I decided to pay for the food myself on the Saturday, for my goodbye meal and a treat to the others. I made three big pizzas, each one different and they went down well. I thought there may not be enough for the eight people present but when it got to the third pizza, everyone was already full so we saved most of it for lunch the next day. Rosie also made another great fruit pie and a cake so again, we had tons of good food. The others liked my pizzas as well so I felt happy with my plan.
I didn't do any work on Sunday but wanted to get my clothes washed. I certainly won't miss hand-washing clothes with cold water...
On Monday, I was expecting to be helping to build the roof for the biodigestor but they hadn't got the materials so instead, with Kasrah, dug some new beds in the garden and moved the path around them.
In the afternoon, I made some bread and helped Kasrah with the coffee, which he was interested in doing. To be fair, I didn't need to do anything more than explain to him how to do it and we just hung around the outdoor kitchen and observed the caterpillars that were finding a space to settle down in to turn into a chrysalis. There were many around, all at different stages so that was nice to look at and talk about.
On Tuesday morning, I wanted to make the 'dulce de leche' which is a sweet spread that we have at breakfast. It is made from about 5kg of sugar and 8 litres of milk which boils down to make a very thick sticky marmalade-type thing but the cook said I didn't need to keep stirring it and she would do it. So I went back to finish toasting the coffee and grinding it. I also prepared my room as two more volunteers were due to arrive today. I set it out nicely but they didn't appear. They'd had problerms with their flights and would come next Monday. Never mind, at least I got to have the room to myself until I left!
I had a lot of wood bits left over in the common room from all the things I'd been making and didn't want to leave the mess so we had a camp fire that evening. It was nice to see my new bench being used and for the first time, we sat around it, ate my nachos and played songs on the guitar.
On Wednesday, Kasrah asked if I wanted to take the mula down for one last time. I didn't really but the other jobs were clearing weeds with the machete again so I decided to do it! It went fine and the milk man arrived as soon as I reached the bottom. As I was walking down, I thought about how much better it would be to improve the road. It's horrible to drive and walk on so on the way back up, I cleared away some loose stones to try to do a bit at least.
I had another hour left so I also got the hoe and levelled the path betwen the house and the kitchen again. Even though I was leaving tomorrow, I thought if I'm going to leave something behind, it's best to leave a legacy. I got the worst parts done and was pleased with my work.
Kaz and I worked in the garden in the afternoon, transplanting onions into the new beds we'd dug and we had a good chat. It's a shame we've only known each other a week, he's a good friend and I'd like to hang out with him more. He's going to England around the time I come back from India so maybe we can meet up then.
We had a good game of football for my last one and Kaz is actually really good. He's fast and has lots of good moves. A lot of people played and we enjoyed our game.
People asked me if I would miss it here but I told them to be honest, I felt I had done my bit and it was fine to finish. Plus I have lots of other plans so am looking forward to going onto those.
I had planned my trip and decided not to go to Quevedo as it was only 5 hours from Santo Domingo to Guayaquil so would go straight there. In the evening, in the common room, we were playing the guitar and Kaz started improvising a song about me as Madaleine played a tune. It was both funny and really nice and I recorded it on video.
I had got my things packed read to leave after breakfast on Thursday. I said my goodbyes to everyone and left my rucksack to be taken down by the director's husband. When I got to the bottom, however, it wasn't there! Luckily, two of the workers were down there and one of them phoned for me. I had to wait for 15 minutes until someone else came along with it in his car. I crossed the road and got straight onto a bus, took some money out and got my ticket to Guayaquil.
The journey was ok but there was a traffic jam near the end so it actually took about 6 hours. I hadn't booked anywhere to stay but as it is low season, thought I should be fine. I took a taxi to one mentioned in the Lonely Planet and got a room in Hostel Suites Madrid in the centre. It was $20 a night but with a private bathroom so it was ok.
It was really hot there and went out to find Ali Baba's restaurant which had veggie food. I walked along the road and thought I had gone the wrong way and ended up at the river. But there was a pizza place so ate there. Walking back, I consulted the map and found I had actually gone the right way but obviously missed it so I'll go there tonight.
After eating, I went down to the river where the bars are but it was really quiet and hardly any were open. For the biggest city in Ecuador (3 million), it felt very strange. I walked around a lot and went in one called El Colonial. There was a guy playing live music and some people in there so at least there was some entertainment. When I bought a second beer, it went really quiet all of a sudden. The police came in and I wondered what was going on. It seemed to be just that they were checking that it closed at midnight, which all bars do here. Very odd again. There was nothing else to do so I just went back to the hostel.
I thought that this city was actually quite boring but there were places to see so after breakfast, I went to a high point by the river, up 444 stairs and there was a good view.
I saw there were also lots of small bars so I'll check it out tonight. I then walked through the park by the river and had lunch there. It was very nice and I took things very leisurely. I also wanted to find the place where there are iguanas. I expected it to be in some enclosed area but they are actually in an open park in the city, which was strange. I loved seeing them though. There were about 50, either walking around on the ground or lying on branches in trees. I asked a security guard about them and he said they generally stay inside but have been known to get run over when they wander out. They've been in here for about 15 years and generally get on fine with the people around. They don't mind the pigeons, either...
I went back to the hostel and slept a bit as I woke up at 7 again, wrote this blog and I'll go out to eat soon and move onto Cuenca tomorrow, which should be something special.
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