Up On The Clouds

This adventure started late in the night in Palugo as Aiden, Alessio, Colton, Tanner, Jonathon packed out gear. They decided what sleeping arrangements to have, tents or a tarp- and of course they chose tarps, which we were all happy about. Paul, Tashi, Malena, Lilah, Rosy and Cristian all dealt with the food pack out making snacks with Marcea, such as sweet and salty peanuts, hummus, and sweet corn. Planning and packing the meals was definitely the hardest part, Tashi always having to hear us complain about the lack of food, while Thomas told us that not always having endless amounts of food is good for the spirit.

We finally peddeled out of Palugo mid-morning on Tuesday waving goodbye to everything we had known so far. We waved goodbye to our personal view of the inter-Andean valley and our goddess Cotopaxi (the volcano). All of us set off at a nice pace, catching the old railroad tracks to send us on our way. The railroad was hard to follow at times, curving through busy roads, dirty shoes littered around the tracks, and cows wandering aimlessly teathered to fraying ropes along the trail. It is no wonder that the leading half of the group soon got lost, taking a wrong turn down an old dirt road. There was much debate, but as time ticked on, we knew we had gone astray from the path. We asked around, using our best Spanish, trying to explain that we were looking for two gringo looking folks on bikes with children. Thankfully with the help of our Ecuadorian peers, Cristian and Jonathon, the message was clear and they explained that they had seen those folks and we headed along the right way again. Luckily, we were all united in time for an amazing lunch of hard boiled eggs and veggie wraps, that even Colton ate. From there on, our day was a breeze, passing beautiful waterfalls and traversing down rolling mountains as we dropped 300m from where we had started. 18km later we arrived at a friend of the Dammers’ house to camp for the night. The yard was filled with an abundance of avocado trees and we set up camp right there in the perfectly manicured lawn- not the typical bush camp we were used to. The sun set as we drank our soup, and it was magnificent to watch the sky turn a beautiful pink hue.

Rosy- keeping her bike tuned up and ready for the long miles ahead!

We woke up the next morning feeling well-rested knowing that we had to be, or the 40kms ahead would be difficult. We immediately rode into a massive canyon- I would even go far enough to comprare it to a strange Ecuadorian version of the grand canyon. We had estinated that it would take us 30 minutes to complete the 1km distance down and up out of the canyon, however an hour and a half later we emerged, sweating and panting but in awe of the view. We crammed some welcomed chocolate and pineapple into our stomachs and off we went up the awaiting hills. For lunch, Thomas chose a vendor for us to buy our food from. She was an older women selling beans, plaintain chips, salsa and lime. We approached her, bought some of her delicious food, and shared our meal in front of the school. Our choice of lunch location immediately caused a scene. Children came streaming outside. We each paired up with a middle-schooler and gave them our helmets to try on. We spent the next 20 minutes pushing them around amid shrieks of laughter. We finally moved on, knowing we had about 35 more kilometers to bike. The day dragged on, climbing up big hills, single tracking through dense pricker bushes, ripping all of our exposed legs. About 5km away from our campsite, we came to a bridge crossing only to find the bridge had been taken down, leaving a a crevasse in the lush valley. After contemplating if we could jump it, we decided to take a different route to our campsite on the river. We finally arrived after dark to a beautiful campsite by the rushing river- we helped our well-worn bikes (two broken derailluers, one broken chain and two flat tires) down the steep path and exhausted we set up camp. We then prepared for the 50km biking day which lie ahead to arrive to our desination of San Clemente, the home of Jonathon.

Tashi, Paul and Alessio...happy as can be to be in San Clemente!

A beautiful day to meet our host families

San Clemente is a community set on the side of a mountain called Imbabura. This community strives to maintain a traditional life-style agriculturally, socially and mentally. The bike ride into San Clemente was a long one, but we were in much higher spirits than the previous day. The climb into San Clemente was breath-taking as we crossed big mountains, with the clouds now below us. Midway through the trip a huge lightning storm rolled in and we were actually able to see the individual lightning bolts, striking the ground and illuminating the mountanous landscape. We waited out the storm, getting drenched in the pelting rain and took a few moments to ask directions from two folks on a motorcycle. The most difficult part of the day was the virtually vertical cobblestone climb to reach the small village above the clouds. Our legs fell into a snail rhythm, slowing working our way up the epic slope. Our wonderful host families, where we would spent the next few days, were there to greet us and take us to our homes where they had a hot meal waiting for us. This incredible feast consisted of potato pancakes, delicious soup and vegetables. It was so amazing to be able to eat food that we knew came straight from their soil, nourished by their hands and grown with the help of the Andean agricultural calendar.

A delicious meal with our host families 

Over the next two days, we grew closer to our host families. We joined them for morning chores, ate all our meals with them, and learned their traditional crafts. We joined in a community “minga”, or work party, with our brothers and sisters from the community. From moving big rocks for the floor of the neighbors house, to planting corn, and fava beans, we worked together, helping our new found friends during the shared work minga. Even though communication was difficult at times, we were all able to connect through agriculture, food, and participation in activities together. People who hadn’t spoken much Spanish before the trip began to become avlot more familiar with the language, and these homestays added significantly to the learning. Leaving San Clemente was sad for all of us, as we had all formed a connection with our new families.

Tanner and Malena- enjoying getting to know the people of San Clemente as they plant the fields

A gorgeous day to work together

Colton- focusing on his planting work

We left our bikes in the community and headed up the mountain by foot to the Casa de Cerro, or Mountain Hut, which will be our resting spot before and after we trek up the mountain of Imbabura. Currently, we are all well and happy- feeling enriched and rejuvenated from our experience in such a special community as San Clemente. This semester seems to be flying by, and we are all trying to be as present as possible. We hope to enjoy every moment of our experience while we have this amazing panoramic view of the valleys and the mountains, and the opportunity to be living and learning together.

Your scribe,
-Rosy

Malena- learning from the experts how to embroider patterns onto her new shirt

Practicing our Spanish as we learn the craft of embroidery

Embroidery work with the villagers

Greetings from Ecuador!

Wow! We are finally in Ecuador and we are all loving it. We arrived after a twenty-two hour traveling day. This day started with a 4:00 AM wake up, in the darkness of the pre-dawn hours. Everyone packed into the Kroka van, all tucked into sleeping bags for just a few more hours of sleep. The sun rose as we made our way to Boston. When we arrived at the airport it became a hectic affair, we each had a hiking backpack, personal day backpack, and one out of the 24 group gear bags. Checking into our flight was no easy task for our Logistics master Olympia, but she handled it with ease. We got through security with a few bumps. The first was skepticism of our snack jars filled with nuts and chocolate, but thankfully they were let through. The second was Alessio and Colton opting out of the X-ray security gate, instead insisting on being patted down, to protect from the X-ray waves. It was comical for the semester students that had already passed through security to watch them be patted down. The rest of the traveling was uneventful. During our layover in Miami, Florida, Alessio read our current literature book, “The Last Algonquin,” and he did so loudly, so that everyone in our gate could hear the story. We sat on the floor eating bagels covered in cream cheese, enjoying the silliness of our strange airport classroom.

         

We finally landed in Quito around 12:00 AM after the second leg of a restless flight. Francisco and Adela, who are the parents of Thomas, greeted us at the airport. We bundled into the waiting van. Even though it was way past our normal bedtime of 8:30 PM, we were all awake during the drive to Palugo, staring out the windows, oohing and awing at what scenery we could make out in the dark. Eventually we made it to the farm, greeted by our two new Semester students, Christian and Jonathan, and a warm cooked meal, which we were grateful for after the interesting plane food.

         

We settled in during the next few days, yet we are all still in awe of the beauty of the mountains such as Cotopaxi that surround the farm off in the near distance. The volcano is constantly smoking, as a signal to show that it’s alive. At 10,000 feet, we are all way above what we’re used to, even Colton, who is used to the peaks of Colorado. Some people are feeling the altitude more than others, but all of us are feeling almost 100% now, two weeks in.

Finishing school work while Tashi serenades us      

Palugo is a farm set in the town of Pifo, about thirty minutes away from Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Francisco, and his three sons, Thomas, Michael and Mathias, run the farm. One day this week, we were invited to go to Francisco's home and learn about the history of the farm as we sipped tea by the fireplace. The farm is based on agricultural sustainability, and is now completely organic, with a wide range of horses, cows, chickens, pigs and even guinea pigs! These sources of meat, along with vegetable gardens supply a 30 person CSA once every week. The gardens grow in terrace style, due to the sloping land. We have been so grateful to be eating beautiful fresh vegetables, fruits and meats for every meal.

         

Morgan and Marcea, evaluating student work, planning, and enjoying the sun shine

The past week here has been a wonderful blur. We wakeup at 5:00 AM, the girls hustling over to the boys dwelling to sing them awake as the sun begins to rise over the mountains. We workout- either running, biking or doing yoga together, or we have a lesson run by Thomas. So far, one of these lessons was pattern observation with the horses, in which we used our bodies as fences to guide them into new pastures. Colton even successfully tamed a beautiful jet-black horse! After the morning workout, we head off to chores. Some of us chop firewood, splitting the tough, strong grained, eucalyptus trees; others work with the farm animals or simply complete general maintenance of the camp. After breakfast is when we split off into various projects. On one particular day, we were lucky enough to tour Pifo and Quito, eating the traditional meals in restaurants off the main roads. During out lunch in Pifo some of us were brave enough to eat the fish eyes left in the fish, an extra crunch..Yum! During the rest of the time in Pifo we broke off into small groups in the bustling market place to complete a grocery list for various types of fruit we were asked to purchase. We used our basic knowledge of Spanish and lots of hand gestures to help us barter our way to lower prices, mostly relying on the real Spanish speakers, Alessio, Colton, Christian and Jonathan to help us communicate.

        

In Quito, we were fortunate enough to have Michael and Marcella (one of Thomas’ brothers, and his partner) guide us around the city on bikes. We hadn't been on our bikes since our last expedition in New England so it was a thrill to be riding around. First stopping at the central park's biking track, complete with jumps, steep ramps and big curves. Off we all went, bombing down the steep start, some luckier than others about weight distribution over the bumps. After our nice warm up we set off biking through the city, which generously blocks off some of the busy roads for bikers on Sundays! What a treat to bike freely in the street with no worries about the cars. We stopped at a shop in the middle of Quito, where we bought fried donut balls, a Columbian specialty. It was a nice treat that strayed from our normal diet of vegetables. As we biked further into Quito, the houses began to get lower and the landscape began to stretch out in front of us. Beautiful rolling mountains spanned out in the distance. We had made it to Old Quito, a beautiful city full of culture and gorgeous landscapes. We biked up a big hill, panting from the altitude and up above on the top of a mountain stood the Virgin Mary statue. It would have been a breath taking moment, but our breath was already gone! The rest of the day was filled with amazing museum and church tours. The culture was exciting to see, the church was hundreds of feet tall, the inside completely covered in gold, shining from every angle. Every one dispersed, to take it all in on their own. The outing to Quito was truly unforgettable- packed with culture, sights and amazing sounds, making it one of our favorite days of the semester thus far.

         

Besides exploring the culture around us, we have been working on handcrafts as well. We started our knives earlier this week, each person crafting their own to fit their personality, some handles having more curve, or finger placeholders. Other pieces of wood having personalities of their own. Tashi’s piece of handle was home to a surprised worm, which she relocated to a new greener home. The wood we are using in our knife handles is from a cherry burl from back home in New Hampshire.

Tashi begins work on her knife

Students begin working on their sheath knives, with the help of expert craftsmen

Our knives: wood from New Hampshire, steel made in Sweden, and leather from Ecuador!

Looking forward- we are currently packing up for a expedition that is 25 days filled with biking, hiking, climbing, and rafting. Stopping in villages along the way for home stays, basket making and insight in the indigenous culture of Ecuador.

Packing out for expedition! 

We are so happy and excited to be at this point in our journey as a group, and are so happy to welcome the two new Ecuadorians into our family. Our updated return date is November 4th. We look forward to sharing about our second expedition with you then!

Your scribe,

-Rosy

New England Adventures

Wow, what a crazy past few weeks!

Biking ridgelines, single track, and finishing up the two weeks of white water canoeing on class II, III, and IV rapids! We have gotten so close as a group, sharing these once in a lifetime experiences together. Leaving for our expedition seemed like an eternity to go, packing our bikes by the lights on our headlamps- rushing around until late at night, Emma trying to memorize the route for the first few days, Aidan packing up all the gear. Everyone was trying to finish up their tasks for their big jobs. Finally we packed our panniers on the sides of our bikes and strapped on our sleeping bags to our handlebars and off to sleep we went- much later than our typical 8:30 PM.

Everyone is excited for our first expedition!

Our expedition itinerary

Waking up the next morning, while the rest of the world was asleep was magical. We all hummed with excitement, of what was to come and of leaving everything we knew behind. Our first real expedition as a team! That day, with Misha, Erica and Hannah joining us, we biked 28 kilometers, first on a busy road that we already knew so well, and then turning off the populated roads onto unknown single track, bumping along on our durable Surly Krampus bikes. We traveled over rocks and sticks and even had to pull an enormous tree off the path to get by!

All of this bumping and peddling eventually led to two people popping their tires. Resulting in an on the spot real life patching a tire scenario! Right before we were about to turn off of the single track we arrived at an amazing grassy plain on top of a huge hill- over looking our entire expedition route. Misha told us that we would be crossing the mountains that we could see in front of us over the coming days. We were all in awe. With everyone’s spirits still high, we peddled with ferocity along onto the main road, unexpectedly stopping for ice-cream that was well deserved after the rough terrain we had just put behind us.

Thomas and Naya peddling hard, no matter how difficult the terrain!

We arrived at Harlow Farm later on that evening, just as the sun was beginning to set. Harlow Farm is Vermont’s largest organic farm. It is USDA certified and Vermont organic certified. We hastily set up camp in the back cow field, exhausted as we ate dinner and prepared for bed. Some of us opted to sleep without a bug net that night, while the smarter bunch chose to find coverage before the insects swarmed upon us.

The next morning, after a mosquito filled night, we awoke at 5 AM in order to be on time for the farm workers meeting at 7 AM. At the meeting, half of us were chosen to stay on the farm, while the others went to the Putney fields to work (this is a separate piece of land but it is still a part of the same farm). The people who stayed learned the amazing work ethic needed for large-scale organic farming. We packaged lettuce and kale in uniform boxes for hours, only stopping when the last head of lettuce was harvested. After participating in some more farm work, we finally all made our way to our camp, stopping to pick raspberries from the abundant bushes lining the paths.

Harvesting kale at Harlow's

Even though we only had 3 kilometers to bike the next day, it felt endless as it was entirely up hill and we were thoroughly exhausted. Our arrival at Basin Farm was amazing. Basin Farm is a community whose goal is to live the way Jesus, who they call Yoshua, wanted people to live; simply, communally, and full of love for one another. When arriving at Basin, we were directed to a lovely campsite on a creek with fresh cold flowing water, which was perfect to take a dip in. We headed over to their home just in time for dinner and shared stories and learned about the lives of people living there.  At dinner some of us had been invited to partake in milking the goats, so the next morning, the brave few people woke up at 4:30 to milk the goats. The rest of us woke up in time to join the community for morning meeting and breakfast. The meeting consisted of singing and dancing and saying thanks for the simple life they lived. Our morning work was different at Basin than Harlow’s, as Basin is a much smaller scale farm. We divided for these projects into groups- some of us harvesting squash, while others shucked corn. We were able to talk more closely to the farmers at this point, learning about the seed harvesting they do and their crop rotation plans.  They also shared with us their belief of only selling food at farmers markets in order to make buying food a personal experience.

The crew all lined up at Basin Farm

Aidan tries out Naya's bicycle, but the handlebars seem to be a bit low for him

That evening, we biked 13 kilometers up hill to Marcea’s mothers home, instead of the 5 kilometers it should have taken because Thomas said that “5 kilometers is too easy!” After the sweaty bike ride, it was wonderful to swim in the waterfalls by Marcea’s mothers house. We had a restful night of reading, eating and sleeping and awoke the next morning with lots of energy. With that energy we took on Marcea's moms back yard, tearing down vines, trees, splitting wood and weaving a fence all before breakfast. We continued with the rigor until lunch when we packed up all of our things and took off for the hardest part of the expedition to that point- The Pinnacle. The Pinnacle is a ridge of single track, along a string of mountains in Vermont. After setting off later than we had expected, and having numerous bike problems, we realized that we would have to camp sooner rather than later. This was only greater enhanced when it became dark and started to rain. People began to break down because of the challenging nature of the situation. We all comforted and encouraged one another to continue just a little bit farther. We walked for a few miles on the narrow ridge through the rain and darkness over logs and up steep hills. When we finally had had enough, we pulled off the trail and set up the fastest camp we have yet to set up. Eating our nalgenese of rice and lentils as the rain weighed down the tarp, we felt thankful to have food and shelter. The next morning, we all woke with a new determination, and we set off before the sun was up and made it to the highest point of the ridge before 8:00 AM. From there it was all down hill, coasting and barely having to pedal. We made it to our resupply just in time.

The view is always worth the climb, no matter how challenging!

The rest of the day was wonderful, we ditched the bikes for some flat water canoeing on the waters of the Connecticut river. We learned new strokes and also had fun flipping each other over. The previous dark and dreary night was forgotten and we were all cleaned, mentally and physically. That night we met up with our bikes again and biked to Tashi’s house. We were wonderfully spoiled with pasta, chicken, rice and cake. With full bellies and hearts, we went off to sleep. The next day turned into a rest day. We planted raspberries for a few hours with Tashi’s family, but most of it was focused on eating and swimming on the local creek in front of her home. The water was much lower than usual and we attributed it to the low rainfall.

Tanner, enjoying the sunshine on the Connecticut river

Biking to our next farm was a breeze. 3 kilometers up and down hill- we took our time but we were definitely grateful for the short ride. Wild Carrot and Fairwinds Farms were the destination. They are two separate farms, on shared land. One unique aspect of these farms is that they do not use fossil fuel powered machinery. Instead, they use draft horses. That night we accidently took an extra long time setting up camp- almost two hours. This prompted Thomas and Davicho to make us have a contest the next day to set up camp. We split up into two teams, with one pot, a match, a tarp, bug net, axe and saw. With these tools we had to set up a functioning camp as quickly as possible. With a lot of competitive spirit, off the two teams went- both finishing at exactly the same time! This exercise was very helpful for all of us to see that we could set up camp in a short period of time (if we all stayed focused). At Wild Carrot Farm we completed service by chopping and stacking an enormous amount of wood. We stayed over for two nights and set off early the next morning, planning to get some serious bike miles in that day. Not expecting that by the end of the day we would have biked 64 kilometers! We were all in good spirits for the ride, up long hills and down steep drops, mostly on dirt roads. Every few miles we would stop at fully loaded apple trees and eat as many as possible to fill our bellies. We would pack them in all our backpacks as well. Tanner and Alessio climbed up high in the trees, making it rain down apples. At the end of the day we decided to venture off in the side woods to make camp. It was a joyous night. We had gone way farther than expected into Massachusetts and everyone was ecstatic when learning the final mileage. The next day Thomas informed us that we were going to have our first group solo for the final 10 kilometers to the Deerfield River. We arrived two hours before our scheduled time, which completed the biking portion of our expedition. In celebration, we lounged on the sunny rocks, feeling very contented and enjoying the time to reflect on the past days. Once Thomas and Davicho arrived, we used a chain system to transport the bikes. Everyone was laughing and splashing in the rapids, trying not to drop any of the personal belongings into the river.

The next three days went by in a blur. Misha, Kroka’s founder joined us as a teacher. He taught us hydrology classes and we completed many hands on activities, such as early morning walks across the creek to measure the volume of water in the rapids. In those three days we went down the Deerfield River practicing different skills, ending each day at Zoar Gap- a class III-IV rapid. On the first run of it, every single person made it over without having to swim! Everyone was ecstatic and no throw ropes had to be used. Yet on the second day when we reattempted the rapids, it all went south, as water levels were twice what they had been the day before! First Misha and Morgan flipped, then Alessio and Malena flipped, then Emma and Tanner flipped, then Paul and Colton flipped, then Tashi and Olympia flipped, and then Lilah and Aidan flipped! Lastly, Rosy and Davicho took the easier route and stayed right side up to help rescue the other boats and paddlers. It was a wild and humbling end to our expedition. However all in all, the expedition helped us to become closer as a team- sharing moments and making lifelong memories.

Malena and Emma, enjoying the whitewater

Feeling strong as a community!

Upon return to campus, we prepared hastily for family day-, which was a wonderful event, filled with parent teacher conferences, activities around campus, and beautiful meals shared together. The evening concluded with a special talent show presented by the parents. They were hilarious! After parent weekend, we spent a whole week working on small group projects around campus. We worked incredibly hard all week, building a bridge to connect the big yurt and the boathouse driveway, working on the farm with Silvano and Lynne, and helping to build a timber frame gazebo for the town of Marlow. To celebrate this week of work, we traveled together to the Common Ground Fair where we spent the weekend teaching children to carve spoons and make bread on a stick, while also getting to participate in the workshops at this amazing fair. There was lots of contra dancing, time spent with Kroka alumni, and fun times had by all volunteering at the fair.

Splitting firewood in every free moment to do our part here on campus

Emma works on the timber frame

Olympia and Silvano building a box to age our farm fresh cheeses

Before we knew it, Monday had arrived, and it was time to pack for our travels down to southern lands! We worked non-stop over the next two days, packing and preparing for Ecuador. We took a short break in the packing to spend a morning working with the local elementary school students who will be our pen pals for the semester. It was so special to work together with them on projects around campus. After that we ran together to Orchard Hill with Hannah, where we worked as a group to disassemble an old green house in exchange for some tasty pizza with Noah! After these festivities, we traveled back to Kroka to finish our packing.

The next time you will hear from us, it will be from warmer lands! We cannot wait to share with you all about our adventures down in Ecuador. Until then, happy autumn!

Your scribe,
Rosy