A bittersweet despedida

Welcome home!

As I am writing this from the Charles Darwin Hostel in Quito, all of our students have arrived home safely and are probably telling their families all about our incredible trip. But just last night, we were all here together, staying up much of the night to take advantage of our last hours together as a group.

The last week of the trip was full of moments where we asked ourselves, 'could that have possibly happened just yesterday?' Our stay in Espejo de Cajas came to a special conclusion with the Inti Raymi celebration last Saturday afternoon. We donned local traditional dresses/outfits, ate an incredible amount of food prepared especially for us (sopa de cuy, chicken, papas, mote, etc), and danced for hours at every house on the main block of the community. At each house, the food and/or drink that was offered had to be finished before the revelers could move on to next house. It was awesome for our group to be an integral part of this traditional community celebration.

We took full advantage of our last days in Espejo. On Sunday, we went on a hike around the rim of a volcanic crater, Volcan Cuicocha. The inside of the crater is a giant lake and we took a boat ride around it.

Our last day in the community was filled with goodbyes and expressions of gratitude from our group to the local people who had welcomed us, and also from the Espejo community to our group for our contributions and presence. We really feel that we made some meaningful connections in Espejo, and definitely learned a lot from sharing in the rural Ecuadorian way of life for a few weeks.

After a bittersweet goodbye to our friends in Espejo, we took advantage of a day in Quito to trek to the uppermost spires of the basilica where we saw amazing colonial architecture and ate exotic flavored ice cream.

The end of our Ecuadorian adventure took place in the Amazon Rainforest. Most of the group flew into Coca and took a 6 hour longboat ride deep into the jungle. They spent three days hiking in waist-deep mud, seeing wildlife, and relaxing in hammocks. A few of us had to spend an extra day in Quito for various reasons, but we also made it to the Amazon, to a lodge on the Napo river about 300 km upstream from the rest of our group. We visited an animal rescue center where we say monkeys, toucans, and ocelots, and floated down the river in inner tubes or life jackets. Both groups were taught in the art of using blowdarts, and delicious meals were served despite the fact that our blowdart skils were not at jungle survival level!

It was bittersweet for all to see the trip come to an end and to leave behind this group that has really become a family over the past month. I am still in Quito, and it is really strange to be here without everyone- I genuinely miss you all and hope that we will stay in touch!

Last night, I read a few excerpts from my journal to a few group members, who encouraged me to share it on the blog. So I will conclude with this entry from July 16th, describing our first trip to the alpaca farm high in the mountains of Eugenio Espejo de Cajas:

"Edwin drove us up the mountain at dusk, and we saw the stars come out, and sat in the tall grass, watching the alpacas while the world below us unfolded like the milky way, shimmering in the crisp air. From those heights, the panamericana was merely a colony of ants crawling to and from Otavalo. Only Volcan Imbabura maintained its stature, a solid rock rising from the depths of Lago San Pablo. Like Edwin said, when the only sound that you can hear is the wind, and your house is just a far away speck of light, things like borders and conflict and difference seem completely trivial."

It´s been an wonderful journey, thank you all for being a part of it.

Con cariño,
Josh and Suzanna