Field Trip: Pucará and Finca la Fe

The view from the Finca la Fe deck around sunset, looking down into the Intag River valley,  foothills of the Andes.

Looking back at Volcan Cotacachi -- Otavalo is just 25 miles away as the crow flies,  just over the right shoulder of the volcano.  The drive out, however, is two hours.  Thanks to a coming copper mine, the road is being paved, and will cut the drive in half.  "Intag is like Lincoln, VT in the 50s," says Pete.  The Intag region has been geographically isolated, only "settled" a generation or two ago.  Unfortunately, this idyll is set to change, like much of the rest of the world.  

The road to Intag -- there is a 1000' waterfall in the triangular shadow.

A grenadilla blossom

Looking across the Intag River valley to more cleared farmland

Sugar cane

Penco seeds, eventually they grow into penco plants, like the one below.

Cabuya fibers are taken from these ubiquitous penco plants.  The fiber is used to make hats, bags, mats and dozens of other useful products.  

Green banana

The horse pasture

Caballo Michael Jackson 

Pete working in his vegetable patch

Sylvia taking pictures of the river valley (with Santa hat)

A big believer in the moon cycles (like all farmers in Intag it seems), Pete prepares a bed for root crops.  High in nitrogen, the volcanic soil lacks phosphorus.  Pete amends the soil with a phosphorous-rich fertilizer made from by-products at the Rio Intag Coffee Coop, of which he is a member.

Mowing the lawn... with a machete

Looking west, the river drains into the Pacific eventually, after joining a couple other rivers.

Better than TV, Tigre was a very tolerant playmate with the kids.

Sylvia preparing bags for planting Guava trees.

Outhouse

Kerry re-using the planting bags by clearing the weeds

We prepared 200 bags for 200 seeds.

An avocado tree, re-emerging.  Finca la Fe was reclaimed old orchards.  Pete has been working this land for 4 years.  Reclaiming some of the old orchards has been key.  There are plenty of lime trees, so Pete has begun grafting grapefruit and oranges onto some of the old lime trunks.

Preparing more guava bags

Maturing guava pods, the seeds inside are coated with natural cotton-candy, a treat in the cities.  You can find guava vendors in Otavalo wheeling their produce around in wheelbarrows.

After preparing the bags, and seeding them, Sylvia puts on the final touch: Pete's homemade bio-activated fertilizer mojo.

A mature coffee plant.  Behind petroleum, coffee is the second most profitable commodity on the planet, at least as far as legal crops go.  Pete is in the process of putting in 100s more coffee trees, all shade-grown, organic and headed to the Coop in the parochial capital Apuela.  He expects to eventually make $10,000 per year in coffee profits.  "Nina's college fund," he says.

Hiking to the pineapple patch

The world's most popular bromeliad, pineapples can continually produce fruit from the same plant.  Here, you can see Sylvia holding a pineapple with 6-8 new shoots, which Pete will plant in already prepared beds.

Finding a little shade

Thank Jah for switchbacks

Pete's maize patch -- mature, these stalks will be 12-15' tall!  The kernels will also bee larger than what we are used to in North America.

Birdwatching in the morning with the sun coming into the valley.  I've seen five different tanagers here, including the golden-naped!  Crimson-rumped Toucanets were also passing through the farm.  (Both images below are courtesy of Google Images.)

The view from the shower

Parting shot, the view from Pete's deck again