Advertisement
Published: February 3rd 2008
Hello all,
So our final week at Santa Lucia is now over. While we enjoyed our time there and will miss all the great people that we met, we are excited to move on and continue exploring Ecuador. Santa Lucia has been a wonderful experience for both Jack and I. After spending three weeks in a cloud forest we both better understand what it means to protect our environment and live sustainably. From the compos toliets we used to the local food we ate at every meal, to the techniques used in an organic garden, Jack and I have gained valuable insights iknto how to have a happy and healthy future.
we had an awesome time assisting the staff at the lodge with ensuring that the lodge and the cloud forest become a place where people from all over the world want to come and learn about the environment. The work was hard, and made harder in the constant mud and rain but at the end of the day we knew that we were making a difference, no matter how small. We will miss our days in the garden and Iam sure I speak for Jack when I say
that we will both miss the food..with breakfasts of fresh bread and fruit and dinners with homemade pizza how could you not? We will also miss the endless games of shithead...we will teach you all when we get home, the evening fires, the hummingbirds that sound like large animals and being able to sleep for ten hours everyday. Not having a job and being in South America is not a shabby deal at all.
One thing that I will personally not miss is the mud. I think that I have seen enough mud to last me a long time, and I will be more then happy to pass along my duck taped wellies to another volunteer.
So in terms of the weather for our last week at the lodge, it was not pleasant to say the least....we have never been so cold and damp, and we calculated that it rained for at least 100 hours this past week. Workwise, we sort of did the usual which included varnishing the new cabins, sanding, planting seeds which we kissed and gave love to before we left so they will grow big and strong, we also constructed an awning that Jack
Jack and his Eggs
We, the volunteers had to carry up some of the food for the week....I got the eggs!thought of to minimize the rain into the garden. So it was a very succusseful week....and we had a little adventure in there as well...I rode the swing from the plank...woohoo and it was not all that scary, although Jack said that he has never seen me look so terrifed and we hiked to a super waterfall.
I would have definitely have felt much safer in the swing if I had had a helmet and a seat belt, come to think of it, there are many things here that I would probably feel safer in with a helmet and seat belt....buses, cabs, the teleferico ride....
On our last night there we had a bit of a celebration in honour of Margeritas birthday...she is one of the young women who cook for us...we had cake and a hot drink of tang (fruit drink sort of like kool aid) and rum was passed around and then Julio, Edison and Noae serenaded us all with some wonderful music...Jack and I thought that along with Santa Lucia tshirts and coffee for sale they should also put out a cd.
We left Santa Lucia and Nanegal on Friday and arrived in Quito
Working on the Cabanas
Jackie sifted the sand, and Jack helped with the mortar and bricks late in the afternoon and today have arrived at Hosteria Papagayo near Cotopaxi, after being dropped off at the side of the highway. We will be here for the next three days and are excited to go on some hikes and do some biking down the mountain. Everyone can look forward to our next blog that will be coming very soon with all our new stories from
here!
Unfortunately, the computer here at Papagayo is extremely slow and they are looking at us and wondering when we are going to eat, so the pictures of our last week at the lodge will be up tomorrow sometime. Sorry! Just one more day!
Talk to you again soon!
Jackie and Jack
Advertisement
Tot: 0.073s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 51; dbt: 0.045s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
