I should just mention the lack of mobile phone situation again in case I didn't mention it before. I would need to get an Ecuadorian to be with me to buy a phone and a sim card as foreigners are not allowed to buy the latter so this is not something I can really do.
During this week, I had some more hard work involving the machete, which tends to be the standard tool to do everything. The hoe is another that I used and it hurts your back from all the bending needed. G and I went to dig some water channels on a path going up a hill. It wasn't too bad though and we dug about 5. When we finished, I went to level out the path between the house and the kitchen area so we wouldn't be falling into holes when we walked on it in the dark.
On Tuesday, in the afternoon, four of us went down the road to harvest some coffee beans. In theory, this should have been nice easy work but heavy rain had started falling before we started and we got completely soaked as we pulled the trees over to get the beans. We got a good amount though (you need to pick them when they are red) but the best part was getting back and drying off.
The next day, some of us went back up the hill to a coffee tree field. We needed to clear the weeds from around the newly growing trees, which were still very small. They were in lines and we had to find the stick which showed where they were then clear around them to a radius of 50cm. This meant being there for 3 hours with the machete and as usual, it was tiring on the arms but we finished it just in time.
In the afternoon, we needed to change the area where we plant seeds as the structure which was intended to have a cover on it had trees growing through the middle so no roof could be put on. Us three guys had to collect new soil for the planting by hoeing and shovelling the nearby ground. After this, I was too tired to play football so just went for a lie down instead.
(These are the chairs I made the week before with the chainsaw)
On Thursday, we went tree planting and it was surprisingly quick and easy to do. I did the clearing with the machete and Ch and I were the second pair to finish, with our allocation of 15 tangaré trees done with plenty of time to spare. That afternoon, G and I chose to grind the coffee beans we'd picked. This is the first step in a long process. You need to get the skins off them which was easy enough with the big grinder then wash the beans to get any other bits off. It actually took us more than two hours just because it's a very laborious process washing them. They are then left out to dry for two weeks before the inside skins are put through another grinder so you get the actual brown seed left. These then need to be roasted for 3 hours, where the person has to constantly stir them in a pan. Then they are ground into coffee powder to give the final product. It's a lot of time and work just so we can drink coffee.
This week was also the week where 5 volunteers would be leaving; most of whom were good people to be here with. We went into Quito that evening as it was P's birthday as well. We stayed in a hostel in the Mariscal area which is where I stayed when I first arrived. We found a Thai restaurant and the food was excellent if not more expensive than we would normally want to pay. Some of us stayed out after that to go to some bars and we went to a club called 'No' which which a few doors away from the club called 'Yes'... We were given a free drink then went somewhere else which wasn't much good, so we went back to No, where we stayed for the rest of the evening. It was fun just dancing but I had to stay there till late to protect L and A from the lecherous men who would have accosted them, which they still tried to do anyway when I made it clear that they were with me.
I slept less than 5 hours that night as L got up early to go climbing and the other person who was in our room got up early, after which I couldn't sleep any more. We had breakfast in the hostel, which was a nice building with lots of rooms to get lost in as you walked through them. Some of us went to find the handcrafts market but, to be honest, it was the same as every market I've seen here: lots of touristy things that you get everywhere. We went to the Magic Bean café for lunch and I needed a double espresso to keep me awake. Normally, caffeine doesn't do anything for me but this did the trick as it was very strong. After lunch we said goodbye to four volunteers who were going off to travel more around South America. It was a shame to see them all go but it is expected of the group as people can choose when they want to come and go.
I went with 5 others to Otavalo in the afternoon. This is a reasonable sized town to the north of Quito where there is a large indigenous culture and it is strongly based on textiles.
When we got there, we didn't see a lot as we wanted to eat and then sleep. We tried to find a place we'd heard about but even the locals didn't seem to know of it so we went to the Green House, an organic restaurant. Not recommended. The food was actually good but we waited for well over an hour and when they brought everyone else's plates out, the waitress asked me what I'd ordered. I had to stay patient and I finally got my meal but by now, I was so hungry that I couldn't finish it.
On the Saturday, three of our group went to walk around the volcanic crater which they said was amazing. I wanted to have a more relaxing day so I saw the big market in the morning, and it certainly was big. Again, the usual kinds of things but more of a variety and it was nice enough just to see all the colours and shapes together.
In the afternoon, I had a walk out to the edge of town, hoping to see the mountains and lakes but I couldn't find a good place to see them so took some photos of the area and went back. I'd already booked a restaurant for dinner as I'd had a nice sandwich in a Mexican deli for lunch. The food was amazingly good.
Everyone loved it and we ate a huge amount with G and I both finishing with a mocachino ice-cream which, for me, was just a step too far but we went back to the hostel to relax and play some songs with the guitar there.
On Sunday, we had breakfast, G and I played some more pool and we went to a pie shop which sold lovely fruit pies. I had a strawberry one. We needed to get back to the reserve so we said goodbye to P and just about got back before it was dark. Even though I had been tired, it was a good weekend and nice to see a couple of places.
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