Ecuador - Creepy Crawlies

By Dana

If you don't like bugs, this post is not for you.  We've found some awesome little buggers that I wanted to share with you, which is impressive due to our current location in Ecuador.  The mountains typically have much less "wildlife" than the coast or the Amazon.  I apologize in advance for not knowing the technical names for most of these critters.  Enjoy!  

This scorpion beauty was found by Brent while we were planting potatoes.  Just a day before this picture was taken, the family we're staying with said something to the effect of, "This area is so nice, because there are hardly any dangerous creatures around here."  

Me playing with the scorpion....   Of course when I excitedly brought it up at the dinner table that we had found a scorpion they shrugged it off and said, "Oh yeah, we used to have them in our bedroom everyday.  One of them was 8 inches long!"  Now I would really like to get their definition of what a dangerous creature is. I don't know about you, but I think a scorpion definitely falls in that category!

Orange and black spikey caterpillar.  I refrained from petting these.  They were everywhere this day!

Awesome, HUGE spiders that are EVERYWHERE!  This one happened to be on the banana plant I was trying to weed around.  On a walk one day, I decided to play with a similar one by poking its web with a little stick to pretend like I was a bug.  I expected it to pounce and attempt to wrap up the bug, but instead it stayed put and started thrusting its body back and forth.  It was moving so much the entire web flexed about 2 to 3 inches in both directions.  It was amazing!  I would assume it's some technique used to catch bugs in its web.  When I left about 5 minutes later, it was still going.  So cool!

Here's the spider we call a "Mini-Black Widow" (sorry it's kind of hard to see in the picture).  It looks just like a Black Widow but has slightly different red markings on its back.  I sure hope it's not related....

The eggs a larger version of this "Mini-Black Widow" mounted under a lettuce plant we had just weeded around.  

Cool beetle that I sadly squished a little bit while weeding.  

And here's the scariest one of them all...the ugly...the terrible....

Just kidding, that's just Brent.  

But seriously, there's one critter that's topped them all so far.  If you thought the midwest mosquitoes are bad, you've never encountered what we call the "WINGED MOUTHS."  These bugs are so small they look like a mini-gnat but they bite like a horsefly, leaving a drop of blood, a huge puffy red ring, and really itchy skin in their wake.  

While these things are far too small to photograph, here's a little idea of what our bodies look like due to them.  

And finally, here are some cute pictures to balance out what you just saw.  Brent is of course included in this category.  ;)

A super cute pupply that we encountered on our hike the other day.  

And an even cuter one that kept following me around.  

Just look at those eyes....  It's a good thing I don't live here, because I'd have a whole yard full of cute little strays by now.  Stay tuned for more critters and cuties...coming soon.  

Ecuador - Playing in the Mud!

By Dana

It has now been a little over 2 weeks since we arrived in Ecuador.  It's quite hard to believe.  We've had so many incredible experiences already and have learned so much that it feels like we've been here about 2 months!

I decided I'd greet you with the view we have out our window every morning.  :)  This morning was unique in the fact that Volcano Pichincha and its neighbors were covered in snow.  Typically the snow melts by early afternoon but this time it happened to last nearly all day.  

In addition to working the garden we have had the awesome experience of helping a neighbor build his earthen house.  Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of an "earthen house" I think of some sort of sweet underground tunneling system (which we have witnessed here by the way) or something built with adobe or earthen bricks like you see below.  

The technique I'm about to show you is nothing like what you see here.  Be ready to be amazed!! 

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THE COB HOUSE

Now to preface this, I should start by saying that I am not an expert at building with cob and everything you see below is from my recent personal research and experiences ONLY.  Although I've learned an incredible amount in such a short amount of time, I have a TON more to learn before I'm any sort of an expert.  So here we go...

Cob - True cob is a mixture of earth, sand, water and straw.  It is mixed to a consistency that makes it easy to pile up and sticks together nicely, which makes it quite convenient for building walls.  

Here are some of the ADVANTAGES of a cob house:  

- Inexpensive - Mainly because you're using earth found right on your property

- Fire PROOF - There have been recorded forest fires where the only standing houses were of cob

- Heating - Cob retains heat extremely well (and stays cool in the summer)

- Architecture - It gives you unlimited options for the shape of the house and allows you to sculpt and bend the walls in beautiful ways

- FUN! - It's like sculpting your own house out of clay, lets you work with the earth and with your hands, and encourages teamwork and collaboration.  Best of all, you can't really screw it up!

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Here it is step by step how to build a house with cob!

STEP 1:  Mix the Cob

First make a mud pit by mixing water and earth.  

Next, throw on some rubber boots and JUMP in it!

Toss in some straw to give the mud better structure for building.  

Lastly, run around to mix it well (if you can).  The cob mixture is ready to use for building when your boots nearly get sucked off in the thick, sticky mud.  It is SO FUN and also an amazing WORKOUT!

STEP 2:  Haul mud

When the mixture is ready, you scoop it into buckets with a shovel.    

Here's my bucket - I know it looks tiny, but let me tell you this stuff is incredibly heavy, especially after about 50 trips to the building site!

Next we got to haul the mud from outside to the building site.  

For us this meant walking up to the second story on a homeade "ladder" of sorts, balancing on the log which you see to the right, and hoisting the bucket onto the boards that are on the second story.  

Once on the boards, walk very carefully, balancing with the heavy bucket...

...Don't look down!!...

...until you arrive at the far wall...

...then sit down and exhale...

...because you made it (this time).  Only 49 more trips to go for the day!

STEP 3:  Pack mud

Glob by glob, plop the muddy mixture into the wall and pack it well.  

This style of building is called 'barregue' (pardon the spelling) where you first build the structure of the house with wood slits and then fill them with mud.  True 'cob' is built without the wooden cross supports that you see here.  A 100% cob wall needs to be thicker to have a solid structure but it uses less wood, which is better if your goal is using local materials.  

Pack and pack until the wall is smooth and complete.  Notice the "stained glass" window made out of glass bottles found behind Brent, just another way that the builders use recycled materials.  

STEP 4: Let Mud Dry

The next step is pretty tough.  Sit back and wait for the mud to dry.  Everything that is dark grey in the picture is what Brent and I completed during our first day of work.  2 people x 6 hours = a partial wall of 1 bedroom completed.  Clearly building with cob is relatively time intensive, but it's rewarding work.  

STEP 5:  Cover and Smooth

After all the barregue walls are filled in with mud and they have dried, another layer of cob is applied to smooth everything out.  Here's the expert homebuilder himself.  They call him "El maestro."  He is the brains behind this operation, and he also built the house where we're currently living.  

STEP 6:  Paint with Water

I love this picture, because it essentially shows steps #4, #5, and #6 together.  On the right is the barregue, dried and ready.  On the left (bottom) is the smoothed layer of cob, still wet.  On the left (top) is the extra smooth layer of this same cob after it has been painted with plain old water.  After this stage the house is finished!

Here's the house where we left it.  You can see it's still a work in progress, but it's definitely starting to take form!

STEP 7:  Paint

After the house is completely done, the finishing touches are added.  The "paint" used for the house is actually tinted dirt that comes from the Amazon.  The house we were building had about 5 different colors to choose from.  The house we're living in used natural colors, that you see below.  

A redish pigment used for the outside of the house (p.s. this is what the walls of the other house will look like when they're finished).  

The lighter tanish color used for the inside of the house.  The beautiful tree sculpted on the wall was done by a volunteer like us.  :)

STEP 8:  Descansa!

I almost forgot the most important part.  Descansa (rest)!  

As hard as these guys work, they sure know how to enjoy a break.  Friday breaks are extra special, as the cerveza is passed around and enjoyed by all...during the morning break, during the post-lunch break, during the afternoon work (which technically is not a break), during the post-work break...you get the idea.  :)

Salud!

After a lovely week of building, I leave you with the view from our in our cozy little cob bedroom at sunset.  

Who knows, maybe you'll be visiting us in our own hand-sculpted cob home someday.  :)

Ecuador - Italian Style

By Dana

We arrived in Quito around 7:30pm and not to our surprise our taxi driver was not there waiting for us as he had promised (aparently he was parked somewhere in the parking lot - not sure how we were ever supposed to find him there).  So began adventure #1 of the trip.  We got a taxi from the airport, and of course the driver didn't know the "barrio" or neighborhood where we were going.  After driving around aimlessly in the dark for a few minutes and asking numerous people for directions, he finally decided it would be better to find another taxi.  Thankfully taxi guy #2 was from Barrio Plazapampa and knew exactly where to find "La casa de tierra" which was the most descriptive address we were given.

After navegating down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere that had more potholes than Doans has pills (as Grandma Harney would say) for a good while, we arrived at "La casa de tierra."  When we had heard we would be staying in an earthen house, we had a completely different image in our mind than what was standing in front of us when we arrived.  It is the perfect first stop on our WWOOFing adventure.  

Here's a picture of the house from the garden.  It has 3 bedrooms (one used as a playroom for the kids), a beautiful kitchen, living room, dining room, 2 bathrooms, pantry, and a couple of closets.  On the right you see a greenhouse that is FULL of tomato plants (my dream greenhouse).  :)

Dining room with wood burning fireplace.  

Kitchen.  

We are staying with an amazing Italian couple, Cecilia and Francesco, and their two kids, Rumi (which means 'stone' in the indigenous Quechua language) and Amanda.  They are an amazing family who designed this cob house so they could live comfortably while also living sustainably.  

Rumi picking some flowers for his mama.  He loves helping us in the garden, especially when searching for potatoes after we've tilled up the soil.  

Amanda and Brent playing in the living room, which we do almost every afternoon after work.  They're both amazing kids!

The family has a solar-powered water heater and they also use composting toilets (as seen here).  After every use, you cover your waste up with sawdust.  When the toilet gets full, you remove the 5 gallon bucket, which fits snugly beneath the seat, and take it out to the compost.  After about 9 months it's ready to be used in the garden!  You'd be amazed at how it doesn't smell or anything.  It's a little extra maintenance, but an incredible system.  

Everything that goes down the drain in the house is biodegradeable, including soap.  They have a system outside consisting of various plants where the grey water gets 'filtered' and is then used to water their crops.  Pretty cool!

We eat out of the garden everyday.  Usually Cecilia cooks our amazing meals, but here's part of one Brent and I prepared on our own with fresh lettuce and tomatoes straight from the garden!

And now for the fun part...

The work Brent and I are doing for our stay is HARD WORK.  I've never done so much physical labor in my life.  We spend 6 hours everyday outside, which I didn't think was that much time after all the hours I used to put in at my old job, however 6 straight hours of tilling a field by hand will make just about anything else look easy, especially at 8,500 feet!

The first full day we spent tilling one small section of the field.  It took forever!  We arrived at the very end of the dry season, so the ground was SUPER HARD on top of the fact that it consists of compressed volcanic ash (from a long, long time ago) and clay.  

Here's our work from day #1!

What everything looked like BEFORE!

What the field looked like AFTER!

Despite the hard work we did get to use some awesome tools.  

Me with a hoe.  

Awesome tool used to cut wheat!

After the first day, the rainy season started in full force.  One afternoon when Brent and I had gone out exploring we got back to the house just in time before a full hail storm broke loose.  

A typical afternoon rain.  

Hailstorm (as mentioned above).  

Due to the rain every afternoon, here's what our boots look like after a few minutes in the garden each day.  We've given up on keeping them clean.  All the blisters on my hands which are bandaged up in this picture are finally now done oozing and have turned into calluses.  SUCCESS!

Other than work, we've gotten to PLAY a little bit as well!

A hot springs in Papallacta.  We went here with the family only a day into our stay.  It felt awesome on our throbing muscles after tilling the field on day 1.  

Exploring Quito on a very rainy day off.  

Botanical Garden in Quito with some awesome aloe plants.  

One of the million awesome plants at the gardens.  This one gets water from the humid air.  

HUGE leaf "dress."

That's all for now!!  Sending love from Sudamerica!