Ecuador - Day 24

Inside of Outside

Morning off. Drove to Mindo and checked emails, called Matthew for an early bday wish. Hope our oil lasts. Bkfast with Momi, Manuela, Nicole, and Marie. Met Ashton and Astrid. Ingo has a 4 day old calf to eat tomorrow. Had to ride outside the car in the rain. Sheared a sheep in the afternoon. So fun. Tackle, grab, and subdue, then snip, snip, snip with the EMT shears. Sore by the end. Jurgen and Nele made pizza for dinner. Delish. Jurgen is so funny. Romain showed up. Good stretch.

Ecuador - Day 23

Inside of Outside

Went and got the horses before breakfast. Very beautiful and peaceful. After eating (oatmeal as usual), into the jungle to haul logs with horses.. Brown horse was very stubborn. Hardly worked. White horse awesome. Also awesome: lunch. Potatoes with béchamel and roast peppers. Afternoon, leveled ground a trenched area for BBQ. Pakora dinner, and hot tub evening. Awesome shooting star and moonlight. Read some Principito. Going to Mindo tomorrow.

Ecuador - Day 22

Inside of Outside

Had to put on wet-clothes this morning. Felt like the river. Chainsawed a lot. Mushroom logs and fenceposts. Worked on cementing the fish pond after lunch of fried rice soup cakes and pasta. Sheared half a sheep then relaxed and read. Dinner was hummus. Delicious. With beets and greens and potatoes. Chill evening and games around the table. Is this a pen? Tank and Dozer are ridiculous. Made friends with a donkey.

Ecuador - Day 21

Inside of Outside

Up to a rainy day. Spent the morning trying to concrete the fish pond. Sometimes good. Other times frustrating. Lunch is good. Bruschetta bread. Very rainy afternoon. In charge of the forest expedition. Took the horse and hauled logs and macheted the jungle. Very cool. Very tired. Very muddy. Bad transition to dinner prep. Dinner was ok, except I burned the rice. Twice. After that I got grumpy. Organizing my stuff, stretching, and chocolate made me feel better.

Ecuador - Day 20

Inside of Outside

Woke up. Didn't have to! Fed pigs special breakfast. Read a lot about cob. Very cool. Lunch of spaghettis. Helped make bread. Trained dogs. Read some more. Went and chopped down some plants. Giant bamboo-like thorny things. Rode horses back to the farm. Bare back. Fed pigs. Dinner - soup and salad and bread. Very wholesome. Chocolate. And chats into the evening.

Ecuador - Day 19

Inside of Outside

Up early, but not as quick as yesterday. Bkfast, then up into the jungle to haul out logs. Yesterday felt like a human lawnmower. Today, like a donkey. Afterwards, dug a lot of dirt for a cob BBQ. Then learned how to mix concrete and put posts in. Pretty fun, but another hard day. Five chickens killed today for dinner. Yum? Wood heated hot tub, very nice. Finished reading about human manure composting systems and grey water systems. Early bed time.

Ecuador - Day 18

Inside of Outside

Up early. With the sun surprisingly. Bland but filling breakfast, 2 porridges and bread. Dishes, pig feeding. Hike up the mountain, waving a machete. Got pretty god by the end of the day. Cleared a chunk of woods. Cut down lots of trees with a chain saw - broke the chain. Back for a new one. Helped the girls bring lunch up. Rice, beans, veggies, cabbage salad. Palmito--so god. Deadly snake falls from tree. Learned how to attach a bar to chainsaw and more. Trained dogs. Relax. Dinner. Dice game with cup. Rose and thorn. Ha.

Ecuador - Day 17

Inside of Outside

Up and out. Ice cream snack. Not very good whole wheat buns for breakfast. Waited at the restaurant for our farm hosts. Seven other people also coming. Gringo Alto appears. Very charismatic and matter of fact. Ginny seems nice too. Bought lunch for everyone. Tax to the farm. Carried a heavy bag of corn up the hill and unloaded cement. Got the talk and the tour. Beautiful and by the river. Steep green valley. Wrangled baby pigs for cholera shots. Sharpened machetes. So many dogs. Going to be fun.