The cloudforest adventure blog

There are major environmental issues in Intag: mining, deforestation and global warning. There are huge mineral deposits in Intag, including copper, gold and uranium, and whether or not to mine these deposits is a hotly debated issue. “Slash and burn” agriculture has been practiced for generations on a small-scale, and the burnt land is sown with maize and then grass seed. Occasional illegal felling on the edge of the reserve also takes place, largely driven by local people’s need to get more land to pasture their cattle. The small expenses of a visitor in this relatively cheap country can have a powerful beneficial effect on such environmental problems. This is because the economic needs of local people are very modest by western standards. Provided there are other means of surviving, most would rather not engage in practices which are clearly harmful to the area, both for present and future generations. One of the main reasons for promoting eco-tourism in the area is to offer the population with an ecologically sustainable source of income, and so slow down the destruction of the forest.

With global warming, the destruction of the forest may be accelerated. Biodiversity, trees and water are threatened. Water is stored upon the cloud forest during the wet season and gives life to the community. What happens if the water cannot be stored up anymore?

Ned Cresswell tries to engage the community in ecotourism and wishes to continue http://omprakash.org/partner_profile/p/45. To conserve biodiversity, keep the cloud forest, and receive visitors is vital for the community. Intag wants to break the isolation that is dangerous for the fragile ecosystem. Anyone can help break the isolation: travelers, volunteers, scientists, teachers, students, ecologists and anyone interested in sharing ideas to support the Intag project.

What say people from the Intag Communities?

 “Amigos de la naturaleza”

 “Nuestros niños están sanos porque toda la comida esta orgánica”. Mothers from El Rosario and San Antonio

 “El avenir de nuestros niños está en el ambiente”. Families from San Antonio

 “A mí me gusta ir a caballo, el bosque y la naturaleza”.  Children from San Antonio and El Rosario schools

 “El oso no es peligroso, cuando yo lo ve, yo hablo con él”.  Angel from La Loma

“Antes que tu vienes, nunca, yo fui a visitar el bosque, es muy bonito”. Karina from el Rosario

We only protect what we know

As I spent 6 months among those communities, I got the chance to visit ‘’Toisan’’, a governmental reserve on the edge of San Antonio. I’ve been with the children from San Antonio school in the forest. The children from La Loma took me to their garden.  I’ve also went with my host families visiting “their forest”. My last trip in San Venancio, a non protected 600 hectares virgin cloud forest was also amazing.

Every time, I felt that the inhabitants, the kids and all generations deeply respect their environment, they love it and know it very well. But if the tree tomatoes market is better or the milk market goes higher, they will try to get more pasture and farming land. “We need to feed our families”. It is a fact too that the families have fewer children. San Antonio school received 50 children years ago and only 23 this year. Families say “We don’t want more children, how are we going to feed them, give them education’’. Lots of teenagers are leaving to the cities to get a job, lot of them will never study to get the ‘’bachilereto” and will earn between US$100 and US$200 monthly. Most of them say they want to save money to come back and live within their communities.

 In the following parts, I tried to show the amazing natural resources, the communities are living with. The locals and kids were guiding me to make you know what they want to protect and show to tourists.

 Enjoy the tour and please feel free to add your comment and/or contact me via this blog.

Last week, I visited the virgin cloud forest again with Eduardo and Edgar.

 Eduardo wanted to offer me a rest from my volunteering mission and also gave me a chance to walk in San Venancio pristine forest. Edgar offered to go with us. He is familiar with this kind of adventure and eager to talk about everything he knows. Edgar is passionate with cattle but he also likes the forest and would be a wonderful tourist guide. When I asked him what he would like to do later, he answered “have a good cattle farm and work with tourists”. His dream is to stay where he was born; nonetheless, he might have to go work in a company outside of Intag to get some money before settle down at San Antonio.

  They came down by horses at 8pm in the morning.  My horse was ready too, the family who hosts me lends it to me saying that he will get a good opportunity to work and be healthy; they also know how much I like riding!! We left as soon Edgar and Eduardo showed up. They were carrying mattresses, sleeping bags and food for 2 days up in San Venancio. We went through El Rosario, along the river. That morning we met lot of people on the way because they had organized a “minga” to clear the side-road. We climbed slippery path. Edgar was picking “moco” and other berries to eat on the way. We were going slowly listening to Edgar who was describing the landscape.

From the pathway, we could distinguish the green valley with scattered wood-houses and mud-brick houses. Most of the land is occupied by corn and pasture. The people living and working there burn the soil to plant a herb “Guatemala”. That one will resist the insects and give more food for the livestock. Only, on the top of the many hillocks, remains forest. This trip to San Venancio (and the previous one to the governmental reserve of Toisan) is like a trip back in time. When I looked at the hills covered in trees, I can imagine how my country was 1000 years ago. Currently San Venancio private owner is about to sell it. San Venancio isn’t a reserve; those 600 hectares are not protected by the government what means felling trees is not prohibited. San Antonio, El Rosario were covered in cloud forest less than one century ago. The first man who came start to fell trees and more people came to raise animals, plant and live with their families. They were living in harsh conditions with no road and no electricity, carrying everything by horse on a pathway next to the river. On the way, and in the reserve, we’ve seen some deforestation.

  Edgar said “it’s impossible to live there, far away from Cuellaje to make week food supplies, any crops will grow and the raising cattle would be harder than down”. But some people already started to fell trees, clear the land next a river to bring cattle.  What will happen then? But let’s visit this forest first. To get there is not easy and it is probably why, the forest remained undamaged until now.

 We rode about two hours, crossed a river which can get very high with big rainfall. Then, we had to go by foot behind the horses. It was muddy, and more than once, my whole boot disappeared in the mud. We crossed two grazing lands where trees had been cut down and entered in the forest.

 One hour later we reached the hut. We had a shelter to protect ourselves from the rain and leave our food and equipment during the day. We lighted up the fire, Eduardo cooked and once we were full of energy again, we went to walk in the forest.

 Next  to the hut it´s easy to walk through as the owner, Eduardo and earlier volunteers have been with a machete to build a pathway.  I saw toucans, majestic blue, yellow and black birds. I climbed trees and see the Andean Bear footprints.

Then we went down to the river, where the water is pure. It started to rain and we went back to the hut to cook dinner and have a good sleep. After a coffee and homemade bread for breakfast, we went deeper in the reserve, “ hacer una pica”, make the way with a machete. The forest is wet all time long; even if it’s not raining; branches dropped water on the ground.  The trees are covered in moss; all their black branches support a heavy weight. Some trees fall, from humidity. On our way back to El Rosario with the horses, we had to stop because the way was closed by a huge tree (canelo) and a  landslide above. We were stucked!! But Edgar is resourceful and started to cut down a new way with the machete. The cloud forest can be inhospitable and desolate…and this is probably why, it remains some part of it.  

 big thank you to Ed and Edgar for showing me that Nature with a big N still remains.

As I’m living in three communities, I’m lucky to go around with the children who are happy to show me all fruits, vegetables they grow. For each picture you’ll find comments in both English and Spanish. Enjoy!!!!

It is hard for us to imagine you have to go to the supermarket to get all this fruits and vegetables. Here, we just walk in the garden…We don´t have television or a computer to play video game, we like to go in the forest and we spent lot of time taking care of the animals like cows, pigs and chickens. Our parents say that we eat healthy food and spent lot of time working and playing in the nature.

 Wednesday, the children had all day outside the school. The teachers wanted them to go in the forest to find orchids and vicundas. It was the first time the children could see the forest. I met them on their way up where I am living. That morning I invited the children from the neighborhood to come at my house for a computer lesson before the other children arrive.

At 9 am, we all met and we climb one hour and half. The children were hungry because it’s was a difficult walk. We had lunch at 10.30 and we all share what we had in our bags. That was the occasion for the children to eat some meat (as the lunch at school never includes meat). They ate quickly as they were impatient to go in the forest and find flowers. I went ahead with four of them. They had understood that there had more flowers further in the forest. They were climbing the trees to get the vicundas.

Once they had at least one each, I explained them that it’s better to leave flowers in their natural environment. So I passed them my camera and we took photos of all the plants we saw on the way. They were really exited to walk through the forest, find purple or huge leaves. 

They said  “soon we’ll see the big forest”. They were talking of the forest they had seen on the picture I brought back  from ny expedition. I wish we could have gone to the top but we had to go back down.

On the way back, we stopped at the trout farm. The children swam in the pools  where there was no fish.

The children of San Antonio do have a swimming pool. 

At about 3.30pm, the children went back home. I stayed with the teachers to play volley ball. Second behind soccer, volley-ball is Ecuadorian favorite sport. We finally ended up playing soccer with the children from the neighbouring.

I spent four days in the reserve: “the last forest” and it has been the most stunning adventure I’ve ever had.

 The team

We were 6 to go in the reserve. Nelson was the head guide. Eduardo is the coordinator of the ecotourism project. Patricio is Carmen’s husband who is the director of the school. The youngest one is Edgar who is the oldest son of a family of 9 children. Eddy leaves next to the school and his wife owns a small shop where children like to go to buy candies.

The aim of this fifth trip was to check if the reserve was suitable to develop tourism. So the team was inquiring my point of view all the time. They invited me to visit the reserve and share my feelings about their project. I will give the answer at the end and you are welcome to give your opinion after you read this adventure in the jungle. Eduardo warned me before I left that it wouldn’t be easy because there was no pathway through the forest. I confirm that it was incredibly hard but I’m grateful they let me discover this virgin and pristine cloud forest. The expedition Last Monday, the family I’m leaving with got up at 3.am to cook breakfast and lunch. It was early and moreover they’ve been running out of gas for one week and they had to light the fire inside the house to cook. We all met at Eduardo’s place to pack up the food and the things necessary to camp. No backpacks, no tents, no dehydrated food, no hiking shoes. Handmade bags, plastic sheets, food (lentils, beans, potatoes, rice, flour, sugar, coffee) and boots. We loaded one horse to reach the edge of the reserve. At 6am, we were watching the sun rising behind the Cotacachi volcano (4939m.)

We left the horse free in the field and start to climb trough the forest to reach a high point from where the view is breathtaking: a green ocean and majestic light-blue mountains crowned with white clouds.

It was about nine when we start to climb again to reach the highest point of the reserve (2800 meters). That was really difficult because we were after the governmental reserve boundary. To draw the perimeter of the reserve, the government decidess to chop down trees, the result is ugly but the reserve is protected. It is forbidden to hunt, fell trees or farm. And we realized that is not necessary to follow this perimeter to get into the untouched forest. We sat down at noon to eat and we start to go down through the jungle. That was the beginning of the real adventure. Adventure because there was no pathway and they were making the way through the forest with a machete.

 At one pm, it started to rain and it didn’t stop until the late evening. But the forest was magnificent, and I forgot about the inconvenience of being soaked and cold. The cloud forest is a strange vegetal world, dense and diversified. Even if it is not raining, it is humid and trees branches and trunks are covered in moss. The specificity of the cloud forest is the abundance of moss, gigantic leaves and profusion of undergrowth vegetation. It is thick, impenetrable and jungly, however the air is pure and the atmosphere peaceful. There is a great silence that only frogs, monkeys and birds disturb. Everywhere it is green; the mist drifts by swirling and suddenly appears flamboyant flowers. There are some orchids and the common “vicunda”. We saw monkeys jumping from trees to trees and a colorful bird unknown in San Antonio. We walked all the afternoon following Eddy, Patricio, Edgar and Samuel who were relaying to open the way through the thick vegetation.

The descent was steep and slippery and I often get tangled with the lianas. I was also wondering where we would sleep and how we would set up the camp because the forest was so dense and muddy. Moreover with the rain, there was no way to make a fire to cook and warm up. I was not far from desperate…But I should have trust my guides because they’ve got all skills to live in the forest a few days without the modern equipment we usually use when we go trekking in the jungle. Actually, they were not lost but they were looking for the river to set up the first camp so we had to go down and down…Afterward they reached the river and I still can’t believe what took place at this time. They started by clearing a small area with the machete and cutting some trees with the axe. Those trees called “pambil” in Spanish are the only one they can use to light the fire. It’s impressive to watch them using the axe and cutting down the 15 meters palm trees. They also quickly built a shelter with wood stick and plastic sheets. It was pouring with rain and they wanted to make sure I had a shelter. Then they cut the palm trees trunk in four pieces with the axe. They kept the leaves to make a mattress under the shelter. They chopped down pieces of the trunk to light up the fire and arrange the other pieces on the ground. They were working methodically and they were still joking and laughing under the rain. Once they finished, they recovered the wood with the palm leaves. They used another plastic sheet to recover it.

Meanwhile Nelson was patiently starting the fire. They filled up with water from the river all pots they were carrying. One pot was for coffee, a second one for a soup made of potatoes, pasta and tuna. They’ve been working almost two hours to set up this camp and I felt like at home. I slept very well and after twelve hours walking through the forest, I woke up ten hours later. They were already preparing breakfast. They all made sure I was fine and happy. Before we left, we dried our clothes next to the fire.

That day, I discovered the torrent and the cascades. We left at 8.30 and we went up and down near the river.

Once, we had to use a rope that Eduardo was carrying (I think for my security because I doubt the team needs a rope!). In vertical and slippery slope, they will use a trunk or the axe . The river was striking; it was a succession of small waterfall with crystal clear water running through the lush green vegetation. After lunch (rice and lentils that they has cooked in the morning), we kept on crossing the river. My boots were always full of water and it was tiring. Then it started to rain again and we decided to stop the progression at 3.30pm. They made a new camp and I couldn’t help because I don’t possess the natural resistance they seem to have against the rain and the cold. Moreover, I don’t know how to use a machete and I couldn’t get the fire going on. So I was just watching them and learning how it’s possible to prepare a camp to spend a comfortable night without using all our modern equipment. Suddenly, I heard Edgar shouting and I saw everyone running toward him. It seemed they had seen an animal. It was a snake that they killed. That’s the only animal that they would kill and Eduardo decided we could eat it. They took off the skin, sliced the flesh and boiled it. As we had already plenty of food, we decided to keep it for breakfast.

I slept very well again and when I woke up at 6am I had to quickly put my boots on, take my camera and run behind Nelson to see the monkeys. They were in the canopy and they were moving quickly so I couldn’t take picture. Still it is fascinating to watch them and hear them. Without the governmental reserve, monkeys would be in danger of extinction because of the hunting. While we were watching the monkeys, the rest of the team cooked the snake and made bread. It was the first time I ate snake. In France, eating frogs is part of the gastronomy so I compared the snake flesh to the frog one but the snake has more bones. They couldn’t understand the comparison as they don’t eat frogs. Before we left, they cooked rice and lentils for lunch. The third day was fantastic as we were following a big river with rapids. I always have had trouble to cross a river so they were helping me. That day they swam in a pool near a rapid. Edgar doesn’t know how to swim but he was happy to get into the fresh water. We took the decision not to go the highest waterfall as we were still far from home. They built the third camp; we had coffee and a homemade soup to warm up because the rain had started again. For the last day, we had decided to leave earlier to avoid walking at night on the way back. We woke up at 5.30 when it was still dark but it took time to prepare the bread and cook it. Then we boiled the hot water for coffee, cooked the beans while talking and laughing. We finally started to walk late. We wandered all morning along the large river and we had lunch before we started the strenuous climb to go out of the reserve. Eduardo had warned me before: “that will be the most difficult”. So I was ready, it was hard, vertical in some places, slippery, muddy, full of branches and lianas. 2 hours and half later we reached the view-point we had been the first day. From there it’s about one hour to go back down. 

 Conclusion and project

 If you’ve read those lines and/or see the pictures, please feel free to add a comment. I would be so happy to say to the community that people would like to spent some time among them and discover the “last forest”. Those people are working hard to find a sustainable way of living and little by little they are trying to make the “last forest” and its treasures accessible to anyone who enjoys nature and the wilderness. All the way, we stopped and discussed if it would be suitable for tourists. The community will have to build bridges, organize other trips to clear up the way with machetes. They are all so excited about it and they want the tourist feel secure to appreciate the fauna, the flora, and the cascades. They also want to build a comfortable refuge where the tourist can relax, have a good meal and spent time watching monkeys and birds. I also think it’s an interesting place for scientists and students in ecology. What I experienced was hard, extremely hard but at the end, my dream went through. I lived a few days in an untouched part of the world. And most important, I’m glad to present an optimistic point of view about our environment. There are people willing to keep it and share its beauty and that’s a strong and common project in San Antonio’s community. But in a few years, they may have to deal with a mining company. For once, I will be optimistic and I think the strong belief, the solidarity and the deep respect the community has for the forest will save it. And tourism will offer them an income so they can say “NO” to the mining company.