Another world is possible

'Another world is possible' is one of the slogans painted across the main building of the Rhiannon Community - and it is fair to say that the world they have created on a mountain in the cloud forest little North of Quito is far from the one we Westerners spend our days in. The idea of the community is to promote Permaculture and self-sustainability - minimising waste and maximising productivity in the things around us. Unfortunately the arid ground in the harsh setting of the Ecofarm is forbidding much to grow there, so fruit and vegetables are delivered from the local community, but through various methods soil is beginning to appear, and fresh salads are harvested daily. There is a bicycle operated washing machine though!

Volunteers can sleep in yurts, teepees or tents, and the landscape and beautiful vistas that surround you daily are eye wateringly beautiful - often we found ourselves fully encased in a cloud, or dancing on the tips of rainbows. The Community is run by a beautiful couple, Helen and Nicky, who started out around five years ago to create this special space where everyone is accepted; peace and harmony are the main pillars of the family, along with hard work, and an intention to heal and care for every one and every thing. Every room is instantly welcoming and cosy, and alongside the smiling faces of other volunteers, the house is a lovely home. Each day you work from 8am until 1.30pm, and prepare one meal a day for the community (Dave found that aspect particularly challenging - what with him just about able to cook for two, twenty-two vegans was quite a mean feat). 

While we were staying at the Community we were lucky enough to take part in a San Pedro Ceremony -an ancient cactus used as medicine which contains mescaline. The ceremony was held with 30 or so people sitting on cushions around the room with a sacred fire in the middle, and was led by a local Shaman. We were joined by his close family as well, who were expert at making everyone feel comfortable from a distance. The ceremony started at 3am and lasted until around 10am, and we were encouraged not to interact with each other but to savour our own journey. I won't go in to details here about what we experienced or how we felt, because to be perfectly honest I don't know if I will ever be able to put it in to words. Maybe one day I will try - but I feel it would be better talked about face to face. I will say that the experience was one of the most powerful I have ever felt, and the amount of energy and raw emotion in that room I can only hope to feel again. We both left feeling enlightened, and agreed it was the most inspiring ritual we had ever witnessed. 

The  daily work on the farm varied from looking after animals (I became particlarly fond of the chickens), watering the garden and greenhouse (and the trees with the community's urine - Dave had this job quite a lot!), harvesting salads, weeding, cutting grass, building adobe houses, cleaning...etc. We both decided we enjoyed the Adobe building the best, and became quite good at it. The idea is you have bags of cement in a house shape, then you plaster Adobe on top of it - a mixture of donkey poo, mud, water and grass. The technique of slapping it on with your hands is quite difficult to master, but the satisfaction of seeing the finished result was worth it! 

The entire vibe of the Farm is extremely tranquil, with meditation and yoga being focused on. There are even outside yoga platforms overlooking the valley, which were a brilliant place to while away lazy afternoons, watch sunsets, or...do yoga on!

The full moon fell while we were staying at the Community, and on this night a sacred ceremony was held. The room was decorated with great care, with candles lit in the corners, and individual altars set out in a circle. We all sat as Nicky, who was taking the ceremony, welcomed in the four elements, and proceeded to bless and thank everyone. As most of us were new to holding ceremonies, Nicky provided an explanation and introduction to the sacred and spiritual meanings of the service and altars, and helped to guide us through the service. Then two members of the community cast a spell for luck in the financial world - which is pretty materialistic, but the people asking for it were the type of people you could never begrudge anything. We were pretty sceptical about the spell - but four days after leaving the Community we were both greeted with a surprise tax return of just over 500 pounds each! Dave still rolls his eyes and refuses to believe it was anything other than HMRC doing their job, but I am not so sure...I'll leave that one open to your own sceptisim and speculation.

We left the community after a night around a bonfire with a bottle of rum and some good friends, feeling enlightened, grounded, healthy and carefree. I felt I found a part of myself there, and left a part of myself there too, and would love to one day return and see how the place has changed, and the people remain the same.

Mitad del Mundo

On our first day off, we arranged to meet up with Charlie and head to the middle of the world (the Equator). We met at a little bus station and hopped on a bus to the first site, where an enormous monument was set up by the French to mark the spot of the Equator. The monument is huge, and the surrounding centre includes various art galleries and museums sporting various photographs, paintings and displays. The whole place has a very epic feeling, and would be brilliant except for the fact that....the actual ecuator is about 400m off the site. 

At the actual site of the equator there is a small museum which tells you a bit about indigenous Ecuadorians and various rainforest tribes and traditions (focusing mainly on spearing people, burying people alive and shrunken heads). 

Then, on the actual line of the equator they show you funny experiments, for example - balancing an egg on the end of a pin. This is possible because the liquid inside the egg should be pulled in only one way, due to the force of the equator. We saw someone manage to do it, but the three of us were alas unable.

We were also shown how on each side of the equator, water swirls down plug holes in either direction depending on the hemisphere. This has been tested in various sinks and toilets, but plumbing apparently renders this futile. 

Another trick was to close your eyes and walk one foot infront of the other along the line - this proved pretty impossible, as the pull from either side makes you wobble and go off either to the left or the right. 

There are rumours that all of these tricks are, well, tricks, and are made up. To these accusations we say well done if they are, it would have taken a lot of effort, and they are done very well - we couldn't work out how they are a hoax if they are!