Ecuador: Saraswati Ahmsa Vana

[post by Kizzy 12/10/2011]

This blog post is long overdue but the message is still very 'now'! I hope you enjoy it!

Saraswati Ahmsa Vana

One of the things we wanted to do during our travels was some volunteering work. Col did the research and we came across this place near Tena called the Saraswati Ahmsa Vana (Wisdom Forest) – an organic farm and reforestation project with a humanitarian touch. 

We signed up for it and headed there after Banos. The bus journey took approximately 3 hours and we met a local tour guide, Sam, who helped us move around in Tena by showing us a good place to have lunch and the location from where to we'd take our next bus. 

Arriving to a new place is always nerve wracking so it was good to have met Sam and develop a sense of direction about the place. After feeding our tummies we took the Centinella bus towards Tallag. A journey of 20 minutes or so until we reached the designated landmark of 'El Mono' (the monkey in Spanish).

El Mono -just outside Wisdom Forest

We followed the paved stone path leading to the two-storey wooden house.

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This would be our home for the next seven days.

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Living room

Where we'd fall asleep many times

Staircase leading to top floor

We were welcomed in by Jamie and Kim who were volunteering at the time. We were invited to make ourselves comfortable in the hammocks whilst waiting for our host: Pablo Parra. It wasn't long before we were introduced to everyone.

Kim, Australia

Jamie, U.S.A

Pablo, Colombia

 Kedernath, our appointed vegetarian chef – and so to remain until his departure in October.

Kedernath, Mexico

Bagha who runs the project also manages an English teaching school in Tena for which he also takes on volunteer work.

Bagha, UK

English School poster, Tena

Leo and Brian: volunteer teachers at the English school.

Leo (front) and Brian (back), both U.S.A

Mid-week we had the pleasure of meeting more people: Marion, who is working for the Red Cross in Quito and her partner Anna,

Anna (back) and Marion (front)

Ivan, who is a self-taught artist and 'modern day vagabond' spends his time cycling around South America and occasionally staying at a farm and offering his services in exchange for accommodation.

Ivan, Colombia

Some of his art work

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and Janine who was brave enough to volunteer for three weeks solid - go girl!

Janine, Switzerland

Fixated on the wall was a draft of what would become our schedule for the duration of our stay:-

6:30am Yoga

7:30 Breakfast

8:00 Morning activities

11-1130 Morning break

1230 Lunch (followed by afternoon break until 1430)

1430 Afternoon activities

1700 Day ends

The farm activities are centered around working the land: weeding, planting, pruning, trimming cocoa trees, preparing compost, maintaining the path, to name a few.

Trimming cooca trees

Planting

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Our tools

A job finished!

Every morning we'd start with yoga on the top floor overlooking the farm and beyond. Sometimes we would hear the birds sing.

Where we have our yoga lessons

Soon after, the diligent Pablo would instruct us to pick up the tools from the shed and he would share with us what was in-store for the day.

Our tools

Without a doubt our least favourite activity, and yet also the most eye opening was that of turning compost. I didn't know much about it and now I feel truly educated: Bagha would collect the left over vegetables from the local fruit and groceries markets and take it to the farm where we empty these bags into piles of waste – carefully removing any plastic – and leaving it to rest carefully covered up, and after some time – a couple of days – we return to turn it around. The compost is used to fertilise the land and also, through a very clever system, heat the water. The water is sourced from the local waterfall and is o.k to drink from the tap.

The activities of a farm are hard, at least for us city folk, and something changes inside of you when you know you helped to collect, maintain, and produce the food you're eating. It happened to us. At the end of each day we were completely shattered. And I tell you what, never did we enjoy our food so much as we did at the end of a day's work here. Most of our meals were made with produce from the farm, and on occasion locally sourced.

Freshly baked

Our lunch

and refreshment!

 Every time before a a meal a prayer would be said generally thanking Nature for the food on our table. I think there is value in that: it remind us not to take it for granted.

We learned how to bake bread, make gluten and yogurt. And Kedarnath shared his recipes enthusiastically to support any aspirations for vegetarianism.

We had no access to internet or t.v., instead we filled our spare time with reading, talking, playing cards, sleeping in the hammock and or music.

Playing cards

Playing the guitar

Reading

Bahga's wife resting in the hammock

We learned that life can be so simple, we remembered that the relationships we nurture, the conversations we share and the people we meet are the greatest treasure of all. Oh, yes and that you have to give back to Nature then all is in balance.

Of course I can romanticise working in a farm because we only did it for 7 days. But as a meditation, a journey back to the soul, I strongly recommend everyone to invest 7 days of their lives each year working on a farm. Even if just to know how it happens that we get what we get on the table.

We were exposed to some of the Vedas teachings, as the underpinning philosophy of this work is Hare Krishna. And like in many religions's there is value to be taken from it. What I took is the old saying 'actions speak louder than words'. And this is exactly what is being done here.

From the various things they grow in the farm there's my new love, papaya. In addition there are coconuts, bananas, pineapples, avocados, mangoes, sugar cane, many herbs and spices and much more.

Papaya

Pineapple

Bananas

Col fell in love with their chillies – which dried than mashed make for a great seasoning. He took away a nice little supply bag with him, courtesy of the Wisdom Forest.

There's also an interesting mix of insect creatures and crawlies about. Got us girls running a mile on many occasions – I could argue that it was part of the charm.

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Sometimes in the afternoon, we'd skip the activities and go through the farm/jungle with Pablo and he would tell and show us the many herbs available and their various properties. He would talk about this and of the reforestation project, giving a good visual of the area and what they intended to do and of what we were participating in.

Learning afternoon with Pablo

Both Kedarnath and Pablo are very passionate about their work and do it without a moment's hesitation. Pablo is the man with many hats, yoga teacher, host, chef at times, teacher, student, friend, farm supervisor, you name it. He never complained and always had a smile to share. Kedarnath was the enthusiast chef, always creating new recipes to feed us, sometimes we were 5, sometimes as many as 15, and he would always deliver. I suppose that when you love what you do you can't really call it work.

The Kedarnath we saw many times...

Weekends are different, on Saturday we do do a bit of work on the farm but is split in the morning with tidying up the house. Generally until 1200 then we get the afternoons off to wander off.

And on Sundays the Wisdom Forest team organises a day trip for all. On the Sunday that we were there, we were treated with a trek to a swimming hole – a gorge with a waterfall and cave access.

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 We went in early round 630am. There were a few boisterous dives ( 30 foot jump !) and acts of bravery

Yep, Col's going to jump!

Around 1000 we sat for breakfast: a sweet mix of fruit and nuts served on banana leaves.  

Breakfast

Eventually some of our friends left to continue their journeys: Kim to Quito, Ivan cycling to Columbia and Marion and Anna took on a three day trekking adventure.

The usual suspects!

We had a really good time, many thanks to Bagha and his family, Pablo and Kedarnath for looking after us during our stay in Wisdom Forest. We know you have big projects ahead and we wish you all the best. 

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Last thoughts

During this time I read a few books that I would like to recommend: The autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Tuesdays with Morry. Both of the books speak about change  and to me it resonated with our time in the Wisdom Forest.

When I finished reading these two books I wanted to hold on to them so I could read them every now and then. But they were passed on to me and I felt I should pass them on too to help inspire others journey's just like it did to me.

I learned that just like Nature, we are always changing, it's part of our cycle. Too often hold on to things, beliefs, emotions as if they defined who we are. We are not fixed things, we're here to learn and move on. And this learning happens when we share ourselves with others.

 

I will leave you with two passages that touched me and an acronym I learned with Jamie Blanco that summarises the Quaker's philosophy. I will not dwell on it, rather I will leave it for you to make your own meanings:
"The truth is... once you learn how to die, you learn how to live" in Tuesdays with Morrie

 "I believe in recognising every human being as a human being, neither white, black, brown nor red. When you are dealing with humanity as one family, there's no question of integration or intermarriage. It's just one human being marrying another human being, or one human being linving around and with another human being" in The Autobiography of Malcolm X

acronym SPICE - Simplicity Peace Integrity Community and Equality (from Jamie)