quick snack and proceeded on our trek. Traversing on the sides of mountains, overseeing a couple of towns below us, and balancing on logs over rivers, we finally made it to a bus stop to catch a bus to the city of Ibarra. 

There, rushing though the streets we caught another bus up to San Clemente. We were admiring the women’s traditional outfits, gold necklaces, pressed skirts, hats, black slippers and elegantly embroidered shirts, just like Nati’s.

When we arrived to San Clemente Manuel greeted us. He is the man who had the vision for San Clemente, which was to preserve the tradition of the indigenous people, After a sweet welcome we were introduced to three members of the community, who would be taking 2 students into each of their homes. Some students would also be staying with the families of our three Ecuadorian students. Geoff and I were paired together, and right away parted from the group to go off with Mathias, our San Clemente father. Mathias lives with his wife Magdalena (one of Nati’s older sisters), and their four children. The family didn’t speak any English, so it was a wonderful opportunity to practice Spanish. When we arrived to their house, Mathias told us that his family was our family now, and that we could ask for anything. He was very humble. We went outside and Mathias proudly showed us their medicinal herb garden. It started to rain for the first time in a long time, and Mathias thanked us because he said we brought the rain with us. That night we peeled potatoes with the whole family, and then ate a rich dinner of quinoa veggie soup, mashed potatoes that were rolled into balls, stuffed with cheese and then fried, and tea. After dinner I helped their daughter, Flor, with her drawing homework. It was a full day and it felt wonderful to get into our beds.

The next day we walked up to Roberto’s house and met everyone else. It was fun sharing our experiences with each other. The work that we would be doing to help the community was plowing their Abas field. (Abas are similar to a large bush bean). We each got a turn, directing the oxen and giving orders in Kichwa: “Isa, Isa”, for “go, go” and “Shoooooww”, for “stop”, and many more like staying in the rows, or turning. Many of us were amazed by the deftness and skill of the oxen and asked more about their training. We found they always place an old ox with a young ox to pass on the training and that the mountain people have been using oxen for a very long time because of their skill and easy keep. (Mules are also a favorite).

After lunch we picked out our graduation shirts that we would embroider with the help of our host moms. Everyone’s designs looked so beautiful and colorful. Once we all made some progress, it was time for a soccer game. So almost everyone went down to the school field and played an energetic match with some of the locals. Then we went over to Tupac’s house to meet with Louis, the local shaman. He diagnosed one us using a guinea pig. He took the guinea pig and whacked the body allover her while she sat next to him, and then proceeded to peal the guinea from its skin and diagnose several ailments of hers by looking at the inner bleeding of the guinea. The Ecuadorians believe that the guinea pig is the poor man’s x-ray. It can show everything that is wrong in your body. It was quite an amazing experience.

Leaving San Clemente was very emotional for all of us. In the morning we had an indigenous walk with both Manuel and Juan, Tupac’s dad. Juan showed us the community’s agricultural calendar that was carried on from their ancestors. It showed the importance of celebrating the solstices and equinoxes. During planting and harvesting, they celebrate the beautiful connection between the earth and humans. Juan explained to us that the community of San Clemente is trying to recuperate their lost traditions. When one of the students asked if it was part of a religion, Juan answered that they are just practicing old methods, and that it’s real life and they’re just trying to figure out how it works. A lot of their methods were taken away from them when they weren’t allowed to speak their own tongue and were degraded in the society. Today there’s still racism, but it’s gotten a lot better. The people of San Clemente are standing for the pride of being indigenous. They just want to be respected, as they respect others. We finally realized why Nati always wore her beautiful skirts and delicate blouses and why all three of our Ecuadorian students were so eager to be with us and so amazingly strong.

After the agricultural calendar, we took a look at and learned about their sweat lodge. The lodge is considered the womb of mother earth (Pacha Mama). A beautiful ceremony, using a total of 9 stones that represent the nine months of gestation, is held four times to represent the sun, water, earth and wind. The lodge is used four times a year to celebrate the equinoxes and solstices. The structure was stunning and perfectly arranged. It was fascinating to learn about.

Our departure was so sweet. After lunch Manuel sent us off with kind words from his heart, telling us that each of our host families had rainbow scarves for each of us as gifts. The rainbow is nature’s flag and the sign of the indigenous. Each color signifies something from nature. For example, red represents fire, green represents nature, blue represents the sky, and yellow represents the sun. Each of our host families came individually and placed a beautiful rainbow scarf around our necks. It was very touching. Before we left San Clemente, we quickly went to Nati’s house. She gave each of us students a handkerchief, and both Marcea and Tomas shirts that she embroidered herself. Then we were off! Up, up and up towards our first base camp, followed the whole time by Roberto’s dog. By the time we reached our camp, it was dark and we were all stiff and tired. It was a wonderful day.

The next morning when we were eating breakfast, we had a surprise visit from Roberto’s older brother who came to fetch their dog. Then once we were all packed up, we started on our grand adventure up to the summit of Imbabura at 4,563 meters. 

There was incredible plant life once we got closer and closer to the top. Some of us were having a very difficult time with the high altitude. But we all made it to the top! Walking through clouds, seeing a condor flying, eating dried fruit at the top and being altogether made the dizziness from the high altitude all worth it. Going back down to where we left our big trekking packs felt so nice after such an accomplishing hike. That night, after dinner and shares around the fire, we split up for solo sleeping. This is something we had done once before, where we find our own special place to sleep by ourselves.

The next morning I woke up to hear somebody loudly remark, “They’re gone? I knew it!” I right away knew that they were talking about Marcea and Tomas. Thus, our solo group day started. We packed up camp, ate breakfast, and headed for the hills. We would have to hike a mountain together and get to the other side to Zuleta, which was where Marcea and Tomas were waiting for us, by nightfall. It was a long hike. First through pine tree farms, then sliding down steep hills surrounded by low branches and thorns, and then to Cubilche, the mountain we had to hike. By the time we arrived to Cubilche, almost all of us had already finished our water. There would be water at the top of the mountain, but all of us were so thirsty. The closest source of water was a 20-minute walk away, but everyone thought it would be best to push through until the top of the mountain. It was definitely a struggle. The group started pulling people up the mountain and helping them with their bags. It was amazing how close everyone was. Tobias and Tupac had swiftly gone up to the top, and at one point while the rest of us were slowly following them, we saw Tupac running down with a full water bladder, filling everyone’s bottles! It was so sweet. At the top when we finally all made it, we arrived to the water source, a volcanic crater filled with water.

 It felt so wonderful to be at the top. We sang in a circle, like we always do, before eating lunch. Right when we left, it started raining. So our walk to Zuleta was wet. We marched to the songs of many frogs, along grassy roads, down slippery muddy paths, and into the sleepy village of Zuleta by 6. Seeing Ross and Lily was so exciting, and it was reassuring to see Marcea and Tomas. We met our hosts for the next few days, Herman, his wife Carmen, and their three sons. We ate a nurturing soup and drank hot tea, and right away went to bed in our cozy dwellings.

These past few days at Herman’s have been very informative. We made covers for our main lesson books, sheaths for our new machetes, dyed hides, and one night we stayed up until 4am making bread with Mama Pito who kept falling asleep against Jackson’s knee and would doze off while shaping bread. Her husband also joined us, in his poncho and special hat, and fell asleep within the first five minutes of his arrival. They are really old, and generous to stay with us so late. We learned a lot more than just making bread. We would not have made it without Tobias who entertained us with his guitar playing and singing until 4 in the morning. We also learned how to butcher a sheep. Before the killing, we had a ceremony where we stood around the sheep in a circle and shared our thoughts. It was very beautiful. After the slaughtering, we first skinned it and then cleaned it’s organs. Trina was very excited about dissecting the heart, and Erica took the skin off of a leg for her machete handle. We were all very into it. And that night we feasted like never before. Some said that it was the best meal we’ve eaten yet.

The next few days was a flurry of activity with leather and scissors and pencils flying everywhere, finishing our projects. This evening when we placed all of our elegant Main Lesson book covers and machete sheathes and some little other extra projects up against the wall in the golden afternoon sunlight, we could finally take a breath and admire how all our hard work had paid off. This evening we also finished up our feast of the mutton and boiled bones as we packed and planned for our next adventure, Glacier School on the ridges of Cayambe! It’s getting late and we depart early tomorrow morning to catch our bus, so I must go to bed! Thank you all for your support and wishes! We can’t wait to show you all our beautiful crafts. We wish you all warm weather as we depart for the snow!

Ciao!

For the NHESP, this is Melody, your Friendly Scribe.

P.S. Erica wishes her brother a very Happy Birthday and was thinking of him as we hiked through the pouring rain to Zuleta on the eleventh of October.