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