Tola Chica--Building a mud wall and playing with puppies!

Friday I came out to Tola Chica (a community pretty close to Quito) to visit my friend Jamie in her internship.

When I got in she walked me around her yard, and we played with their new puppies and her little sister, which was super fun. The kids of the neighborhood also taught us some weird baseball-like game that I still don't quite understand, but it was a ton of fun kicking up dust with them.

Jamie's little sister lifting up a puppy as it was eating to see if there were any open spots for another puppy
...a little odd and actually hilarious.

Today was a blast. We dragged our butts out of bed to head to the minga (community work day) up the mountain where they have some communal land.

Task #1: breaking up dirt (yes, you read correctly--see Jamie demonstrating her strength at left) by pounding it with some yard tools. For someone with little/no upper body strength, it was pretty darn tiring.

Task #2: a hike up and around the area so Jamie could show me the community's reservoir and greenhouse and whatnot. It's pretty incredible what they're doing up there with their greenhouse and reforesting project.

Task #3: building a mud wall! It was super fun and hilarious when the people we were working with (middle-aged and older) were smashing mud in each others' faces on occasion. Certainly a different saturday activity for me!

Our pride and joy...DONE!

After that, Jamie and I hung around the yard with the puppies again and took a walk to her family's farm, where they have ENORMOUS cabbage, among other things.

I think it would make a salad for 50...

Overall it was an awesome (albeit short) visit. I wished I could have stayed longer, but I had to get my muddy self back to Quito because tomorrow's the ciclopaseo/march through the city for International Women's Day!