Pictures!

Here are some random pictures from the trip so far! Enjoy!

I am taking an Andinismo (mountaineering) class and so we practice repelling from the gym ceiling!

At the International Student welcome party, we played a giant game of flip cup- 3 tables.

This is the view of Quito from the top of Pichincha. We took the Teleferico (ski lift type thing) up and then hiked a bit further. As you can see, there have been fires all over the city recently. Many of the locals think it is arson. 

At the top of Pichincha, we just lay in the grass and looked at the city and mountains. 

This is Narcissa, Marcelo, Pato, and David playing a game called Zapo. They NEVER got tired of this game and played constantly. It involves throwing big brass washers at holes in a piece of wood. Our kitchen is the building in the picture. 

There were a few baby guinea pigs while I was there! 

This is Sangay, the 1 year old oso de anteojos (sunglasses bear). He is extremely friendly but we can't touch him. He eats oatmeal and fruit- I'm not sure how he's growing so quickly on such a small diet!

This was one of the only friendly horses. While the guys were changing the sprinklers, I would try and get over my fear of horses by petting this guy. 

The last weekend on the farm, the three of us went camping up the mountain where there is a little cabin. No water, electricity, nothing. We hiked around during the day but what was really scary was when Muneca (in the picture) got stuck in a big thorn bush at night about a kilometer from our camp. We thought she was being eaten by a puma so we ran out with sticks and light and tried finding her in the forest. 

On one of the last days, Marcelo let me ride one of the horses bareback. It was so calm!

This is my favorite goat, which I called Maldito (little fucker- loosely translated). He would run away from the pack and just didn't care if I tried herding him in a different direction. All the goats had unique personalities. 

This is a view of the mountain, Cotopaxi, where the farm was located. I feel such a strong connection to this mountain since I woke up to it, worked underneath it, and lay in the grass in the evenings and gazed at it's glaciers. 

This is Muñeca, the queen of the farm. She ended up sleeping on my pillow next to me every night. Recently, she was bitten very badly by an unknown animal so I'm hoping that she is able to recover. 

Ministerio del Ambiente

As some of you may know, I have a deep interest in the environment. My academic studies usually focus on environmental aspects in international relations and so working on the farm has given me some insight into aspects of agriculture and endangered species. When Marcelo mentioned that three people from the Ministerio del Ambiente (Ministry of the Environment) were coming to the farm, I couldn’t believe my luck. When they arrived, I followed them around wide-eyed, listening intently to everything they had to say.

The reason for their visit was to check on the condors we have on the farm. In Ecuador, there are only 70 Andean Condors remaining, so they are extremely endangered. Our farm has two condors in an enclosure an hour up the volcano and the Ministerio del Ambiente is very interested in relocating them to a larger enclosure once one is built. The three workers got in their truck and asked if I would like to go visit the condors with them and I course I nodded very enthusiastically. The ride up, we talked about different species, Latin names, and how to treat deer with diseases. Although it was relevant, I wasn’t that interested and so once we got to the condors, my interrogation started.

They were very good teachers and listeners so they answered all of my questions. I started talking about policies surrounding endangered animals and then snuck in some questions about Indigenous communities and the effect of oil. I also asked them how their department has been working with these issues. I got a lot of very interesting information that I feel I shouldn’t share on the internet. Let’s just say that their opinions weren’t exactly the opinions of the government, who they work for. I enjoyed my time with them and am planning on setting up an interview with the main worker when I’m back in Quito. 

Daily Schedule

Every day on the farm was different and brought surprises, but here’s a schedule of a typical day.

6:00 am- Wake up, hit snooze.

6:15 am- Roll out of bed, put Muñeca (the dog) outside, and go to the kitchen to cook breakfast.

7:00 am- This is the time we’re supposed to start working.

7:20 am- This is the time we actually start working.

7:30 am- Feed the bear and deer. Move the sheep and pig pens.

7:40 am- Herd the goats up to the field where they graze all day.

8:00 am- Start a project. Examples: digging water canals, cleaning out the river, shoveling a garden bed, weeding.

12:00 pm- Lunch!! We cooked different variations of rice and vegetables every day.

12:20 pm- Since the guys didn’t have to cook and ate really quickly, they would play a game, Zapo, right outside our kitchen.

1:00 pm- Finish the project.

3:00 pm- Volunteers stop working. If we were bored, we would help out with the animals the rest of the afternoon.

6:00 pm- Dinner!! We cooked more rice and vegetables.

9:00 pm- Usually we went to bed really early because there was nothing else to do. 

Arriving at Ilitio

“Take a bus going south. When you hit the town of Lasso, get off the bus at the second intersection. Get in a pickup truck and go east until you hit the farm.”

These were the directions I had to find the farm, Hacienda Ilitio. I knew that Cotopaxi was south of Quito, so I headed south hoping I wouldn’t get too lost. I arrived at the bus station and heard someone yelling Latacunga, which was in the direction I needed to go, so I ran to the bus and managed to get the last seat. I sat next to a very flirtatious old man who interrogated me about my love life, Mexico, and tried setting me up with a man sitting across the aisle. When I needed to get off the bus, he insisted on getting my phone number so I temporarily forgot how to speak Spanish and hopped off the bus unscathed.

The bus pulled away and I was left on the side of a highway, alone, with no camionetas (taxi trucks) in sight. I took a deep breath and ran across the highway to a store that would know where the camionetas were. I looked like a ridiculous tourist: big straw hat, two big backpacks, and a bag filled with food and a frying pan. The woman in the store started laughing and asked if I needed a camioneta which I responded to with a weak nod. When the truck arrived, I climbed in and told him I needed to go to Hacienda Ilitio and 45 minutes later, he pulled up to a picturesque farm house and told me to get out. I was greeted by Sebastián, the farm owner, Marcelo, the live-in farm manager, and Taryn, another volunteer.

The farm was unbelievably beautiful. The huge orange house was straight from a magazine and behind it, the volcano Cotopaxi popped out of the clouds showing off its breathtaking glaciers. There were fields filled with alpacas, llamas, horses, sheep, cuy, hens, ducks, falcons, and even a bear! The gardens were overflowing with quinoa and cauliflower and many unknown greens. Our bedroom was big and the bathroom was an actual bathroom complete with warm water and a toilet! We didn’t have to work until Monday and so Taryn and I hung out for the rest of the day.