Food Adventures

1) well we (me, roommate, friend from vassar) decided to go to cotopaxi today so that meant waking up v early and then catching a bus and then getting dropped off on the side of the highway 2) from there we haggled our way to a tour guide who could bring us into the park, as you cant enter without one. we began the long road into the national park and i was grateful for her various explanations of things, it was good practice for my spanish 3) a significant part of the territory is owned by a company that sells pine trees for timber. reminded me of the overstory. interesting that the type of pines are from canada and also chile 4) we saw some fun wildlife! fly-highing condors, a fox, and other assorted birds 5) learned some more about the region and ecosystem at the visitor center, where we eavesdropped on an english tour and read a lot of fun signs about medicinal plants, myths behind the volcanoes (many love stories!), and a bit about the wildlife of the paramo. really wild how v...

1) early morning run on the trail! glad for a convenient bathroom on the way back 2) goodbye to our ecolodge! twas a fun stay 3) another morning on the chaupi molino farm! less work, more listening. quote "cow shit is the future of the world" bc we were learning how to use cow poop to make anaerobic plant fertilizer 4) fed some solid microorganism by making a mix of molasses, jungle dirt/organic matter, rock powder, and water. a microorganism cake to feed to cows or the soil! also learned about bocashi, a japanese recipe for microorganism. we love soil health! 5) there was an emphasis on how natural systems (esp re soil) are much cheaper (monetarily, there is some labor and knowledge involved) than chemical inputs, and a reminder that inputs were created to use up leftover chemicals from the world war 1 and make money off of farmers 6) pan de yucca for snack, and then delicious lunch! lasagna, green salad, pea and corn salad, and soup. tomate de arbol, poached, for desse...

1) early morning workout in the gym 2) fruit at breakfast and guava jelly 3) chaupi molino farm, 10 hectares of organic farm! has been run by this family for past 38 years 4) lots of farm work! mostly related to soil health, which is a big deal. this farm has 12% organic matter in their soil, which is v impressive. we shoveled sawdust and cowpoo onto the compost pile, then collected weeds from the fields, then turned over the compost. super steamy! lots of layers and components to make the compost active and feed the soil. no chemical inputs here! 5) a little snack break of arepas and homemade guac, yumyum 6) envi class talking about different ag systems, focusing especially on the traditional milpa and chakra as agroecological systems that were v productive (supporting aztec, maya, incan empires) and using nature and symbiosis for diverse yield of food for food as opposed to food for profit (ie corn today that becomes animal feed or ethanol) 7) delicious lunch made at the farm: ...

1) woke up at 6 to learn how to make pristinos from our host grandma. made the dough and then rolled it out and cut it and then fried it (host mom fried it) 2) bus ride to tola chica comuna 3) a comuna is a legally recognized group that collectively owns territory/land and with an autonomous government. tola chica is primarily an indigenous group, but the accept non-indigenous folks as well 4) we went on a nice uphill hike and were hoping to make it to a special tree but we did not bc we were short on time 5) listened to the head of tola chica explain how they work, their origins and goals and projects. lots focused on reforestation and conservation. interesting to me how this group is focused on native plants, whereas the groups we visited last week, primarily made up of foreigners, were also into non-native plants in their practices 6) pambamesa! this is a collective sharing of food and talking together that is an indigenous tradition. all of us made foods with our host families...

1) morning core on my bedroom floor 2) spent the whole walk to class talking about camp songs with my roommate 3) econ class on NEOLIBERALISM. thinking about how neoliberalism raises of questions of governance and who guarantees individual freedoms...the market, the state, the Gates Foundation in Africa? whoa 4) our prof called us out for drinking so much water, how hydration is a cultural thing and a privilege to some extent and what do narratives of health mean? 5) we had a debrief session reflecting on our experiences last week with Fundacion Imaymana and considering how community forms and how local is conceived of in different spaces 6) walked around in search of lunch, tricky bc so many places are closed! ended up at an indian spot 7) made it home before the rain started! then rainy afternoon of work, we have 4 essays due next week so its crunch time. luckily all of them are pretty easy to write 8) pasta dinner 9) helped host mom make miel de panela (cane sugar) for our c...

1) a rainy rainy morning 2) a bathroom adventure that i shall not detail here 3) some games! spinning animal noise game, and human knot! 4) talked about conflict this morning and how it can be destructive or generative and how we have different styles for approaching/dealing with conflict. made me think about how a lot of my tensions are more internal than interpersonal, but that still impacts my interactions in a group/with people. i think a lot of us are in a funny headspace atm 5) poli class on food and water as human rights, commodities, or commons. lots to talk about and complicate....how human rights rhetoric is still used by water privatization group/companies, how human rights is an anthropocentric model, how food sovereignty frameworks dont necessarily address consumers or urban poor....limits of rhetoric vs actual practices...yikes! 6) today is a holiday, so the streets are v quiet. but we did find a place open for lunch. ate a salad 7) went to cafe to work on our resea...

1) unintentionally woke up v early, so read in bed. finished the overstory today 2) walked around in the yard, there are lots of trees! lemon and avocado, but also some guayaba(guava) mandarin, chirimoya, and coffee 3) family breakfast 4) ventured into guayllabamba with host grandparents and family in search of carnaval celebrations! saw lots of people with water and foam for celebrating carnaval in the park. 5) tried espumilla, which is egg white guava dessert 6) ended up going to cochasqui archeological park bc the park festivities looked too rowdy. went on a guided tour walking through the landscape, good views, historical pyramids, and llamas 7) fed the llamas salt! it was quite the experience, they all came flocking to us... 8) played carnaval back at the house in guayllabamba, which involved a kiddie pool for youngest sister and lots of hose spraying and getting wet for the rest of us 9) a bumpy and rainy ride home to quito. i was a bit stressed about not having service t...