Valley of Longevity

Sorry for the long silence followed by an onslaught of postings, but we’ve been both busy and away from the internet past few weeks. However, we have yet again found a place to hang our hats for a few weeks and have settled down for one last time before heading to Peru.

We arrived in Vilcabamba last week. The town is a tourist trap of sorts, but for more or less good reason. It is in the far south of Ecuador on the way to one of the boarder crossings with Peru, making it convenient stop on the Gringo Trail. It is also known for being the “Valley of Longevity” after a study reported that the residents here live the longest lives in the world. The study no longer has academic merit, but that doesn’t stop the tourism machine from using the phrase! It is a small agricultural village surrounded by beautiful green mountains and backed up on to a national park. It’s a pretty area and we probably would have enjoyed only a few days of relaxing before heading to Peru, except that we found another place to work!

Rumi-Wilco Ecologde (www.rumiwilco.com – currently being updated, so I’m not sure if all info is quite up to date) is located about 10 minutes out of town and sits on a private reserve of the same name. It is very tranquilo and has been a wonderful place to hang out for a bit and regroup. Yeah, I know I said we were regrouping in Canoa….but that turned more into working and hanging out with new friends! Anyway, we need to work on the translation of our resumes and a few other things, so a week or so of chill work has been great.

We are also working for the couple that owns the lodge/reserve, Alicia and Orlando Falco. They are Argentinean, but have lived in Ecuador for 30+ years. She’s a biologist and he is a naturalist. He guided in the Galapagos for many years.

We’ve worked on a few different projects, the most important of which was retraining the river. In 1999 El Niño was very devastating in this area. It caused a lot of damage when flash floods blew out the river banks. In an effort to mediate future damage, Orlando is reforesting the banks of the river along his property with native tree species and bamboo. We’ve been helping build the shoreline, which basically means creating a wall with stones and wood, filling it in with organic materials, and then planting the trees/bamboo on top.

We’ve also worked in their organic garden – spreading compost, weeding, etc. Visitors to the lodge are able to help themselves to a variety of tropical fruits, including passion fruit (maracuya), bananas, mangos, guava, and tangerines. It’s all for the taking all over the property! Alicia also maintains a herb/tea garden for her family and the guests. Drinking fresh herbal teas all day and cooking with fresh herbs has been a great treat!

Another task we’ve been working on is coffee production. This coffee was harvested last summer and has been drying and waiting to be processed. First, you smack the heck out of it to get the bean out of the shell. Then you drop it in front of a fan to separate the beans from the shell bits. Next, you sift it to get rid of the larger chunks of shell that made it through the fan. The final stage involves sorting the coffee by hand to make sure it is completely cleaned. It’s been fascinating learning a bit more about my favorite caffeinated shrub.

We’ll be visiting the Puyango Petrified Forest next, and then off to Peru!