NHESP 2010 Update 10

          

Leaving Muerte Pungo

It’s crazy how our group has grown throughout our time together. There are actions that have just become innate, such as setting up our expedition tents and taking full responsibility of our chores; ranging from digging poop holes to keeping our eyes peeled in search of scarce firewood.

            This is officially the final countdown, with no more than 3 weeks left.  We have to really step back and lovingly appreciate each other and cherish the ups and downs of each day.

Now for our mountain adventures:

            Before reaching the base of Antisana volcano, we trekked 10 hours a day for three days from Palugo. The first night, we slept in the Paramo.  The following night, we slept next to Laguna Muertepungo (Place of Death Lake).  Then, after a 13 hour day, ascending and descending the many hills of the Andes cordillera, and meeting a white-tailed doe, we reached the foot of the beautiful Antisana.

Our base camp at the foot of Antisana

            The next day Davicho, a friend of Michael and Marcela, welcomed us. He is an experienced rock climber and is on his way to becoming a licensed mountaineering guide. He brings much energy, laughter, and wisdom to the group. He saved Marcela from being the singleton of the pack in terms of nationalities - we now have two spirited Columbians. Davicho brought with him gear, clothing, and a resupply of food. Our food and kitchen managers, Shiram and Julia, organized all the food for the next few days, while our gear manager, Connor, suited us all with helmets, harnesses, carabiners, ice axes, and crampons. The next day, we would head up, another vertical hour and a half, to glacier school.

            We said our goodbyes to the Andean starlight hummingbirds, llamas, wild horses, and Andean

A snowy day in the Paramo

wolves, and headed out. We knew our base camp would become their new abode. On the glacier, Michael and Davicho taught us so much. First, we started getting comfortable walking on the snow with our crampons. We then learned how to wield our ice axes and use them as sensors, testing the strength of the layered snow, and how to properly self-arrest (digging the blade into the ice in case you or your rope team fell into a crevasse). We then learned more about the layers of snow and how to read and test for avalanches. Next, we put our recently attained knowledge to the test. We roped up in fours and trekked, crossed crevasses, and practiced self-arresting. We could not spend too much time on the glacier because there was more than 7 feet of snow.

Trek from Palugo to Antisana

            Right now, we are preparing for our 3-day group solo. We will trek around lakes and through hills and finally reach Cotopaxi, our last hurrah.

We cannot wait to fill you in on the remaining week of the expedition filled with snowball fights, wildlife, and sharing time with each other.

If you have to take a long journey, you just carry very little. If you want to climb to a great height you must travel light.


Hasta Luego! The NHESP 2010 Semester!

Connor, Marcela, Carina, Tupac and Hannah

Pedro trekking in the Paramo

Packing up

NHESP 2010 Update 9

Our rock climbing day near Palugo

There have been tranquil vibes all throughout this week. Every one of us is finding the right space within the group. What’s so amazing is that when there is disagreement, of some sort, harsh feelings don’t seem to linger; what a relief.

Spanish lesson with Marcela

We began the week with an opportunity to see a play that Marcela wrote, produced, and starred in. We took a bus into Quito along with friends from Palugo Farm. The play was called Sed and it starred Marcela, a friend, and the talented musician Nandino, Isolina and Samuel’s son from Shiwacocha. The play was in Spanish and was about the tangible qualities and the spiritual essence of water. It definitely made your mind work, and it was quite unique and inspiring.

Economy lesson with Gino at the Dammer house

            Throughout the week we’ve been working on the many projects that we have dedicated ourselves to. The two main projects of the week 

have been felting and ceramics. Marcea taught us about felting and gifted us with her knowledge and easy-going energy. Some of us are making hats, gloves, pouches, and slippers out of sheared wool from alpacas, llamas, and sheep. Next, we crafted red clay pieces with Adela. She taught us various techniques and how to really work with the clay. Sometime before we leave on our next expedition, we will experiment with firing our mugs, bowls, plates, and figurines in a hay pit. The day we worked with clay, we were lucky to have Shiram’s family come for dinner. They made a traditional meal in honor of the Day of the Dead.  The dinner included bread shaped like children, rice with mushrooms, and a very popular drink called Colada Morada, made out of sweet fruits and purple corn. Shiram’s mother gave a brief talk on the history and importance of the holiday.

            We spent a day dedicated to working on semester pages and finishing up various projects. Armin, our semester book manager, assigned everyone a page, ranging from: the process of making Oyacachi bowls and pilches, herbology, leatherworking, ecology, etc.  After the pages were thoroughly completed, some people dried herbs for cooking oils and medicinal uses, some made bamboo flutes, and some collected firewood. Marcela taught a Spanish class.

            Then the day arrived when we would start our solos. We woke to an early start and began chores. Then we had breakfast and talked about the philosophy of what a solo is. The process was to find a secluded spot on the upper fields of the farm to go to with a liter of water, clothes, and a sleeping pad, and to just think and enjoy being. The solo was for three days and two nights. You had to remain in the circle you had made and feed yourself through your thoughts. It was an interesting and difficult time with some moments of enlightenment; the days were long and warm, and the nights were longer and cold. After coming back from solo, we all seemed to be in a peaceful space. We shared some of our stories; some people said they sighted foxes, humming birds, and lizards, for example.  Then, we headed out to the hot springs in Papallacta to finish the cleansing process. There we swam in the hot pools, had lunch, and simply relaxed and looked at the towering mountains surrounding the springs.

Tatoo, waiting for work

            The next day, Carina and Nicole took us to Tatoo Adventure Sports where we met Mauri and his  spouse Gaby, friends of the three Dammer brothers. Tatoo is a local outdoor company based in Ecuador.  It’s been around for about fifteen years and was started by Mauri and his wife. Tatoo began when Mauri starting to do screen printing in his room. Within a year, word got around, and now Tatoo is a successful local and sustainable outdoor company that makes mountaineering gear and wear. Its branches are solely in South America. We met Tatoo’s workers, who helped us make quick-dry trekking pants for Cotopaxi. The day was amazing, and showed us all how something is built from the ground up. “You can’t grow (a business) from a desk -- you have to be in the frontline.” –Mauri.  

After we said goodbye to Mauri, Gaby, and the workers, Carina and Nicole treated us to ice cream in the idyllic city of Cumbaya. The ice cream parlor had more flavors then you can imagine. Something interesting happened while we were devouring our ice cream. Often in the U.S., you see homeless or begging grownups, but when we were eating two little girls, no older then ten years old, walked around to each one of us and begged us to buy candy. They pleaded and pleaded and pretended to sob. This really took us aback.  From then on, everything was dead silent and a sadder, but necessarily more sober, tone permeated the group. That night, as if we didn’t have enough sweets, Marcela baked us a chocolate cake to simply celebrate being alive.

Spider on the wall

            The next day we had breakfast without Carina, Marcela, and Michael. The cooks made a delicious breakfast of tiestos (flat bread) with jam and moracho, a corn-like oatmeal dish. After breakfast, we met up with the teachers and Thomas, and headed down to the bodega to prepare for a day of climbing. There we gathered ropes, harnesses, helmets, and shoes, and took off to a local rock face about ten minutes away from the farm. There, we set up four routes on the basalt and climbed all day. We learned techniques from the experienced brothers, and all belayed each other up and down the face. The grade of the routes ranged from 5.6 to 5.10 A. After climbing and fueling up on snacks, we decided to walk over to the Jose’s Nursery.  Jose is a good friend of the farm. There we learned about various trees and their uses. We each bought two trees to plant in our solo spots. We also caught trout with a rod and doe, and learned how to properly gut a fish.

Where is the next foothold?

            It sounds like a lot of activities for a week, but I assure you we did them all. These remaining days we will do our best to keep in good health and prepare for our two-week expedition. Let’s see what the rest of our time has in store. Hasta Luego!

Happy Birthday Sis- Connor

Spanish with Julia

Vaca-cow

Albaca-basil

Tragar-to devour

Holer-to smell

Ensenar-to teach

Shiram, cleaning up after milking

Quechau with Tupack

Apin-horse

Rumy-rock

Waiku-river

            

NHESP 2010 Update 8

Preparing our Cataraft for the Jatun Yaku

A Poem by Julia

Every night my feet are reminded,

Reminded of the earth and how

Close we have been to it.

The sky over this river is a grey

Pad of simplicity: moon full and

Its rays coat the perfectly rounded

Stones like fresh dew.

The water’s rapids sound

Distant but we play, we enjoy,

And we learn here.

We’ve arrived back at Palugo Farm from our month long expedition experiencing the flows of Ecuador’s culture and diverse topography. Through our various trips into remote communities and lively cities, we got to see and feel the true Ecuador. Our trips were richer and more genuine than any voyage a tourist could take. So for this, our group would like to say a resounding thank you to the Dammers, to Kroka, and to the nourishing parents, siblings, friends, family, and schools that made this possible.

Checking out the maps with Thomas

Going downriver

From our luxurious stay in Tena, where we saw monkeys and parrots, ate from lime trees, played street soccer, caught snakes and lizards, played billiards, and ate juicy fruits, we said goodbye to our more than comfortable stay and drove to the river. Catarafting down the Jatun Yaku was the second chapter of our expedition. We got to our campsite and met up with Thomas and the Dammer brothers’ friend, Anjo, a fellow guide and experienced kayaker. We prepared the cataraft, which Thomas had engineered, and practiced paddling and swimming white water rapids. We woke up the next day and rafted down through class three and four rapids to our next camp on a beach. Michael and Anjo scouted out the nearby areas and found a local charka (a nomadic Ecuadorian farm) where they uprooted yucca (a common Ecuadorian crop, kind of like potatoes) and chopped a head of green plaintain with machetes. We ate more than we should have (boiled yucca, fried yucca chips, plaintain chips, and guava, a sweet fruit) and called it a night.  The next day would be a layover to catch up on rest and explore. The next day, Anjo gave kayaking lessons. Hannah, Dylan, and Armin successfully did a combat roll, a maneuver used in kayaking when one capsizes. Next, the whole group ferried across the strong currents to a vine hanging from the trees.   There we all climbed and saw how far we could swing, then released and fell into the soothing river. Then we ventured into a canyon and trekked around. Nicole taught a class on biodiversity and we learned about walking trees and sleeping plants. This eco-region is home to a diverse web of species from Conga ants that can put you in bed for a day, to the most colorful butterflies. We finished off the day with hacky-sack, fishing, and preparing for the next day on the river.

Our home for the night

With an early start, we paddled the lower section of the river. Carina, Pedro, Armin, Dylan, and I kayaked the flat-water section and a few lower class rapids with Anjo and Thomas. We stopped in several places to climb rocks, vines, and trees, and to cliff-jump into the water. The following day, we made it to Puerto Misahualli where we said our goodbyes to Thomas, Anjo, and Nicole, and welcomed Marcea into our crew. There we took hired pickup trucks to Capirona where we hiked with fifty-pound bags and the disassembled cataraft. We hiked for about 3 ½ hours to a remote community called 

Shiwacocha; there Isolina and Samuel greeted us. We rested the remainder of the afternoon and had scrumptious fish soup for dinner. The next day, we worked in the charkas, did various other chores, and began our next project of making bowls and cups out of pilches, a native fruit. We harvested the pilches and began to carve and engrave. Then we went into the bush to cut palms to fix Samuel’s roof. We got our faces painted with Huito’s friends and family with paint used for festivities and war. Later on, we ferried the river and went to Isolina and Samuel’s 

Schiwakotcha

main charka to harvest papaya, plaintain, bamboo shoots, cocoa (chocolate), and bananas. For dinner we had fish and chichi, a drink only made by women.  They chew the yucca plant, spit out into a fermented paste, add boiled water, and serve. The next day, Hannah and Dylan woke up with Isolina and Samuel at four in the morning and began the day by drinking wayusa and cinnamon tea for a couple hours in complete silence. When the rest of us woke up, we had breakfast and went on a hike to learn about medicinal trees, harvest oily nuts, and explore waterfalls with bats. The next morning, we woke at four and said our goodbyes to Isolina, Samuel, and the rest of the friends and family. After catarafting for six hours, we canoed to Puerto Misahualli. From Puerto Misahualli, we took an hour long ride to Tena, and then a 6 hour bus ride into Pifo, where we met up with Francisco, who drove us home. These next two weeks will be filled with crafts, cooking, and preparing for our next expedition to Antisana for glacier school and mountaineering to prepare for Cotopaxi. It is key to take advantage of every second because unfortunately we only have about five weeks more in Ecuador.

Jungle life

Words with Tupac in Quechua

Amaru- snake

Atuk- wolf

Ruku- finger

Inti- sun

Ari-yes

Nuka shuti mican-my name is…

Dylan’s Ají Recipe

Ingredients:

Trekking to Schiwakotcha

-       7 Ají (seeds and all)

-       ½ Orange for juice

-       1 Lime for juice

-       1 Carrot

-       1 Onion

-       2 Cloves of garlic

-       Pinch of achiote

-       1 Tbsp salt

-       1 Tbsp paprika

-       ¼ cup Ají powder

-       2 Tbsp vegetable oil

-       Pinch of ginger powder

-       1 tomato

-       1 cup of water

Directions:

1.     Chop up all the vegetables and put into a bowl

2.     Add all the dry spices and mix thoroughly with all of the vegetables

3.     Add orange and lime juice and mix again

4.     Mix in oil and water and mix thoroughly

5.     Let sit for around 30 minutes in a cold region

6.     Mush the entire mixture to get the vegetable juices to go into the water and oil

7.     Let sit for another 5 minutes

8.     Enjoy!

Options to change:

1.     more Ají=spicier

2.     instead of mushing the mixture you could put into a blender

            Happy Halloween!

NHESP 2010 Update 7

Left to right standing: Hannah, Jake, Dylan, Hakeem, Gabe, Shiram, Armin
kneeling: Michael, Tupac, Carina, Marcela, Pedro, Julia, Connor, Iyla

Dear readers,

It was tough saying our farewells to the families in Zuleta, especially to German and Antonio. They were a goofy duo who were highly amused by teasing and playing pranks on every one of us. Just as our group began to settle into the rhythm and comfort of home in Zuleta, having just unpacked our bags 4 days ago, a bus to the city of Cayambe -- the city of bizcochos -- was awaiting our departure. This nomadic pattern of 3 to 4 days here and 3 to 4 days there, was preparing us for constantly moving through the bush jungles. Hugs, shakes, and some newly acquired gestures were shared before  we set off.

With heads out the windows, as if we were dogs licking the wind, we looked back at (the not quite discovered) town of Zuleta, wondering if we would ever experience a moment of showing up again one day and seeing German artfully crafting his leather and saying, “Buenos Dias!” The bus ride to Cayambe was not much fun. Some of us had queasy stomachs due to a recent fast followed by a feast, which we undertook as a group when we took part in slaughtering a pig. In Cayambe, the buttery scent of bizcochos lit our nostrils before our “venus llanera” (Ecuadorian made boots) took us around a corner to a courtyard. Some indulged in numerous trips to the toilet.  However, we all indulged in plates of Cayambe’s traditional dish of sugary, fluffy, floury bizcochos.

Bathing in the hot springs of Oyacachi

Much to our surprise, a familiar face arrived in the courtyard where we were gorging. Francisco Dammer (Michael, Thomas and Mathias’s father) brought letters from friends and families to our crew. (Thank you all for writing!!) While letters, postcards, and memories floated around, once again it became time to go, so we relocated our meandering minds and found our space in the present. We loaded up two hired pickup trucks with packs, new supplies, and ourselves, said our goodbyes to Francisco, and were off. We went onto a gravel road. At one point, our highest elevation on the narrow winding roads reached 4,000m., a little less than Mt Pasochoa.

We soon reached the land of water and the small, isolated town of Oyacachi. Cold, fog, dense foliage, and flowers welcomed us to the stunning town, along with Carolina and Frankilins (our hospitable hosts). We settled in quickly and made our way to Oyacachi’s well known attraction: natural, volcanic hot springs. There is a rule of thumb when you bathe in Oyacachi’s volcanic springs; you have to make your way into the rumbling river 7 times after coming out of the hot pools. This is said to purify your body with minerals and strengthen your immune and nervous system by going in and out of the polar temperatures. After drying off and getting into our comforting, warm clothes, we made our way to a local restaurant where we were served trout alongside sweet onions and tomatoes for dinner. Shortly after, we called it a night.

Connor's first attempts at creating a bowl

The next morning, we woke with the sun and went right into chores helping Carolina around the house and garden and milking the cows. We had a delicious breakfast of pristinnos (doughnuts), typical at an Ecuadorian breakfast, and colada de avena, an oatmeal-like food. After washing our bowls and group dishes, we had a lengthy chunk of solo time; three hours to roam Oyacachi. People came back with adventurous tales of stalking deer, climbing mountains, crossing rivers, and meeting old wise men in the brush. After sharing our experiences, we had a brief pop quiz to review permaculture, Social Realism, Spanish, and Ecuadorian anthropology.

Bowls are taking shape

Next we started our project carving wooden bowls. We met Hector, a sculptor whose artistic career has taken him as far as Quito. He has expositions in the capital, making life-size carvings of spectacled bears, the revered animal of Oyacachi. We met Messias and Alejandro, two other sculptors, who are mute and deaf. It is said there is a bacteria in the water that often results in deformation or other disorders among the local people. The aliso tree, we would use for our bowls, was cut and then halved the day before carving. We started by drawing the basic shapes of our bowls, then used axes and axed out the shape as much as we could.  When we found the appropriate shape, we used machetes to separate each bowl from the larger piece of wood. The next step was to use a sculpting tool called an azuela to gut the bowl. Much help came from our talented teachers. The finishing step was to sand and wood-burn a design. It took us each a day and a half to make a single bowl. Messias and Alejandro said they could bang out 20 a day. We wrapped up our final night by having a wonderful dinner at Carolina’s of chieppers, onions, ice, and the remainder of the pork, we had brought from Zuleta.

Hiking through the jungle

The next morning, we had an early start, said our farewells and began to hike. We first hiked 11km out of Oyacachi, joined another trail and did another 11km. In total we hiked 14 miles, then camped on the Cedro River. Here we had a day layover, where we unsuccessfully fished, then cooked and explored the nearby cliffs. The next day, we hiked 4 ½ miles through pretty rough terrain. We crossed a few decaying bridges where we had to harness and rope up. It was a long day and we hiked for 12 hours into the night, each time descending more into jungle terrain. We slept near the Santa Maria River, ate a late dinner and had a thorough sleep. This week, we will be catarafting and kayaking down the headwaters of the Napo River and then doing a half day trek to the native jungle community of Shiwacocha. You will hear from me next when we get back to Palugo, next Thursday, after this first month-long expedition.

Hasta Luego!  Hakeem

Poem of the week

By Dylan

More than a simple forgotten walk, an adventure filled with joy exhaling out of the souls of one another. A mesmerization of wonder to see leaves as big as people and trees as tall as buildings and birds just as colorful as a painting in a museum. It was more than a trek, it was a voyage of learning.

Iyla, Hannah and Shiram ooling off

A drenched but happy Jake

Spanish 101

River: Rio

Bridge: Puente

To fish: Pescar

Jungle: Selva

Tree: Arbol

Monkey: Mono

NHESP 2010 Update 6

Proudly showing our leatherwork in Zuleta

Dear readers,

More than a week ago we packed our bags and started our expedition.  San Clemente seems long ago, but I know our group has preserved the teachings, emotions, and feelings of enlightenment that we all experienced.   When we arrived, we split up into groups of two, and one group of three, and each group joined a family.   San Clemente is a beautiful place hugged by the extinct volcano Imbabura.

Embroidering in San Clemente's Community Center

            Every meal was rich, and we were served like kings and queens, superior to any five-star restaurant in New York City.  To give you a taste of some of the divine food we all indulged in here is a description of a typical San Clementian breakfast we were served:  deep fried empanadas, queso (cheese), scrambled eggs with onions and leeks, warm leche (milk) coffee, tea, arepas(flat bread) with marmalade and butter, and a colorful fruit salad made up of bananas, melón, pina, and mango.

Construction of the adobe house

We talked about the equinox and solstice, and when it’s best to plant and harvest.  We moved a huge rock that was originally carried from the mountains by four men.  It took our whole group and a few more to move it to a garden as a table.  The next project was to construct an adobe house for a 105 year-old woman.  Pigs, scorpions, dogs, and chickens roamed the cobbled roads and green fields of San Clemente. Michael and Iyla had an intense match of mud wrestling, and soon we all were involved.   We saw Tupac´s beautiful house and met his mom, dad, and brothers.  The local women showed us their embroideries on tablecloths, scarves, and shirts.  After some brief lessons, we got started on our own detailed shirts.  At one point while we were embroidering,  Kichwa (the native tongue), Spanish, German, and English were all being spoken at once.  You can imagine the atmosphere.

Jake and Tupac ploughing

The next day, we worked a field with two oxen, and played a huge soccer game down at the local school with family and friends.  Dylan and Gabe scouted some future Ecuadorian National team players and started to train them.  We then ended our day with a delicious dinner of creamy soup with queso, papas (potatoes), peas, and sweet tree tomatoes for dessert.  We went to bed to the loud talk of the sapos (tree frogs.)

Our finished leather work: machete sheaths, book covers
and handbags

Marcela, Michael, and Carina then said farewell and we went on a group solo hike up half of the mighty Imbabura and up to Cubiche --  a mostly vertical climb.  After two hours of hard climbing,  we reached the summit and our eyes were presented with four sapphire lakes.   We cooked, had rhyme sessions, played hackey sack, swam, and watched the sunset all atop of a volcano crater.  The next day, we hiked close to three hours down the face of Cubiche, to a neighbouring town called Zuleta.  Here we met the infamous Herman, a master leatherworker and skilled musician.  He crafts horse saddles, pants, belts, and pretty much anything you can make out of cuero (leather.)  We´ve been learning to use leather to make main lesson books for our graduation and machete sheaths for the jungle.  Working with leather is very intrícate and difficult.  As Herman says “the patience is the art.”  We bought a four-month old, red and white pig from some local farmers and then learned how to properly slaughter a pig from a 75 year-old farmer and his wife.  We decided to fast from the time it was killed to the festivities.  It takes a little more than a day to thoroughly cook a pig in a clay and cob oven.   

Iyla modeling Herman's artwork

Later this week we will be venturing into a remote town called Oyacachi to make bowls, to fish, and to go to some natural hot springs.  You´ll hear from me next as we prepare to cataraft down the Rio Napo.

Working with Herman

Happy Birthday Mom-Connor

Happy Birthday Dad-Dylan

E(Im)maculate

Colorful

Universal

Auspicious

Dangerous

Outstanding

Raveling

Pedro and Hakeem studying the art of embroidery

Single

Energy

Masterful

Everlasting

Sacred

Together

Entertaining

Ravenous

-An acrostic poem by Dylan H.D.

"On the road again... "

NHESP 2010 Update 5

On top of Mt. Pasochoa; le to rt standing: Gabe, Dylan, Armin, Tupac, Hannah, Connor, Marcela, Pedro; sitting: Michael, Hakeem, Julia, Shiram, Lisl

 

Hakeem leaping over a fence

Shiram, Armin, Gabe and Jake with Mt. Pasochoa in the background

Dear Readers,

We started off the week “cocinando con Adelita” (cooking with Adela), who is Michael, Thomas, and Mathias’ mother. Adelita showed us how to make “locro de papa” (potato soup) and “quimbolitos,” a dessert native to Ecuador. Although the preparations for the meal were somewhat chaotic, we had a delicious, authentic dinner with dessert and learned much from Adelita.

Our new knives

On Tuesday, we finally completed making our knives and had a geography lesson with Michael. We learned about stratovolcanoes, riolithic formations and Neolithic eruptions, Cotopaxi’s last eruption in 1880 (and its tendency to erupt every 100 to 120 years!), and how Ecuador is divided into four geographical areas: the coast, Andes mountains, Amazon basin, and the Galapagos Islands.

On Wednesday, we started construction and carpentry projects on the farm. We assembled into groups and began to build stairs for our dwellings, repair the clay and cob oven, build windows in El Chozon, and make a tool-box for our equipment. Additionally, Marcela taught a lesson on Ecuadorian literature.

Thursday we ascended the 13,000-foot mountain Pasochoa, about an hour away from Palugo. Our bus driver, Carlos, and Marcea, Thomas’s partner, came with us. Pasochoa mountain was once a volcano and now it is half a crater, surrounded by lush forest that inhabit spectacled bears, hawks (gavilanes), deer, and wolves. “The gavilanes welcomed us in and out of the mountain.” –Pedro. It was a strenuous and scenic walk. Unfortunately, Iyla and Jake were unable to summit because of altitude sickness and waited for the return of the group under Carina's care about 1,000 feet lower. In the end, we had a great time. This experience was good preparation for what’s to come. As we were descending, Michael, Jake, and a few others spotted a clandestine black wolf that was never spotted again.

Pizza night in El Chozon

Friday was our official workday. We split up into groups of twos; each group read a short story by a South American author. In our groups, we discussed the reading, and then wrote and drew academic pages to add to the semester book. 

Finally, on Saturday, the knowledgeable herbalist, Marcea, engrossed us. We went around the farm and attempted to absorb all the information she had to offer. Marcea showed us the following herbs and told us about their healing properties: wild sage, deadly nightshade, muscara, alfalfa, red clover, iso, eucalyptus, elder, borage, mint, lemon balm, sorrel, black walnut, calendula, rosemary, yellow dock, stinging nettle, horse tail, and chinchin. For the highlight of the day, we made a salve out of herbal oils (6oz. calendula, 4oz. plantain, 3oz. chamomile, 2oz. rosemary, 1oz. lavender), and 4oz. of beeswax (to bind the oil together). We learned so much from Marcea; she has so much wisdom to offer. Later that afternoon and night, we made chulpi, various breads, granola, and cookies for our month-long expedition. We finished the day with many delicious pizzas made from scratch. Thank you Marcea for a fun filled day!

 

Marcea pouring our salves

Environmental tip of the week: stinging nettle stimulates your nerves. Whipping yourself on an achy part of your body can revitalize your muscles and nerves. Nettle is also a super food that contains copious amounts of vitamins and minerals. Cook it with a little butter and garlic!

Spanish words of the week:

Derritiendo-melting

Aliento-breath

Durazno-peach

Lechuga-lettuce 

Descalzo-barefoot

Recipe of the week from our cooking/Spanish lesson: Locro de Papa: chop onions and fry. Add half of the potatoes (about 20) and add water until covered. Add salt and let it cook until they are soft. Then add the rest of the potatoes with milk and cheese (queso crème Gonzalez). Let it boil until it thickens. Picar cebollas y freir. Aumentar la mitad de las papas y aumentar agua hasta que les tape. Poner sal y dejar cocinar hasta que esten suaves. Luego aumentar el resto de las papas leche y queso, dejar hervir hasta que espece. Y disfrutar!

Concert in El Chozon with Armin, Dylan and Dario, a boy who works on the farm

Ingredients for Quimbolitos: Mix four oz. of flour, two oz. of corn starch, eight oz. of butter, eight oz. of sugar, eight oz. of cheese, one cup of lemon, four oz. of raisins, one cup of cognac, and twenty leaves of achira (a local tree). Whip butter and sugar, then add the grated cheese. Add the yolks and whip until snow like or until you can turn the bowl upside down and they will not fall out. Little by little, add the flour mixed with corn-starch and baking powder. Next step is to add the lemon juice and cognac . Mix well so that the dough is fluffy. Then add the whipped egg whites. Wrap the mix in achira leaves and add raisins. Put them in a pot to cook in a steam bath. 

Mt. Pinchinca in the background

Connor at the rim of Pasochoa's crater