A relaxing beach break in the sun... Oh and 25km´s down an active volcano!

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Hola. Our final day in Ecuador :-(. We´re flying to Peru tonight. Olie is currently trying to sort out somewhere for us to sleep in Lima (his job last time we wrote the blog!) I was looking forward to a few days relaxing in the sunshine last time we wrote...it didn´t quite work out like that...

28/08/11 Olie decided it would be a great idea to sign up to a 25km mountain bike ride down the side of the highest active volcano in the world. I wasn´t that keen (...can´t we just do 5km?!), but gave in eventually. I wish I hadn´t! We got up at 6am and without any prep for the trip quickly tried to pack a bag. Olie contemplated shorts but I pursuaded him to put jeans on as it was a bit cloudy outside. I didn´t contemplate the -4C snow storm that awaited us at 4,800m (close to the summit of Cotopaxi). As other members of our jeep disembarked and put on thermal layers and professional bike gear, we got out our waterproof jackets and hoped for the best. The idea was to transcend numerous terrains on dirt roads through volcanic ash to Inca ruin at 3,700 m. After a picnic lunch we were to continue on dirt roads through pine forest down to Lake Limpiopungo. The guide was lovely and urged people to be careful...´safety first, but enjoy´. I couldn´t! The paths were so bumpy it was impossible to go fast, my bike gears didn´t work and my hands were so painful from the cold I couldn´t press the breaks. I ended up in tears! It didn´t end there. I soon learnt that (mountain biking + high altitude + snow + past asthma sufferer = disaster). About 2km before we reached the picnic spot, my throat constricted and I had an asthma attack..tears again! I think Olie became a bit worried at this point...I was wheezing so much I coudn´t talk. The guide made me sit in the jeep for a few km and I soon realised that the only other unprepared team member...a Chinese guy who had rocked up in work shoes and suit trousers, was even worse than me. He was all over the place! At lunch Olie said he was ´trying to enjoy it, but it was difficult´. By the afternoon when we were both struggling down hideously bumpy tracks on unsuspended bikes he gave in... ´Ok, I´m hating this too, it´s so f*ing painful...who enjoys this as a hobby?!! We swore off moutain biking for life, but at dinner realised we´d signed up to and paid for a biking trip in Machu Picchu!!! Aghhhh....just 2 weeks to recover. Highlight of the day - drinking Coca Leaf tea at the museum on the volcano - way before we got on the bikes!

29/08/11 Awoke with saddle bums and sore limbs. Plan was to take a bus to Canoa, Pacific Coast about mid-day, but unfortunaley the only bus that ran departed at 11pm. Another night bus..nooooo!!! After a lot of traipsing around to and from bus terminals, we wasted a few hours in La Mariscal, abusing coffee shops.

30/08/11 Night bus was a success. Comfy, quiet and no films :-) Arrived in Canoa at 6am, before any hostels had opened. Quick tour around the seaside town in the rain (not the sunshine we´d been hoping for) and eventually found ourselves a room at the very friendly CocoLoco Hostel, owned by an American/Ecuadorian couple, with a little 5 month baby called Sofia - v cute! Although it remained cloudy all day, we still managed to catch the sun. The hostel owner told us it´s only sunny in Canoa every 3 days! Fortunately we´d read about an organic farm nearby that encouraged visitors and volunteers to stay and help out. Perfect for a cloudy day.

31/08/11 The Rio Muchacho Organic Farm is fantastic. The sustainable farm and learning centre was established by an Ecuadorian in 1975. He purchased the 11 hectare plot that had been destroyed by local ´slash and burn´ techniques, with the aim of reforestation. He then met a Kiwi agricultural fanatic and since the 90´s they have created a dynamic environment that ´incorporates food forests with large vegetable gardens, pasture, agroforestry areas, models of alternative energy, rotational animal raising areas and a meditation/yoga garden overlooking the river. There are over a hundred crops rotated throughout the year. The farm balances as a home to many pigs, chickens, dogs, ducks, cats, goats, composting worms, cows, guinea pigs, horses, and of course humans with the vegetation.´(quote from their website!) They´ve featured in the National Geographic as one of the top places to stay in South America. It´s very inspiring and great fun. Many people (locals and tourists) stay on the farm for a month long course in sustainable agriculutural practices. Others stay a week or two and help out with the day to day running of the farm. Limited on time, we stayed 2 days!
Once we´d dumped our bags in our rustic hut, we were given a tour of the farm by an intern. This included learning about their 4 different types of composting (pig waste; guinea pig waste, digested by worms to create humus; banana circle green compost and human waste (vegetaerian diet on the farm!)). The toilets are all compost buckets/pits. Once full, them simply move the toilet hut and plant a tree! One of our photos of a palm tree is a former toilet spot. We then had a tour round the vegetable gardens and saw tropical crops such yuca, turmeric, sesame, coffee, pineapple, passion fruit, cocoa, banana, ginger etc growing alongside potatoes, carrots, onions and aubergines! Incredibly diverse garden due to the coastal loation which benefits from both tropical and Atacama desert currents. Over the years trial and error of crops has enabled the farm to produce a massive variety of goods.
After lunch (rice, beans, yuca and sweet potato bread) we walked to a 130 year old fig tree with a local Ecuadorian guide, who only spoke Spanish. I think our Spanish improved after just 2 hours with him! The boys climbed the tree whilst I recovered from a vicious bee sting on my head (An earlier gaff from one of the teachers had resulted in a swarm of angry bees around the farm. They had to abandoned their practical, but we walked straight towards the hives and a loan ranger decided to make a bee-line for my hair! Typical!) **I (Olie) just want to add that inspite of my minor jungle-based panics and previous encounters with bees (note the infamous nipple sting of circa 1999) I did heroically try to retrieve the bee from Emma´s hair, but alas, he was too vigilant and determined to sting!** Back on the farm we made rings out of tagua, a local palm seed - really good fun and we´re wearing them now. After dinner (cant remember what it was but it was good and vegetabley) it was time for chocolate making. Needless to say, Em and myself were pretty excited at the prospect of some freshly made and home grown Ecuadorian chocolate. Our very friendly Spanish guide (of tree climbing and bee sting gate) was once again leading us and one of the English volunteers on the farm also tagged along. We began by roasting ther cocoa beans on an open fire, listening for a popping sound to indicate when they were ready. Meanwhile, a local sugar cane was being chopped up ready to add to milk and the roasted and ground beans. After maybe 15 minutes there was little to no popping and so we carried on roasting over what was becoming an increasingly hot fire. Finally our guide decided they were ready and we ground the beans. Unfortunately our worst fears were realised and we had burnt the cocoa - the result was probably not the most authentic Ecuadorian chocolate ever (we tasted last nights and it was a lot nicer) but it still made for a pretty tasty dessert poured over bananas!! Sleep in our rustic cabin was then pretty good actually (although I did manage to convince myself that my window was covered with bugs and so could only sleep on one side of the bed...

01/09/11 - Our handicrafts making continued as we made bowls out of Mate, a fruit so bitter pigs won´t even touch it. Em got a bit stressed as some of her drawings went awry - I kept it simple (fully aware of my meagre design skills) and did some zig zags! We then made pendants out of tagua nut (´vegetable ivory´ - cos its white!) After lunch we jumped on the back of the truck to head back to sunny Canoa. Once again we were joined by a Spanish only speaking local and I beleive he even commended me on my Spanish at one point woooooo! (Its still rubbish!) The afternoon was spent relaxing on the beach until we were moved by a mini tsunami that managed to take with it my t-shirt and sunglasses as well as the book, phone and towel of the guy sitting next to us! Crazy!

02/09/1 - Once again spent the day on the beach with what was apparently Canoa´s only two days of sunshine all month - lucky us! That evening our hostal put on a pot-luck dinner where everyone brings a dish and you help yourself. There was a lot of tuna pasta (one of which was contributed by us) but the hostal owners had cooked up some amazing veggie burgers (I know - after one day on an organic farm I´m Nat´s best friend 😊 ) and another guy bought in some fresh shrimp! Night bus back to Quito was fine albeit with a driver who looked like he might have invented the bus himself (he was old!).

And that brings us up to scratch - oh Ive just bought my Ecuador shirt as well - love it! Tonight we fly to Peru, 2 countries down and 4 to go.... Adios Amigos! xx

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