Rio Muchacho

O.K.  This may be a long post. We have been out of touch for the past few days - literally and figuratively.  We went to Rio Muchacho!  An organic farm where they live off of the land and nothing else.  Well, maybe a bit of rice from town - otherwise everything is grown and made from the land! 

Our transportation to the farm.  Luckily it was 4 wheel drive or we would have never gotten down the muddy road.  Impressive driving.

Our accommodations...Rustic but functional.  Unfortunately, Hayes saw spiders above him in the upper bunk, so I got a bed mate for the duration.

We got to wear fancy boots that we were so grateful for....not only because of the mud, but because it seemed that everywhere you looked, there was poop being used to compost.  

In order to eat, we needed to go gather our food for the day.  Lots of vegetables, some fruit, no meat.  The pigs, cows, chickens were all used solely for their poop making attributes.

All the bowls and spoons were made from a round fruit (can't remember the name) and there were no napkins.  I can't get the stains out of Hayes's shirt.

We also helped to plant trees for them - Hayes got one of the most important vegetation to plant...the cacao plant (CHOCOLATE!)

On Day 2, we got to ride horses out to look for monos (monkeys). Very picturesque ride, but, surprisingly long.

Especially considering that we rode on this wooden saddle for 3 hours.  I thought I could bring one home for Laure - only $40.

We had to pack a lunch for the day.  Above, you will see that our "lunch bag" is made from a banana leaf.  We could which was ours by the way we tied the banana leaf string around the leaf.

And this is what was inside.  In it was what we had every lunch and dinner at the farm....a LOT of rice, a tad of lentils, some delicious "sauce" (never sure what was in it), and occasional dried plantains.  I did have enough rice to fill me up for days.  Also, it tasted so good!  Really!

The monkey hunters.  I have to say, this climb was up a hill that was about 70 degrees and muddy.  They don't know about traversing, so, the climb was invigorating, challenging and sweaty.  

This is from Heidi's iPhone.  We did find a monkey...can you see it?  It is top center.  These are Howler Monkeys.  The best part was listening to all of us try to mimic the call of the Howler.  Heidi's call was a very high pitch (Howlers are low pitched) and she said she was doing the mating call.  We got nervous when it started coming down the tree toward her.

We got to end this trip at a natural waterfall.  Beautiful and refreshing.

the brown ring was made from a palm nut.  The white one from ??? another kind of nut.

The 3rd day was full of activities such as making rings out of palm nuts and bowls and spoons from the round fruit I can't remember the name of...

Roasting, shucking,

and grinding chocolate.  (We did this with the 2nd most important food group - coffee beans!)

And Heidi and I got our spa day .... clay masks.

I wish I could explain how complex this and work intensive this all was. NOTHING was just there in the cupboard to grab.  Even our clay masks needed to be grated and mixed and for the aloe, we needed to out to the vegetation area to harvest it.  

 The kids were great during this trip, especially considering the "strange" or different food. Cassi thought she may have lost 5 pounds because she didn't eat for 3 days.  I applaud Nicola and Dario for their commitment to this way of life, but, I was glad to get back to Bahía!