Yesterday we were fortunate enough to work with Murieldo collecting more medicinal plants. When we arrived at 9 to work, he decided we could only collect plants for two hours and he wanted to start at 10. I got sort of frustrated by this as we had hired him as our guide for the entire day and that was already cut short as we were told to tell the canoe to arrive at 1. (To be clear, none of the guides are being paid for their information. They receive money simply to be our guides through the forest). So I asked him if we could start a little earlier and perhaps spend more time in the forest and if this was not possible then maybe he could show us how to prepare some plants?
After about a bowl or more of chicha (it’s really growing on me!), we set off into the forest. We only collected about 10 plants and the trip through the forest was basically just Murieldo cutting a new path through his land. I was a bit disappointed in this, but we ended with just enough time for one last bowl of chicha before the canoe arrived to pick us up.
When we got back to the station, we pressed the plants, showered, and did our laundry before the Manchester Group arrived.
The Manchester group equals about 30 people—a completely different atmosphere from just having about 3 or 4 of us at the station the past 10 days. It took them hours to unload everything they had brought. Dinner was phenomenal though! We had meat and potatoes and rice! I ate so much! I was even taking food from other people that didn’t want to finish theirs.
It was so odd, first I enjoyed the chicha and drank just about 2 bowls by myself and then I ate more food than normal, taking some from other people. Then this morning I woke up at 6:20 all by myself even before my alarm was to go off. It’s like I am a totally different person from who I’ve been the past 5 weeks!
It was really bittersweet introducing ourselves last night. People would ask how much longer we’ll be here and the answer has now switched from weeks to days. We will be leaving before the group even. Our time here has flown by. And now that we’re getting down to the last moments, I’m really not ready to move back to Quito.
I am excited to get back to Alma in the fall, though. I’ve been receiving Kiltie Marching Band e-mails with information about our new sections and I just got our warm up and pre-game music today. Plus I’m starting to think of all the things I’ll be doing for Hispanic Coalition when I return—it’s going to be a really busy fall!
Back to the jungle--
We were hoping to go up to the caves today. It’s about a 2-3 hour canoe ride up river to these caves that have a waterfall, little pools to swim, and petroglyphs if I remember correctly? It’s quite expensive to go up there, but the Manchester Group graciously invited us along. Unfortunately, unless you want to push the canoe the entire way, you must wait to go until the river is high. Waking up this morning, the river was not quite high enough and then it started raining. So the water level is rising, but if were to still go today, we’d be soaking wet and cold. Maybe tomorrow??
I just made a list of all the things we have to do before we leave Payamino. We’ve got a busy last week here. Between collecting some final plants and then figuring out all the mobilization permit stuff to get them shipped to Quito, we’ve got a lot on our plate. Everything will work out though.
As always, feel free to comment! For real, we want to hear from you!
After about a bowl or more of chicha (it’s really growing on me!), we set off into the forest. We only collected about 10 plants and the trip through the forest was basically just Murieldo cutting a new path through his land. I was a bit disappointed in this, but we ended with just enough time for one last bowl of chicha before the canoe arrived to pick us up.
When we got back to the station, we pressed the plants, showered, and did our laundry before the Manchester Group arrived.
The Manchester group equals about 30 people—a completely different atmosphere from just having about 3 or 4 of us at the station the past 10 days. It took them hours to unload everything they had brought. Dinner was phenomenal though! We had meat and potatoes and rice! I ate so much! I was even taking food from other people that didn’t want to finish theirs.
It was so odd, first I enjoyed the chicha and drank just about 2 bowls by myself and then I ate more food than normal, taking some from other people. Then this morning I woke up at 6:20 all by myself even before my alarm was to go off. It’s like I am a totally different person from who I’ve been the past 5 weeks!
It was really bittersweet introducing ourselves last night. People would ask how much longer we’ll be here and the answer has now switched from weeks to days. We will be leaving before the group even. Our time here has flown by. And now that we’re getting down to the last moments, I’m really not ready to move back to Quito.
I am excited to get back to Alma in the fall, though. I’ve been receiving Kiltie Marching Band e-mails with information about our new sections and I just got our warm up and pre-game music today. Plus I’m starting to think of all the things I’ll be doing for Hispanic Coalition when I return—it’s going to be a really busy fall!
Back to the jungle--
We were hoping to go up to the caves today. It’s about a 2-3 hour canoe ride up river to these caves that have a waterfall, little pools to swim, and petroglyphs if I remember correctly? It’s quite expensive to go up there, but the Manchester Group graciously invited us along. Unfortunately, unless you want to push the canoe the entire way, you must wait to go until the river is high. Waking up this morning, the river was not quite high enough and then it started raining. So the water level is rising, but if were to still go today, we’d be soaking wet and cold. Maybe tomorrow??
I just made a list of all the things we have to do before we leave Payamino. We’ve got a busy last week here. Between collecting some final plants and then figuring out all the mobilization permit stuff to get them shipped to Quito, we’ve got a lot on our plate. Everything will work out though.
As always, feel free to comment! For real, we want to hear from you!
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