Neverland

Sorry for the delay, we have been far away from the internet. Neverland farm is a 45 minute walk from a tiny town called Tumianuma. Tumianuma is an hour bus ride from Vilcabamba, which is the closest place with internet and phones. The remote setting of the farm, however, is my favorite part.

We are set between jagged, nearly vertical mountains that are green with brush. The farm is on the river, which is fast but shallow enough to go swimming. We are coming out of the rainy season and entering the windy dry season, which means no more roads washing away, but soil erosion from the wind. When we first arrived the roads nearly shut down from landslides and we barely made it to the farm. The weather has been very nice for the last two weeks.

It seems like everyone has mixed feelings about the farm. The volunteer community ranges from 8 to 15 people, and the owner isn´t around too much to manage the group of transients. Therefore, we are staying for a full month and figuring things out as we go. The food production of the farm is not functioning adequately, so we bring in most of the food we eat. The garden is start up, and lacking compost entirely (the number one ingredient for organic farming). However, we are growing a decent amount of crops that will produce long after we leave. Besides the frustrations I come across with the agricultural system and lack of management, however, the farm is a wonderful place to be for an extended period of time. I enjoy the long term volunteers very much, and we have a lot of fun even when working. After work we cook great food and wonder around the land looking for fruits and fire flies. Life is remote and simple. And there are citrus trees everywhere.

Interesting fact about the land : it was founded by a ¨fruitarian¨ parapaleygic that started a cult there years ago. Johnny Lovewisdom wrote a bunch of bizzare philosophy that remains in the room next to ours. I have yet to read it, but for some reason I like the idea that a cult leader that ate only fruit planted all the citrus trees around. It´s a strange story. There must be hundreds of citrus trees, but that was a long time ago. The trees haven´t been pruned properly, and now it is a farm that supports travelers that aren´t sure what they are looking for.

We are staying in a room with big open windows without glass. There are bugs everywhere and we are dirty and we are happy. The meadows are full of butterflys, and I often think about how the place deserves the name Neverland. We milk a cow once in a while. I never knew how difficult utters could be. There are horses, a burro, dogs, cats, kittens, a venomous snake that big one of the dogs, so we killed it (she had 30 eggs and a rat inside and we are drying the skin), spiders and soon there will be puppies.

Staying in one place for a month is what we needed. The hostal circut, or gringo trail, is very tiring and expensive. I don´t want to stay on it for too long at one time. I´d rather farm hop for the majority of the trip. There is a lot to learn from farming, and right now I am learning that I am able to do things I once thought were hard, I just have to stop complaining. I really like this tool called a barretta. It´s a metal bar that you can break up hard soil with and pry huge rocks up with. It feels good to work and hurt a little bit. Sometimes the Ecuadorian men don´t like women to do heavy work though - they say it will damage our uterus and reproductive systems. A bit archaic, but it is cultural and feminism doesn´t go over too well sometimes. I let it go.

I miss everyone a lot. It´s only been 2 months but everyday is so different that I feel that I´ve been gone for longer. I think about the return often, but I am also looking forward to the changes about to come.

Love,
Lauren