Week three – Bread, Chocolate and Coffee

La Hesperia

Our third week at the reserve was a bit more relaxed. Gio seemed to get donkey duty each morning, and ‘El Donkey’ and he came to some sort of understanding which made it quite a nice job I think. I spent a lot of my week with Maria, from east London, a very cool and fun person to hang out with. Between us we put the world to rights whilst picking coffee, fruit, planting trees in the nursery, making bread with great success (one occasion so much so the dog could not resist stealing it, and another with a chocolate bread plait!), making coffee from scratch and making chocolate from scratch.

Coffee making.

I found the chocolate making so exciting I was skipping around in my wellington boots! It didn’t taste quite the same as the chocolate that Lindt produces but made the most amazing hot chocolate ever.

Our last weekend was spent at the reserve. The cloud forest wasn’t a super comfortable place to spend a weekend but it was peaceful, beautiful and true escapism.

It was really interesting getting to know Alexandra, the lady who (with her husband) owned and ran the farm and learning about their aims and the difficulties that they face. As owners of many many acres of cloud forest filled with endangered trees, plants, animals and birds they really feel the responsibility of protecting it. But having this much land and not utilizing it all for crops or cattle is something that many local people can not understand. And slowly people have started cutting down trees on the edges of their land and starting their own little farms. In addition to this they have a constant struggle with staff. Working on the land does not seem to have much kudos, where as wearing a uniform and working for a big corporation (such as the hydro-electric project down the road) seems to hold much more of a draw.

Alexandra and Juan Puablo are trying to build a model of sustainable living that can be replicated across Ecuador – something that allows people to live off of their land whilst still protecting the rain forest and it’s inhabitants. Both are very eloquent and very interesting to talk to and we would have loved to get to know them better. But three weeks came to a close and the bug free city of Quito was calling us – so we hitched a lift with Juan (giving El Donkey escape from carrying our bags!) down the hill and waited for a bus to stop.

The volunteer house (Charlotte and I)

The view from where we brushed our teeth:

My bus ride was entertaining as I practised my Spanish with the lovely lady I sat next to, she had just spent the last 9 years living in Stockwell of all places. But now was back enjoying the beauty of Ecuador.

We had two nights back in Quito, and spent our time enjoying a new coffee discovery – a cafe recommended by Dale and Karen, which was run by a guy straight from the Sopranos – he had the best throaty New York accent and also served the most amazing coffee. His advice to us – open a coffee shop!

We also wandered around the local market and discovered hidden bargaining talents. Our indecision, mmming and arghhing and wandering off solely due to said indecision lead to the indigenious ladies virtually throwing their produce at us!! We picked up some souvenirs and packed up for a surprise visit to Miami.

Walter sharpening the machetes ready for a day's work:

Our favourite comedy duo at the farm:

The lovely, very noisy, pigs:

A totally amazing butterfly - this was the outside pattern on it's wings:

And the number 98 appeared on the inside of it's wings!

Gio and the gang on a big Friday hike:

Amazing trees, high in the cloud forest:

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