This is quite a larger post than normal, but after taking around 400 photos during my time on the organic farm called Rio Muchacho off the coast of Ecuador, it was hard to decide what to include!
After an all night bus ride from Quito to Bahía, on the Pacific coast, three others from Quito and I rode on a bicycle taxi in the early morning rain to catch a water taxi to get across the channel to San Vicente. In San Vicente we then waited for a bus to take us on north past the coastal town of Canoa, and they dropped us off along the highway at the entrance of a long, rutted dirt road. We were then picked up by the Rio Muchacho jeep and rode 8 km inland to the farm.
We arrived in time for a breakfast of fruits, yuca bread and granola, served in a bowl made from the shell of the mate fruit, with a spoon made from mate. Much of the food served on the farm is grown there, including the bananas, melon, pineapple, yuca, and coffee we had for breakfast.
There were about 12 volunteers working on the farm while I was there. They each pay $200 for a month of meals and lodging, and take organic farming classes in the afternoon, and work on the farm in the morning. Those at the table above are from Quebec, Germany, Virginia and Minnesota.
After breakfast we brought our bags to our cabins. I shared my cabin with the Spanish instructor, Alejandra. We were right on the river, with a small balcony, outdoor shower, self-composting toilet, and screened in area for beds.
Shower and sink at the entrance to the cabin
We jumped right into touring the farm, beginning with examining the worm compost beds pictured below
Above is a big bag filled with methane produced from the excrement of the animals on the farm. They use the methane to help provide energy for hot water.
Some of the volunteers were working with seedlings up at the huerta (garden)
Seedlings up close
A loofah plant
A volunteer from Germany and a guest (like me) named Mauricio showing off an incredible pepper in the garden
Broccoli.
Mauricio and I then went on a walk with Oscar, a Ecuadorian who lives and works on the farm. He brought us back into the woods a ways to see this great tree with branches that grow downward and root into the ground.
We then went to help out in the kitchen. The cocinera (cook) was a spunky woman whom. I liked a lot. She kept telling jokes, which were a bit hard for me to follow in Spanish.
Oscar, Maurico and I de-podding beans
Tomate fruits soaking in water. We peeled these for juice.
Peeled tomates
A shelf of mate cups
A soup of potatoes, leaks and corn
The son of one of the cooks, standing near jars of seeds
The following day we went to the garden and picked veggies and banana leaves to take for lunch
We then went back to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Above I am in the process of running the banana leaf over a fire to soften it for wrapping our lunch inside.
The wrapped product (a tonga)
Oscar and I then headed out on horses to go and scout for monkeys. I was a bit nervous about horseback riding while pregnant, but my horse Costaño was very mellow, and stopped every few minutes to eat along the way.
Oscar pointing out a school that was built for children who live in this very rural area that can be unreachable by car during the months of the rainy season
He also pointed out many birds along the way
We stopped to eat lunch at this house owned by a 90-year-old woman. She was not home, but we sat on her porch to eat our tongas.
The ingredients inside the tonga: rice, beans, veggies, plantains, egg and peanut sauce
A poinsettia plant near our lunch spot
Banana and papaya plants
A little boy we met at the small swimming hole where we cooled off
Cows along the way
When we returned, Oscar's horse provided lunch for its babe
I walked around the farm a bit upon return to take more photos.
Cotton plant
Alejandra working with a volunteer on Spanish
The following morning I prepared to go milk cows with Oscar and Jill, a volunteer from Pennsylvania. In the photo below Jill is feeding the horses
One of the pigs on the farm. They do not raise them for meat, but rather use them for composting and producing methane and manure
A baby cow eating before it was our turn to try milking its mom
I was horrible at this, so I let Oscar take over. Thinking of my time ahead feeding my own babe, I gave the cow a pat
Jill giving it a shot
Our bounty of milk, waiting to be turned into cheese
While waiting for the cheese to begin forming, we went out to dig yuca out of the garden
The cheese beginning to congeal
We brought the yuca inside and peeled it, than shredded it, which turned it into a mushy pulp
Later we mixed molasses, raisins, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla with the yuca and patted the mixure down over banana leaves in a bowl
The yuca mixture was then put over a fire, and a small fire was built over the top in order to cook the mixture into a yuca cake
Oscar and a visitor from Lithuania sitting with the owner of the farm, Nicola
A volunteer from Denmark relaxing after lunch
A farm dog curled up in a cool spot
A solar-powered dehydrator for herbs and peppers
After lunch some of the volunteers and I were treated to "facial mask treatments" with local black clay by Oscar
Relaxing and letting the clay dry
We then headed down to the river to catch crayfish
On my last morning at the farm, I photographed these girls on their way to school
And I went down to clear a field with a few volunteers and helped plant yuca, corn and potatoes
Gathering a few tomatoes and peppers for the collection of their seeds
A good bye view of the main lodge
In the afternoon I caught the taxi boat back over to Bahía from San Vicente
And before catching the night bus back to Quito, I stopped at a small diner for grilled chicken and a Fanta. I was back to the world after a stay in what seemed to be the middle of no where (in a good kind of way).
