A look back at the beginning...

Río Muchacho Addendum No.2

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAALLLL!!!

June 11, 2009 I was sitting in Hostal Coco Bongo with Larissa sorting through the masses of

photos in an environment filled with tropical music. Suddenly, the sound of gunfire through 

the wall shattered our nerves. Larissa and I packed up our bags and left quickly when we 

heard the second gun shot blast through the air. We thought our life was being threatened.  

Just as we turned the corner, we saw a crazy car drive and turn circles. Then we saw a series 

of cars. Then we realized that we were silly. A crowd of cars with the National Ecuadorian 

league started yelling out their car windows and blasting their horns. We captured the beginning

of what would be a celebration for Ecuador's victory over Argentina (2-0) in a soccer match that 

qualified them for a potential position in the World Cup 2010.

Addendum from Río Muchacho...

On Darkness by Larissa Montes *edited by Cesar

Sin electricidad no hay luz, sin las estrellas no hay luz, y sin la luna llena no hay ninguna esperanza de la luz.  Acostada en una cama que no era mia, debajo de un techo de madera, con ojos abiertos o cerrados la misma vista, la oscuridad.  Yo podía oir los sonidos de los arboles, los insectos, de mis companeros de cuarto, y tambien de la oscuridad.  Con todo los sonidos había un sonido mas fuerte, el sonido del silencio.  El silencio y la oscuridad son similares.  En un momento del silencio se puede escuchar la verdad que sale de una mirada fija o de un alma que quiere reventar por los suenos que tiene enterrados dentro de si.  En la oscuridad se puede ver la realidad con la claridad que esta cubierto , por los rayos del sol durante el dia, o con el susurro de palabras que se caen de una boca.  Los dos, la oscuridad y el silencio, tienen el poder de revelar los pensamientos que se mantienen en la mente cuando la luz deja ciego y el ruido deja sordo.

Without electricity there isn't light, without stars there isn't light, without the full moon there is not one hope for light.  Laying in a bed that isn't mine, underneath a wooden roof, with eyes open or closed, the same sight exists, the darkness.  I could hear the sounds of the trees, the insects, my roommates, but of the darkness too.  Out of all the sounds, there was one sound that was the strongest, the sound of silence.  The silence and the darkness are similar.  In one moment of silence you can hear the truth that exits out of a fixed gaze or out of a soul that wants to burst open its buried dreams.  In the darkness you can see reality with clarity that is usually covered by the rays of sunlight during the day, or with the whisper of words that fall from one's mouth.  Both, the darkness and silence, have the power to reveal the thoughts that you keep in your mind, when the light blinds you, and when the sound deafens you.

A huge recap

Created with flickr slideshow.

One, Two, Three... Hit it!

Dear Señor Hollywood,

Eat, art, and be merry

This day, Ecuadorian elections were being held so Ale, Giuli, the tour guides from Ecuador, and Dario

had to get up early to vote. In Ecuador, everyone in a certain age group is required to vote. This fact triggered

many discussions about human rights, governments, etc..while we were driving through the town.

I remember riding back to Bahía they way we came- everyone crammed into the back of a pickup truck. 

The adults were singing silly songs that practiced the Spanish vowels. "Tengo. Tengo una hormigita en mi orejita.  

Qué me hace mucha cosquillita... con A! Tanga. Tanga ana harmagata an ma orajata. Qaa ma haca macha 

casqaallata. con E!..." etc. etc. etc.

Also, I remember that for some reason, everybody was craving chifles, those plantain chips they sale

everywhere. We began chanting "Chifles! Chifles! Chifles!" The truck past an election banner. Then Lorna began

chanting "Vota Chifles!" and soon everyone caught along.

The last day at Río Muchacho was a day of arts and crafts. After a morning of havesting the yucca root, we cut, 

washed, and grated for our afternoon snack. The entire of experience of cooking from scratch to finish made me

processed food a little bit more. Edgar and Marcos also showed us how to make cheese.

The rest of the day, we made bowls out of gourds of the maté fruit, sand

papered rings out of palm seed, and earrings or necklaces out of another type of seed. So many of us were

absorbed in our crafts that we opted to skip the "fishing for shrimp" activity in order to spend more time 

sand papering our rings and carving designs into our bowls.

Afterward, Edgar applied mud masks to our faces. I suppose you're supposed to keep your face as relaxed

and still as possible. I ended up talking to Giuli, laughing, and taking many pictures. Opps.

Forget motorcycles, Horses are the new Las Poderosas

After a morning of making our lunch after breakfast, we embarked on the best part of our three day trip: 

Horseback riding. If ever you get the chance to visit Río Muchacho, go horseback riding or regret not going. 

It’s no ordinary endeavor.  The saddles, for one, are not of leather but of wood and these horses are not tamed

to follow every order…they like to break out into a run when they feel the need to and they will stop in

the middle of your ride to nibble on interesting plants along the path.  Giuli’s pregnant mare stopped to nibble

on grass almost every 5 minutes. 

The horse that was a couple with Giuli’s mare snarled at any other male horse that got close to his girlfriend. 

We met Mama Jovita, an amazingly healthy 95 year old lady.  I asked her what she ate in her diet.  She

said, “ I drink soup.”  After we devoured the very filling lunch that we made in the morning, some people took a

mall siesta before we climbed a tricky mountain looking for monkeys.  

We found none, but I found that passion fruit is the most amazing fruit ever!  After what may have been an

hour of climbing up and down a mountain, we hopped back on our horse visited a waterfall, climbed this tree

eating tree (matapalo), and headed back to the farm by horse.  My horse “Marisol” arrived at the farm where the

other horses were and kept riding onward.  I soon found myself alone with Marisol crossing towards another farm.  I

tried turning her around but she went full circle and kept walking away from Río Muchacho.  I then unsaddled myself

and tried to walk her back.  She wouldn’t budge.  I had to use a little force and each step I tugged a little. I wondered

if I was hurting Marisol.  After what seemed like half an hour of taking sluggish small steps back to Río Muchacho, a 

horse taker stopped by and explained to me that no, Marisol was not running away but actually trying to

return home.  

We had electricity the second night but we still slept in a darkness unlike what we were used to.

In pitch black, beware of the imagination. It has the potential to scare you beyond any potential 

dangers out there.  Every hoot, ruffle, whisper, dog bark, or crunch of the leaves on the earth can

leave you feeling as if a man with a machete, a bloody Mary, or la llorona  preparing to fling open 

your cabin door and strangle you while you lay helplessly asleep.  We undergrad girls scared

each other the second night, telling each other stories.  We took a picture in the dark and the

photo turned out to have a eerie shadow in the background.  We ended getting Cesar and making

occupy the empty bed. 

Others had worse luck.  One guy woke up to find his body covered in ants.  He raced outside

to sweep them off of him and then had to share a bed with another guy the rest of the night. 

Ole Muchacho Had a Farm...

Rio Muchacho is a delightful organic farm that takes no trash and makes no trash.  

At the end of filming week, we headed there for a three day getaway.  Friday morning,

we crossed Bahia by boat before squeezing into the back of truck-like car that hauled us

quite adventurously from Canoa to the farm. After what seemed like an hour, we swerved 

into a land filled with cattle and stopped at a small children’s school. 

The Escuela Ambientalista, Dario explained, has a curriculum that streamlines 

environmental practices with elementary school subjects.  Instead of learning arithmetic as we 

learned it, they add up the amount of compost generated by 2 cows for a week.  Their picture 

books are filled with the birds, wildlife, cattle, and insects they will most likely encounter on the farm. 

Each child is given a small chick to take care of and grow into a large chicken.  However, Dario explained, 

the children become so fond of the chicken that many refuse to kill it for food.  Turns out that the people on the farm 

only eat fish and chicken and this meat is served only on special occasions.  Jeremiah was absolutely thrilled with 

the news but not so much the meat eaters in our group. 

Lunch turned out to be delicious. Afterward, two German tour guides led us through a good portion of the 

farm and enlightened us on, among other things, the value of pigs’ manure in composting and creating fertilizer. 

These pigs are never to be eaten on the farm…they are destined for a life of eating and pooping until they get too 

old and are sold to the market. The guinea pigs produce another nice compost material and equally are not

destined for the BBQ house…the guinea pigs from Quito must be very jealous.

Hunger quickly overcame many of us and when the dinner bell finally rang, everyone ate

ravenously.  It was a special dinner- they served chicken!  By the time our bellies had been filled, it was getting 

dark and the bats were flying out above us.  Armed with a candle, a manual powered flashlight, and camera flashes,

we navigated our way into the kitchen after Lorra told us this hilarious joke about mummies that cracked everyone up.  

Turning cocoa beans into chocolate and then immediately eating this novel creation was heavenly.  We begged Edgar 

and Marcos to let us repeat it the second night instead of learning how to make coffee. 

Afterward, we felt our way back to our cabins--- a tremendously scary experience—and slept 

(or didn’t sleep) at the early hour of 11.