NHESP 2009 Update 5

Hola a todos!

My name is Melody and I’m going to be the scribe for the rest of the semester. It’s an honor to be the voice of the community while here in Ecuador. Mucho Gusto!

This past week has been totally packed both physically and emotionally.

On September 29^th we started making sheaths for the knives that we had made a couple of days earlier. The knives have antler handles and high carbon steel blades. They are all so unique and well made, that we were excited to start applying them to our daily lives. Thus, Lily patiently taught us how to make sheaths for them! Lily somehow managed to give a clear lesson on the process of sheath making, even though she had 15 students asking her the same questions for two hours. She’s great! To make our sheaths, we used local half-tanned leather that we had to keep wet until our sheaths were fitted to our knives and sewed up. Just like the knives, the process was very easy and fun, even though it took a couple more classes for us to completely finish. And now we all have yet another practical thing that we made ourselves and feel proud about!

This same day, Ross excitedly announced to us that we would be going to hot springs in the evening. Energy filled the air as we all anticipated the warm baths. It was too good to be true! The same bus driver that brought us to Palugo from the airport came at 5:30pm, and drove us up to 13,000 feet where the thermal springs are. It took around 45 minutes. The mountains up there are majestic and we drove past a rainbow that we could see both ends of. It was as if we were driving into another world. When we finally arrived at the thermal springs, we were all shocked with how cold it was! We were shivering!! It was dark and misty too, which didn’t encourage us to change into bathing suits. But once we passed the showers with hot water, we couldn’t resist. There were three thermal springs available for our use. It was truly a blissful experience to just relax in the magma-heated water. We sang together in the springs, and gathered in a circle to say goodbye to April, who after much contemplation, decided to leave Palugo and Ecuador to continue on her healing journey at home. We went around the circle and shared something that we appreciated about April, and then sang a song to her that Lily taught us.

We are here to tell you that you’re wonderful and beautiful,

We are here to tell you that you’re always home,

We are here to notice that your loving is a miracle,

How deeply you’re connected to our souls.

We all feel an empty space now that April is no longer here, but feel at peace knowing that she’s happy to be home and continuing on her journey. Thanks for everything, April!

On October 1^st we had a very early start with chores, and then Michael, Tomas’ brother met us for our geography lesson. It started off with walking up past the gardens, up the steep path in the woods, past Marcea’s and Tomas’ house and up a thorny path to the top of a hill. We took out our drawing utensils and journals, and started to draw the landscape that was in front of us. Micheal explained to us that Palugo is on the lava of Pichanga, an old volcano that is behind Palugo. To better understand what he meant, we took a walk. On the sides of cliffs, through thorns, and up and down, we wandered. We checked out the entrance to the cave that Michael thinks the wolf lives in, and left leftover chicken bones as a gift. The sun was strong by the time we made it back to where we started, but the adventure didn’t end! Next, we walked down to some whispering eucalyptus trees, which was where the path to the irrigation caves began. It was a true expedition. With our headlamps in place and turned on, we started treading in single file through one of the caves - dark, chilly, narrow, low and wet. I was happy to have my rain boots, as my feet stayed dry the whole time. However, in the next irrigation cave that we explored, the water came all the way up to our knees when we first entered! And then we had to crawl in the water, just barely keeping our backpacks dry. Well, there went my dry feet. But I didn’t mind at all. It was quite a memorable experience.

The same day of our trek with Michael, Trina, our medic, taught an impressive class on first aid. At the end of the class she had us practice our first response first aid skills on Marcea, Tomas and Lily, who were acting out hypothermia, being covered in blood, and having fallen from a cliff. I’m happy to say that all three are recovered and safe. Thank you Trina!

On Sunday night we experienced a "Noche Chozonera", which is usually held here at Palugo once a month. Friends, family and visitors came to share pizza together and listen to a presentation. The clay oven that the 2007 semester built was heated up, and the kitchen was filled with excitement about making pizza. It was quite chaotic, as more and more people started to show up, pizzas were flying in and out of the oven, and a few of us were making extra goodies, like granola and cookies at the same time. Once everyone was settled and done eating, the presentation commenced. Our speaker shared this 2-month expedition down the Amazon river with 3 friends, in a seawater solar charged boat. It was very inspiring to see his photos and listen to his stories.

A lot of preparation has been in place for our own expedition! Erica and Tupac have been working so hard with managing the group gear and making lists of what we personally need to pack; Hannah M. has been pondering over her menu plans and organizing food; Joey has been carefully looking at maps and our routes that we’ll take ; I have been drying tons of fruit, and with help last night, made crackers, energy bars and lots of granola; Trina has been gathering and drying herbs to bring along for teas, etc. It’s really been amazing how hard everyone has been working. Susanna built a sawhorse for Palugo, and Geoff built a clothes-drying rack.

On October 2^nd we headed down to Thomas’ parents house to have a cooking lesson from his mother, Adela. We made Sopa de Locro, which is a soup that has a lot of potatoes, milk and cheese in it. Adela explained to me that it’s important to not cut the potatoes, but rather stab them and then twist, to let them break themselves. This way they’ll break apart easily in the soup and make it thicker. It worked! We also made Salsa de Ahi, hot sauce, and Postrei de Oritos a Caramelados, which was fried small bananas covered in mandarin juice, and baked. You can add a little bit of liquor on to if you like. The whole dinner was delicious, and I’m so happy we could learn how to make a typical dish from Ecuador. While a few of us were in the kitchen, the rest of the group played an energetic game of soccer in the backyard.

The next day we split off into the back of two trucks, and drove to Quito to go to the Tatoo factory, to make quick drying pants for the expedition. We were greeted by warm friendly faces, and right away started helping cut the fabric we would be using. It was amazing to work with such fast and high quality sewing machines. The owner of the company came by to give us a quick tour, and showed us their gortex machine. In the factory, he said they have 115 workers, and all together, including their outlet stores in Ecuador, Chile, Columbia and Peru, they have 150. It was quite a treat to be in their factory, and to see the behind the scenes making of outdoor clothing. Our pants were truly custom made for us, because they had to resize them, adding a little fabric here and taking some out there. While we waited, some of us took out our knitting, or patched up holes in our clothing. Tupac, Roberto and Nati were happy to finally finish their backpacks! It was a progressive day! And now we all have really great pants.

Yesterday we had a cheese making class with Marcela. Every week she sells her fresh cheese at the market, along with yogurt. After that it was a full day of expedition preparation, and at night, even though we had to use candlelight because the electricity went out, Marcela came to see our finished paper-mache puppets. We played with them and started to bring out their different personalities. They’re all very unique.

Today we are in full gear packing and preparing. This morning we brought all of our gear outside and went down the packing list with Erica to set aside our mountaineering gear. Right now I am sitting in the stable, where the cows are milked, because it’s the only place I could find working electricity for the computer. I’m about to take out the dry fruit from the food dehydrator and reload it. After lunch we’ll have a geography lesson with Michael, and then finish up with cleaning up Palugo, our dwellings and the kitchen. We also need to distribute all of the group gear into people’s packs. Expedition is just around the corner, and we’re all very excited!

With lots of smiles and thoughts of gratitude,

For the NHES, this is Melody