Cafe Rio Intag

On Saturday, we left early in the morning for Intag. Along the way, we stopped at a lookout to see Lago Cuycachi. This lake was orignially thought to be named for the island in the middle shaped like a "Cuy" (ginea pig), however it was later discovered that Quicatchi is an Incan word meaning Lake of the Gods. This lake is too acidic to hold any fish, due to sulfuric vents in the lake floor created by the surrounding volcanoes.

Lago Cuycachi

Later that day, we stopped in the town of Pucara to tour a "permiculture" farm. This way of farming is designed to work with the land to create natural environments for growing crops. For example, the farm is not planted in plots of square land with separated rows like you might see in North America. Instead, they plant many different crops together in groups so that as one dies off another grows in its place. Our tour guide, Pete, is an expert on agriculture and engineering. He developed his farm so that the soil renews itself completely on its own from the way he has planted his crops, instead of needing to add fertilizer and other chemicals. It was very interesting to learn about!

We had to climb through barbed wire on our way
to the farm because Pete forgot his keys!

While on this tour, we had a chance to pick coffee beans, and learn about the process of making and distributing coffee. It is much harder process than I imagined! First, the fruit is picked from the coffee plants, which take about 3 years to grow before they are able to produce fruit. The fruit is then put through a de-pulper to completely extract the bean. These beans are then dried on a rack for about 3 days, and bagged to take to the coffee plant. At the plant, the beans are graded: A = commercial grade (good for exporting), B = local grade (good for local purchase), C = good for use in candy, spices, etc. that use a coffee flavor. They are then separated by size. This way, each bag will be sorted first according to grade, and second according to bean size (ie: A1, A2, A3, B1, B2...) A local farmer can get up to about $200 per 100lb. bag of quality grade coffee beans. As Pete told us, the locals are hoping that this will be presented as an alternative source of income to the government - Ecuador is currently fighting government wishes to build a copper mine in the Intag area. The coffee company we visited, Cafe Rio Intag, is a free-trade company who sells only naturally grown coffee free of chemicals/pesticides. They help employ almost half of the village, and even export to the U.S. to a company called Concious Coffees (based in Colorado). 

To learn more about it or purchase your own coffee, visit the Concious Coffees website!

Picking coffee!

Different colors of coffee fruit.

Graded coffee, bagged for export.

Cabins we stayed in overnight.

Relaxing in a hammock on our porch!

Sunday, we drove back to Otavalo. Along the way, we stopped for a bit to watch a futbol (soccer) game. All of the surrounding teams come to this field in Pucara because they have the nicest grass in the county! We also stopped to hike into a cloud forest. Unfortunately, 5 of us were unable to go on the hike due to stomach issues - something in the food from Saturday made us sick. Two of the girls have intestinal infections. I was one of the lucky ones, and am feeling much better now! 

Cloud forest areas

This week is our 3rd week of teaching! Yesterday, my teaching partner and I did a first aid lesson on how to care for fractures. The kids loved acting out scenarios, like tripping on the stairs or walking into a wall. They learned quickly! 

Perfect first aid!

The actors of our class having fun with the activity.

This weekend we will be traveling to an Indigenous villiage. We will be wearing traditional clothing, learning traditional dances, and staying with Indigenous families! It should be a great experience!