Two weeks have passed
since we have gotten back from our wild expedition, but it still has felt like
only a few days. There has been a rhythmic feeling of routine as we wake up (at
5:00 AM of course!), appreciating the scheduled day ahead. When we wake, we see
majestic Cotopaxi across the skyline- her smoke billowing out like a hot-tempered
child. It has also been refreshing to reintroduce ourselves to Hacienda Palugo,
and the wonderful people who live here. We see the Dammer brothers, their wives
and rambunctious children and feel a sense of joy as we walk about the farm. We
also are appreciating the beautiful landscape, with distant mountains and
rolling hills nearby coloring our scenery. Alessio, Tanner, Colton and Aidan
have all been pushing for our meals to become more meat heavy, and so, much to
their pleasure, we had the chance to eat guinea pig or “coyee” the other
night.
The first week back we focused on independent projects,
where in small groups we helped out with tasks all over the farm. We had the
chance to choose from four jobs:
-Repairing the garden shed-
creating a new support system for the roof
-Building new stairs
leading into our living area and converting a hole in the oven to a smaller extra
oven
-Woodworking on the new
Bodega (gear supply room)-extended roof beams and making window frames
-Building a sweat lodge
to use after our solos.
We worked on our
independent projects for six hours each day, which in the beginning, seemed
like it would be a long time, however it passed quickly as we chatted, listened
to Ecuadorian music and learned new skills.
Colton, Olympia and Rosy worked on the garden shed project
“It was super fun to
balance on all the ledges in the shed so we could reach the supports on the
ceiling. Balancing and drilling is a pretty intense sport!”-Rosy
“It was fun to do the
carpentry aspect because it was new to me.”-Olympia
“I like Davicho, he made
me enjoy putting wood together.” -Colton
Emma, Alessio and Christian worked on the stairs and stove
“Making stairs is really
interesting and complicated, we needed to use a lot of force to move the rocks.
I hope to use the oven to make cakes and chicken!”-Christian
“I had never worked with
stones and cement before and it was interesting and easier then I thought, I
might just go home and build a giant cement wall!”-Emma
“It was amazing to see
how much you could do with just rocks and cement, even with the imperfections
it can still be beautiful.”-Alessio
Malena, Paul, Lilah and Tanner worked on the bodega
“We got to have a lot of
fun with power tools and climbing on roofs. We sanded bricks, and afterwards
Paul looked like Donald Trump.”-Lilah
“Well I did power saw the
bricks, that was interesting-I was orange for a little bit. That was
cool.”-Paul
“I never thought I would
be a pro at jig sawing and round sawing.”-Malena
“I really enjoy working
with my hands and I'm looking forward to using the skills that I learned later
in life because I love to build!”-Tanner
Tashi, Aidan and Jonathan built the sweat lodge
“Creating a sweat lodge
is an enjoyable task but imaging everyone gathered in it is the best part of
all!” -Tashi
“I enjoyed using geometry
I learned in school that at the time seemed irrelevant. It was really
satisfying to use it and have a final project.”-Aidan
“Mi proyecto
independiente es el temazcal, lo realizamos trabajando en equipo y junto con la
ayuda de Thomas, fue muy integrante porque trabajamos mucho y es un proyecto queue
function muy bien, y todos disfrutamos del temazcal.” -Jonathan
We finished our
independent projects on a Thursday and that next day, after the sun peaked out
over the mountains, we all tromped off to begin our solos. In our hands we only
had warm layers, our knife and a full water bottle for our 50 hours alone. For
the solos, we were brought to a previously decided location scattered around
the farm, most of which were on empty cow pastures. We were told to try to not
move from a six-foot radius of our choice on our piece of land. We were given
water and tea throughout those three days, but were restricted from use of our
warm sleeping bags and food. We made ourselves at home in our new spots,
creating sleeping areas under the dense trees. Each of us sat ready to learn
something new about ourselves over the course of this important experience.
It was such a different yet
exciting concept to be alone for this time, especially after spending the past
three months, day and night beside these thirteen people. Everyone had a different
experience, but all of our experiences were positive. We woke up that Sunday
morning and were picked up around 11:00 AM, which we determined based on where
the sun was in the sky. Directly from our solo we trudged along the path to the
sweat lodge that had been made during the independent projects. We were weary
and exhausted, but as we walked over the hill we began to hear a beating drum,
which we followed until we stumbled upon Marcea and Morgan. In front of them
they had a huge array of pineapple, bananas, carrots, beets and apples. We all
indulged in the abundance of fruits and veggies before us, quenching that
hunger that had been resonating in our stomachs. After we ate our fill we
crawled through the small opening to the sweat lodge, the steam billowing out
as the flap opened. We took turns going in and out of the structure to lie in
the stream next to us when the heat was too much to bear. We all sat inside as
a group and breathed in the hot air, bringing a close to the past 50 hours of
being alone.
This past week has been
jammed full with academics, something we had spent a bit less time with during
our month long expedition. We had fallen behind on our book, Inés of my Soul,
so for two full evenings we read 60 pages a night, staying up as the clock
ticked later and later, nudging the person next to us when they started dozing
off. We were also assigned to do an independent project on a famous leader from
South America. Olympia has Eva Peron, Paul and Colton have Fidel Castro, Rosy and Lilah have The Mirabel
Sisters, Malena and Aidan have Rigoberta Menchú, Alessio and Emma have Jose
Muica, Jonathan has Gabriel Garcea Marcas, Tashi and Tanner have Pablo Neruda
and Christian has Mercedes Sosa. We were all asked to put on a theatrical performance
enacting our person. We explained about their life, and shared important
moments about their past. Colton and Paul had us rolling on the floor laughing,
Aidan dressed up as a girl, and Rosy and Lilah set off an explosion. Each
performance was amazing and we could see the effort that each person had put
into his or her project.
Our rhythm here at Palugo must come to an end
for now because we leave for our final expedition today. We will be climbing
and attempting to summit Antisana- a mountain of over 6,000 meters. After
attempting to summit we will split off into small groups for solos to our final
destination, the base of Cotopaxi. The expedition is planned to be 12 days, a good
deal shorter than our last one! After this expedition we will head back for our
final two weeks at Palugo.
 |
| Heading out for our final expedition! |
Until then-
Your scribe,
-Rosy
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