We returned to Capetown and, after a day to resupply ready for the next continent, I took four flights in two days to reach South America and landed in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. This is the second highest capital city in the world as it is set in the Andes mountain range. It is full of colonial buildings and massive ornate churches from the Spanish colonisation in the 1600's.
Ecuador has an interesting history, only becoming part of the Inca empire 60 years before the arrival of the Spanish, who brought so many European diseases with them that over 90% of the local were wiped out, the rest being put to work as slaves to grow food, mine gold and precious stones. It was one of the poorest countries in the world up until around 15 years ago when oil was discovered. The government wisely spent the money on free education and healthcare for all, which has led to a much higher quality of life for many, except, of course, for the people who lived in the area of the Amazon where the oil was found!
I met lots of people in the hostel and we took a trip to 'Mitad Del Mundo' (The Middle of the World!) This is the equator line which runs through the middle of Ecuador, hence the name 'Ecuador'. It is a huge monument to celebrate the equator, although modern satellites have found that it wasn't built on the equator, but 200 metres away. After a visit to the monument we walked to find the real equator using an Iphone Google Maps app. It turned out to be on a nearby industrial estate!
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| The monument on the equator |
From Quito I went to a small village called 'Las Tolas' for which I had seen a poster for on a hostel notice board where I was staying. It's up in the Cloud Forest region of the Andes Mountains at about 2400 feet above sea level. (Did you know that the place where all of the world's sea levels are set and measured from is Newlyn harbour near Penzance!)
The village is very small and at the top of a mountain covered in rainforest. I have been living in a house with an amazing view of the area.
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| Las Tolas village |
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| The view from my house |
Each morning we get up early to milk the cows on the farm and then after breakfast it's time for work. We have been growing coffee, sowing seeds in the nursery or planting the young trees from the nursery on the hillsides. When the village was first created the people cut down so many of the trees to build their houses and for farmland that now they are starting to realise the need for reforestation, both for natural bio-diversity and for tourism which they are hoping to increase. The work is hard and gives our 'office-hands' new blisters every day but after lunch there is time to study Spanish and explore the area.
During one of our free weekends another volunteer and I went to the nearby town of Mindo which is famous for its wildlife and natural beauty. We took the rather dangerous looking cable car across the valley and visited the many waterfalls which, although impressive, were very far apart and involved a lot of hill climbing!
In Mindo we also visited the traditional chocolate producers and saw how they made chocolate by hand. We then went on to sample as many as possible, gorging ourselves on all the treats we weren't able to buy in our village, until we felt sick!
Later in the evening we went out to find the local 'nightlife' and ended up taking part in a massive street drumming session with the local people where I was given a molodica to play. After that we went to a bar to learn how to salsa dance. Guess how good I was...
We were up early the next morning to see some of the many different types of bird that Mindo is famous for and managed to spot four types of toucan, brightly coloured hummingbirds which moved so fast they were barely visable at times and various other species. Everywhere we looked the rainforest was moving with colours.
I really enjoyed my time in the village and it was good for me to have somewhere to call home for a little while, and to see how other people live in a different part of the world. I'm always surprised how people manage to live with so little money and how each day involves a huge amount of physical tasks that most of us in the UK wouldn't even consider doing, and also how much of a struggle it is for people to pay for food, clothes and other essentials.
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| Dawn over the farm |
On my last night my family threw a leaving party for me and they made a huge cake and pizza, which didn't last long with all the people there who had helped me with my work, to practice Spanish and learn new skills. There was a lot of dancing and laughter making me realise how lucky I had been to find the poster for the villlage by chance on a notice board and for all of the experiences it had led to.
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| My family in Las Tolas |
I am now back in Quito ready for the next stage of my trip, heading up into Colombia then down into Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. Hopefully the final three months will be as exciting as others!
