Hare Krishna bosona keessaa

After Cotopaxi, Quilotoa, and Banos, we are heading to Tena, which is 4 hours away. 4 hours.... That doesn't sound far for us. But here, it actually means leaving one climate zone and entering another. Tena is located in the Amazon region of Ecuador. Long showers at night (sometimes short ones during the day) create a tropical heat with high humidity.

We've booked ourselves into a community of Krishna followers who are reforesting the forest. You can live here comfortably (= big room, private balcony, private bathroom, vegetarian full board, hotel fee) or less comfortably (= shared bathroom, twin room, vegetarian full board, contributing work) for $15/day. In any case, we are free from the various media - there is no television and no internet.

We decide to mix it up: On Friday, we work for 4 hours and build a path to and inside the greenhouse together with 3 other people. This means carrying and laying heavy stones. We have our meals sitting on the floor after a communal chant - it's exhausting! We wash dishes together, peel cocoa beans, roll up wool, or do other tasks.

There is no work on Saturday and Sunday. We use the time to swim in the small river (together with Baku the German Shepherd) or hike to the big river.

To loosen and stretch our muscles, we participate in the morning Hatha yoga exercises, offered with a view of the jungle.

In the pictures, you can see a black fruit. That is a cocoa fruit. It is opened, and inside are 25 beans wrapped in white gel-like mass. The white mass also tastes fruity good. The 25 beans need to be peeled and roasted. Grinding them into powder makes chocolate.

The picture with the insect shows our approximately 8cm-sized flying tenant.

After 4 very relaxing, informative, and extremely healthy, also coffee-free days, we continue to Cuenca, the third-largest city in Ecuador. Apparently, we fit well into the 6-person faith group, as they offered to host us for free. We also leave the place with heavy hearts.