We're out in the country

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We are currently staying at La Hesperia, a conservation-oriented cloud forest property. It is on the slopes of the Andes, with a hazardous bus ride, and a rigourous hike up a steep rock and mud road. A small part of the property is farm-like, with cows, horses, chickens and gardens. There’s also bananas, coffee, and many citrus fruits. Another part is tree nursery, and a good part of a volunteer’s life revolves around planting trees, and caring for plants. The rest of the property is being maintained as untouched forest, with some of it being used for sustainable agro forestry, where crops are mixed in with forest.
Lisa has loved taking the milk down to the road with the donkey. Lisa is also feeding milk to two calves twice a day, and feeding the chicks. Steven has loved the bugs. Dave the birds, Katrina is hating the bugs, and I’m content with all the variety there is to see and do. (Also, no cooking for me! We sit down to 3 meals a day which I haven’t had to shop for or prepare!) We can pick and prepare coffee beans, harvest bananas, oranges or vegetables, help finish off the new school building, or take part in many other activities.
We are here for 3 weeks, with perhaps a trip out on weekends to an attraction or two. If anyone needs to contact us, they’ll have to look up La Hesperia online and try the contact numbers. June 8 we leave on our trip to the Galapagos.
We have had one accident here, when Steven cut his hand on a machete. He had used it all morning for a job clearing the road, but then later he had it with him when he was working on making a swing near our lodge. When someone called him, he hurried to climb a hillside, and his hand slipped on the machete. He was very lucky. Though one finger needed 2 stitches and another 5, he did not cut a tendon, and is already being very physical in work and free time. He’s out playing soccer at the moment, and he did complete his swing.
The down part is the mosquitos and flies that bite. We have to wear long sleeves and pants. We also wear rubber boots, for all kinds of reasons, mostly to stay dry, but they are also safer than other footwear in the bush.
Well, I’ll see if I can email this message. It’s touch and go with the internet, way up here on the mountain in the middle of nowhere, and we share with the other volunteers, and only in an hour or two a day, between responsibilities.

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