Day 119 Thursday 19 August – Madrid airport

After getting a new plane ticket in Madrid - I get to fly together with D. after all - we went through the whole tour of passport control and luggage check again, but this time we didn't get through. I had bought 3 bottles of aguardiente at the Quito airport. Because of some undercover jerk reporter, even liquids above 100ml that you bought in airports outside of Europe are not allowed under hand luggage. We tried going back, but sending it in freight luggage would cost triple the value of the bottles. The second time we got through baggage check, they threw my liquor in a container. I got angry, though mostly to show these stupid rules are unacceptable. Not that it helps - Europe is crazy and paranoid.

We land at 22.15, but don't see our parents waiting until 23.00. After that we sit together and talk and eat for a while and then it is time to drive home... We arrive at the house around 2am.

Day 118 Wednesday 18 August – Day of return

Before going home, I needed to pick up the last boxes of chocolate: the 85%. So I took another bus again back and forth. After that I quickly packed my bag and spent my last quality time with Mariela.

At 14.30 D. Came by to pick us up with a taxi that brought us straight to the airport. While we went in to check in our luggage, Mari waited outside. It took almost an hour to get checked in. And my luggage was too heavy. 19 and 29 kg... Fortunately I was able to move some things around, and I was allowed 2 pieces of hand luggage, which made it into something like 20 and 23 kg.

When we got back outside, Mariela had almost left. We sat outside for about an hour, until it was really time to say goodbye. We spent some last minutes together and then we walked in opposite directions...

D. and I had some dinner in the airport - for free because there was a delay of 3 hours. And we went to the gate. We didn't sit for long until they called out my name along with several others. Apparently, they had singled out one of my bags for a random drug control. The whole group had to go down to their bags and stand around while the police searched it. They singled out exactly the bag with the chocolate. The policeman wondered about it, broke one bar, but left the rest intact, luckily. Though I was mostly worried about my wuayusa tea.

We were late, but the flight went mostly smoothly. Until we got to Madrid...

Day 117 Tuesday 17 August

In the morning I went to my old apartment to get my things ready and post my latest blogs. Then at around 11, Mari was finished with her classes and we went down south to do some shopping. That reminded me again that shopping with a girl can be very tiring... But we also found a bag for me to put all the chocolate in, because the one I bought in Otavalo was way too small.

In the afternoon, after lunch, I went back to the apartment and got my stuff. Now I was ready to pack one of my bags already. The return is coming way too soon.

2008 – 22 juli - Jaipur

(Omdat niet alle berichten uit India online geplaatst zijn 2jaar geleden, volgen er nu nog wat oude berichten)

Deze dag hebben we een tour gemaakt met een busje. Eerste stop was een tempel gemaakt van marmer. Prachtig gebouw, maar nog onder constructie. Het wordt net als de Lotus tempel een plaats voor alle religies. Iconen van elke religie zijn verwerkt in de marmeren sculpturen.

Daarna reden we langs Albert Hall naar het observatory en de city palace. Het eerste is een plaats met allerlei stenen / marmeren constructies om tijd. Plaats en astrologie te bepalen. Het tweede is een groot gebouw en museum van de maharaja.

Daarna via de water palace, een paleis midden in een stuwmeer –waar we alleen van ver wat foto’s maken - naar het amber fort, waar we ook veel gezien hebben, maar wat beter met foto’s te beschrijven is.

Uiteindelijk bleek de tour guide ons toch nog langs een shop te leiden en bleek dat een toer naar de monkey temple (Galta) nog INR 400,- extra zou kosten. Tegen afspraak in. Dus toen zijn we maar terug gegaan naar het hostel.

Cor was bij terugkomst van de koorts af en het ging ook al wat beter. Maar ook Arianne begint nu een beetje ziek te worden. Loek voorspelt dat het door de drukte deze week daar niet bij zal blijven.

2008 – 21 juli

We hebben een wandeltocht gemaakt door de ‘Pink City’ oftewel vooral de straten, bedelaars en winkels, etc. Gezien. Dus het echte leven van Jaipur. Daarnaast een ‘kurta’ gekocht bij een khadi winkel, net buiten de pink city. Aan het eind van de tocht was er geen tijd meer voor de city palace, en gingen we met een auto-riksha terug: 9 mensen in 2 autos.

Vorige nacht was Cor ziek geworden en die was vandaag met Anil naar de dokter. Hij had wat pillen gekregen voor de koorts, maar verder zou het niets ernstigs zijn. Dus ging Cor deze avond mee naar Choki Dhani: een prachtig festival net buiten Jaipur. Bij binnenkomst kregen we allemaal een rode stip op ons voorhoofd en bloemen in ons har. Daarna zijn we gaan eten in de buitenlucht. We werden gastvrij ontvangen door mannen met een tulband en donkerrode shirts. We moesten onze schoenen juit doen en onze handen wassen en toen werden we naar onze plek gewezen. Aan de lage tafeltjes kregen we ons eten langzaam opgediend. Roti, rijst, saus, zoete krakelingen, karnemelk en meer. Ondertussen kregen we nog een tulband opgezet door de mannen.

Na het eten weer onze handen wassen een een handje suiker-anijs. Daarna zijn we vrij rond gaan lopen. Dans, massages, ‘jungle-tour’, draaimolen, theater: er was vanalles te beleven.

2008 - 20 juli - Apendieven en naar Jaipur

(Omdat niet alle berichten uit India online geplaatst zijn 2jaar geleden, volgen er nu nog wat oude berichten)
Ik had natuurlijk al wat suspense gebracht in mijn vorige post. Er gebeurt hier nu zoveel dat het bijna onmogelijk is om mijn hele logboek op het web te plaatsen. Maar ik ga nu een poging doen om zo ver mogelijk te komen. Laat ik eerst de spanning wat wegnemen over mijn vorige post. Mijn beroving klinkt natuurlijk erg spannend, maar was het eigenlijk helemaal niet:
Toen we vanmorgen de trein uitstapten en naar een wachtruimte zochten, kwamen we langs een troep apen. Op dat moment viel het me al op dat ze dichtbij zaten, maar dat het vasthouden van een plastic tas met fruit geen goed idee was, drong nog niet tot mij door. Dus toen ik een dier (dacht eerst een hond) op me af zag komen schrok ik wel even. Na de eerste greep trok ik het zakje wel omhoog, maar niet genoeg en bij de tweede greep was het zakje kapot en lag alles op de grond. De troep apen was er razendsnel bij en alles wat we konden redden was een sweet lime en de zoutjes. Bananen, mango’s, allemaal weg. Hadden we toch beter wat fruit aan de bedelende kinderen kunnen geven.
Als we in Jaipur aankomen is het al laat, etenstijd, en hebben we geen tijd meer om naar het festival – Choki Dhani – te gaan. In de trein naar Jaipur is het erg druk, het is deze keer ook 2e klas non-AC. Een tijdje hebben we het spelletje ‘uno’ gespeeld. Het spelen van een spelletje trekt wel veel aandacht. Iedereen wil zien wat er aan de hand is en probeert te ontcijferen hoe het werkt.

2008 – 19 juli - Musoori hill station

Aline is de eerste zieke, ze heeft wat griepachtige symptomen en Anil brengt haar naar een dokter als wij naar Musoori gaan. Als we terugkomen blijkt ze een virus te hebben, waarvan ik de naam niet ken en heeft ze medicijnen gekregen. Het is wel besmettelijk, maar niemand van ons heeft nog ergens last van.
Musoori is een stadje in de bergen. Erg toeristisch, er zijn veel hotels en gift-shops, maar de toeristen zijn vooral Indiërs. Op straat wordt ik door een jonge Indiër aangesproken die met mij en de groep op de foto wilde. Dat gebeurt wel vaker. Behalve hier op Navdanya en in de trein komen we nauwelijks blanken tegen.
In het bergdorpje hebben we een wandeling gemaakt, welke mooie foto’s heeft opgeleverd. We hebben daar nog wat geld gepind, wat ook weer een heel avontuur op zich was, omdat niemand precies wist hoe het werkte en iedereen bang was om zijn pasje te verliezen. Gelukkig was dat laatste niet mogelijk en bleek na veel proberen dat er een maximum van INR 4.000,- was. Onze zekker zijn weer goed gevuld om souvenirs te kopen. Op de weg terug werd Justine ook nog wagenziek, maar dat kwam vooral door benauwdheid en de Indische rijstijl.

Day 111 Wednesday 11 August – At the animal shelter

Because the board members were not available today at the office, I decided to go to the animal shelter ‘Centro Fatima’. I asked D. to come with me, because while I was going for business, I expected to see some animals.

After a detour to the laundry, me and Mr. Been took a bus in the direction of Puyo and we went off at the small village of Fatima. That was not the place we wanted to be, however. I asked the closest store owner where we had to go. She said it was 1km back from where we came, but she thought it was closed now. Before we started our walk, we first went to get a recharge of our cell phones, where the lady behind the counter knew nothing of the centre being closed or not.

We walked down the road for that 1km and indeed found the place. A sign outside said that the place is closed for 2 months because of renovations and whishing us a good return… We decided to take a look anyway. I explained who we were and what we wanted and someone went to see the person in charge. We talked for a while and then he showed us the complex. A lot of empty cages, but we did see turtles and some monkeys. The engineer gave me his card, and some tips on another animal shelter further down the road.

We took a look at the time and decided to go to the animal shelter further down the road. Because it took some time for the bus to come, we hailed the cars to stop. Pretty soon one of them stopped and brought us further to ‘yana cocha’. A complex with a winding path going by numerous monkeys, birds and felines. Near the end, two free capuchin monkeys were very interested in my camera. They grabbed it and tried to look inside.

Day 108 Saturday 7 August – Otavalo market

The alarm goes off at 6.30 in the morning and we wake up with a little bit of a hangover. Or a lack of sleep at the least. We came back from the party at 2am the night before. In the end however, we leave the house at 8. A few busses and 3 hours later we find ourselves in Otavalo. A small town North of Quito, with one of the biggest artesania markets. Even bigger on Saturdays. We start strolling around the market for a while looking at the clothing, jewellery and bags. I decide I need more money and get some at the bank. Not long after that, Mariela sees a beautiful dress and drags me into a store. She tries it on and looks really beautiful in it. She asks me to lend her the money for it, but I may decide later to just give it to her. Especially since the store gave us a deal, because I bought a second one to take home as a souvenir.

Then we bought a lot of other stuff at the market, including an extra bag to take the chocolates home. I hope I’m not overloaded with stuff now…

Day 103 Monday 2 August - Birly eards

We started very early this day. We put the alarm at 5.30 am and left for bird watching 15 minutes later. Even the monkeys were still asleep at that time. It was cold and still quite dark, and even though we did see enough birds, the light wasn’t good enough to make any worthwhile pictures.

After breakfast, we went for a canoe ride by hand. We were brought to a smaller stream, where we had to peddle onwards. From there we came to a big lake, which was kind of frightening. You could look about half a meter in the water, but all you saw were plants growing there. According to the guide, underneath this growth, you can find all kind of dangerous wildlife: anacondas, caimans, electric eels and many piranhas. But other than the lake itself, we didn’t see much else.

In the evening, after lunch, we went to meet with a shaman. We had to wait for a little while, and while we waited we had fun with a tiny canoe. We bet for a beer that I could take it for a round and I did. Unfortunately the shaman wasn’t there, but his son (who is also shaman) was. He explained to us a couple of things about becoming a shaman, for which they use (among other things) the hallucinogenic ayahuasca or ‘yagé’ as they call it here. He did a couple of rituals, like cleansing one of our travel mates. And treating his back with a kind of nettle. The next day we took it easy and took a number of busses back, all the way to Quito, where we arrived at 11pm.

Day 102 Sunday 1 August - Community visit

The 3rd day in the jungle, we visited the Siona community near the lodge. While the men of the village are enjoying their Sunday soccer match, a woman shows us how to make their typical yuca bread. A flat bread, that looks somewhat like dosa. We go with her to harvest some of the yuca. We all try to pull it out of the soil, but it is hard. Only with the second plant, I am able to do it. We peal the tubers there and take it to the house, where the cooking fire is already burning.

The yuca is washed and then rasped. Taking care of the fingers, three of us are rasping the big roots of yuca. Then the lady puts the pulp in a sort of hammock, which is then twisted to push out the sap. We are very surprised to see that the yuca comes out as a dry powder. She sieves the yuca flour and then put it in a pot. From the pot, it goes on to a hot clay plate on the fire, where she turns it into a flat bread.

We have lunch there and afterwards play a little with a blow dart. When we are done with that, we get to walk around a little, but Mari and I decide to take a swim in the river. On the way back to the lodge, we spot some pink dolphins again. This time I take a picture of a fin. They are so fast, it is impossible to shoot photos of them.

Later in the afternoon we hear about another anaconda and rush out to see it. A little bigger than the one we saw before, but still a very young one. The rest of the evening we go for another swim in the lake and look for caimans again. We see another small one (probably the same).

Later at night, we get quite a scare, when Mari thinks she sees a tarantula in our room. We don’t find it, but when we later go to bed, she feels something big creeping up her leg. We rush for the flash light, only to discover it’s a giant cricket.

Day 101 Saturday 31 July – Hiking day and night

At the breakfast table at 8 am, we start spotting animals early. Someone found a black scorpion and starts passing it around the tables. In the roof we can still see a leg of a tarantula. Later after breakfast we take the canoe to a place where we will take a hike.

During the hike, the guide tells us about different plants and trees that are to be found. He asks us to do whatever he asks, to eat what he asks, and so on. The first thing he gives us is a piece of tree bark, which contains the anti-malaria medicine. He shows us a tree of which the white sap cures problems with the stomach. There’s a plant of which the dry twigs you can smoke, without addiction. And a palm tree that ‘walks’. We didn’t see many animals. Mostly insects, like cycads, poisonous caterpillars the size of a finger and ants and termites. One ant species was useful for stitching up a wound. He showed us how to do it too. Another ant species, inside a hollow tree, was good to eat (I passed this one though).

The hike wasn’t so hard, though some of us had some problems in the swamp and came back to the lodge with wet feet. But the temperature under the canopy is like a sauna, so we went for another swim in the lake afterwards.

The evening was reserved for piranha fishing, but only two of the guys caught some. After that, we went on a night hike, with our flash lights on. We saw giant crickets, scorpions, a scorpion spider, a small tree frog and 2 snakes, of which one was quite venomous. The guide showed us a fungus that lights up in the dark, which even then was hard to see in the darkness of the woods.

Day 100 Friday 30 July – To Cuyabeno

At a quarter to 6, I’m woken up by my cell phone. Not realising where I am, or that it’s not the alarm that’s going off, I try to turn the alarm off. Luckily I notice that it’s Mari calling and I pick up the phone: she’s already standing in front of the hotel. I go down and take her up to my room, the doorman doesn’t say anything about it, so I think it’s okay.

When we go down for breakfast however, the lady at the desk tells us I shouldn’t have done that and that I now have to pay $10,- extra. We argue about it, but she wouldn’t let go. It’s a lot of money for a 3-hour-stay in this hotel. We take our breakfast in silence, because we are both angry with the hotel, and wait for the guys from Samona lodge to pick us up. Only 15 minutes later than planned, the minibus leaves to Cuyabeno with us and 13 other tourists in it.

The bus ride takes about 3 hours, with a stop in between where we buy some ice cream. We end up on the edge of the park at a bridge, where the guides direct us to lunch and to the office where we pay our entrance fee for the park. The guides have no idea who’s vegetarian and who is not, but later on this won’t be a problem anymore.

At the bridge we leave our bags, which are going to be brought in a different canoe, while 11 of us take a canoe with the guide to the lodge. He says it normally takes 1 and a half hour to get there, but we are taking a longer route to see as many as possible. We get ponchos, which we hardly need to use in the entire trip, and life vests.

During the boat ride, we get very lucky. We see a number of species of monkeys, two types of boa, bats, a sloth and a few birds. The guide tells us it is about all we will see during the entire trip. Though we have yet to see the famous anaconda. When we arrive at the lodge, we get our backpacks back and we are shown our rooms. A nice double room with a private shower serves us well.

A little while later, we take the canoe out again to the big ‘laguna grande’, where we spot our first pink river dolphin along the way. At the lake we take a swim and watch the sunset. When it is almost dark, we sail to the shore, where we look for caimans. A small one approaches the boat, while the guide splashes a piece of chicken in the water and yells ‘aung’ all the time.

When we get back to the lodge, dinner is served and a tarantula appears on the scene. And besides the cockroaches in the room, that was the last animal we saw that day.

Day 99 Thursday 30 July – To Lago Agrio

At 10 in the morning, the bus left for Coca, a dirty oil town further east of Tena. I could take a direct route to Lago Agrio, but there are only 3 busses from here and they either leave very early or arrive very late. Lago is – just like Coca – an oil town and neither of these cities is very safe in the middle of the night, according to my guide and the people in Tena.

About half way to Coca, while I’m almost falling asleep, there is a loud bang. The rear tire on the right just exploded. We stop at the side of the road and the bus driver and his assistant (they always drive in pairs) team up to replace the tire. Everybody else gets out of the bus to get fresh air, sun or to take a piss. With a small group we stand around, watching the changing of the tires, which takes about 20 minutes.

Somehow, we still arrive in time in Coca for me to take my connection. I wish my travel mate from Germany a nice time in Yasuní – the other big reserve – and get on my next bus. When we drive off, the assistant puts a DVD on and… shit, it’s Jean Claude van Damme again. And the same one they showed in the bus from Quito to Tena. They really have a bad taste in films in the busses around here!

I arrive in Lago Agrio early: at 5:30 pm. We don’t stop at the bus station but a few blocks away, but some nice people tell me to take a taxi and they let me know the normal price. For a dollar I get to the hotel. Hotel Lago Imperial is the meeting place for tomorrow, so I figured it would be smart to sleep here as well. There are probably cheaper hotels, but my guide wasn’t really complete with those. For 15 dollars I have a room with a ventilator (AC is 5 more), but I also have my own bathroom, TV and a double bed. Breakfast is included; though I also have a ticket for free breakfast here. Mari will leave this night and will join me at the breakfast table in the morning. From there we will be picked up and brought to the Samona lodge in the Cuyabeno reserve.

2008 – 18 juli - Gandhi lezing @ Bidja Bidyapeeth

Nadat ik mijn posts uit India heb nagelezen, merk ik dat een aantal verhalen nooit gepubliceerd zijn. Hier zijn er alvast een paar, maar er volgen er zeker nog meer:

Vanmorgen werden we gevraagd om wat werk te doen. Samen met Sanne, Arianne en Loek gingen we ‘fieldwork’ doen, wat uiteindelijk niets meer was dan onkruid wieden in het gras. Daarna was een lezing over Gandhi en globalisatie, maar ging eigenlijk over één van zijn lessen: dat van ‘khadi’, het zelf spinnen en weven van kleding. Dit is goed voor de lokale economie en werkgelegenheid. Nog een stukje zelf gesponnen, wat verrassend genoeg meteen best goed ging. Reetha Christi vertelde dat het spinnen je vooral goed af gaat als je goed in je vel zit, maar nog mooier dan dat vond ik de verhalen over Gandhi zelf. Bijvoorbeeld dat hij zich niet druk maakte, dat hij graag een grapje maakte en dat hij niet oordeelde over anderen.
Het eten hier op Bija Bidyapeeth is trouwens erg goed. Afgezien van af en toe yoghurt bijna volledig veganistisch en altijd erg lekker. Hier in het noorden is niets erg ‘spicy’. Volgens Anil wordt dat meer hoe verder je naar het zuiden gaat. Wel oppassen voor hele pepertjes!

2008 – 17 juli

De nacht in de trein ging vrij snel voorbij. We zaten niet allemaal bij elkaar, maar dat maakte niet zoveel uit. We hadden allemaal nog redelijk geslapen en om 8:30 uur kwamen we aan in Dehradun. We werden door 2 jeeps van Navdanya opgehaald en daar verblijven we nu 2 nachten. Het is een mooie oerderij, gericht op het conserveren van zaadgoed. Het is leuk om allemaal bijzondere gewassen te zien en de manier waarop ze verbouwd worden.

2008 – 16 juli

Een bezoek gebracht met een touringcar (genaamd ‘tourist’) aan de Qtub Minar, en grote toren, gebouwd door moslims ter ere van de overwinning op de hindoes. Na de lunch naar de Lotus tempel geweest, een prachtige tempel in de vorm van een lotusbloem, gebouwd voor alle religies van de wereld, door de zogenaamde Bahaïs.
Later met de taxi naar het treinstation, toen zagen we pas het echte Delhi, met de bedelaars, de krotten en de vele kleine winkeltjes. Op het station zelf waren we in een kring om onze tassen gaan zitten, om diefstal te voorkomen. We trokken al veel bekijks, vooral toen enkele van ons het spelletje ‘uno’ gingen spelen. Later een schatting moment toen een moeder met kindje naar ons toe kwam en het kindje ons een hand wilde geven.

2008 – 15 juli - 's Nachts

Na meer dan een uur gelopen te hebben– waar we onderweg nog vuistgrote slakken tegenkomen - komen we aan bij de India gate, een grote poort waar je eigenlijk niet te dichtbij mag komen, zoals de Champs Elysees. Bij deze toeristische trekpleister lopen om 23 uur nog tientallen mensen, vooral kinderen, die je vanalles aan proberen te smeren. Schrijnend om te zien, en moeilijk om nee te zeggen, vooral ook omdat ze zo aanhoudend zijn.
De terugweg in de riksha was veel sneller, de taxi-driewielers waren snel gevonden, en voor INR 90,- per stuk brachte ze ons ruim op tijd terug naar het hotel.

Day 97 Tuesday 28 July – … and the chocolate factory

Like always, things do not go as smooth here in Ecuador as I am used to. I was hoping to go to the chocolate factory with Judy in the morning, but when I called her the night before, she didn’t answer. This morning I called again and I got a whole story from her, which I didn’t totally hear, because I was walking down the busy Colón.

It turns out, there were some bus problems in Tena, forcing Judy to take the bus via Ambato, which is quite a detour. She arrived only at 11 in the centre of Quito. I met her at her house, the place that R. called his house before, when I first was there. Then we took three buses down North to the chocolate factory of Ecuatoriana de Chocolates. The factory that makes the Cacaoyere chocolate. I don’t know if it is known anywhere, but I hear they have contacts in Germany for selling the chocolate. All the way to the factory, Judy talks a lot. I think I’m quite up to date about the current things that are going on. I just need to get a hold of her to talk about the history of Kallari.

At the factory, we first sit down and Judy talks with the manager, and a chocolate maestro. Some things about the new batch of chocolate, which is quite good, though a bit acidic (which will go away within 3 months); and about packaging designs. Then they offer me a tour through the factory. I’m not allowed to make pictures, because they may be a bit careful: Kallari is going to build its own factory the coming year.

The cacao is first roasted for 45 to 48 minutes, after which it is rapidly cooled down and the skin gets removed. The beans are then ground into small bits. In the Kallari cacao we see some lighter pieces of cacao. These might be mutants or criollo varieties. The ‘contamination’ of the cacao with a small percentage of other varieties than Cacao Nacional is giving it a more nutty and floral taste, which is only a good thing.

The ground cacao beans are turned into a thing called cacao mass, going into cacao liquor. The exact process is not explained to me. In the next room they add the vanilla and the sugar, and they roll it into small pieces. Then it is mixed with cacao butter – which is at the moment bought from outside, a machine to make this is a million dollar – and ‘conched’. Meaning it is turned around and getting to the right taste. Some flavours will disappear while conching.

Now it is ready to pour it into bars. A machine turns the chocolate in different temperatures, preventing the fats to shift and thus preventing the formation of a white finish. It needs to be shiny and brown. It is poured into moulds and then goes through the cooling tunnel. At the end of the tunnel is light, but then it soon turns into darkness again, when the bars are packed into plastic and pushed into cramped boxes. Only at the consumer end will the chocolate ever see light again.

After the tour, I ask whether I could come back much later to do some interviews and that’s alright, they “love interviews”. After that it is time to take the bus back to the centre. Judy accompanies me for a while once more. When I get off, I pass by the café to say goodbye to Mari again; I pick up my stuff from the apartment, which I’m kind of using as a storage now, sorry; and I take a bus to Cumbaya. From there I pick the first bus to Tena, where I’m lucky to get a seat on the first row to watch… oh no… Jean Claude van Damme films. Luckily there’s a guy standing with his arms in front of my view.

Day 94 Saturday 24 July – Holiday in Quito

No hangover, but almost overslept myself for breakfast. Vilma made a nice local dish with ground plantain (couscous like) and a piece of fresh papaya. The rest of the morning I hung around in the hammock a little, writing some more postcards. The office is closed today and I haven’t any idea what to do. Perhaps tour a little in town. For the rest I should wait for Judy to come back from Quito this evening. I need to interview her.

Too bad that Judy isn’t coming until midnight, and it’s raining very hard. I decide to go to see Mari this weekend in Quito. I take my laptop to be able to work on Monday. Perhaps it’s possible to visit the chocolate factory again on Tuesday, but we’ll need to see about that.

I pack my stuff in the small backpack and walk to the bus terminal. I only have to wait fifteen minutes until the bus arrives, but eventually the bus takes 5 and a half hours to get to the station. Then the trole-bus isn’t driving on schedule and I don’t arrive at Mari’s house until midnight. What a ride.

Day 93 Friday 23 July – BBQ by candle light

The day wasn’t really interesting. It was a hot day, too hot to work in the office on the computer all day. But that’s what we did anyway. I’ve now also involved myself into how we can improve the café in Quito. Two other volunteers had already made up a pretty extensive list, but since I’ve spent so much time there, I added another page to it.

In the evening two of the volunteers invited the people from the office for a barbeque. I decided to bring a bottle of aguardiente and sprite. D. brought ingredients for a salad. But when we got there, there were no lights. We crossed the little bridge and entered the main hall, where they were already preparing the food. With just one back-up light and some candles we all helped prepare the rest of the food. When the back-up light was empty, Carlos went back to his house to get another light. This way we spent the whole night eating and drinking. And making jokes about the ass-meat that Ben brought. It’s something they eat around Loja, but not in this region.

Day 92 Thursday 22 July – New project with Kallari

I talked to Carlos about the working possibilities, but besides helping out with one of the other volunteers, he couldn’t think of anything. Elias knew something else, a project to provide alternatives to hunting and fishing. The indigenous people are hunting and fishing a little too much, so that the population of wild life and fishes are declining slowly. Kallari wishes to offer alternatives, like other livestock and fish ponds. The problem is that the fish ponds that have been made in the past are for the largest part with tilapia fish, but these are African species. Kallari wishes to make ponds with local species of fishes. And add livestock of local animals. So the question to me was: How do we do this, which species, what will it cost, etc.?

But when it comes down to changing, I also wonder how they will convince the men of the communities to switch to animal farming, because in the majority of communities, hunting is also a social act.

At dinner, when I tell Vilma about the mosquito bites, she makes me a concoction of lemon and the leaves of a plant which is supposed to be antiseptic. Then she washes my arms and legs with it and tells me to let it dry in the air. For the most part of that evening, I didn’t have any itches from the mosquitos, so it really worked.

Day 91 Wednesday 21 July – Cutting down ‘rainforest’

When I get up, I roll up the mosquito net and head in to the main room. It’s a wooden house on poles, with basically 3 rooms: Two very small ones to sleep in, and one big one, which is used as a kitchen and everything else. My guest-mom is already cooking breakfast. For me there are some sort of cakes, but I can’t really tell what they are made of; and yuca.

After breakfast, we all go out to mow weed with machetes. But this isn’t the kind of weed that we are used to: everything grows so much faster here, the weed is trees of up to 2,5 metre high and several centimetres thick. We work all morning and somewhere near the end, one of us finds a snake. A strangling type, so not harmful. The son of the family picks it up. Again, I regret not having my camera with me now. But at least I have the memory of seeing and touching it.

When we get back to the house, the father shows me the cabin with all the liquor, he offers me a bit of the strong stuff he calls: “veinticinco” (25), but it’s in a plastic bottle, so I ask him if he brew it himself. No, he buys it in Tena. It tastes good, but one shot is enough if I want to stay sober the rest of the day.

After that, the son takes me to the river again to go for a swim. While I’m relaxing, he hunts fishes underwater, armed with a spear: two sharp spikes, welded onto a steel construction wire. When we go back to the house after a while, he lets me manage the canoe by myself. But it’s hard to manage, to stay in balance and to push the thing in the direction you want to go. But perhaps I was just doing it wrong.

Lunch was a soup of palm heart, some palm heart cooked in a leaf, yuca and a boiled egg. After we finish, the dad takes me on a little tour to the cocoa field and then it is almost time to go. I tell them ‘ashca pagrachu’ and ‘shuk punchakama’ and the son takes me back to the road where the bus will stop. At the river, the canoe is missing, so we have to cross walking. I take off my boots and roll up my pants, but still the water is deeper than I thought. The part that I rolled up gets all wet.

At the house where we are supposed to wait, the son remembers me I’m supposed to pay (though it is very difficult for him to ask me). I don’t have the change, so we head down the road to meet D., who is waiting a little further down. When we get there, he has just crossed the river with his guest parents himself. Then we walk back up and one of us notices a fish in a pond. The get another villager with a machete and they start to hunt the fish. While they may have hurt it, they didn’t catch it.

After this D. and I take the bus, a 45 minute drive back to Tena. Tired, full of bug bites, but content.

Day 90 Tuesday 20 July – To the community Rumi Yaku

A little over 8 Judy picked D. and me up from the place where I’m staying. She is going to a community with two American women and asked us to come with her the night before. Before taking off, she shows a tree which is just across the road, called guava (pakay in kichwa). It’s a leguminous tree, which fixes nitrogen. It comes up like weed and it grows really fast, but that makes the tree very suitable for firewood. And because the fruit is partly edible, people spit the seeds on the ground, making the tree come up everywhere. This is good for the soil nutrients, though.

The group left without taking a guy with them, so they had to go back to the hotel. He didn’t show up however, so we went to buy some rubber boots for everyone. Judy asked us: “neither of you has rubber boots? You really need them at the farm.” But she doesn’t have any, she just does it all barefoot, like the inhabitants.

On the way back we pass by the hotel again, but the guy is still not there, so we go. D. and me in the back of the pickup-truck, enjoying the scenery and the wind in our hair. After a pretty new road, we take a gravel road (which is less comfortable in the back), and then we arrive at the outskirts of the community. While walking to the river, Judy amazes me with the knowledge she has on the local flora. A little boy brings us across the river with a canoe. He pushes the canoe hard with a stick, making it rock pretty much, and while making motor noises. We cross one by one. Probably because the canoe is a bit leaky and fills up with water slowly.

We are right on time at the community ‘house’, but the community is a little later. Judy says this could be because the group yesterday was late. While the women prepare a meal for us, one of the children wants to show us the school, so we go with him. Meanwhile, he borrowed the camera from one of the American women and keeps making pictures, some of them very good.

The first thing we get to eat is fruit. Three plates with banana, papaya and pineapple are presented, and everything is so fresh, it all tastes better than I’ve ever tasted. You can buy bananas in the city, but here they are picked ripe and they are so much tastier. After that follow a number of other dishes, among which frogs’ legs, fish and gusano’s (caterpillars) for the non-vegetarians. The things I did eat were wild potatoes (papa china), palm heart (palmito), a cacao relative (cacao blanco), yuca and frutipan (paparawa, a nut that resembles chestnut by taste). And I repent that I didn’t take any pictures of all this.

After dinner, D and I played with the kids. Some of them really loved being swung around, but then we had to play some soccer. It was the middle of the day and the sun was out, so it was pretty hard playing. We won though. But after that we had to play another game with everyone. I played with my rubber boots on at first, but tried it with bare feet this time. That didn’t stop us from winning again, even though Judy was playing pretty fanatically.

After the games, Judy and the other two women left us. We were divided over two families and went for a swim in the river. The water was perfect. The kids brought each of us to our respective guest houses. Mine was a 5 minute walk along the river, although the river used to run a little further away. There was a flood this year.

My family is not very talkative, just one of the sons asks a lot, and jokes a lot. That we’re going to harvest a quintal of coffee each the next morning for example. The coffee is still quit green. But they serve me a nice dinner with rice and an egg and I watch the woman of the house prepare chicha, the local ‘beer’. Though they don’t let it ferment it so much and she doesn’t chew on the yuca first either. This makes it more like a kombucha brew. It tastes nice, though, a bit like milk. And they show me the cute little house monkey ‘chichi’. When it gets dark we stay up for a little while longer, but before 9pm we went to bed.

It was a difficult sleep, the bed was pretty hard, but mostly it was because we went to bed so early and there was a rooster crowing all night. I did my best though and I slept until the sun had risen and the others were all up already.

Day 89 Monday 19 July – 1st day at the office

In the morning, D. came to pick me up at my place. Together we walked to the office. Inside, we said hello to everyone, and I turned on a computer. It asked for a password and I asked the others if they could give it to me. They asked someone else, but in the end it took too long and I got my laptop. After going through all the new mail I had gotten, I took a look at the FairTrade papers I was going to work with. D. had already made a nice list of famers and in the end it seemed that the application form was also already filled in for the most part. All they need is someone from the directive to help out with the remaining things. I’m not sure what else I can do to help.

Later in the morning, D. took me out to the Centro de Acopio, the place where they bring the cocoa, dry it, ferment it and separate it in different sizes. From here, the cocoa goes to the factory to get roasted and made into chocolate. There was not much to see at the moment. Only one drying platform had cocoa at the time.

I didn’t have much else to do in the afternoon and the office closed early, at 5.30 already. I guess it is much more relaxed here than it is in Guayaquil. Then again, coffee is a different type of product, especially if you sell it with coffee machines. So after work, D. shows me the centre a little bit. He took me to a sort of market place with a roof, where a lot of people sell their stuff in small stalls. Then we walked a little past a few stores, I helped him get a present for the birthday of a friend of his and we went back. In the evening, I had dinner with Judy and she told me about Rumi Yaku…

Day 88 Sunday 18 July – A game of basket

At 8am they serve breakfast on Sunday. When I arrived at the breakfast table, Judy and her friend were sitting there already eating. Vilma and Judy were talking mostly, telling stories. After breakfast, we talked a little about Kallari and what I could do. She told me a little about how the market works. A little while later, we go over to Carlos’ house, 200 meters further down the road. The other Dutch guy lives there too, but when we get there, he’s gone to church. So I listen to the conversation that Judy and Carlos have about the markets, US markets and European markets. They are hoping to expand, but Judy is sceptical about the size of the European market.

Then Carlos has to leave and we go back to the hostel. I wash some clothes there (by hand yes) and later the Dutch guy, Darian, comes by. Judy called him from across the street. I think he first didn’t believe me when I said I am from ‘Holanda’, but after that we chatted a bit and he’s going to update me about what he’s doing tomorrow. We’re probably going to work together. While lying in the hammock later, reading, some of the kids wanted to play with me. But the girls wanted to play their way, shoving a dog in my hammock and trying to swing the hammock. I wasn’t that amused, so I told them to stop.

Later that afternoon, I go for a walk around the town, but either my map is wrong, or the place I’m staying at is not on the map. I couldn’t find any streets from the map (from the few street-name-plates that there were) save the main street. We’ll see tomorrow how it is.

When I get back, Darian comes by to ask if we want to play basketball. There is a court nearby with a roof (although it wasn’t raining). We won 2 games, but it was pretty hard. I’m not really made to do this kind of sports. A shower later, I crawl onto bed to write my blog stories.