Chiriboga

Hello all! I'm back in electricity range. The past 2 weeks have been ok, we were in a little village (think small cluster of houses who are collectively given a name. Yes, Chiriboga is that small) about 2.5 hours from Quito. It took that long to drive down there on the bus even though it's only 55km away. It was a very long, winding descent.

Chiriboga is in the cloud forest area. Hence the surrounding mountaintops are hidden in clouds in the morning and evening, and it rained almost every single day. It was a really nice area. Very naturey.

The volunteering work was ok. We didn't get to plant trees (even though that was what I thought we were going to do). Instead we helped to prune a whole lot of fruit trees (and I mean seriously prune. By the time we were done, probably about three quarters of the tree was on the ground), and also helped build a bridge across the river to a little island (apparently for the eco-tourists). I didn't mind pruning, but I had issues with the bridge building work. Firstly, it wasn't really done in an eco-friendly manner. What we did was we dug holes for the bridge foundation on both sides, and then dug a pathway to the bridge on the mainland side. The pathway was probably 20m long in total, 1m across and about 10cm deep. Digging was fine, it was just that we had to throw all the topsoil (TOPSOIL!) into the river! It was such a waste of soil!! Not to mention the pollution of the river, and the deaths of countless earthworms! I felt so bad, I tried to save the earthworms. I picked them out of the soil before it got thrown in the river, but I obviously didn't get very far. Some had already been chopped in half by the time I got there. I saw a fat earthworm that had been hacked and it was bleeding from its end, and wriggling around. It was a lot of blood for a worm. Anyway, I was slightly disillusioned from the bridge building stuff (for the above reasons). The rest of it was ok.

What else did I do? Oh, yes, the obligatory cow milking. I have to say, I never thought I could possibly be any more vegan, but I think after this milking experience, I've reached a point of no return. Seriously, my first thought upon putting my hand around the cow's teat was that this was so immensely unnatural. There is NO other word to describe it. Let me give you a mental picture. The cow was tied to a fence, and her hind legs were tied together (so she can't move). Her calf was tied close to her, but was not allowed to drink her milk, even though it was clearly hungry. The calf was used to stimulate the milk glands (I guess so the milk will flow easier). The man (who works on the farm) got the calf to suck on each teat for about 5 seconds (during which time very little milk flowed out), and then promptly tied it up again. So not only were we taking milk from another animal, we were also depriving its child from its natural source of food and nutrition. It was just so wrong! I tried to squeeze less, and towards the end, I was telling the guy that we should stop because he was trying to get every last drop out of the cow, and I thought it would be better for the calf (and maybe less painful for the cow) if it weren't so. I'm well aware that the cow will keep producing milk, and that the calf will have a chance to feed later (in fact that was what the guy told me when I questioned him about the calf) but really, the calf should have first feed, and anything left can be taken by people, not the other way around. It's just unfair! And besides, it feels really strange to put your hand around an enlarged nipple and squeezing it. I wonder why some people have issues with drinking human milk, but not with cow milk. Drinking human milk is so much more natural, at least it's from the same species.

We didn't do much else in Chiriboga. We worked in the mornings (about 4 hours on average per day) and had the afternoons to do whatever, because most of the time it rained, so it would've been difficult to work anyway. We went to the pub a lot in the afternoons. Actually we went practically every day once we discovered it existed (later in the first week). The pub was really small (obviously). It was actually someone's house, they lived upstairs and the pub is downstairs. It had a pool table (it was slightly slanted to one side, which was both an advantage and a disadvantage), and the room was only slightly larger than the pool table, which meant that we had to move every time someone was trying to take a shot in order to avoid being poked with the cue. It was a very quaint experience. The following week, the pub ran out of beer!

On the weekend, we didn't work. On the Saturday, we hiked to some waterfalls in the cloud forest. It was really nice. We went swimming in a waterfall pool, but the water was freezing, so we just stood in the water trying to keep warm. The walk was ok, it was a really steep ascent up to the waterfalls though (there were several falls, but each connected to the other. They flowed into each other), practically a vertical climb. We created a lot of erosion and displaced a lot of plants and soil in the process of scrambling up and down the hill (the cumulative effects of 15 people). I won't go on forever about our environmental impacts, lest you get bored reading the hippie diaries. I don't need to preach to the converted anyway (you're all converted right? ;) ). The waterfalls were pretty, very small though. They all had little rock pools, just large enough to swim in, but too small to be considered anything other than a small pool. During the hike, we also had to do numerous creek crossings. I was a little paranoid about slipping and falling into the creek and getting everything soaked, so I was perpetually looking at my feet. Predictably, I didn't see a a fat vine right at my head height, and I ran straight into it. I wouldn't have minded, except it broke my glasses...the left handle thing (the part you can fold down, I have no idea what they're called) was snapped cleanly off. But at least the lens didn't break. I've managed to sticky tape it back together, and it's holding so far. I think it should last until I get back. The most annoying part was that on the way back from the waterfalls, I ran into the very same vine, also because I was too busy looking at my feet and forgot to look up. It's such a hazard.

Oh, we also saw a tarantula! It was near the pub, and it was as big as my hand (if not bigger)! It was cool! There were LOTS of spiders in Chiriboga (Stacy, you'll be glad you're not here!), especially when we were pruning the trees. There were spiders on practically every tree. I was trying not to ruin their webs while pruning the trees.

Um, I'm not sure what else to say for Chiriboga. I think that's pretty much all we did. The other volunteers are quite nice. There were 2 French, 4 Germans, 2 Spanish, 2 Ecuadorians (volunteers from the uni in Quito), 1 English person, and me. It was a good sized group for the kind of work we did. There are fewer volunteers in Jipijapa (where we are currently teaching in schools), but more on that later.

Oh yes, in case you were wondering why there are no photos in this post, it is because I can't find my camera. I think it was stolen enroute from Quito to Jipijapa 2 days ago sometime on the bus :( I was really depressed about it, but I'm slowly getting over it. I'm going to see if I can get a cheap digital camera here or in Quito, and will see what insurance will do about it. I'm not looking forward to dealing with the insurance company cos it will be so bothersome! Sigh. In the meantime, we will have to put up with a very dry blog...