Thursday, January 6
The past two days have been beyond words. We went to the Maquipacuna Reserve. I will try to relay the whole thing. The car drive was about two and a half hours long. Quito was amazing, but when we left, we began to see more. Ecuador is a third world country. However, our perspective was limited to Quito, and I barely believed that some of Ecuador faced poverty. This trip changed that. There were homes on the side of the road that looked like something out of a Time magazine shoot. There were pieces of scrap metal as roofs that were held down by pieces of spare wood or tires. There were chickens and cows roaming the street. And people washing themselves in a sink on the side of the house. It was unbelievable eye-opening. As we moved on, the scenery became more… “green”. We began to see the forest, and finally got to Macipacuna.
Where to begin. Machipacuna was an authentic eco-lodge. Everything was made out of bamboo- from the staircase, to the roof, to the chairs. There were hammocks to lay in, as well as hummingbird feeders to insure that they were constantly around (we did have some issues with them, as they were disrupting the natural habitat, but they were beautiful none the less). All meals were homemade, and the showers were outdoors. The lodge filtered the water, as it was taken from a lake not far away. Everything was every environmentally conscious. As soon as we got there, we had an orientation by the two managers, Kristie and Eric. They were from New York, and came to volunteer for a year. Our tour guide was David. He took us out on a tour to the waterfall as soon as we got there. We left really early, so we got to the waterfall before lunch. It was amazing. To go under it felt so refreshing. Almost everyone went (Justyna has stitches). I was really impressed. After we were soaked, we went back to the lodge, changed, and ate lunch. We went on another hike after in the rain. They gave us boots because it was so muddy. Even though we weren’t able to see many animals, it was amazing. The forest is literally saturated with life. It breathes. Everything is connected. What makes Maquipacuna a cloud forest is that the water collects from the clouds on the trees and travels down to the lower brush. Another thing I learned is that the larger leaves are at the bottom in order to absorb more sunlight, as opposed to the smaller leaves at the top, which are more exposed. There is a plant called the “mother-in-law tongue”, which attracts for pollination with its red leaves, because its flowers are so dull. There was a plant that served as the “supermarket” of the forest, because its leaves could carry up to two gallons of water, which then was breeding ground for edible parasites.
In addition to David, a local worker at the reserve came with us on our hikes. His name was Rufino. Rufino knew the area so well, and was familiar with many medicinal purposes for the plants. There were even a few that we were allowed to taste along the trail. The first day was finished. We came back, showered, ate, and were given a welcome drink. Oh, I almost forgot. For desert, we were given this amazing fruit indigenous to the forest. It was delicious. What made it even cooler was that before we ate it, they lit it on fire. Very Cool. So after the welcome drink, we started playing this game called Mafia, which we decided to stop after a while because tensions ran high. But while we played, we took turns getting a chocolate massage from a local woman there. To be honest, it was a little strange. Even so, it was a once in a lifetime experience and I’m glad I did it.
We woke up the next day, early, and went on a real hike. Not that the first one wasn’t real, this one was just more physically demanding. We climbed on rocks, over trees, through mud, and crossed rivers. The hike was around four hours, but because the terrain kept changing, and there was so much to look at, it never got boring. There were lots of frogs, and we even saw an iguana. I couldn’t help thinking how invasive we were being into their lives- I’m sure they aren’t used to camera flashes. In addition, one of the workers at the resort found an armadillo and put it into a box for us to see later. It was adorable, but looked terrified. Its nose was dripping. The most interesting thing about the hike was that some of the trails were made by the Incans hundreds of years ago. Because the trails were so old, they sunk into the ground. There were parts where we literally felt like we were walking through a tunnel, with brushes of wildlife on either side of us. There were vines hanging and giant leaves that were like something out of a movie. Words can’t describe how beautiful it was. When we finished the hike, a few of us went back to the waterfall. I found some sort of fruit that I plan on making into a necklace. We went back to the lodge, sad that we had to go. We had seen nothing like Maquipacuna before. We ate our last lunch, and then went to the bus. It was harder to keep my eyes open on the ride back, but I still tried to see everything. When we got back to Quito, Evelyn, Kristina, Elena, Justyna, and myself went on a mission to find empanadas. We ended up at this coffee shop. We ordered hot chocolate with cheese, but it just turned out to be cheese on the side. It was still delicious. We talked for a while and returned to the hotel. Off to the Galapagos tomorrow!
