Tomorrow we leave the "comforts" of Quito. Catherine managed to convince me to volunteer one month to help protect a cloud forest reserve in Mindo, a town two hours west of Quito. We will volunteer with Milton, an Ecuadorian activist from Mindo that has worked locally for over 20 years. Back in the 80s he organized the community to fight logging companies and they won the right to preserve 20,000 hectares of primary cloud forest in the surrounding area. We do not know our specific assignments but we know they are currently building an information center, clearing hiking trails, cataloging birds (Mindo is Ecuador's birdwatching capital) and building a sustainable eco-village.
What we also just found out is that we will be without electricity during our stay at BioMindo. I was totally game on sharing a tree hut with other volunteers, using a composting outhouse and living in the boonies - but NO electricity?!?! When they told us to bring lanterns I thought it was to illuminate the path to the outhouse, not to illuminate our "room". I know Catherine is secretly rejoicing at our now justifiable 8pm bedtime.
* * *
Rustic is something backpackers talk about. It is something they think they know. Until this evening we were those backpackers.
BioMindo IS rustic.
Barbara, BioMindo's German co-founder, walked us up to our tree hut room and suggested that we settle in quickly before it got "too" dark. It was only 6pm and already night had fallen. Although the darkness obscured our vision, we did see the space which we would occupy for the next four weeks - the thatched roof top floor of a basically built bamboo structure. It looked more like an open air tepee than a room that would protect us from the multitude of creatures lurking about and the persistent precipitation of the rainiest month of rainy season. We graciously unloaded our bags and quickly descended hoping for better.
We found Barbara eagerly awaiting us for a brief tour of the village. Composting toilet. Actually a trash bin with a seat attached. After each waste deposit one scoops in some wood chips. Once full, the bin is emptied and replaced by a new one. The waste is composted. Shower. Cold water. Barely any cover. The cooking area. Well, since there is no electricity then there is also no refrigerator. Barbara explained that our meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - would mainly consist of white rice and veggies.
We were also welcomed by little insects that put mosquitoes to shame. These little nondiscriminatory suckers bite you everywhere (toes, fingers, face) and leave a bloody bump that is immediately painful. A day or so later the bumps get even bigger and the itching unbearable. The itching persists for days. Anti-DEET Catherine endured much discomfort.
Luckily we really liked Barbara and Milton, co-founders of BioMindo. Over dinner they talked to us about their vision of a sustainable eco-village that would be used as a learning model for locals interested in living with minimum impact on the earth. With the conservation of the cloud forest, locals used the tourism industry as a viable economic alternative to the logging they had previously used as a means of subsistence. Unfortunately, people quickly saw the very profitable merits of tourism. Mindo went from having two hotels in 1987 to more than eighty hotels with construction still occurring in every direction. The unregulated surge was expectantly void of education in responsible and sustainable ventures to protect the local culture and biodiversity.
BioMindo's goal is to reverse that trend.
* * *
Day 3 here at 7pm and we are in bed after another long yet peaceful day. We wake when the sun rises and the birds compete with song. We go to bed when night falls and the critters begin their night time lullabies. Work has mostly consisted of us jumping in and doing our part no matter how inadequate we are with saws and hammers and other manly tools...hehehe. I seriously do not know how much strain I have put into cutting bamboo with the flimsiest saw ever. Yesterday I thatched my first roof and tomorrow more of the same. Catherine built a shelf for firewood and together we made a basket for timber. Today we hiked along an old trail that next week we will help clear and get ready for hikers. If it needs to get done, we do it. Or at least try.
We have already gotten used to the white rice, cold showers, no electricity and room without walls. It has actually been extremely relaxing and refreshing being here.
* * *
Now we have to leave Mindo.
Last night while on a booze run with Jimmy, a fellow volunteer, I twisted my bad ankle and fell. The immediate pain occurred in my ankle but soon after the hurt subsided and I was fine to walk back and enjoy a celebratory dinner and drinks with everyone. Unfortunately, within the hour I felt a throbbing pain in my right knee. By the time I went to bed I could hardly walk. Sleep was impossible as I dealt with the constant pain made worse by any minor movement.
This morning instead of going with the others to the cloud forest I stayed in bed immobile. I have been here all day. Only dire desires for the toilet have given me reason to endure the pain and move out of bed.
The situation is quite demoralizing. This intense pain leads me to believe that I hurt my knee very badly. The possibility that this trip may be cut short is even more agonizing than the knee.
* * *
Today I visited a curandera. She looked at my knee and with a few swift moves popped it into "place." Through my grimaces of pain she deeply massaged my knee. Every time my meditation failed and I complained of pain she continued her rubbing telling me she was working it out.
I have no idea what she did but the pain has slightly subsided and my range of motion has improved dramatically. I left the hut practically carried to the truck and returned walking on my own. Maybe the trick was in the strange purple reddish liquid she applied to my knee with a feather before I left.
At least now I will be able to endure a bus ride to Quito to get "real" medical attention.
* * *
$200 and many desperate phone calls later, my very competent Johns Hopkins educated orthopedist confirmed NO major damage. I practically fell over myself getting home to share the news with Catherine. I had prepared myself for the worse but luckily with rest and physical therapy I will recover in a few weeks. RELIEF!
* * *
By the time we left Mindo we were actually sad to leave the peace we enjoyed for several weeks. The stability of staying in one place and not having to pack and move on every few days was also quite refreshing. Even the German couple we cursed at first for cramping our space turned out to be super chill. Dreadlocked Biggie could not stand getting dirty and her photographer boyfriend Marko was a dedicated hoot. One evening he spent hours trying to photograph frogs but returned covered in bug bites and with only one frog shot. We liked them.
We very quickly adjusted to life at the eco-village. 8pm bedtime was rejuvenating. 6am wakeup...well, one cannot complain after ten solid hours of sleep each night. Barbara proved to be an extremely creative cook. Super Babs is seriously BioMindo's superhero - she can do it all. The cold showers were exactly what our bodies needed after long days of work in the sun. The composting toilet actually makes a lot of sense. It is super clean and odor free and most importantly extremely friendly to the environment. No electricity just meant that no one ever forgot to shut the lights off.
The coolest thing about Mindo was the sublime nature. The place was simply spectacular. Over 500 species of birds. You may not realize what that means but after just one hour of birdwatching I spotted an exhilarating diversity of birds in all colors and sizes. I loved it so much I even awoke at dawn one morning and sat on a stool checking out birds for hours. And the insects were just something out of this world. Nathan would have been in bug heaven checking out the array of colors and sizes.
Mindo was exactly what we had been looking for. Like spoiled Americans we did complain but like seasoned travelers we appreciated the experience.
Check out our pics at:
http://juicycat.smugmug.com/gallery/4619936_Lc8nt#272884123_v8WzY
