Azuuucar!

Sugar cane is a serious staple crop in the tropics. Whereas in Mexico, the main liquor is made out of agave (although they also produce sugar), in the tropical Americas the main liquors consumed are based off of sugar cane.  There's rum, cachaça (Brazil), aguardiente, and various types of moonshine from fermented sugar. While doing fieldwork the other day, Dolores showed me a neighbor's cane liquor operation.  First they press the juice out of the sugar using horses, then that juice is fermented, then there is some sort of process of heating the juice and pumping it into a cooling tank. What comes out is a clear really really strong liquor.  Dolores bought some to take home, to actually use like alcohol on wounds and bites.  She says it's medicinal, and uses it topically. I thought it funny that this stuff is usually sold to get smashing drunk, but then some people use it to clean wounds and take paint off cars.  I tried a drop and it was burning strong.  These liquors can be up to 60% alcohol! I guess being around the operation leads to some consumption on the side, and naps are needed (see dog napping on pile of pressed cane).

Some other local folks press sugar cane and boil it to make "miel" or a sugar-based honey.  That stuff tastes incredible - it's like a molasses sugar syrup.  When we are at a farm that produces such products sometimes we are lucky enough to get a taste ...

Kids

Although Ecuador's total fertility rate (average number of kids per woman in her lifetime) has been dropping steadily over the years, that trend has seemed to skip over the province that we're in, Morona Santiago (equivalent of a state).  Macas is filled with children.  In any given day I see more pregnant than non-pregnant women, holding the hands of little children.  Children are running in the streets, playing in sports fields, and asking for rides home on the side of the freeway.  There is an official day in Ecuador dedicated to the child (el día del niño) which is something like mother's day but for children.  Apparently in the US every day is children's day, but in Ecuador there is a special day every year.  The little village we're working in, Sinai, had their children's celebration last weekend and we went to join in the festivities.

For a town of 600 people, we were surprised at the variety of activities planned for the day.  First was a soccer game that spanned several ages and girls and boys.  Afterwards there was a theater performance from the government sponsored theater troop for kids based in the nearby city as well as dance by some older kids that are enrolled in the dance program.  When the rain started everyone dissipated, but more activities were scheduled for the afternoon.  Pictures show us watching the soccer game.  The people from right to left are: Megan (works on the project), the president of the community, Tom (director of the project), me, Dolores (local woman working on the project) and 2 strangers. Also there's a shot of the performance, which first had some interactive songs and games with the kids before the theater and dance.  Picture shows the first dance performance, which is some sort of Andean traditional dance.

As I mentioned before, many children travel significant distances to go to school and have to wait for school buses or hitch a ride with a passer-by.  Lately our work has been ending around the same time as the school day, making us an ideal candidate to take kids to the city in the back of the truck.  One day 2 women with 2 year old kids were hitching a ride, and we convinced them to put the kids in the cab with us while they sat in the back.  In the US about 10 things about this situation would never occur, but here it's no problem. The kids sat with us and slept despite the fact that we're strangers, while their moms chatted in the back of the truck. I thought it was so cute I had to take a picture.  On many other days, little groups of kids flock to the truck and hop in the back together.  We yell to them to hold on tight! as we barrel down the road.  These kids are pretty resilient. On a really rainy day they huddled together under an umbrella which was also a sweet sight.

La Doctora

This past weekend was my official graduation from UCSB. I have already celebrated a lot in Santa Barbara and in Mexico, so I didn't think any additional celebration was needed. However, my landlord Margarita took it upon herself to organize two different events to celebrate: one at her German friend's farm here and another brunch at an American friend's bed & breakfast.  It was really nice for everyone to set this up. The dinner included champagne, a cake, and she gifted me chocolates and a stuffed animal moose with a robe (representing the robe of graduation :).  My current boss and one of the women we work with were there as well.  It was a really nice feast. The next day we went to brunch at this woman's house who used to work in a lodge where I worked 8 years ago here. She met her Ecuadorian husband there and now they have a bed and breakfast and travel company based here in this town. It's an amazing house with beautiful views.  She also went all out for breakfast. Since she's from Texas there was delicious pulled pork...and pineapple mimosas... Pictures show me with my crown of jungle vines and the brunch the next day.

Fieldwork

Fieldwork has begun.  We started this past week doing trials of the ecological and social survey until we perfected it in the last few days. I am mostly working on the household survey with Dolores, a local woman who has worked with my supervisor, Tom, for many years.  She and her husband are helping us out. The project consists of measuring changes in the cattle farming in the region - how people are changing their land management practices and what are factors that are influencing these changes.  I go with Dolores to people's houses and we talk to them about many issues related to their farm, and then another team goes out and measures trees and soil in their pastures.

There are many similarities to the work I did in Mexico. Namely, farmers (who are the actual land owners or stewards) are old. The particular community we're working in started around 40 years ago when my supervisor, Tom, was in the peace corps and helped people from the mountains settle this area.  Only those over 18 could get a plot, so anyone since then helps on the land but is not a land owner. Consequently, the land owners are very old and most that we've talked to so far rent out their land to other people to farm.  The young people are not really working in agriculture anymore either, that is another similarity. And lastly, everyone has either migrated to the USA or Spain or has someone in their family who is there.  I thought this was strongest in Mexico/Central America but in this part of Ecuador migration is really present.

The pictures show our research team, one of the pastures we were surveying, and one of the first families we interviewed.  This family was really interesting: the mother was really passionate about organic gardening and had a greenhouse filled with veggies.  Her son lives in the states (NJ) and sends her seeds that she tries out, so she has all sorts of asian greens like bok choy that no one eats around here. She complained about the pests, but she refuses to use pesticides so she goes out every morning to pick the bugs off her plants. She was nice enough to gift me some mint and flowers to plant in our new house here.  A really special lady.  Also Dolores gave me some lemongrass plants - for my favorite tea.

Macas

I've arrived to Macas.  Contrary to what I had originally expected, this is not really jungle, more like low-elevation cloud forest.  We're at 3000 ft, which is quite high for the tropics, and means nights have a cool breeze and there aren't loads of bugs. Trees are covered with lichen, moss, and orchids and almost any fruit grows.  Also, contrary to what I expected, this is a pretty urban place with over 15,000 people and lots of construction happening with money brought back by locals who had migrated to the US and Europe.  For instance, there is a partly-finished "mall" (2 of 5 floors completed, who knows if/when it will ever be finished).

We currently are staying with a woman named Margit, who is swiss-austrian and retired.  She apparently is single with no kids (probably in her late 60s but seems at least 10 years younger??) and has 11 god-children all over the world, including Mongolia.  Margit (Margarita) had a swiss tourism company that took people on alternative spiritual nature-tours in exotic places which often included an animal communicator that helped understand the intricate dynamics of natural systems.  For example, she took people on tours of the Galapagos from the point of view of the tortoises.  Of everywhere she has traveled around the world, she decided to stay in Macas, where she is one of a handful (3) of foreigners.  Since there are no clothes available in her size she has a seamstress make her everything.  Since the bread is mostly white and filled with sugar and fat, she has a bakery make her wheat bread with flax and sesame seeds.  I guess one can learn to live anywhere. Our other friends in the house are Kesha, a fierce cat, and Jefferson, an incredibly sweet dog. We are staying with her in a beautiful house that she rents for a few weeks until a little house next door under construction is finished.  Then we will have our own little space.

"We" includes me, Diana who is a sweet Ecuadorian helping on the project (just got her master's in ecology here), and Megan, an anorexic ecologist from the States.  The three of us have been exploring the last few days, including the sunday market this morning where we bought fruits and veggies for me and Diana (since Megan doesn't eat).  Tom, the professor in charge, is staying at a hotel because men are not allowed to stay in Margarita's house.  Funny the boundaries I've run into (no food, no men) in a country with little to no rules or law enforcement.

Other than the obvious strangeness (I thought food was necessary for survival and also a lot of fun) things are going fine. We took a nice walk in the sun-rain today and discovered a double-rainbow...Pictures show one of the outlandish "migration" buildings (the mall), a picture from the Sunday market of many grains and beans and potatoes that are common is soups and stews, the view of the Rio Upano from in front of our house, and the girls with the double-rainbow.  The shorter one is the Ecuadorian (I'm a giant here).

In the mean time...

The last two weeks I've been in Mexico (San Cristobal, Chiapas and Mexico City) and the last few days in Quito, Ecuador. Mexico was filled with some work, delicious food, and good times with friends. One of the highlights was going to the chinampas in Xochimilco which are floating gardens made by the Aztecs and which still exist, often polluted and filled with boats of people getting drunk. We took a special tour with a group called De La Chinampa which works with local producers to provide fresh veggies to households in Mexico City.  They had a beautiful spread of local products to eat and the tour included quesadillas made from blue corn on a boat right next to us! (Stay tuned for pictures...) That day was concluded by an amazing dance-off in Condesa with friends Chrissie and Candida until the cab came to get me the next morning to take me to the airport.

The last 4 days I've been in Quito, a quaint capital town in the Andes.  After being in Mexico City, it seems like a little town (1.5 million in Quito compared to 20 million in Mexico City).  As a matter of fact, Mexico City has more people than the whole country of Ecuador! Food is pretty good, namely missing chile and tortillas but including lots of grains, beans, and other starches like plantain, potatoes, and yuca. The picture shows a great view of the volcano Pichincha which hovers over the city at the FLACSO building in Quito, a Latin American social science research organization (I went to a conference there).

After we organize all the logistics for our jungle trip we will be out of here, which hopefully will happen tomorrow.  We will head out to the town of Macas, in the southeast of Ecuador. Stay tuned!