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We successfully made it on and off the right bus to the small town of Cuellaje, where we soon found someone in a pick-up truck to take us the majority of the distance to Finca San Antonio. We asked if the driver could call Ned (the Englishman who owns the farm with his Ecuadorian wife Patricia) and were somewhat surprised when he produced a large, reasonably old-fashioned handset. It turns out that everyone uses these bulky satellite phones round here. The pick-up had not dropped volunteers to the farm before and so he continued to drive over a precarious wooden bridge (stopping on it for a hair-raising 30 seconds!) and up a very bumpy road where we were met by a man on a horse: Ned. We had to pay the taxi driver an extra couple of dollars for the last bit of the ride as they don't normally go that far, unsurprisingly. From here we put our bags on the horse and continued to walk uphill for another 15 minutes to the farm through the light rain and over a small river.
Ned fed and watered us and took us on a small walk through their land, set in beautiful hilly countryside, before we read for a bit then retired to bed very early, as is the custom around here. Patricia was away, staying at her Mum's to cook for a group of artists, for the first few days of our stay, so we ended up speaking mostly English.
Our week so far has included a lot of difficult walking through the steep and uneven land in our welly boots that we've now broken in. Every day we have to go and locate the cows in their massive hilly fields then help milk some of them. We are improving very slowly but have a long way to go before we match the speed and quantity of Ned and Patricia. We have also been tending to the needs of the rabbits, guinea pigs, chickens, dog and horse. Benji the lovely dog comes with us everywhere and loves an adventure. Quite often Juguete the horse also comes, mostly to carry things (including me/Katy!) We've also been helping with the cooking and washing up and have also done our first lot of clothes handwashing.
Despite listing out a lot of tasks, we feel that we're not a great help on the farm, probably just helping as much as slowing them down. Simon felt isolated and a burden in the first couple of days, missing internet access and a more dynamic way of life but he now thinks it's silly to really miss a mobile phone - but still misses it. I think I feel differently to Simon, and although it's always a bit awkward to start with, staying in someone's house, I have been enjoying the country life and being somewhere not as a tourist. The way of life is quite basic and physically demanding, but I'm enjoying the challenge and am not particularly missing internet when I know I can use it once a week.
We have felt more useful on a couple of occasions: the first was on our second full day when we helped Ned to unblock a water supply to the fields. We trekked high up into and through the thick jungle and the border of the ecological reserve to locate the source which was partially blocked with leaves. Simon used his engineering knowledge to improve the flow in certain areas of the pipe. We also felt useful when we got left in charge of the farm on Friday when Ned had to go to a larger town, Ibarra, near Otavalo. He must trust us lots!! We had the stressful task of making sure no animals died on our watch, so we made sure we fed them lots throughout the day. We also had to trek to find all the cows to make sure they were ok. Fortunately we weren't asked to milk them as just catching them in the first place is a task in itself. Patricia turned up in the evening due to Ned not being able to make it back in the same day, with another volunteer; Bree. From then onwards we have been fed extremely well.
The main house consists of a kitchen and living area and two bedrooms. We are staying in one of the two guestrooms, which is in a separate building a few metres away. The shower and toilet are outside the main building but the shower is one of the best we have had on our trip: consistently hot and with good pressure! We've been eating healthy meals with lots of fruit and veg. We have been eating farm-produced cheese, eggs, beef and fruit including amazingly tasty lemons.
On Saturday, two French guests arrived, but as Ned had only just returned, tired from his long journey, we stepped in to help settle them in. Hopefully Ned is busy showing them round the farm today!
We think that our plan will be to stay at the farm for a bit longer, perhaps taking day trips to neighbouring farms, then after that maybe take the plunge to stay with another local family who will only speak Spanish.
Katy
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