Buenos dias from Palugo!

We’ve really settled into life here on the equator just in time to head off on expedition. This week we spent much of our time on academics and making our very own cuchillos (knives).

Last Friday we had our first herb class with Marcea where we made salves (!) and began work on our knives. We made the handles from a cherry burl Laurel found back in New England and each piece is beautifully unique. We also made leather sheaths, and sewing them was so tough we had to use pliers to pull the needles through (we’ve broken four needles so far).

This week we also had Permaculture class with Thomas and Geography with Michael. We learned that drinkable water in Palugo comes from a beautiful spring on the side of a thorny cliff and that the Andes are formed by the collision of the South American Tectonic plate with the Nasca plate. In both classes we went on walks through Palugo and got a chance to actually see what we were learning about. With Michael we also climbed to Jatumloma, the highest point in Palugo and our first summit! From that height we could see the terra cotta roofs of the houses down below, tucked into the trees and gardens. Across the valley we saw the community of Palugo, and beyond that the mountains looking impossibly grand. It was sunny and windy and magnificent.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we finished up our academic work and had a fantastic health/ nutrition / revolution class with Marcea and Marcela in which we all joined the anti-stagnation movement and learned to listen to our mental, emotional, spiritual and physical bodies.

Today we are packing:  packing all the food we’ve been dehydrating, packing our personal belongings, packing the gear we will need to bike up the Andes and raft to the headwaters of the Napo river. We leave early Friday morning and will be out for 21 days! I will be sending out updates with each resupply to let you know of our latest challenges and adventures!

Hasta Luego,

Mary Kate

Reflections:

They watch me as I wander

As I wander the world

They hold the power I yearn to have

To forever move, forever shift

A lonesome wisp in the painting of a sky

A place where the paintbrush slipped in the vast expanse of blue

Content with isolation

A dimmer switch of daylight

Billowing, ominous, unscathed by thunder

I watch them become a mirror for the nervous colors of dawn’s first light

They watch me wander

I watch their tendrils creep

Creep into crevaces, valleys of far off mountain peaks

They watch me wander

Never the same always changing

Shifting, moving

They watch me wander the world.

~ Izzy

Dale Vida  a Tus Suenos

Dale vida a tus suenos aliementan

tu alma, no los confudas nunca con realidades

y aunque tu mente siento necesidad humana

de conseguir tus metos y escalar montanas.

Nunca robas tus suenos

Aunque te llamen loco

no dejas que tus suenos

se mueran de poco a poco,

no le quites las alas

dejalas que vivelen contigo

en compania.

Dale vida a tus suenos

a tus metas, tus anhelos

tocaras las estrellas y

el viento te cantara los

secretos que para ti

han guardado

Dale vida a tus suenos

que tienes escondidos

descubriras que puedes vivir

esos momentos con los ojos abiertos, los miedos dormidos

y tus suenos despiertos.

~ Wicho

Description:

I am sitting on a rock in the center of a dusty dirt road. The road is lined with weathered fence posts, and from them hang three rows of barbed wire that are intertwined with a mixture of tangled, thorny vines, grasses and thirsty shrubs. A fly buzzes around me, stopping once or twice on my knee to clean its tiny hand. Apart from the fly and the yellow-brown grass shaking with the wind all is still.

            The sun beats down from straight above, heating the angular black rocks that lie just beneath the dirt of the road. About twenty feet in front of me, where the road curves down to the left and out of sight, a dry tree pushes back two others in the fight for height. This tree’s trunk is covered with holes stubs of dead branches, and lichen. After twisting its way above the surrounding brush it sends out thousands of twig-like branches sparsly covered in leaves.

            Above distant mountains hang clouds. They slowly drift towards me; building upon themselves. With them comes much needed rain.

~  Isaiah

Ayra helping keep gear at its best.

Mary Kate, Elsbeth, Lucas, and Emma ready to ride.

Elsebeth and Izzy holding something special.

Mathias and Lucas working on bikes.

Laura working on her knife handle.

Meal preparation in the Outdoor Kitchen.

Lara studying the maps.

Mary Kate labeling food containers.

Working hard in the food room to prepare for expedition.