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Hi, sorry for the break in service, but last weekend I decided to go round the 'Quilotoa loop' (a circle of indigneous farming villages in the central Sierra) last weekend, and there isn't a lot of internet coverage there... A lot has happened in the last ten days, so I'll fill you in.
Last time I wrote I went back to the reserve on Saturday afternoon, and when I returned I heard one of the pigs was in labour. So, after dinner we (myself, Israel, Alex and Samantha) went round to the little shed on the farm we have for these things, and began to wait for the inevitable to happen... After an hour and a half the first piglet arrived, and by 1.30am all was complete. We had two stillbirths and eleven live piglets, which is a big litter. All but the smallest have really thrived. Unfortunately, after a brave attempt at competing with his larger brothers and sisters, the smallest piglet died on Wednesday this week. His persistence was inspiring, and it was all the more sad that he died.
After a busy week where I worked on various macheting projects on the reserve and gave a talk on
my education project to the new volunteers (we are now 17), six other volunteers and I went to the Quilotoa loop for the weekend. Stopping briefly in Quito to do some emailing, we headed out to Latacunga on Friday and then got a bus to the small market town of Zumbahua, high up in the mountains. The views from the bus were amazing, with great views of the volcanos as the afternoon clouds came in, and a really interesting insight into the lives of indigenous farmers who work their vertiginous fields and keep cattle, sheep, llama and alpaca on the steep mountainsides. Some of the people lived in houses made from mud and reeds, with a roof that hung over the rest of the house so you couldn't see anything else. I have never seen anything like them anywhere else but outside this town. In Zumbahua itself we had the good fortune to find a nice hostal, and then to our surprise and delight found out that the town had a fiesta that weekend. We wandered up to where a great crowd were watching a bullfight. It was very interesting to watch (thankfully it wasn't the sort of bullfight where
people injure or kill the bull at the end), as lots of the local youth brought their red jumpers to stand and wave at the bull, egged on by their peers. Later on that evening there was a live band which set up in the main square, and we danced with the locals to the traditional music. At the end of the set the band leader called one of us up on stage, asked us where we were from, and welcomed us to the town. The band gave us a CD of their music and a poster to keep, which was really nice. All in all a fun day!
The next morning the music started up at 5.30am, signalling the opening of the town's local market, where we shopped for hats and gloves and some of us bought traditional ponchos before we set off on our truck ride for the crater lake Quilotoa, some 15km away. The lake itself was stunning (as hopefully you can see), with the snowcapped peaks of Illinizas North and South standing high over the ridges in the morning sun. We stopped for a while to admire the view, and then set off on a six
hour hike to Chugchilan, where we planned to spend the next night.
Tired and hot after our hike through the amazing patchwork quilt of farmland and steep river valleys, we arrived in Chugchilan and found a lovely hostal where we relaxed and wandered round the town before sunset. After a hearty meal and a warm fire we all slept early, in time to get up for the milk truck in the morning that would bring us to our nexty destination, the town of Sighos.
At 9am the milktruck arrived and we began one of the most beautful rides I've had in Ecuador. The sky was clear blue and cloudless, and we drove through the countryside on the back of the truck, stopping every few miles to pick up buckets of milk from the family farms that lined the way to Sighos. Along the way the air was filled with the smell of Ecualyptus from the trees that lined the road and gave shade to us from the sun. Although it was very bumpy and more than a little uncomfortable, we arrived in Sighos all too soon, and were dropped off at the bus station where they had set up a
TV to watch the all-important World Cup match against England. Unfortunately Ecuador lost, but people were cheerful and proud of their team, a slightly different attitude than that of our average English fan perhaps?
Anyway... from Sighos, after the match finished we got a bus back to the reserve and began another week. I wrote six short project plans for various reserve projects, helped to dig a huge hole with the other volunteers, and went on an overnight hike which finished yesterday afternoon. Today I'm in Quito, writing this blog at some ungodly hour, and then I'm going to head off to Otavalo in the north with a few other volunteers. Apparently there are some very nice lakes there so we hope to check them out. I'll let you know how we get on next week. Bye for now... and thanks for the messages and comments - it's great to hear from everyone. Lots of love, x A
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George y Rosie
Rosita Crespo
Hey Anna!
Great to see a new update from you. I wish we could be out there on the Quilotoa loop too. We're gonna do it, though, at least that's the plan: to see areas of Ecuador we didn't get to on our visit. Even though we saw quite a bit (central sierra, manabi and guayas coast, y Guayaquil) that was really just an appetizer as there's so much more to see. We hope to go through where the reserve is and take a peek in there along the way. It's quite inspiring to see your pictures and read about your adventurous sojourning. Shir's been keeping us hasta la fecha with her blog, a real blessing to us back home. Hope you have a great week - should be gorgeous up around Otavalo as well - take care!