NHESP 2011 Update 9

Quote of the week: “I am here for the mountains, for rivers, for beauty, and for glory. I have learned, I have grown, I have cried, I have smiled, and my journey will never be done.”—Kestrel Kunz

Happy Day of the Dead weekend everyone! Although our band of travelers is currently stationary for several days, our time has been one full of excitement and vision. After a much needed day of rest and gear maintenance, we have gotten back into our routine of exercising each morning—rising with the sun to run along the cobblestone roads of Palugo or enjoying a relaxing yet strenuous hour of yoga taught by Nicole—and doing our pie-time chores. It was a rhythm that we missed while on the move for the previous month. In addition, we have also been spending quite a bit of our time and energy on making our semester book into a beautiful and useful resource—a true image of our community.

            Throughout the entirety of the day leading up to Halloween, we showed our appreciation to the hospitality and beauty of Palugo by working in a minga (a community work-gang project supported by endless food and water so as to be properly fueled to complete the task at hand). Our task was to plant a variety of native trees (one hundred and thirty of them to be exact) all around Palugo in an effort to reintroduce the native tree species to the highlands.

            The main source of lumber in the Ecuadorian highlands is the eucalyptus tree. In spite of the fact that its wood is of a high quality for both burning and construction, it is an invasive species originally brought from Australia and has become a pest in the sense that it grows everywhere and will reproduce at a rate that native tree species cannot compete with. At the conclusion of the day, we had planted more than a hundred trees, and feeling accomplished in our bodies, minds, and hearts, we headed back to the chozon to commence our Halloween celebration.

            Although many of you may have been trick-or-treating on Halloween night, here at Palugo we had an equally thrilling (and chilling) time this Halloween. Although we were without the materials one normally would use to craft a Halloween costume, that did not stop us from transforming ourselves into a wide array of characters for this most special of celebrations. Nelly proudly became Bilbo Baggins; Hytham stood tall as Cotopaxi; Leo conjured up a few throwing stars for his ninja alter ego; Zoe painted on a mask of charcoal and became a superhero; Clayton experimented with his southern accent as “Sheriff Yucca”; Isa wove together an impressive amount of clovers for her “Palugo vine” costume; Leah broke out all of her purple attire to become a grape; Kestrel meowed and growled her way through the night as a jungle cat; Robert assumed the position of being “just like the end of the world: all that hype and no follow-through”; Hila sported a head of vibrant blue yarn hair and became “blue”; Noah wore a cape and mask, fighting crime as “Captain Hammer”; Ezra wove thorns through his beard and wore a pair of decrepit shoes, claiming to be “Steve,” who had just found his way back from the base of Cotopaxi; and I was able to live my Halloween dream of becoming a faerie, even if my wings were constructed of broken-down Nestle boxes, some rejected semester book paper, and a whole lot of pastels. When Drago with his low-riding pants and bling (aka Thomas), Pam with his/her suspiciously low voice and unparalleled hairdo (Marcea), and Linessa la Princessa with her lovely grain-sack gown (Hannah) all made their wild entrance into our Halloween-ready chozon, we fell on our knees with laughter. Never before had we witnessed Thomas and Marcea’s infallible dedication to character; we even, dare I say, saw Thomas slouching during dinner.

            Not only did we create our costumes from scratch, but we also made for ourselves a feast fit for the spirit of the holiday. Using an adobe oven built by a previous semester student group, we created key lime and banana cream pies and a chocolate swirl cheesecake, all of which were made complete by a gazettas Maria (a sort of Ecuadorian graham cracker) crust, as well as chocolate sauce crafted by Noah, our resident sauce and aji connoisseur. If our desserts seem lacking in extravagance, our main course featured a variety of quiches—caramelized onion and mushroom, carne y queso, legumbres y queso, and more—as well as cheesy pasta with a cream sauce. We all worked together that day: Ezra and Leo leading the creation of the cheesecake, Zoe and myself gently combining all the ingredients for pies, and Isa making sure the quiches were all cooked to perfection. In the end, our Halloween at Palugo and the preparation thereof became a time we will never forget. After all, when else will we get the chance to hear Thomas rapping every sentence he spoke?

            Although the previous night had been filled with the sweet excitement of community and celebration, by noon the following day we would be in an entirely different place, a place of individual reverence and thought; we would be on our solos. We started the day with a pottery and ceramics class from Adella, molding the clay with our hands; using our fingers to create something completely our own and unique; all the gentle scents of earth and water wafting into our noses. By the class’s end, we had each formed an individual masterpiece, and we can barely wait to see how each piece looks after it is fired in the kiln.

            After eating lunch at Palugo, we each embarked on our own separate journeys, scattering across the land like raindrops to experience what it meant to truly be alone with oneself. Our solo consisted of a two-day fast; with the exception of water, nothing passed our mouths from noon the first day until noon on the third day. We spent a beautiful, sunshine-filled afternoon, full day, and morning as well as two much longer and colder nights entirely by ourselves; the warm embrace of nature being our only companion. It was an experience we all appreciated in its entirety with a power and meaning for each of us as individuals I cannot properly convey, for it meant something different to every one of us. I can say that we all pushed ourselves those two days, we all came to a deeper understanding of ourselves and of nature, and we all grew.

            On the day after our solo experience, we jumped headlong into a variety of projects that will help improve Palugo for future semester students. Leah, Hytham, Leo, Noah, and Robert are working to create a “rocket stove,” which is a special sort of stove whose efficiency greatly exceeds that which is currently installed in the chozon. It uses almost all of the heat created by the burning wood and also ensures completely clean combustion, thus lessening Palugo’s carbon footprint with every use. The combustion unit, or place where one actually burns the wood, is connected to a thermal battery that stores the heat produced by the stove and then pushes the heated gases through an adjacent bench that we built. This stove has the capacity to store heat for hours and even days after the initial combustion happens because of the way it separates the combustion unit from the area where the heat is actually used. Furthermore, the stove’s chimney is a heating unit inside itself in that it creates a heat draft every time the stove is used. Not only did we complete this project with diligence and determination, but now future semester students will always have a nice, warm place to sit.

            Another project that has occupied the majority of the past week was giving the Palugan alpacas fancy new haircuts. Marcea, Zoe, Nelly, and I spent our days wrangling the alpacas at Palugo, tying them down, and relieving them of what must feel to them like wearing four sweaters and a down coat. We learned that the highest quality fiber (alpacas don’t have wool, but fiber because, unlike sheep, their hairs have no miniscule barbs attached to them) is located along the alpaca’s stomach, across its back, and up its neck.

            By the end of the second day, we had sheared five alpacas, accumulating more than an adequate amount of some of the softest fiber I have ever felt. Originally, we were going to have a hand at trying both shearing with scissors and using a machine. We planned on shearing the last alpaca, Quena, with a machine. She put up a fight, bucking and pulling with impressive strength, and in response to our pulling and prodding clearly expressed her distaste for the entire situation by eyeing us with disgust and becoming immovable. We ended up having to shear her with scissors in the middle of the pasture.

            After subduing and shearing Quena, we moved on to processing the fiber. This included first boiling all of the fiber we had previously removed from the alpacas, hosing it out with cold water, sorting out the pieces that were so caked in dirt that they needed to be reboiled, and hanging the now clean pieces of fiber to dry underneath the hot Ecuadorian sun. We even made some black walnut dye and dyed a good amount of the fiber, the creamy white of Quena’s fibers turning a rich gold and burgundy by the project’s end.

            Yet another project that has been completed over the course of our respite in Palugo is the solar hot-water heater, spearheaded by Clayton, our photographer and energy manager. He has been working hand in hand with Matthias over the past week to create an effective way to both generate and manage hot water using the seemingly never-ending sun rays that find their way into Palugo. Not only will it further reduce Palugo’s expenses, but it will also, potentially, provide future semester students with hot laundry water and hot tap water with which to wash dishes (no longer any need for putting a massive pot of dishwater on the fire!).

            Kestrel, our medic, has been multitasking this past week, aiding in the construction of the stove as well as working on a project entirely her own this semester—the herb book. The herb book was started by the previous semester’s medic and now is added to each year by the medic; a transcendent part of the medic’s job. This book includes various herbs, ones native to New Hampshire as well as Ecuador, their uses, and ways in which to process them: tinctures, salves, teas, and so forth. We, as a semester, are grateful to Kestrel for this resource, and with it, we know we will leave our semester’s footprint in Palugo for years to come.

            The foodies, Isa and Hila, have been working with Hannah to create a solar food dehydrator so as to provide future semester students with the opportunity to dehydrate the food needed for expeditions by using only the power of the sun. Although there have been a few carpentry mishaps, the dehydrator is nearly complete, consisting of what looks like a very fancy little house, several trays on which one can lay food for drying, insulation to seal in the heat, and a solar panel that feeds into the side of the house and provides la casa de la comida with the heat it needs to properly dry the food inside. The new dehydrator is a creation whose beauty and efficiency far exceeds that of any dehydrator Kroka could possibly purchase and whose construction was only made possible by the willing hands of three amazing carpenters.

            Our camp manager, Ezra, has been heading a couple of different projects this week so as to keep our home here at Palugo running smoothly and efficiently. At the start of the week, Ezra designed an entire recycling system at the Palugo stables, which is an addition that will allow us to make fewer trips to the recycling station as well as encourage even more recycling of discarded items than is already present at Palugo. Ezra’s achievements this week do not stop there however, for he has also designed and created new cubbies for the chozon. The cubbies will house all of our academic gear and serve as a beautiful addition to the chozon.

            On Friday, as many of you may know, the Day of the Dead weekend commenced. For us here at Palugo, that meant a trip to Pifo with Matthias to witness and engage in some of the festivities happening concurrently in the larger cities and towns throughout Central and South America. We sampled wawas de pan y colada morada, which are traditional foods of the Day of the Dead and are usually shared between oneself and the deceased at the gravesite of a loved one. We learned that, rather than a day of mourning, the Day of the Dead is a day of celebration for the lives of those who have passed on. We even had the opportunity to view the day in full swing at a cemetery in Pifo, taking with us each a flower and having a moment to think about those special people in our lives who are no longer with us.

            With our next expedition just around the corner, we had a lesson in rock climbing, led by Thomas’ cousin Sebastian, whom we met on the river section of our previous expedition, and who will be joining us on Cotopaxi in just a week. We learned to properly use the harnesses and how to belay our partners (hold and control the rope to which they are attached in a way that ensures their safety). We spent the day relishing in the sheer power of the cliff face we were on, learning all that we could accomplish with our bodies, as well as learning how to push past what was a bit of an edge for some of us: Knowing in our hearts that we were completely safe, that one of our friends was there to catch us if we should fall, and feeling the natural adrenaline rush brought on by clinging to the side of a cliff. At the day’s end, we had all tried our hands (and our feet) at rock climbing and, after getting just a tiny taste of the sport, are looking forward to our next rock-climbing opportunity.

            We will embark on our next and final expedition in a mere two days time—an expedition to the mountains. During our last voyage together as a group before we return home, we will be trekking around ten kilometers most days and spending the rest of our time either at glacier school or attempting to summit the mountains with whom we will be spending the next two weeks. Although our journey will be challenging, we are excited with the concept of adventure at our fingers, are elated with the potential of all that we will learn, and are warm with the knowing that we move forward into this new chapter as a community.

Volamos

Volamos como condores

Volamos muy alto

Alrededor de los Andes

Con alas de Amor

Hey wichi chayo

Hey wahayo

Hey wahamuna hey

Hey wahayo

Volamos como agilas

Volamos muy alto

Alrededor del cielo

Con alas de epaz

Hey wichi chayo

Hey wahayo

Hey wahamuna hey

Hey wahayo

Volamos como colibris

Volamos muy bajo

Alrededor de la palcha

Con alas humidad

Hey wichi chayo

Hey wahayo

Hey wahamuna hey

Hey wahayo

~ a song we sing to bless the meal