Vilcabamba, Ecuador

The last minute decision to go to Vilcabamba for a week of WWOOFing turned out to be one of the best experiences thus far. I felt a feeling of peace and contentment wash over me as I entered Vilcabamba for the first time and saw a beautiful full rainbow. It was a sign of good things to come!

Vilcabamba is on the west side of the Andean corridor in southern Ecuador. The combination farm/restaurant/guest cabins are located right on the edge of Podocarpus National Park, which is named for Ecuador´s only native conifer. A beautiful, awe-inspiring place to be!

The volunteer situation was ideal: 4 hours of work 5 days a week in exchange for free housing and access to a kitchen. In the volunteer house we were 6, a mix of 3 Germans, an Austrian, a French, and me. The housemates were all so generous, innovative and creative, down to earth, and environmentally aware. After breakfast we all headed over to chat with the interesting and friendly owners and their kids, and to work a bit too. My main project was turning an area overgrown with weeds and bushes and small trees into a viable vegetable garden. It was rewarding. There were many places to hike to in the afternoons, and trips to town provided us with plenty of good wheat bread and natural yogurt and book exchanges. We made delicious dinners every night and thouroughly enjoyed the peaceful way of life.

Friday evening we went to a sweat with about half locals and half visitors. It was so enjoyable and purifying! One Peruvian artisan we met that night had us over to his place later that weekend, and I met some awesome people - accomplished musicians, protest organizers, artisans, and people with spark from different parts of the world. I also went on a wonderful hike with Regina, another volunteer, in which we stayed overnight at a mountain refuge. It makes the blisters worthwhile! All in all Vilcabamba was incredible and I left feeling centered and more
focused on what is important in life...

I am now traveling in Peru, and will write more when I get the chance. Take care everyone!

Montañita, Ecuador

It´s been a few weeks since I´ve last updated the blog, and it feels like ages has passed since being in Baños. I will try to summarize (briefly) my travels accompanied by tantalizing photos for your visual enjoyment.

Upon leaving Quito for Montañita, Andy magically appeared on the same bus. As i´ve now learned, even when traveling ¨on my own¨ I rarely find I am truly by myself! Acquaintances are always popping up in the most unlikely of places. But as companion-oriented as I am, I do not mind one bit.

We arrived to Surfing Inn Hostal in Montañita early on Sunday April 29th to find our dear quirky Johan awakening from his slumber. Meanwhile Andy immediately fell sick (with what we are still not sure) and suffered from horrible headaches and general weakness for the better part of a week. He bacame well acquainted with the local hospital´s staff who declared he did NOT have Dengue nor Meningitis. But the tentative diagnosis of Salomanilla poisoning never made any sense either. ´Tis a mystery, but he is alive and well and after a week he took off for Argentina.

The people I met in Montañita were a diverse group in terms of ages and personalities. Señora Maria Perla was the kind and motherly owner of the hostal, and she kept us in line and made sure we cleaned up after ourselves in the kitchen. She also invited us into her own home and laughingly watched Borat with us. Brett was the only other boarder at the hostal, a charismatic Australian surfer arranging to buy land and live near the town. Greg, Brett´s spontaneous and crazy Aussie traveling partner crashed back into Montañita toward the end of the first week after a whirlwind trip to Peru with a Peruana. Lastly, in my core group of acquantainces was Jimmy. Jimmy is an intelligent and wonderfully alive guy from the U.S. in his 60´s who touts the attitude of a 25-year-old. Jimmy is living out his retirement in a very different way than most older Americans I know. He is a musician and retired professor, who surfs and body boards, and likes to chat over a good cup of coffee about the peculiarities of life and politics. An admirable role model.

My loose routine in Montañita was to wake up by 7 am, get a newspaper, make a fresh batch of coffee straight from the Colombian sierra, and greet Johan and Brett as they lazily arose for a morning swim/surf. I spent the afternoons reading or swimming or walking, and the evenings almost always included a swim right before sunset and good food whipped-up with Chef Johan´s direction, or when we felt lazy, good pasta and wine at a local Italian´s restaurant.

Once we took an enjoyable day trip up the coast to different surfing spots, including Ayampe, Las Tunas, Puerto Lopez, and Puerto Cayo with a local acqaintance. We had just as much fun talking and watching the scenery pass by from the back of the pickup as we did surfing!

Another highlight was scuba-diving at Isla de la Plata, or as they commonly refer to it as ¨Poor Man´s Galapagos¨. With Johan as my diving partner, we saw many eels, large marine turtles, big schools of brightly colored tropical fish, a blow fish, rays, and beautiful corals among other things.

At the end of a prolonged stay of 2 weeks, I resistingly packed up my things and headed for Vilcabamba, Ecuador to volunteer on a WWOOF (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) farm.

Back to Ecuador: Mindo, Cotacachi, Baños

After a brief trip back to the beloved Taganaga house, Andy and I headed to Cali. We spent less than 12 hours in Cali (sleeping for 3), where we coincidentally ran into Johan, a swedish guy Andy had met previously in Venezuela. Johan is a chef (although he did make us some bad eggs full of burned hair...) and he is hilarious.
On the bus ride from Cali to Quito, we watched as the landscape changed to one of rural Andean topography and culture. We had arrived in the Ecuadorian sierra. We had a short stay in Quito where we met up with Mary O´Donnell, and went to a racous party of pure debauchery.

Next we went to Mindo for a day of hiking, swimming, and playing in the cloud forest. O´ lindo Mindo! I would like to have a farm there someday.













After saying goodbye to Johan and Mary, I headed to Cotacachi with Andy and Luis to visit our host families from 2 1/2 years ago. We showed up unnanounced, and were greeted with such warmth and graciousness. It was wonderful to be back if for only a couple days! I spent the time shelling beans and catching up with Mamita Ester and her grandkids, buying seeds and planting beds of vegetables in Andy´s and my family´s gardens, cutting Alfalfa for the pigs, and not a whole lot more.

















After Cotacachi, Luis and I headed to Baños. Baños is Luis´ hometown, so going there with him was especially enjoyable. It was my first visit there, and I hope it won´t be the last! i fell in love with Baños immediately; it is quite possibly my favorite city in Ecuador. It is a small city located at the base of the very active Tungurahua volcano. It´s somewhat precarious existence is also in my opinion one of its charming qualities. As one enters Baños, surrounded by remains of lava flows (less than 1 year old), towering Andean mountain peaks, and magnificent flowing waterfalls, one has a humbling sense of being completely insignificant and at the will of mother nature´s path. Luis and I rented bicycles and coasted down the mountain 20 km to Pailon del Diablo waterfall, which is said to be one of the ten most magnificent waterfalls in the world. (Sounds like quite a subjective measure to me, but I wouldn´t argue otherwise!)

The next morning we spent in one of Baños´ many thermal baths before returning to Quito. I said goodbye to Luis and am now awaiting a night bus that will bring me to the coast of Ecuador. Montañita here I come!

Colombia - Cartagena

Saturday and Sunday we spent in Cartagena. Cartagena is legendary for it´s well preserved colonial history. It was founded in 1533, and served as the main Spanish port on the Caribbean coast. Treasure plundered from the Indians was stored here until it could be shipped to Spain,and it also served as a center of slave trade. In the 17th century, a wall was constructed to encircle the entire city, protecting it from pirates and other attacks.

Present day Cartagena is beautiful, yet caters to wealthy Colombian and foreign tourists. Thus, it wasn´t exactly our cup of tea. We headed back toward Santa Marta for a couple days. Tomorrow Andy and I will fly to Cali, Colombia en route to Quito, Ecuador where we will meet up with Mary O´Donnell and hopefully Luis to travel in the sierra.

While I haven´t been real vigilant about updating this blog, I do keep up with uploading all my pictures (in case they decide to erase themselves from my memory card!) Just click the link in the right column and you will be directed to my photo site.

Colombia - Bogota and the Carribbean coast

Well, it´s been a few weeks since I last wrote. Time flys! I´ve been busy, just existing and nothing more. I arrived in Bogotá on May 26th, and a banner in the airport greeted me saying ¨Colombia is passion¨. I have been reminded of this national motto frequently as I travel. Colombians I´ve met in general are very welcoming, gregarious, and optimistic about life. I´ve enjoyed every place we´ve visited immensely, and ended up staying longer than planned. There is a good vibe in Colombia. Despite warnings from the U.S. government about travel in Colombia, I have never felt in danger and everyone I talk to mentions how much safer it is now than it has been in the past. However, there is no denying the ever present struggle with insurgent groups, the military, and paramilitary forces. The FARC and the ELN are the two main guerrilla groups, controlling 40% of the country and touting 25,000 members combined. They get money through extortion and kidnapping, and also from drug trade which brings in $6 billion dollars per year to the economy. Additionally, there are 30,000 paramilitary troops who have committed equally heinous crimes in the name of rightest private interests. It´s a complex issue. I digress.









So when I arrived in Bogota, I joined forces with 3 traveling companions: Andy and Zac, friends I originally met two years ago in Ecuador; and Eli (aka Vince, Vincente), a bloke from Philadelphia. I spent only two days in Bogotá and have a limited feel for the city. But as far as bigger cities go, I like it. Many colleges/universities, plazas, cathedrals, museums, the national capital, and bars where you can dance until the wee hours of the morn. A highlight of Bogotá was meeting David, a friend from the states, who has lived in Bogotá for about 3 years. He has since gotten married and opened a gourmet restaurant in the cities´ historic center.


From Bogota we took a hot, humid, suffocating 18 hour bus ride to the Caribbean coast. That first night we stayed in Taganga, a small fishing village many people told us was beautiful. We did not see the value at first, but later it won us over as we found ourselves returning to the seemingly unimpressive yet charming and tranquil place.
From Taganga we had the vague plan of going to Palomino, a small coastal town near Tayrona National Park, to spend Easter week (similar to spring break in the U.S. - everyone goes on vacation). We coincidentally met someone who has a small finca (farm) right near Palomino, and he invited us to stay there. Not knowing whether this would pan out or not, we took the chance. Hours later as we arrived on the isolated beachfront coconut farm in a heavy-duty Willis jeep, dust sticking to our sweaty bodies and Scandinavian skin burning under the harsh sun, we smiled at the beauty and simplicity awaiting us. We spent the next week there in pure relaxation mode. My watch broke, and I was glad. I read the Tao of Pooh, which helped me to get away from always needing to be busy and doing things, and instead be able to quietly sit in peace and feel happy. We cracked open coconuts with machetes and drank the sweet milk, read in our outside ¨living room¨ full of hammocks, harvested fresh water shrimp from the river nearby, cooked our meals over a handmade fire ¨stove¨, braved the tumultuous ocean waves, bathed in a freshwater stream, built a sweat lodge, and went to a cock-fight. It was a week well spent.










































We met some Colombians while at the finca who offered us a house to use in Taganga. Free - how can one pass that up? So we spent the last weekend of Easter week back in Taganga, enjoying the party. We ended up staying here a week as well. Andy, Zac, and I took a 3-day open water diving certification course. It was fantastic!












Well, I have run out of time for the moment. I will return tomorrow to add a few more photos, and bring you to the present time of my travels.