I think I'm stuck in a time warp...

...because I absolutely refuse to believe that time moves this slowly on its own.

I have so many pages of school work to write over the next two weeks, and I did make a little bit of progress earlier, but I've hit a standstill. So now I'm blogging (obviously).

Back-tracking: On Sunday, November 15, we took a bus from Quito to Intag. We met Carlos Zorilla and traveled the last hour to his farm on foot while our luggage was transported on horseback. We had lunch right away, which was homemade and all vegetarian and completely amazing. Then we settled into our cabins and had a tour of the farm.

Carlos and Sandy have lived on their farm for more than thirty years. They grow over 70 crops as well as 50-60 native tree species, and their gardens are very diverse. It's totally normal to find pineapples, green onions, bananas, and tree tomatoes growing in the same plot. Everything they do is completely sustainable, and they haven't used pesticides, natural or synthetic, for over twenty years. The crops they grow don't actually provide enough income to live on, so they host ecotourist groups like us in their lovely facilities. The bathroom was an outhouse, but it honestly wasn't that bad. The shower was ice cold in the morning, but the water was nice in the afternoon after the sun had been shining for several hours. The cabins had no electricity, so we had to light candles after dark, but we had thick, alpaca blankets, and we were all nice and cozy. Everyone felt like we were in the Little House books or on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

We hiked all of Monday morning in the cloud forest, which is beautiful but full of insanely steep hills. Monday afternoon we were visited by some members of a co-op of local women who make all kinds of products out of agave fibers -- everything from bracelets to purses to belts to potholders to floor rugs. Not only do they make extra money from their efforts, they gain a sense of value beyond just being housewives and they know that they're helping the local economy to resist the advances of copper mining companies. Tuesday morning was spent on group projects, which meant I got to go out and dig through a muddy stream for insects again. Tuesday afternoon we met Mary Ellen Fieweger, a font of knowledge and a true jack of all trades. She's the co-founder and co-editor of Periódico Intag, a newspaper that reports on community and conservation news in Intag, and she just won the first-ever award for environmental journalism in Ecuador. She's translated books from Spanish to English, she's a member of DECOIN, the anti-mining organization Carlos started, and she's absolutely hilarious.

On Wednesday we left Carlos and Sandy's beautiful farm and went to the tiny town of Apuela, where we visited an organic coffee factory and also Mary Ellen's newspaper office. She and her colleagues explained some of the projects they've been trying to implement in the community, including a lending library, a youth center, and music and movement classes for little kids, but they're really strapped for funds. As soon as we left, we started coming up with fundraisers we could do on campus.

That's all the back-tracking I can handle at the moment. My brain is so fried and I want to come home NOW.

Days till I come home: 14