Rio Muchacho

Last weekend (Feb 11-14) we had another BCA sponsored trip. Left Quito on Thursday at midnight on our own private bus. There were enough seats, thankfully, that we each had two seats on which to "stretch out." I think I managed to sleep some. The trip was rocky, but I guess I was tired enough. Arrived at the beach in Cuenca at 7:30 AM. Cloudy, but comfortable. Had the place to ourselves for awhile. The last time I actually swam in an ocean or other body of water that produced substantial waves was back in 1999 at the Mediterranean Sea. Needless to say, I was excited. Changed into our swimsuits on the bus and headed down to the Pacific. While a majority of the group was complaining about it being cloudy at the beach, I was busy dodging waves in the ocean. Fun stuff. Walked along the beach with Julie and found some shells. Swam some more. Walked to some cliffs near the ocean with Ashley, Wesley, Julie, and Rachele. Played some Ecuavolley with the locals. Ecuavolley is volleyball played with a rock hard soccer ball. I wasn't very good. Then we strolled the city streets and bought Magnum ice cream bars. I don't know if they have that brand in the states, but all of us BCAers are crazy about Magnums. By 1:00 the sun came out so we got the real deal beach experience. Problem was that I hadn't put on sunscreen earlier because it was cloudy. Yep. Dumb gringa. Burnt to a crisp. Let me tell you, you haven't been burnt until you have been burnt by the equatorial sun. I could sit outside all day back home in Kansas on the summer equinox and my legs and feet would never burn. Here, crispy. Learned my lesson. It was low tide in the afternoon, so I walked around and found some more shells. Little side note: I love the beach, but one problem I have with it is that afterwards you never feel like you are completely free of sand. Blech. Left at 3:00 to head out to Rio Muchacho.

Bus could only go so far so we got out, crossed a river, and hopped into some pick-up trucks. Those could only go so far so we got out, crossed another river, loaded our stuff into one pick-up truck, and then watched it drive away as we hiked a good mile and a half in rubber boots to the finca organica (organic farm). We got there and got settled into our cabins. There were 10 of us in one. Four bunk beds pushed together on one wall, two single beds, and then two more up in the loft. There were windows and doors on the cabin, but the building wasn't completely enclosed. There were large open gaps in the wall near the ceiling. Kinda cool, open atmosphere. The place in general reminded me a lot of camp. They rang a hand bell for us to gather for supper. The bathrooms were outside. Cabins (although the one's here had electricity and were a little more spacious). Bugs. Chores. Dish duty. Hot. Humid. They served us supper cafeteria line style. We ate out of clay bowls. Our cups and spoons were made out of the shells of some inedible fruit. The comida (food) here was vegetarian. I've said before that I could never be a vegetarian, but for three days and with the quality of food they served us here, I survived easily. After supper I was on dish duty. Definitely not as sanitary as Camp Mennoscah, but they've got their own system. All the food scraps are saved and given to the pigs. After that, we listened to a little introduction about Rio Muchacho, what it's purpose is and such. Not going to lie, it was a long day and I'm pretty sure none of us were paying complete attention. The rest of the night we had free time. We all spent it getting ready for bed. The showers lacked cold water and all our products had to be biodegradable. No one had biodegradable shampoo, so we washed our hair with soap. Nasty. I think we were all in bed before 9. Since the cabin was open, there were bugs. I guess people aren't used to sleeping with bugs, so there was a lot of freaking out. People slept with t-shirts covering their faces, some were too scared to even sleep under the covers, etc. For me, it was just another night at camp.

Woke up at 6 for chores. Me and Katlin were on pig duty. We shoveled all the poop into trenches and then moved the poop through the trenches until we had it heaped in this one area. From there, they sprinkle chicken feed in the poop and let the "chicken tractor" go to work. The chickens come and eat the seeds, then find the grubs, and scratch up the poop in the meantime, doing a very good job of oxygenating the compost. Then we fed the pigs. They get molasses water first and then their grains. Not going to lie, it was kind of fun. Wouldn't want to do it everyday, but it wasn't bad. Breakfast consisted of fresh-cut fruit with granola and yucca bread. Then we toured the farm. It's a pretty cool place. They don't farm to make money and sell products, they farm to sustain themselves. They use EVERYTHING. The poop from every single animal, yes, even humans, is used in fertilization. They don't produce trash. They plant crops to complement the season and the earth. Rainy season plants are different from dry season plants. They don't plant the same crop in the same place two years in a row because that drains the nutrients from the soil and that's why commercial farmers have to use fertilizers and chemicals. Pretty cool stuff. Lunch. Then we split into two groups. Half of us went to the workshop and made a ring out of a palm nut, and the other half walked to the biggest tree in the area. It's actually a strangler fig that gets planted in another tree and then "strangles" the tree and other closely surrounding trees. Came back. Supper. Then we made homemade chocolate out of cacao beans and crystallized molasses. We ate it fresh and goopy on some pineapple. Delicious. Bed by 9:30.

No chores Sunday morning for our cabin. Breakfast. Then we went to the garden to collect banana leaves AKA our lunch boxes. We wrapped our lunch in the leaves after we dried them over a fire and cut them. Biodegradable. Cool stuff. Then we headed out for our hike. We hiked to what our guide called a "loma," which means small hill. On our way, we crossed 20 some rivers and walked through shin deep mud for half a mile uphill (both ways...haha). We stopped to eat our lunch and then headed onward. Remember when I said this thing was called a loma? Yeah, well turns out there was something lost in translation because this was a freaking mountain. It's as steep as the Mamba I bet, for those of you who have visited the wonderful place called Worlds of Fun and ridden the beastly Mamba. Craziness. The purpose of the mountain hike was to find howler monkeys. No luck. Spent and hour wandering up and around this mountain. Oh well, it was a fun hike anyway. Then it was back to the finca. The entire trip from start to end probably took us 7 hours. We were exhausted. Shower, supper, card games, bed by 10.

No chores again. Breakfast. Packed up our stuff. Walked to the Rio Muchacho school where they incorporate organic farming into the curriculum to educate the kids about ways they can protect the earth and provide for themselves. Not going to lie again. We were all ready to leave by that point, so trying to listen to a guy talk in Spanish about the school was difficult. Crossed more rivers, rode in pick-up trucks, and finally made it to the bus. Headed home. Made a stop on the way, bought some oritos (baby bananas) and pan de yucca, and then were treated to ice cream by Daniel (Magnum of course). Arrived in Quito around 5. Went home and the first thing I did was take a shower. It took three repeats of shampoo to get the biodegradable soap out of my hair. Felt really clean for the first time in 4 days. Whew. What an experience. Built a lot of character.

Next up: Botany field trip.

Lizzie

The beach:

 The chicken tractor:

 Manchita:

This little dalmatian puppy lives at Rio Muchacho and is quite possible the most adorable thing I have ever seen. Her name is Mancha (Spot) and she is clumsy as heck. The first time I saw her, she ran towards me and tripped up the steps. She also liked to run around trees and bite at the plants around the base. So cute!

The tree: