Poco a poco dice Carlos

The beautiful surroundings of the hills above us. Kena took this picture, as he took most of the pics I´m posting, but I think this was taken right outside his room, not sure though.


Julien and me enjoying our black tea with panella over breakfast. Panella is the only type of sweetener we had while on the farm. It is made from the sugar cane plant into hard blocks of brown sugar looking material. To cook with it we boil it in water to create a honey like substance that is used in tea, oatmeal, baked goods, coffee, whatever you want sweetened. I am now addicted to sweetened tea and can´t fathom not using it anymore!


This is the Cool Karly who only comes out in Ecuador. On our way to Vilca Bamba last weekend, I´m crossing the bridge and keeping it real! Haha!!!!


The girls and I climbed a tree in the field to get a good, safe look as the guys chased down the bull they were going to kill. Yup, on Friday the exciting event was killing the bull. It was one of Tina´s bulls that was a really misbehaved, out of control bull that needed to be sold. There were only a few offers that were way too low so instead Tina bought her own bull and then had to kill it. With the help of Andres, Carlos, Norman, the 5 university girls and the five of us volunteers we killed, dehaired and cut the cow up into pieces all day in the rain. It was a quintessential experience for a farm, even though my life long goal has been to milk a cow I´ll take killing a bull instead! I still feel like veganism is the way to go, but it was an educational experience full of blood, half digested grass and all sorts of innerds!


Innerds! Oh yeah, how many stomaches does a bull have? 4. How many were filled with nasty green semi-digested grass? 4. How do I know all this? I saw the guys cut open the stomachs and clean out the food. And I helped clean out the intestines in the creek with the other girls. It was like a long piece of trip filled with greenish goop!



Here are Maria de los Angeles and I cleaning the blood off the bull´s head. I´m not sure what they are going to do with the head but I´ve been told that they use pretty much every single body part of the cow so I expect them to use as much of the head as they can. Even though I was there, as part of the experience, I realized that I did very little to help kill or clean the bull but was nevertheless transfixed by the experience. I did end up getting a little blood on my pants (sorry Robyn) but I think it was from carrying a bit of the liver back to the house since we cooked it that night. Liver is a very unique flavor and when cooked with locally picked mushrooms (that Tina told us can be extremeley expensive in stores), which also have a very unique flavor, the dinner dish was one that most passed on. I tried it and enjoyed it a bit since it was cooked with lots of onions, tomatoe and seasonings, but I don´t think I´ll have a craving for fresh liver anytime soon!


Do you know what these two organs are? No need to look too close, I´ll just tell you: bull testicles and penis! Yup here I am proudly and grossly holding them. Andres needed someone to take the penis from him as he continued to butcher the bull and since I was closest, I grabbed it. I figured since I was already holding the penis, might as well grab a picture with the testicles as well. We ended up giving the penis to the dogs to eat, who happily garbbled that up as well as the fresh blood and several other unneeded pieces of meat thrown their way. The testicles Kena wanted to use to make a little coin purse for Tina. He didn´t know how to treat them though so he cooked the meat and gave it to the dogs, who ate it surprisingly fast. The skin he put around a rock and put in the oven to try and dry out a bit, it was raining a lot that day, and then I don´t know what he did with it. It sure became the butt of many jokes quite quickly as we talked with the Spanish-speaking students about the terms we use for testicles in English and watched as Kena uncomfortably tried to figure out what to do with them!


Tina has a little internet cafe open in Tumianuma. But the internet doesn´t work and there isn´t anyone to open the cafe for the kids. Therefore I went several times last week to open the cafe to let the kids play on the computers for a bit. There are three computers, only two of which work, and only one of which has Encarta, the encyclopedia program that includes several educational games on it. Here is a shot of me helping a little boy learn how to play Spider on the computer. It was difficult at first because it has been a long time since I´ve played, but after a bit I got the hang of it and we won two times! The other day when all the volunteers went into town to do some volunteer service, I was happily releaved of weeding when I opened the cafe instead of using a shovel to dig up rocks and small weeds. It was a great afternoon activity to walk into town and hang out in the cool dark room for a few hours. I did some reading while the kids played, which is my new favorite past time.


Here are the girls, me, Julien, Kena and Norman waiting in Tumianuma to start the voluneer work. We worked at the school in the morning pulling weeds and burning weeds. Norman, on the left, is a huge part of Neverland Farm and makes a majority of the farm work look way easier than how I felt when doing it!


Me and Vanessa doing some tough work of planting a tree, well here we are digging a hole which is clearly necessary for planting a tree!


Taking a break after burning lots of weeds, some of the volunteers at the school brought us wonderfully refreshing juice with lots of sugar that wasn´t panella, such a rarity!


Working hard, being serious as always. Maria de los Angeles, me and Ximena. They were really close friends, pretty darn funny and lots of fun! Ximena can shake it on the dance floor and Angeles (her nickname) really knows how to cook, even liver!


Here´s a group shot after working in the school garden. Could someone please remind me that my goofy faces are not becoming? I think I know this and yet I continue to make such ugly faces, why do I do this????!!!!


I think a few people felt starved for a nice refreshing beverage after digging holes, burning weeds and planting trees! Some college students just don´t know how to live without their cerveza, not including the two guys who are way out of college!


What a great shot, right? Little Michael playing with his dog. He is the son of Eliza, one of the smallest women I´ve met in Ecuador who is a great cook and at whose house we had lunch after working at the school. Michael loves playing on the computer and he´s the little boy I helped on the computer the other day.


Wiped! Taking in the sun, well actually cloudy sky, but still just relaxing. While we listened to some music, the girls took turns riding the horses around the time. It was their first time on horses and it was hilarious to watch as they freaked out just climbing on top, not that I am one to talk considering how I didn´t even ride one while I was there (not because I´m still scared but rather because I just was too busy!).


Here are Julien and Maria de los Angeles, a couple that seemed to have chemistry going on all week....romance at the farm? Not a first Tina says! Oh and a side note: Julien is HILARIOUS. Like seriously I could not be around him for longer than a minute without laughing. He was sarcastic and made me crack up all the time. Somehow he made a comment at some point that lead me to start calling him "God" so that whenever someone said "oh my God" he´d say "Yes, you called." His English was also hilarious because he is from France and really speaks French and Spanish fluently but would try to use his English to speak with Michael and Emma who can´t speak Spanish. I think the only English song Julien knows is "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" which he sang in an outragiously funny way with his broken English. He got the girls singing it too who would sometimes sound like they said "And a happy new youuuu!" which I tried to explain was different from "a happy new YEAR!" Julien asked me if I sang this song every Christmas season with my family dressed in Christmas sweaters in front of the fireplace with our dog, bouncing our heads from left to right as we sing sickeningly sweetly "We wish you a merry Christmas". I´m really going to miss this guy!


Me and Kena, looking crazy after a long night of cooking. Once again, the crazed look on my face doesn´t make me look all that attractive, but I guess I shouldn´t care because I´m not in Ecuador looking for love, right? Answer: heck no tech no!


Here´s the group of us hanging out at Andres´house before the party. We´re drinking a few Pilsener´s and shooting the breeze like local Ecuadorians!


The last night with the girls, Saturday night, we all went to a big party in Tumianuma that started around 8PM and went until around 6AM. I didn´t stay that late though, since I am a grandma at heart who likes to go to bed early. We danced our feet off though and I was a little saddened to see that the girls out-energized and out-danced me! It is like I am still not acclimated to Ecuador or something because even after a long sleep I´m still tired. Therefore at around 11 or midnight I as exhausted as these little energy bunnies wanted to dance nonstop!


The dancing, me with my hands up in the air and the girls all around showing me how to get down, Ecuadorian style.

Poco a poco dice Carlos--this has been the mantra of my life these past three weeks. Translated into English: "Carlos says, little by little." Whether it is weeding, peeling green bananas, cleaning gunk out of the intestines of cows or packing my things up to go, little by little all gets done. I have left NF and am in Loja for the next two days before making the journey to Peru for my next month´s journey. I have so much to share but also have Kena walking around Loja waiting for me, so I´ll give some details now and more later. While I travel I will be going through cities with internet so hopefully I can give more details with time. But of course, as I travel I also collect more stories to share so it´s best to update while it is all fresh:

1. Outside of my room there are three cats: a mom and her two baby kittens. Do not let the cuteness of the kittens fool you. The first day I was there the other volunteers told me how the cats will get into your room and poop and pee all over. I had become anal about kicking them out, but there is only so much you can do to stop them from entering when the door doesn´t stay shut. Luckily we started with a piece of bamboo to hold the door shut but then used a key to lock the door. It wasn´t too bad and Kena even made a joke about how ruthless I am about not letting the cats in. Like really Karly you think they are just going to dash in, piss on your bed and dash out? I don´t know...maybe. But last night was the worst. I´m lying in bed about to go to bed when I hear some jumping and then a light thump on my bed. No way, are you kidding me?! Yes, the kitten had jumped up through a window high up on the wall, landed on my bed and then ran into a corner. And believe it or not after I dragged her out, like 10 minutes later she was right back in the room! So I had to kick her out and then put the window cover in front to stop her from jumping in. Even though it was warm, luckily it wasn´t too warm and the cats stopped. On top of the breaking-in-cat, there was also the cat-in-heat who would be jumped by the orange and white mean cat Clem in the middle of the night and make these horendous screaming noises like a little baby! It was glass-breaking shreaks that luckily only lasted one night.

2. The girls from the University this past week were amazing. It was great to get to know them, share details of our cultures and have some laughs as we worked together around the farm. By far my favorite activities occured in the kitchen where we cooked up storms like no other. They made some fantastic popcorn and even kettlecorn like treat with popcorn covered in panella (sorry Dr. David, my teeth probably weren´t any better off after that yummy food). One night it rained and we cooked all sorts of food including sauteed cabbage, spagetti, roasted veggies, salad, fried green bananas and I think even another thing or two.

3. Chickens are still super annoying. Thankfully the huge rooster at NF didn´t cock-a-doodle-doo as early in the morning and as much throughout the day as the rooster at MP did.

4. Poco a poco my Spanish is getting better. I´ve received several compliments regarding how good it is but I still have a hard time understanding native speakers who don´t cater their speed to my level of fluidity.

5. Bug bites are bad, still taking Benedryl, but luckily I think I am out of bug territory for awhile if not for good. The sunburn is better even though my shoulder is peeling.

6. Going to Ecuador I thought I´d lose weight but I think I´m about the same after staying at this farm where I ate a lot of heavy food with cheese, cream, eggs and lots of oatmeal, a breakfast favorite for sure!

7. Emotionally I´ve been on a roller coaster. A definite pick me up is getting internet access like right now. I think the hardest thing is the deep rooted homesickness that is pretty much always with me. It makes me wonder if I made a wrong decision somewhere along the line, but I think I know this is where I should be. As I told another volunteer this morning, in the backpack of life experiences, I want to have abroad experiences there, but for some reason it sometimes feels like taking medicine: I know it´s good for me and at times it is pretty great, but most of the time it´s a pain to take. Looking back on this past week I realize how great of experiences I have had and I look forward to more great times in the future. A change of country is definitely something to mix things up. Plus I´m not going to be on a farm in June but rather at another school, a good mix. Another good remedy for homesickness is staying busy which I often do through reading. I want to add a post with all the books I´ve been reading to keep track, maybe later this week. I´m very grateful for Tina´s library where I found several good finds, including one of my new favorite books: The Hitchhiker´s Guide to the Galaxy--a must read if you want a good laugh!

8. Even after showering I usually still feel quite dirty. As for cleaning my clothes, I just do it in the shower so it´s not like they are actually clean but more like they aren´t super dirty or stinky. Maybe while I´m in the city I can go to a laundromat and get them cleaned in a machine. I´m very excited to give Kena some of my warm weather clothes to take back to the states for me because I think I´m going to be in summer/spring weather for the majority of the rest of my trip! (Hopefully that means Mom can start expecting a package in the next few weeks with my things in it, like the 4 scarves I no longer need).

9. One day Kena and I got to play cards with Nicolle, the 7 year old daughter of Andres and Silvia. We played la burra nurviosa (nervous donkey) which is a silly midnless game that involves slapping cards. We also played a game that was like memory except after looking at the two cards you have to swap their positions, which makes it more of a guessing game than a memory game! It was really fun playing with her though. I later played a game called el sucio cullo (the dirty butt hole) which is kind of like BS with Ximena and Angeles, and which I lost and therefore was el sucio cullo.

10. Traveling and meeting people has been a great experience I didn´t really expect to experience as much as I have. The people on the farm have been so much fun and great people to spend time with, both in English and in Spanish. I have learned though that the people you meet along the way, while new, different, interesting and fun, aren´t the same as the close friends and family back at home. This is good and bad in that I am stretching my horizons but then find myself yearning for my roots. Tina gave me a fabulous compliment today as we were leaving by saying that she was grateful to have me visit because I was such a positive person and they haven´t had such positive people visit the farm in a long time. I am very proud of my positive energy. Sometimes I wonder how sincere it is, but I think almost all the time I am naturally positive rather than just a facade of happiness. I mean, how can you not be happy when Norman says "Buenos dias Karrrrly" and then says Karrrly throughout the day with the little twinkle in his eye. He just loves to roll the r in my name and say it as if it is such a fun word to say. Everytime he said my name I found myself giggling a bit.

Well it has been about 3 hours now in this little internet cafe. I am hanging out with Kena tonight and tomorrow at the little Hostal Londres. We wanted to see Dear John (Queridos John) in the movie theatres but unfortunately it is no longer playing. We might buy a $1 DVD of the movie at a store around here and watch it on a computer somewhere. I also have to buy my bus ticket for Wednesday and exchange my US $ for Peruvian Sols. I am ready for a change of scenary and a new leg of my trip. I contacted the school and they would prefer I arrive on the 30th, this Sunday, but I´ll be in Trujillo (a northern city 15 hours from where I am on bus, and where the school representatives will pick me up) on the 27th or 28th. I´m hoping to get picked up on the 28th but we´ll see what is most convenient for them since they are at their volunteer limit right now of 6 people. That is promising, to know I will have company in the community and among the other volunteers. I will update the blog a few more times before I get to the school though, so no worries. Hasta pronto (see ya/talk to ya soon!)!