Intag Cloud Forest

February 6, 2010:
Buenas! Just returned to our hostel Postada de Maple from the cloud forest in Intag. It’s roughly at 6,000ft. We stayed for 8 days, and what an intense, fun, and challenging week. We stayed in cabins at the “house” of Carlos Zorrilla and his wife Sandy. Such wonderful people. Their house is actually La Florida Reserve, 600 hectares of cloud forest, near the farm town of Santa Rosa. Three days of the week I spent with a family in Santa Rosa, a two hour hike straight UP to the top of one of the lower mountains of the northern Andes.
I had a lot of free time during this homestay, so I wrote a lot, and I would like to share it. I have only changed one or two things from what I actually wrote (mostly my experience with the out house), so I'm slightly aprehensive sharing it. It seems I went a little crazy at some points! This passage unfortunately gives you just a glimpse of the moving experience.

1/31/10 Just arrived at homestay. Wow I’m staying with one of the poorest families in the Andes. It took us two hours climbing up the steep mountan, with steps dug into it just so it’s possible for people to walk. The view is absolutely unreal. Majestical, like heaven, like a dream. There's a windy small rocky river that makes it paradise-like. My senora Amelia told me it would take five minutes to walk here, or a little more. No, it took a steep two hour hike up an Andes mountain.
The house is a large shack. No doors, plies of wood nailed together, tons of spaces between the wood. My bed is a large slab of wood, no pillow, dirty, questionable sheets. Flies all around. Chickens outside, along with pigs, horses, cows, all around their land. A lot of precious land. I haven’t met the husband yet. Window holes but no windows. Pretty nasty, all of it. Nice dollop of bird poop on "shelf" above my bed. Garbage outside and on the floor. Where is the kitchen? Graffiti on the wall. Ew I’m going to get bugs. Bot flies. Worms. AAAAAAAAh.
Amelia has already asked me for my watch. She wanted an intercambio after I complemented hers. I realized later it doesn't work. Three nights here.
Everyone seems content though. Gabriel is sick with a nasty cough. I should give him some Dayquil But I don’t know about kid’s doses and that would be horrible if I got him sicker. But that’s very unlikely. But also if I give Gabriel DayQuil, the fam will prob. Continue asking me for things. I have to think of things I can give them.
8:07 Just had dinner. Now in bed. Moths. Moths. Soup was so delicious. Mmmmm. Feeling good, don’t think I ll get sick. But probably from Gabriel. He is so sick with a nasty cough. Amelia gave him antibioticos for a virus. He has an obvious fever, moping around. Although he did have an apetite; ate 2 bowls . We played soccer with a disease-ridden ball. Marjorie and Gabriel kept on picking it up. I declined a request to play “volley” bc I knew I’d have to repeatedly touch the ball.
The radio has been on since I got here and I like it. Such an awesome Ecuadorian classy song on with trombones, bass , guitar and a Sinatra Ecuadorian equivalent singing bravaly. Yea, praise the Lord I can speak Spanish by the way. I really like Amelia, Morjorie and Gabriel. All are very sweet and I love how being spoiled, stuck-up or judgmental doesn’t even exist here. Before cena Marjorie and I walked up SEEPNESS to get the ternoro from the other vaca so it wouldn’t drink any more milk, so there’d be some left over for humans! Yumm. She asked me if I would be a man or woman if I had the choice. I answered mujer, than asked her. She replied mujer as well. I said, "mejor", and she giggled. Gabriel drank water from the DIRTY-ass pail. SICKNESSSSSS. Ok, good night.
2/1/10, 1:40pm Just had lunch: arroz y a potato-like root. Delicious. But I can't eat a lot. Not looking forward to using the out house. Right now Amelia, Marjorie and Gabiel are sitting outside, lightly chatting or listening to music I'm sitting on my bed, just took a nap. Felling bloated and uncomfy and dity. We woke up to the sound of roosters! That was kind of cool. Amelia got up very early, like 6. I got up at 7:30, more because I though I should. I got up, said buenos dias, used the out house for the first time. Last night, I just couldn't use it, in the dark, without seeing it with light first. Then Marjorie and I washed the dishes, in the well with a tub of grainy dishwasher soap that smelled like bubblegun and was green. Then the kids and I went for a walk. I wanted to get away from the smelly house and breathe fresh air and see and hear the majestic river. It's farther than I remembered and it was obvious that Marjorie and Gabriel didn't want to walk. So I stopped just when I could see part of the river and there was a good place for me to sit down. I told the kids they can go back if they wanted repeatedly, but that seemed extremely weird to the them, like they didn't understand what I was saying. Finally I made it clear enough. They left, and I laid on my back and took a doze. I woke up to a huge spider and it's huge web above me. Aaaah! Then I walked very slowly home. I didn't want to go home, but I felt it was bad to not be with any family member.

After I got back, Marjorie and I went to milk the vaca! Yesterdaay we had tied la taberna lejos de su madre para no beber la leche. Hoy, subimos por un media hora, y Marjorie le permitio la teberna beber solo por un minuto. The 2 animales were both crying/mooing for each other. Then Marj washed her hands with dirty water, as well as the udders. She tied up the calf so it was just a few feet's reach from its mom. I felt bad for the 2 animals who wanted so much just to satisfy their natural urge; to milk. Then we milked her! Marj tied up the cow's hind legs. I also drank some right then and there! It tasted warm, the best milk I've ever tasted. The udder was bulging with milk. It was extremely foamy. Marj poured the bowl of collected milk into a cloth in a filter on a large jug. I think the jug originally held gasoline. The whole thing was very cool. I've watched and petted 2 newborn calves here.

4:14pm Just took a walk. Then found a spot on a path to sit on. Sat there for an hour, feeling sincerely like I was in heaven, with the pure breeze on me. Chicken just walked into my room (on my bed writing this). I didn't want to leave that place. With the sound of the water running from the river in my head and the heavenly breeze that felt orgasmic. I felt so relaxed and comfortable, and alone, that I chose to go to the bathroom in the forest instead of the outhouse. (sorry, perhaps too much information :/) I tried to figure out the meaning of life. Tried to let go instead of thinking in. No epiphany occured. When I got up and started to walk home, I didn't want to be here. I wanted to be home in Boston. I continue to think of things, daily, that I want to share with family and specific friends. Oh yea, I found moras on my walk! I ate them and they were delicious. I also tried some grass.

7:15pm Sat around, copied some notes into the field journal, laid on my bed. Then I met Jose and Wilmer, the father and son who's my age. The energy is much more full and interesting since they arrived. Jose asked if I wanted to peel papas. I replied "si" and then Marjorie and I had a great time. We competed to see who peeled faster, and listened on the radio about how water is very important for the body. Vamos a cenar sopa con papas, cebollas, y arroz mmm. I love their food. Also, it started to rain! Majorie answered that it has been a long time since it last raned, when I asked.

What a nice, content, sweet, generous, friendly, accepting family. They have everything that truly fulfills a human's life. Family, fiends, delicious food of their own, pure air, heavenly land, privacy but friends close by al mismo tiempo.

I have to pee, but I don't want to go to the outhouse in the dark and rain.

Marjorie is 12 and already can handle 2 cows at once and milk them (a scary, dangerous endeavor), cook an entire meal from growing the food to cooking it in a less than unhelful kitchen. She used a plastic bag to start the fire on the stove, and then another one to keep it going. Bad fumes I smelled and saw. No chimney system so the smoke just rises and then spreads through the low ceiling. I am breathing in the fumes right now and Amelia in the kitchen coughed. It warms my heart that Marjorie can read, knows math (saw an impressively difficult quiz on a bed), about the human body, what every single plant is and what it can be used for in her entire mountain forest, and she knows English! She knows colors (found out when petting black and white calf) and greeetings. When I asked her about it, she replied that she knows a little of everything in english. I'm assuming Sandy is her teacher. Gabriel knows a little English too.

Everyone has wearing the same dirty clothes for the last 2 days. Amelia changed her pants. The kids don't wear socks in the boots. Amelia did laundry today in the well, which I was surprised to see. This moning, when we were milking the cow, Gabriel kept on picking bugs from the cows behind. He held one at me and said "un gichacho" or something similar. When Marjorie was cooking lunch, a chicken jumped into the stove and bunt it's wing off. It smelled like burnt dirty chicken feather. Also, a chicken jumped on the table and started eating the frijoles con arroz. Gabriel still ate the plate.

2/2/10 8:53am Today is going better so far. Still ready to leave. I can't believe it is ony 8:53am. Nothing to do for sooo long. Why do they get up a 6am? Everything the family does in 1 day could take 5 hours. But I'm not saying it shouldn't be the way it is! They barely have a need to keep track of time, which I like.

Amelia keeps on complaining about how she has a headache. It is because she is dehydrated. She doesn't drink water at all, and her life includes 2 hour hikes up and own mountains. No wonder she is always dehydrated. While walking through the farm, whether to chop trees, pick papas or milk a cow, one is always hiking up steeply or trying not to lose balance as one drops, step by step, down down down. There are no level paths here. I take 4 steps and I am out of breath.

Last night at dinner, Joge told me in Ecuador "Tenemos tres platos en el dia", while holding up four fingers. I though it was a joke, like Ecuadorians really eat 4 meals and pretend they only eat 3. He wasn't joking. Marjorie showed him he meant 3 fingers and not 4. Later, Amelia told me I work a lot with my brain but not with my body. This is why I don't eat much. Then she said people who use their brain too much "se hace loco". (It makes them go crazy.) I didn't argue back. It's easy to tell that Marjorie and Gabriel are/will be more intelligent than their parents.

This morning I got up at 7:15am. Kinda just wanted to stay in my bed. A board of my bed fell out last night. I fixed it later, had to witness the underside of the mattress/paper-thing foam pad. I had this stuff for breakfast made out of the cow's milk we collected yesterday. It was a trasparent yellow watery liquid that tasted sweet and milk-like with little clumps of white cheesy stuff. I could have really enjoyed it if i knew for sure it wouldn't make me sick. I also had 2 more of those dense bescuits. After breakfast we went down the front to milk the other calf and cow. Then Marj and I cleaned the dishes again. Then Amelia asked me to sweep the front of the house. Then I decided to go for a walk, and here I am, sitting in a sugarcane plantation, enjoying the view and fresh air (and no gross house smell). I am bored though and can't believe it is only 9:50am. I wish it was 8am tomorow. That is when we leave. Amelia is going to pick up the 2nd student who will stay here this afternoon. I think she is staying in another room, or Amelia said maybe in her other house, where her daughter Mariana usually lives. About 15 hours left. 1 hour/meal x 3 + 11hours sleeping = 14 hours with something to do. So one hour to play with myself. Ok that doesn't seem right, cuz I still have the whole afternoon to do something with myself. That doesn't seem too bad, one afternoon.

I miss Mommy. I can't wait to be with her this summer. Long time away. 3 months and 6 days. AAAh. At least I will have the other student with me tonight, if he/she doesn't go to the other casa. I pooped again outside, in the plantation I'm sitting in. Much better than out house. I looked in my little powder mirror today and my nose is burnt. More black heads.

12:52 Had frijoles con cebollas y tomate cocinado junto, con arroz blanco. Marjorie cooked the whole dish. She burnt her finger. She is so inspiring. She is gettig an education at school while living on a farm, getting educated on everything that comes with that as well. I want to keep checking up on her. At lunch Amelia informed me that another student gave them a computer. Then when Amelia gave it to a "mechanico" to traduccir de Ingles a Espanol, the guy walked away with it and didn't return it. I told her I could get one from my dad and sent it to Sandy, who could give it to Marjorie at school They were so happy Then Amelia explained how it gets dark and her eyes hurt when she reads. So I'm going to look for glasses or something that might help.

Maybe I should do my ISP on "Las Familias de Santa Rosa", about how they ended up living here, what they want, etc. I've noticed my family has a strong "campesino" accent. And they use a lot of different words, like "crecer" is always "criar". I told Amelia that her family is muy amable y generosa, y es la verdad. She gave me a belt that she had just made for my dad, out of cabuya. It is the colors of the Ecuadorian flag; blue yellow and red.

This afternoon we moved the calf closer to it's mommy. don't know why, the only purpose seemed to scare the poor calf and make the mommy cry/moo for its baby w/o succes. Then we played in the tall grass, good grass to hide in. In the grass, Marjorie braided my hair and complemented my curls. They are a big deal with this family. I wonder what the other houses are like. I thik some others are much nicer that this one. I saw our neighbor, a girl Marjorie's age who had cleanly pulled back hair and nice-looking earings and a bracelet. I can get peaks of her house and it seems

Ok folks, that's where my entries ended.

I would like to give an update on some things I mentioned, as I am blogging this 4 days later. The other student, Emma, ended up sleeping in the other house the first night, with Amelia and Gabriel. On Tuesday night, they walked an hour DOWN the mountain, slept, then walked two hours UP the mountain. Then Amelia cooked breakfast and walked me down the mountain, then back up again to her casa. This was without one drink of water.

I learned from Sandy that I must find a parent or friend in the US coming to visit a student in this program, so they can bring a laptop with them. Sandy informed me it is not safe and too expensive to send the compudadora. I found out Samma's mom is coming to visit, so hopefully she can bring the comp. Then one of our teachers who lives near Santa Rosa can bring it to the Cajas (name of my homestay fam). On a better note, Sandy informed me letters are fine, so I can keep checking in with Marjorie!

After returning to La Florida Reserve, the home of Sandy and Carlos, we learned about a transportation program for the high school students of Intag and a few other close communities. The program pays for trucks to pick up and drop off students every school day (after they do their long walk up and down the mountainside to and from their homes). Before, only one or no kids from Santa Rosa would continue education after elementary school. Now, about 30 students are from Santa Rosa, including Marjorie. By the way, she was a great help one night; we enjoyed looking up words in her beloved English-Spanish dictionary. I volunteered to be in charge of collecting money from my fellow students in Ecuador. And the most successful year was when the students asked for donations from their parents, raising $1200. The families pay half the cost for the transportation, and the rest is from donations. So a small donation from my blog followers is largely welcomed! Email me please, or comment.

The rest of the week, I resided at Carlos and Sandy’s home/sustainable farm/reserve. We learned the ornithological study of mist netting, where one sets up sturdy, invisible nets, resembling tall and long volley ball nets. Birds, mostly hummingbirds and tanagers for us, would fly into the net, get caught, then carefully removed. You must not squeeze too hard, or you can break the breast bone or squeeze the heart, but you still have to hold firmly so as not to let the bird fly away. We take measurements of the bill, wingspan, breast span, sex, age (by looking at its skull), feet length, tail length, and to see if it has eggs or young by looking at its underbelly. It’s a tricky business, with some ethical controversy. But it’s the best tool ornithologists have, besides killing the birds.

Five hours of botany class in the forest accomplished knowledge of 15 plant families, plus a few geni and species. At night, we observed a night trap, comprised of a white sheet/net and a strong light. A myriad of moths rested on the sheet, as we ooohed and aaaaawed. For every butterfly species in Ecuador, which places 7th in the world for butterfly diversity, there are more than ten species of moths. One moth I observed was the size of my face. Another was an irrdescent minty green-looked like it would taste minty when eaten :).
We also learned first hand about the copper mining struggles and accomplishments in Ecuador and the Intag region. With the establishment of DECOIN, or Defensa y Conservacion Ecologia de Intag, the community has amazingly succeeded at stopping two mining projects from proceeding. Carlos' story about the endeavor seemed impossible, against Mitsubishi and Canadian mining company. CHECK THIS OUT http://www.decoin.org/accomplishments/

The last day, we had a minga, or a service day for the communities of Intag. In the Jardines Botanicos de Intag, or Intag Botanical Garden, we created paths lined with rocks, planted orchid, bromeliad and fern gardens, with dead leaf or moss mulch. One group had to go around the valley collecting dried cow dung for fertilizer :/ My group collected the musgo, or moss, from the rocks in the grazing field, and carried them in sacks to the garden where we layed it. The gardening was therapeutic. But the best part of the day was getting there and back. All 24 of us stood, smooshed in the back of a pick-up truck, which had seen better days. We drove down the rocky, bumpy dirt road, all groping to each other for dear life as the truck tilted and lurched, screaming out "left", "right!", or "center!" to warn those to duck from deadly branches whipping by. It was a bonding experience, and the best amusement park ride I have ever been on.

I have to mention the food. The food. The food was of course organic and made from scratch after collecting from the farm, including fresh pancakes with 3 homemade mora, tomate de arbol and cherry marmelades, freshest of the fresh shade grown, medium roast Arabica coffee, to empenadas, brownies with this heavenly warm chocolate sauce on top, cookies, soups with yuca and potatos, quinoa, rice, marinated beans, fresh made juice, I could go on.