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Published: January 26th 2008
Waiting for the Truck
AT 6am, out front of the volunteer house, waiting for the truck to drive us up to Santa LuciaWe are back. It has been a while, 2 weeks, but we are back. We hope you all didn´t miss us too much during this dry spell. Just hold on tight, and keep your pants on: here comes the goodness.
So, we have been at the Santa Lucia Cloud Forest for the last 2 weeks. We have been working hard to make one small piece of the world a better place. Changing the world ain´t easy. Anyways. Santa Lucia in near the town cum village of Nanegal, which is a two hour bus ride from Quito. The trip began with a 15 minute walk, a 20 minute city bus ride, and then the 2 hours down into the cloud forests on the western slopes of the Andes. The ride was intense...as they all are. Winding down these roads is enough to make a guy a bit queasy. But only a bit. There were three others on our bus that were going to Santa Lucia, which was nice, as the directions were a bit scetchy. "After about an hour and a half, you´ll go through Nanegalito, 20 minutes past that you´ll see a cut off to the right with a sign
The Truck
Us pushing the truck after it got stuck in the mud. We have not been in the truck yet without it getting stuck! that says.... Look for the peach coloured house that says .... on it. Don´t get off here. Continue on and tell the guy on the bus you need to get off at Santa Lucia Reception" Needless to say, it was good to have a few others there to help out.
We arrived safe and sound. Carolyn, our contact, and Teffi and Julio, staff members were there to meet us.
We spent that first night in the Volunteer house, where volunteers usually stay their first night and weekends. It was such a pleasure to be out of Quito (and it is a pleasure to be back writing this!) It was beautiful. Very rural. Sugar cane and palm trees and bamboo all around. Nice stuff. We spent that night there, but were rudely awakened at around 4am by the cock a doodle dooing of a rooster outside our window. That is one noisy place at night. No sound proofing whatsoever. A common thing we´ve found. Up at 5:30 to catch the truck to he end of the road and beginning of the hike at 6:00am. What a bumpy ride. Up hill, through a gorgeous valley, bouncing in the back of
Jackie on the Hike Up
This was taken at the first break stop on the way up to the lodge. 1600 metres above sea level. a truck for 45 minutes with about 10 other people, our bags, food and propane tanks. Then the climb. The road only goes to the head of a long uphill trail that leads to the lodge. Trail is 2600 metres or so, and rises from 1450 to 1920 metres at the lodge. The guides say it is a 1-2 hour strenuous hike uphill...and it is that. The first day we took about an hour and 15 minutes: but that was without our gear. We left it at the bottom of the hill for the mules to carry up (Santa Lucia has 5 mules.) The hike was tough, and all uphill. Mostly switchbacks, with a few steep sections. Really muddy as well. Wet, humid, and dripping, as you might expect from a cloud forest. We both had trouble on the way up, needing lots of water and breaks, especially Jackie. But we made it. Eduardo, the head of the lodge, was waiting for us with juice and a big smile. Eduardor is a tank by the way. We had a nice breakfast of fruit salad and granola and then took the grand tour. Our rooms (a private double,) the kitchen, bathrooms
Jack on the bridge on the hike up
We like the bridge. It is the only flat part of the hike...with rain cover too. (composting toilets,) nice outdoor showers with great views and warm water. Next was the laundry facilities, and hike up the mail trail, past some reforestation projects, the orchidarium, up the self guided trail, and to the swing. The swing is fun. It is a swing tied to a very large tree in a clearing where you stand on a platform on a hill and sit in the swing and let er rip. You swing down, forward, deflect of a tree branch, go up, and then come back. The landing is difficult the first few times, but after a while it is easy. Myself and Diana went that first visit, but I´d go on to ride it another 10 or so times, and Jackie a few times as well, but from the lower platfor area (she is going to do the high platform this coming week). The tour continued with the tree nursery, staff house, mule pasture (or silvopasture if you will,) wood shop, the site of the new cabanas, and finally the organic garden. What fun we had on that tour.
We were then off to work sanding the walls in the cabanas and gathering firewood for the wood
Jackie, at the top
An hour and 15 minutes after starting, at the top. Red, sweaty, and tired. stove in the lodge. It rained....alot. We were wet. There was slipping. I had an Aura in my left eye. We were tired. And then our first delicious lunch. The food at Santa Lucia is great. Really. Some meals are better than others, but all have been great. It is simple, basic food mostly, but amazing. The work day starts at 8:30 or so, lunch at 1pm or so, quittin time is 4:30 generally, dinner at 7pm, and usually brushing teeth and off to bed at about 8:30pm.
After lunch our first day we continued with the same work. Sanding and getting firewood ready and cleaning up the cabanas. The cabanas will increase the income of Santa Lucia, so they need to be done quickly.
On to Santa Lucia I guess. It is a cooperative of 10 landless peasant families, who in the 1970 were alotted land in a land reform deal. Soon after that there land was made a protected area, so they couldn´t clear it for agriculture or livestock. They decided to take on a project in conservation and ecotourism. They built a lodge, the facilities, and by the late 1990s, were taking in tourists ad
Santa Lucia Lodge
This is the gorgeous lodge. Made by hand by the 10 families. volunteers. There aims are twofold: Conserve the forest, and generate income. They doing both well it seems. There land is 80 percent primary forest, 12 percent secondary, and 8 percent pasture and plantation. The forest is magnificent. If you haven´t seen a cloud forest, it is like nothing on earth. It is very prehistoric and primevil. Like a fairy tale. Draped in clouds, moisture, moss, vines, orchids...vegitation everywhere. So lush. Amazing. And did I mention the swing...hahaha. Anyways, the lodge is quite nice. It can sleep 20, with two dorm rooms, and a bunch of doubles. Baths are all shared, and meals are eaten communally in the dining hall. There are 3 guides, Julio, Edisson, and Noe, a few staff in the kitchen, led by Rosario, the wife of Eduardo, Vicente the builder, and Eduardo. They are all so nice.
For there rest of the 2 weeks we worked on many things. Mostly we were in the Organic Garden working on projects there. Building a nice raised platform on the top path to keep us out of all the mud, a few extra steps at the top and bottom to make walking through it easier, making paths in the
The dining hall at the lodge
This is where we eat all of our meals, chat, read and play intense games of shithead (a card game) beds, watering, working on composts, both hot and cold, burying food scraps, preparing beds, removing clay and breaking the soil, collecting mule poo and brown leaves from the trails for compost, and much more. Outside of the garden we helped in the making of a new fence, sanding more wood for the new cabins, and a little bit in the kitchen.
We are really proud of our work in the garden. It seems to have been a big change. The path at the top and the stairs, and the new beds. It is nice to see the changes happening. The garden is used as much as possible to supplement and contribute to the feeding of tourists and volunteers. We have learned a lot. We learned how to make a hot compost yesterday. Layering green scraps, brown scraps, food scraps, animal poo, watering, more layers, and cover. 1 metre cubed of that, a stick in the middle, turn it once a week, and a month later, stir it in. Fun stuff. We have learned a lot about gardening, which was excellent, and something we really hoped for and have enjoyed.
Last weekend we had to go down to the
The Organic Garden
This is it. With Eleanor the head of the garden and volunteer coordinator in the middle. volunteer house for the weekend, as volunteers can´t stay in the lodge on the weekend unless there is staff, and unless there are tourists, there is no staff. So, we had a nice weekend. Lots of relaxing. We took a nice walk in through town, to a waterfall that fun to play in and get wet, and then spent the next day just lying around reading. Now that is fun. A nice way to spend a weekend for sure.
And that is our tale for now. We are here in Quito for the weekend to do laundry, book a tour, do this blog post, and ride up the Teleferiqo tomorrow morning. And sleep nicely at the Crossroads again. We already went in there, but have to go back after 12pm to get the room. They have to free one up after check out first. We had the delicious fruit granola yogurt bowl again. That is delicious. That is something to bring home and try to make. Yum.
We hope you continue to enjoy our stories and photos. And we hope that you are all inspired to travel, see the world, respect those from other countries, and work to
Jack taking a break
Tired after work, relaxing a hammock make the world a better place in every way you can. And that might mean not travelling I guess. Or becoming a farmer. Or lots of other stuff.
OK. We´ll write more in a week or so probably. We will be at Santa Lucia for another week, then off to Cotopaxi and the Quilotoa Loop, and then on our Galapgos and Amazon adventures. Lots to look forward to for sure.
Peace
Jack and Jackie
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amelvis
non-member comment
good
hi very beatifol soy un admirador de los voluntarios