Wow, Neverland is so absolutely incredible!!!!  At the moment we´re in Vilcabamba- a town in Ecuador known as the valley of longevity.  It´s full of Gringos and is super laid back- the location and the vibe of this place is likely why so many people live forever here.  Our entire ride from the Ecuadorian border was gorgeous. It was up and down, back and forth traversing through the Andes... I couldn´t tell you how many times I said "Holy crap this is unbelievable."
We stayed the night last night in a really sweet hostel that was super eco-touristy and comfortable.  The next day we took a bus to Tumianuma.  When we got on the bus, a bunch of young kids were getting on at the same time and we realized we were literally hitching a ride on their school bus.  It was pretty crazy and reminded me of elementary school bus rides back in the day.  A little while later before we left, this crazy man got on and was trying to sell a bunch of snacks.  He came by and literally placed baggies of candied peanuts in our laps without asking if we wanted them.  I instantly thought "Sweet, free treats!"  Obviously they weren´t free and in a couple of seconds he came back down the aisle asking for us to pay for them.  They were only 50 cents so we just bought them but it was pretty funny how confused we were.  It was a 45 minute ride to Tumianuma and we were dropped off in the middle of this deserted-looking town.  The directions from the website told us to find Gloria (they told us we couldn´t miss her, she was a tiny old woman withwarm brown eyes... like every older woman down here) and she would guide us in the right direction.  When we got off the bus, every older woman in the tiny town poked their heads out of their houses to check us out.  They kindly pointed us toward Gloria´s house where we found 2 adorable, shoeless little boys as curious as ever.  They told us she was out of town and we just kind of stood there for a little trying to figure out what to do.  Then, thankfully Daniel, the farm manager of Neverland walked around the corner and introduced himself and asked if we were going to the farm.  He let us leave our heavy bags at Gloria´s and they´d send a horse later for it all. 
The farm was a 40 minute walk from town and is nestled in an incredible part of the valley.  There is a river right near the property and a small creek runs right through the farm- couldn´t be a more perfect location.  The farm has tons of fruit trees (bananas, mango, zapote (custard apple maybe?), guava, papaya, avocado), lettuce, yucca, cabbage, carrots, arugula, tons of chickens and cows, 2 horses... the list goes on.  There are a few different plots of garden and the first day we worked on a new plot where they´re going to plant corn, beans and squash (The three sisters!).  We got up at 6:45, had breakfast (oatmeal with zapote and panela (non-refined sugar from sugar cane- kind of like molasses/honey) and went to the field at 7:30.  After the morning in the field, I went back to la cocina to prepare lunch for everyone with one of the other volunteers.  Lunch was so fresh and so yummy!  Every meal we eat is about 90% from the farm- just like home! :)
After lunch we chilled for a little and then did some less strenuous work since the afternoons are super hot here.  I helped prepare a garden bed in part of the garden that´s being reworked.  This entailed shoveling compost onto the beds, covering it with straw and then covering that with yucca branches to keep the straw on.  It was a pretty streuous first day so when we finished for the day we took a dip in the river to cool off and then went back to hang out a little before dinner.
On the second day we learned a little bit more about what the farm is all about.  Daniel had us chop and shovel dried manure and this lead to a long skeptical conversation between Kit and I about why the frick we came to Ecuador to chop manure for this community we were only going to be a part of for 3 weeks.  Literally in the middle of this conversation, Daniel walked up to us and started explaining exactly why we were doing what we were doing. He told us about how incredible cows are for converting grass to milk, meat and manure.  He explained the importance of using manure as a fertilizer and by using it on this farm he hoped to spread the message to nearby farmers who have been forced to switch to synthetic fertilizers.  We felt a lot better after this chat and chopped the poop with a lot more enthusiasm than before!
After this was done both Kit and I worked with the irrigation system.  Throughout the garden area there are channels dug from the creek that lead to every trench in between the beds so the water is distributed.  We went through and made sure the channels were all clear of leaves and grass and getting enough water to the different beds.  It´s such an interesting system and it was really fun to work on.
We had the past two days off which has been really nice to catch up on rest and relax a little.  Today we came into town with Tina and were finally able to give the shoes and balls we´d collected before the trip to the local school kids.  What an experience!  It was such a simple donation but it made the kids so happy!  Seeing the kids wearing the shoes and playing with the balls was even more heart-warming than I expected and I´m hoping we can continue sending simple donations like these in the future.  We´re hoping to be able to set-up a sister school system with both schools in Montana and New York as a sort of  pen-pal/donation deal which would be great.  This is in the works as we speak and I´m sure there will be more on this later.  For now, we need to catch a ride back up to the farm for a week full of construction.  We´re building a house on the farm for Daniel and he is leaving for the week so we´re hoping to finish it by the time he returns.

Mucho amor y hasta pronto,
Laura y Kit

The latest

Wednesday October 13th


So we've had an eventful couple of days. We took a bus to jaen where
we were clearly the first gringos to come through in a while. We got
stared at and overcharged for dinner and our hostal. We were glad to
just be there for the night. We grabbed the first collectivo out of
there at 6 in the morning and began yet another excruciatingly long
day of traveling.

The first collectivo to San ignacio we fit 6 people in a car built for
5. Laura and I shared the front seat for 2 hours which was
uncomfortable to say the least. We thought 6 people was a lot, but in
the second collectivo we fit 7 and a baby. Both collectivos tool us
flying along bumpy muddy dirt roads with steep dropoffs. It was
frightening, but just part of the adventure. So, It was tight quarters
for an hour and a half, then we were dropped off at the border.

We had to check out at the Peruvian border with a guy who spoke really
fast and mumbley. We had to keep asking him to repeat himself and
instead of slowing down he just kept raising his voice. By the end he
was pretty much just yelling at us. Finally out of frustration he
stamped our passports and told us we could leave. We then walked
across a bridge and were in Ecuador.

Ecuador was a little more official looking. There were three guys in
uniform who intimidated us a lot. We checked in, got our passprts
stamped and were told we were going to have to wait for a few hours
before the carito, large flatbed truck with a bunch of wooden benches
in rows, left. We sat with our bags and eventually the officers
curiosity got the best of them and they started asking us questions.
Top of the list was "are you single?" and "why are you traveling
alone?" meaing without men. We answered their questions and in an
attempt to add to the conversation I managed to ask them if they were
in love with each other. How embarassing! They laughed and said "us?!?
No , we're just friends." I am pretty sure they knew what I wasasking,
but just wanted to give me a hard time. So evenntualy 1230 rolled
around and we hopped on the truck, waved goodbye to our new border
patrol friends and set out for our ecuadorian adventure.

Within 3 minutes we came upon a gate in the road with a bunch of
millitary guys in uniform with guns. My heart immediately started
racing and almost burst through my chest when try told laura and I to
get off the truck. What did they want from us and why did they need
those huge guns? I was pretty sure this wasn't a good situation. They
asked for our passports, wrote down the numbers, appollgized for the
inconvenience and let us get back on the truck. Phew!! I guess I tend
to overreact when there are huge guns involved. So we bumped along for
a while then came to zumba where we would catch a bus to vilcabamba.
We sat around at the bus "terminal" (it was really just an open grassy
area with a few buildings here and there) until our stomachs began to
rumble. We had two hours beforeour bus was to leave so we decided to
ask where a restaurant was. We were told there was one in oneof the
buildings at the terminal so we decided we'd try it out.

The restaurant was little more than an open room with several tables
and chairs and at first we though we had just stumbled into someones
house. We got a lot of looks and eventually a curious little girl
wandered over to us to stare. We asked her name and she asked ours and
that opened the floodgates of conversation. She started talking really
fast, as 5 year olds do, and we had a difficult time understanding
what she was saying. Our food eventually came out and being vegetarian
was clearly not in the cards for this lunch. We picked at our chicken,
trying not to be rude but it was sort of less than appealing. At one
point the little girl came over to us and said something we didn't
understand but everyone else in re restaurant seemed to get as the all
turned and looked at us, stiffling chuckles about what the girl had
said. We don't think it was anything mean because the laughs seemed
friendly enough but we will forever be curious about what she said.

At the restaurant a middle aged man and a kid our age struck up
conversation with us. They were very kind and were heading to loja and
offered to drive us to vilcabamba which is on the way. Our thoughts
flashed to everything we have ever heard about not taking rides from
strangers but our instincts over ruled the warnings and we accepted
the ride. It would be an hour faster, more comfortable, and we would
get some pleasant converstion in. They were extremely kind and the 4
hour ride actually went pretty fast. They dropped us off at our hostal
outside of town, made sure we were able to get a room and toldus if we
were ever in loja to email them and they would show us around.

So we are here in vilcabamba which is hands down the most beautiful
place we have been yet. It is incredible and we are excited to get to
spend so much time in this area. We are heading to the farm now so
emails ad updates will be less frequent. Maybe once a week...

An amazing day by mistake...

Oct 10


We ended up not getting a bus today because it was full so we are
headed out tomorrow instead. We had the most amazing day though!!
These three wonderful Peruvian women took us under their wing for the
day and we went with them to some amazing ruins. At the ruins we kept
just walking by signs that said we couldn't go any further because
they were doing work on it still. The women were totally just doing
what they wanted so laura and I went with it. They spoke really fast
Spanish and I tinks I understood maybe 10% ofwhat they were saying. We
got to see some amazing ''off limits'' stuff; tombs, friezes, the main
huaca, so it made it worth it to break the rules. Well, it turns out
that oneof the ladies we were with was an archaeologist (which we knew
from the beginning) but not just any archaeologist, she was part of
the crew that first found the tombs at this place (tucume). How
freaking cool is that?!? So as a recap, we miss our bus, meet three
very kind Peruvian women oneof which is a big time archaeologist, get
a private guide to these amazing ruins and spend the rest of the day
with them. It was fabulous and seemed like it was mant to be and we
weren't supposed to catch that bus. Awesome! We also went to the sipan
museum which was unreal. Sipan was the burial site of aims big time
Moche leader a couple thousand years ago and hewas entombed with tons
of gold, beads, pottery, silver, copper....the museum was stunning!!
Then the women took us to this amazing Spanish colonial house that had
30 rooms and the longest balcony in south America! It also was quite
amazing. All of the things we saw today were because of these three
kind women ( irma, Rosario, josephina). It was truly a wonderful and
full day. By the end we were hungry and exhausted but stoked about our
adventure.

Tomorrow we sit on a bus for 6 hoursand arrive in the mountains and
the rainforest. I am excited for a change of scenery.

Our bus leaves at 1:15 tomorrow so I'll havesome Internet inthe
morning. Hope all is well! Look up those places i mentioned online.
They are awesome!

"¿Chimbote, eh?" "...Si"

 

Our friendly neighbor we met on our way out of the hostel this morning.

 

While checking in at the bus station for our ride to Chimbote, the man taking our bags asked us in a pretty skeptical tone, "Chimbote, eh?".  Kit and I discussed this and decided he was probably thinking, ´Why the hell would you want to go there?´  Little did he know we weren´t so sure why we going either.  However, we decided, as our bus was boarding in about half an hour, we didn´t really have a choice.

We boarded around 8:00 and were quickly served breakfast; a piece of lemon flavored corn bread and a cheese sandwich was the vegetarian option.  After leaving Lima, all we saw was desert, coast and impoverished towns over and over again.  You can probably imagine how boring this became after 8 hours, but it did provide for some good reflection time.  It also made me appreciate me breakfast quite a bit more as well. 

About half an hour before we arrived in Chimbote, we decided to take the hint from the worker at the bus station and change our final destination.  We had already been on the bus for 8 hours so we figured two hours more to Trujillo was worth the ride. When we got to Chimbote we got off the bus to pay the rest of our way North to Trujillo and were immediately hit with the decaying fish smell that we were extremely happy to be avoiding.  We were also bombarded with young Peruvian children begging us for food and money.  This was the first we had seen of this and was extremely difficult to ignore.  After getting our ticket changed, we got back on the bus for two more hours.

We arrived in Trujillo and took a taxi to a nearby surf-town called Huanchaco.  We decided to take the cheap route and stay in a dormitory style room at this pretty neat Hostel on the ocean where we have two roomates, one English guy and one French girl.  After moving our bags in, we had some dinner (spaghetti and pizza... super Gringo) and then called it a night.  Somehow,10 hours of doing nothing on a bus proved to be exhausting.

After a restful night, we decided to go and check out some nearby ruins.  We visited La Huaca de La Luna and La Huaca del Sol which are both ancient temples of the Moche people.  To give you a brief summary, the Moche people would hold ceremonial battles and the losing warriors were brought to these sites to be prepared to be sacrificed to their highest deity.  After having a tour of the temples, we checked out the La Huaca de La Luna museum.  It was pretty incredible to see so much original pottery and other artifacts from so long ago.  On our visit we were accompanied by a slough of Peruvian children that were on school field trips.  It was apparent that they found us much more interesting than the Moche artifacts as they continually stared at us and yelled out the only English phrases they knew (Hello!  Good afternoon.)


Standing on Huaca de La Luna, Huaca del Sol in the background

Decorations on wall that surrounded temple

More artwork on the wall.

The plan from here is to stay 2 more nights in Huanchaco and then continue the northward journey with the next stop in Piura.  Back for another 8ish hour long desert-filled ride.  Woo Hoo!  Until then, surfing and a live reggae concert are in order.

¡Hasta pronto!

Adventures, or rather naptime, in Miraflores

After 34 hours without sleep, 19 of which were spent traveling we arrived in Miraflores, Peru. Miraflores, just South of Lima, lies right on the Pacific Coast and leaves something to be desired though the people have been very friendly. We were greeted at the airport by a kind taxi driver holding a sign with our names on it. We hopped in the taxi and began the most extreme 30 minute car ride we had ever taken. I felt like I was riding Jeff Gordon in the Datona 500. We cut people off, nearly ran over dozens of pedestrians, swerved, honked and thanked our lucky stars as soon as we pulled up in front of our bright yellow hotel. We checked in, e-mailed our nervous parents (love you guys!), crawled into bed and slept for the next 15 hours.

Today we had breakfast at the hotel, then went out on the town! Well sort of... We had to figure out how to get out of the locked gate first, which took looking at, poking, priding and finally asking about, to get through. Nothing can stop us! With the traffic as it is here we counted every safely crossed street as a major success. We walked about a mile to some little shops where we met a very kind woman who we talked to for quite some time. We told us we were lucky to live in America where working hard pays off. We told her that we were glad to be visiting her country too though. We made our way back to the hotel, stopping at a supermarket for some lunch.

Tomorrow is day 1 of making our way north to a small farm near Loja, Ecuador where will will live and work on an organic farm and volunteer with a local school for a month. With the help of the kind woman at the front desk of our hotel we bought bus tickets that will take us 8 hours North to Chimbote, the one place in the guidebook that I had decided we should skip because of the following excerpt:

"Chimbote is Peru's largest fishing port - and with fish-processing factories lining the roads in and out of Chimbote you'll probably smell it before you see it. The odor may take a while to get used to."

Awesome! We are sort of being forced to go to Chimbote rather than the ancient ruins of Caral due to safety reasons, so while our hopes of seeing a delightful piece on ancient history, we will see fish processing factories! Our spirits are still very high and we plan on stopping at Caral on our way back from Ecuador.

For now though, we look forward to the smell of fermenting fish as it will signal the end of our 8 hour bus ride and mark our northward progress. Onward!

Note: I apologize for any awful spelling or word errors. I'm using an iPod touch to type and it is proving to be quite difficult!