For Life

5/21

The rain is causing a percussive symphony on the shed roof, the wind adding whining and roaring in the background. In the spaces where there is stillness, the crashing of the waves in the ocean fills the air. It is a perfect reason to sit here with a cup of dandelion tea and catch up with some story telling about our adventures in Woombah.

Over the past month there has been a lot of activity here. Taka has been helping us as a WWOOFer and we have been visited by Hiroko (from Yakushima and Tasmania) and Misako and daughter 3 year old Hanaka.

It’s kind of embarrassing to say that the building project here is still going on and is taking so much time and will probably go on forever! Even though I am supposed to be a Sloth, I have deeply programmed conditioning to ‘achieve’ and ‘produce’ and ‘progress’. I make impossible deadlines to get building done using recycled materials, very little money and being highly creative dealing with the authorities and the regulations needed to be followed in this kind of project. There has been wonderful help from local handy people who give their skills and creative ideas for very little cost and let me do whatever I can to help.

Over the past month we have:
Travelled 20 hours by train to Ayr in north QLD to hold a garage sale that cleared out most of our belongings and check on our old house there, Continued with the permaculture plan in Woombah, putting together banana circles and swaling to help capture and direct the water flows on the land (Yani has been especially helpful in gardening and figuring out the best place for a pond).

Had a big cement tank delivered for the grey water system, Put in cedar shutters inside the house to be able to allow for airflow and light between rooms, Installed another louvre window, Created the framing and inner cladding for the bathroom (and found a nice deep tub to put in there), Picked up a big truckload of assorted bits and pieces of recycled materials (sliding doors, tiles, splashback, pavers, staircase stringers, doors, etc, etc) from the Gold Coast – a huge adventure (and not possible without the help of Taka).

Built a staircase to the mezzanine floor using metal stringers from the dump, hardwood treads from a local salvage timber yard and our own wattle trees for the handrails.

Set up a ‘dance floor’ area upstairs for Pacha and Yani in front of two huge wardrobe mirrors on the extra carpet our neighbour Mick gave us a couple of days ago.

Last week came the excellent news from the local council that I have had the
building approval for my design in converting this shed into a dwelling. I am now an official ‘owner-builder’ with the legal right to create a home made from things that find their way to the dumps and secondhand shops.

Though sometimes frustrating, it is also immensely satisfying to be doing things this way, creatively, originally, organically. The design moves and shifts depending on what I have been able to scrounge and scavange. Last week I saw a pile of thrown away building materials beside a new house construction. I timidly asked if I could recycle some of the material – no problem. On our fishing trip to the local beach, I picked up a few pieces of driftwood to make a towel rack.

As the weather cools down there is a little more urgency in putting in the insulation and interior cladding (and a bathtub!) – yet, the temperature is still so mild here (10 to 20 C), that we can really just put some extra layers of clothes on.

Pacha and Yani are coping wonderfully well with everything and are still enjoying school very much. The Iluka Public school is lucky to have some specially talented teachers and assistants, including their dance teacher, Mandy, who directed them in a prize winning dance competition last week. As the President of the P and C, I have not been able to do much yet, once our bathroom is done I hope to get onto the school gardens.

Yani changes his life ambition at least once per week. Last week, when our neighbours gave him a hand repaired fishing rod, he wanted to be a ‘fisher’, this week when there was a school presentation about cane toads, he wanted to be a wildlife ranger...

This past month was also about ‘visitors’. We are lucky to have friends who don’t mind a ‘simple life’. Both Taka (for a months), then Misako and Hanaka (for a few days), stayed in the caravan and I hope they were comfortable there. For Taka it was the first visit to Australia and the first experience of Wwoofing (willing workers on organic farms). He was great with Pacha and Yani and tried his best to adjust to a completely new lifestyle. I pushed him pretty hard to ask more questions and try to learn more about where he was and what he was doing. I realised that my childhood was probably much more ‘hands-on’ than a normal person in Japan where academic success is probably the most important achievement.

I remember looking at Taka after we had just spent 14 hours loading secondhand materials onto a truck, driving 4 hours in it, then unloading in the dark and the rain in Woombah and asking him ‘do you think your mother would ever do this?’ He answered: ‘I don’t think so’… Yes, I admit, our lives are a little bit out of the
ordinary…

One the day Taka left for the Jarlanbah permaculture community in Nimbin, Misako and 3 year old Hanaka arrived in Woombah. I think it was love at first sight with Hanaka to Pacha (and vice versa) – as the girls danced and sang and jumped all over the place. I will never forget the look of sheer joy and abandon as Hanaka ran down the beach at Shark Bay with Yani and Pacha – her spirit flying free! This is the feeling that connects us with Life – everyone should make the opportunity to do this whenever they can! I seriously think that Pacha could guide groups of young people from cities in Japan about how to ‘set their inner wild child free’!

We are very much looking forward to more visitors to nurture and be inspired by this part of the world.

For Life, anja, pacha and yani

3/26

Dear Friends,

The sounds of nature around Pacha, Yani and I have changed. Kookaburra’s
laughter has replaced the shrieking of the Cock of the Rock in Intag,
Ecuador. The roaring of the river has changed to the sound of occasional
cars, playing kids and lawnmowers. The trees are taller and sleeker and not
covered by bromiliads and other epyphites. The smell is of eucalyptus and
clean, dry air - no longer the moist, rich air of the cloud forest.
Kangaroos replace horses and cows grazing on our front lawn. We miss our
raw, wild life in Ecuador, but life is much easier for us here in Australia.

We are still in the process of moving here permanently. I have been busy as
a builder, drawing up plans to convert the big shed into a house and
applying for permission from the local council. It has been a big learning
experience and again, very different from our lives in Ecuador where there
are far less rules! Hopefully within a month we will have permission to
build a bathroom and composting toilet that will make our lives here more
comfortable. (Luckily we are well trained in simplicity from our lives in
Ecuador!).

I have finally been able to connect onto the internet here in our
‘semi-house’ and am excited to be able to share this next stage of our life
adventure! Last year was wonderful, but exhausting, it seems like we have
been moving for years. I am trying to trace the fragments and people, my
global family, of the past 20 years, that have been scattered over many
countries and many places in those countries. I am longing to plant and
nurture the trees that the children will be able to pick fruit from in 10
years, in one place. It seems, right now, that Woombah, in northern NSW, is
that place.

It’s hard to imagine a place that is more like the paradise I grew up in on
the Gold Coast 37 years ago – river, ocean, forest, mangrove, rainforest,
sacred Aboriginal sites, small school, small community where people really
know each other and enough space to provide food for ourselves. Our
neighbours are kind and always helpful and we share seeds and plant
cuttings. We’re starting a local seed network and many people have joined
the call to put solar panels on their roof for electricity production. It’s
good…really good.

And Pacha and Yani seem very happy. They love going to school and, to my
surprise, don’t seem to be behind the other kids in schoolwork, despite not
having formal schooling for most of last year. I did a little bit of home
schooling in Ecuador, but it seems the excitement of travel and new
experiences and new languages has stimulated that part of their brain where
learning happens. It has confirmed to me that while formal school is
important, real learning happens in many different ways. The challenges of
the world that our children are growing up in makes new demands - of
adaptability, flexibility, creativity and knowing what ‘enough’ is. Pacha,
Yani and I learning and growing in this quest to find a happy, healthy life
in this changing world.

A big part of my happiness comes from being of service - and it seems that I
still can’t say ‘no’ to an active campaign. This month I ran for the Greens
in the state election for Queensland (I am still officially living there).
It’s always pretty tough, and we never have money to spend on the campaigns,
but I think it was worth it to offer a Green choice to voters on election
day. A highlight was running this campaign with my sister, Inge, who also
juggled her campaigning with her duties as a parent to 3 children. We did
well considering what we could put in, though generally people seem more and
more disconnected from politics - busier in their own lives, in despair that
there will ever be a real change. But society is changing – shouldn’t
politics reflect that? Maybe we just have to wait a little longer.

I didn’t win the state election for the Greens, though I was recently
elected President of the Parents and Citizen’s association of the Iluka
Public School! And, who knows, maybe this will have a more positive outcome
in the long run. I am so excited to work on establishing food gardens and
putting solar panels on the roof – there are so many ways that parents can
become involved in making school a place where children learn not only
reading and writing, but how to live. As always, the hardest part is
finding enough time to do it all!

Love to all, For Life, anja, pacha and yani.

10/13和訳

世界経済の市場は危機的状態です。しかしいったいそれが何だというのでしょう？私がいる山深いコミュニティからはグァバの木や植林されたばかりの庭が見えます。そんな社会問題はとても遠くの出来事に感じられます。

ここでは、世界経済の混乱よりも地球温暖化の方がはるかに生活に直接的な打撃を及ぼします。気候変動は種まきや収穫を左右する大問題。今後変化していく可能性もありますが、インタグのコミュニティは、都会の消費依存型のコミュニティより、確実に生きるための本能的な知恵が豊かと言えるでしょう。

ここエル・ミラグロでの先週からの仕事といえば、種を植えることでした。一粒の種から百あるいは千もの種になり、それが私たちの食料になるだけでなく、地球に豊かさを取り戻すことを心に描きながら、植えていきます。

私たちのDNAの奥深くに刻まれた、本質的な「生きるための知恵」は、「経済成長神話」に依存してきた結果、失われつつあります。 「限りない成長」という経済至上主義が本質を乗っ取り、自然を迫害してしまった。でも、お金はただの紙切れなんです。アメリカの先住民たちは前から言っていました、「お金は食べられない」ということを。

インターネットをするために訪れたオタバロの町で、私はオバマとマケインのアメリカ大統領選挙演説を見ました。全体的にどちらの候補者も、地球の直面する問題への現実味のある新しい可能性や勇気のある決断を持っていなく、私は落胆してしまいました。

しかしながら、バラク・オバマ氏の一言が私の心に響きました。このように言っていたと思います；　９／１１以降ブッシュ政権は単純に民衆にこう言うだけでした。 すべて丸く収まるであろう。すべてのことにおいての責任を政府がとるのであるから、民衆はただひたすら「購入」し続けることでアメリカ経済を強くささえていればよいのだ、と。

問題に直面した国としての建設的な決断を下す絶好の機会が失われたときでした。裕福な国に住む人々は、ようやく自らの人生に意義をもたらすかもしれない犠牲を払う心の準備をととのえたかもしれませんが。このたった一つの望みのようなもの
が経済破綻という結末をもたらしたかもしれない、と私は考えるのです。

私たちのような裕福な国に生まれた人間には、もはやスローで、より小規模でシンプルに生きる事しか選択の余地はないのでしょうね。そんな今こそ自信を持って、私たちは手を取り合い地球の生態系を考慮した、持続可能な、お金にそんなに頼らない幸せな生活を営みましょう。

まず、とても基本的な事として実用レベルでの新しい生活習慣のためのお手本が必要になってきますので皆さんで地球への負担を出来るだけ軽くするためのアイデア、日々出来る事などなど話し合ってください。
SLOHASの時です！

それではエル・ミラグロへもどりましょう

２、３週間前私の大親友のナマケモノ倶楽部の世話人中村隆市さんが日本から新旧の素晴らしい友人たちをつれてエクアドルへAACRI （インタグ有機コーヒー生産者協会）の１０周年のお祝いをかねて訪問に来てくれました。わだあやさんがエクアドルの典型的な遅延状況にも関わらず、１０日間の滞在期間すべての手配と準備をしてくれました。

パチャとヤニと私は１０日間のすべての行程に参加しました。（皆さんの寛大さに感謝！）というのも出来る限りのお手伝いをしたかったし、友人たちとつながり分かち合えるチャンスだったからです。

皆さんが到着する前、ここエル・ミラグロでは新しくコーヒーの育つ森を育成するための区画を広げました。そして果実やコーヒーの苗木をみなさんが植えられるような準備を整えることに励みました。これは持続可能な発展のお手本としてのエル・ミラグロの展望を強く、新たなものにするべき素晴らしい機会となりました。

私自身ここを訪れたすべての人がエル・ミラグロの役割を良き思想の反映と、平和、静穏の場所であり、持続可能な生活習慣のお手本である事に気がついてくれていると感じます。というのも「本格的」なSLOHASは「現代社会」に戻ったときの持続可能な生活習慣への変換をラクにする手助けをしてくれるからです。

ここで生活していてとても楽しいと感じるもののなかに、イケる、イケてないそれぞれありますが、新しい食材や、植物、デザインを試すことに挑戦し続けているというのがあります。なぜそんな事をしているかというと、いつもここで育てている物を使おうと心がけているからなのです。

私は今日キャベツと青パパイヤのサラダを昼食に作りました（もちろん定番の豆と米も一緒）。これがとってもおいしかったんです！子供たちもおかわりに戻ってくるほどでした。こんな新発見をルイスや地元の人たちに教えることが、私の何よりの楽しみです。多分これは地球上どこでもつながりの深い小さなコミュニティでは同じだと思いますが、ほとんどの人が本来自分の行ってきた事をそのままやり続けているだけです。外の人間が入ってくるか自身で外に出て行くかしない限り何かが変わる事はありません。

パチャはどこに行っても敬愛に満ちて楽しそうに動物たちとの新しい接し方を試しています。今日は馬のシャンティが休んで横になっている所に一緒に座って、シャンティに一曲歌ってあげながら優しく頭をなでていました。その光景がどんなに美しかったか、教えていないのに自ら自然にふるまう彼女をどんなに誇りに思ったことでしょう。

ここでは馬たちは他の動物と同じく重い荷物を運んだり、人間に支配され労働を強いられています。それは仕方のない事なのですが、それでもすべての生き物を尊敬と愛情を持って接する方が素晴らしい生き方ではないでしょうか？

生と死はこちらではより身近な事です。日本の皆さんが滞在していた間に、川向いに住むロベルトとノルマ夫妻の幼い娘で、４歳のエメリーに悲しい事件が起きてしまいました。パチャとヤニとよく遊んでいた明るく美しい女の子、駆け回り、笑い、 滝で遊んでいました。２週間ほど前に、彼女はコタカチ近郊でタクシーにひき逃げされ命を奪われてしまいました。残された家族、プラザギテレスのコミュニティ、サンタ・ロサとプカラのコミュニティにとって深い悲しみとなりました。

パチャ、ヤニそして私は３人にとって人生初のお葬式で、家族や他の参列者たちと、かつて彼女が短い人生の中で遊んだ美しい森の風景を背に地中に沈んでいく姿に嘆きました。カトリックのお葬式では、私は、信仰というものは、誰でも知っている事をみなで一緒にすること、例えばみなで同じ歌を歌ったり同じ形式や儀式を行う事を通じて、 ショックに直面したときや死のトラウマ（心的外傷）から人々を精神的に救えるという重要な役わりを持つ事に気がつきました。

人間はこのような宗教的な儀式を必要としているのではないか、人間以上の存在の力を求めているのではないかと私は考えるのです。例えばお香や聖水を用いたりすることなど、宗教的な形を全く持たずにこのような儀式や慣習を行うことがはたしてできるのでしょうか？「私たちの信仰こそが唯一の神である」と主張したりせず、すべての信仰の根底にある真実を受け入れるべきではないでしょうか？このようなことこそ強いコミュニティを作る為の本質であり、人類として今立ち向かわなければならない大きな挑戦なのではないかと私には思えました。

地中深く棺が沈むその前、最後に一度だけ棺が開けられた時、ヤニは棺のそばにいました。彼女の姿がすっかり変わってしまったとヤニは言っていました。私たち人間は体から魂や精神が抜けてしまった事を感じ取ることができます。人は彼女は天使になったんだよとか、姿は見えないけれど時々は遊びにきてくれるよと言ったりします。

私たちは一緒に楽しく過ごした時を心に刻んで前を向かなければなりません。生きる事は過去の出来事よりもほんの少しだけ大切なものなのです。子供たちも道路は危ない場所にもなり得ること、そして死がこんなに近くに存在する事を前より理解してくれるでしょう。

日本とオーストラリアに行くまでの６週間の計画を立てている時点で、私たちのエル・ミラグロでの時間はもうそろそろ終わりに近づいてきました。私たちは今月（１０月中）海岸部とアマゾンを旅して、その後エル・ミラグロでの最後の数週間は新しい長期ボランティアのカリンにここでの生活に早くなれ親しんでもらうことと、コミュニティに彼女を紹介する手伝いをしたいと思っています。ボランティアの人たちの為の食物がたくさんこれから育って来年になる頃には収穫できるし、日本の「お風呂」（星や蛍を眺めながらお風呂につかれる日が待ち遠しい！）も作り始めています。どのくらいで帰れるか分かりませんが、健やかで新調されたような気持ちでエル・ミラグロを離れることはとっても気持ちがいいです。

いのちのために
アンニャ・ライト

10/13

The world's financial markets are in crisis. What does that mean? From here, looking out at the guava trees and newly planted gardens, the distant community of Plaza Guiterez in the mountain above, the problem seems far away. To these communities the climate crisis has had a more direct impact than global economic chaos so far – predicting the weather is vital for sowing and harvesting crops. This, of course, may change – but the communities of Intag definitely know more about basic survival than our consumer dependent communities in the cities.

Over the past week most of our work here at El Milagro has been in planting seeds – knowing that one seed can produce not only food for us but produce hundreds or thousands more seeds to replenish the Earth. Perhaps this is what the 'great economy myth' has 'banked' on – suspecting that deep within our DNA is the knowledge that life is abundant, even seemingly infinite – so
it is easy to substitute the 'infinite growth' model of financial markets to our innate knowledge of the abundance of nature. But money is just paper. And as the native American prophecy fortells, we can't eat it.

On a brief visit to Otavalo for the internet, I watched a US Presidential debate between Obama and McCain. Overall it left me quite depressed – neither seemed to offer a real alternative or courageous response to the crisis our planet faces. Though one thing Barak Obama said struck me. He said something like this: that after 9/11 Bush basically told people that everything would be alright, the 'government' would take care of everything
and all they needed to do was to keep 'buying' to keep the American economy strong. An opportunity for a positive collective response to a crisis was lost. People in wealthy countries may finally be ready to make sacrifices - it may even give their lives more meaning. To me this is one great hope that may come of the financial crisis – we, in the rich countries, may have no
choice but to live slower, smaller and more simple lives. It's time to feel confident that together we can live more ecological, sustainable and happier lives without depending so much on money. On a very basic, practical level people need examples of new and alternative lifestyles – please share your ideas and inspiration and daily practices in living more lightly on the Earth. Its time for SLOHAS!

Anyway, back to El Milagro.
A couple of weeks ago our good friend and Sloth Club founder, Ryuichi Nakamura, brought a group of wonderful old and new friends from Japan to Ecuador to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the community coffee association in Intag - AACRI and to visit Intag. Aya Wada managed to organise a ten day visit despite the typical Ecuadorean changes and delays in preparing things. Pacha, Yani and I joined most of the tour (thanks for everyone's patience!) - hoping to help where we could and having the chance to share and connect with our friends.

Here at El Milagro we had a great incentive in getting everything in order before the group came to visit, preparing a new site to extend the agroforestry/coffee growing area, so participants could help plant some new coffee and fruit trees. It was a wonderful opportunity to reinforce and renew our vision for El Milagro as a model for sustainable development. I think most people who came could sense the role of El Milagro as a place for reflection, peace, tranquility and a place to practice a sustainable lifestyle – the 'hardcore' slohas that helps make it easier to make sustainable lifestyle changes when returning to 'civilization'.

One of the most enjoyable parts about living here has been trying new things; experimenting with new recipes, new plants, new designs – some work, some don't. Because we try always to use food that we have growing here - today I made a cabbage and green papaya salad for lunch (along with the usual beans and rice) – it worked very well! Even the kids came back for more helpings. I especially love sharing these new discoveries with Luis and other local visitors. Perhaps it is the same in all small, tight knit
communities, all around the Earth, but most people do things the way they have always done and until either they go outside of these boundaries, or someone comes in from the outside, things don't change.

Pacha has been demonstrating a new way to connect with animals everywhere she goes, respectful, loving, playful. Today she sat with her horse Shanti as he was lying down resting, composing a song to sing for him and stroking his head softly. How beautiful it was and how proud I feel for something I have not really taught her, but comes naturally from her own heart. Here horses are treated, like most animals, as beasts of burden, to be controlled
and forced by humans to work. That's fine – but isn't life more beautiful when we treat all living things with respect and love?

Life and death seem closer to us here. During the time the group visited from Japan, a terrible tragedy happened to a little girl, Emely, the daughter of Roberto and Norma who live on the other side of the river. Pacha and Yani would often play with this happy, beautiful 4 year old, running, laughing, playing at the waterfall. About 2 weeks ago she was killed by a hit and run taxi near Cotacachi. The grief of her family and the communities of Plaza Guiterrez, Santa Rosa and Pucara continues. Pacha, Yani and I went
to the funeral - the first one that any of us had been to in our lives, and cried with the family and many other mourners as her body was lowered into the Earth on the mountainside – with a view to the beautiful forests she had played in all her short life. It was a Catholic memorial service, and I recognised the important role that a collective spiritual belief has in helping people face the shock and trauma of death – everyone knew the same songs and phrases, the same rituals and forms – they knew what to do. I
think we have a need for rituals like this, invoking powers greater than us, using incense, holy water, earth…Can we create these ceremonies and rituals without the dogma of exclusive religion? Accepting the essential truths of all spiritual beliefs without claiming that 'ours is the only and true way to God'? It seems to me that something like this is essential in building strong communities in the great challenge we face as a human species right
now.

Yani was near the casket and before they lowered it into the earth they opened the lid one last time. Yani says she looked different. We can all sense when the soul, the spirit, Life has left the body. They both say she is an angel now and sometimes comes to play but we can't see her. We remember the joyful times we had together and try to keep positive. Life is that little more precious. The kids understand a little more how dangerous the roads can be and how quickly death can come.

Our time here at El Milagro is running out as we make our plans for the next 6 weeks before our return to Australia and Japan. We will travel to the coast and to the Amazon this month, then settle in for the last few weeks mostly at El Milagro, helping our new long term volunteer Karin get used to the place and introducing her to the communities here. There will be a lot of food growing here for volunteers, ready to harvest over the next year or so and we have started building the Japanese 'ofuro' (looking very much forward to a hot bath under the stars and fireflies!) It is a good feeling
to leave El Milagro refreshed and renewed for however long it will be before we return.

For Life,
Anja Light

9/15

This message is powered by the sun! Yes, finally the solar panels are connected to the inverter and charging up the laptop. Like everything in Ecuador it took about three times longer than expected. And now that I have the computer here, ready to write, I find it so hard to stop doing the hundred other small but important tasks that keep El Milagro and our simple lives ticking along – picking coffee, harvesting peas, de-husking peas, washing clothes, making paths, planting, digging, pruning, cooking, helping the kids with school work, washing clothes (yes, again!), putting on roofs,
fixing toilet houses…there is never really 'nothing to do'. Yet most of the activities are somewhat like meditation – mundane and repetitive so that my mind to drift backwards and forwards in time, reflecting and then making plans and then being blissed by the sight of an incredible looking insect or bird.

It's interesting to look back on the first lists I made of things that needed to be done here and to watch as the priorities have changed. First I thought we would really need to put glass in all the windows where we sleep/live upstairs in the stone house. Then we had a morning visit by a beautiful hummingbird and at night the fireflies flash in different parts of the room – so the glass has remained packed in cardboard and we put an extra blanket on for the cool nights.

We did meet one important priority - replacing the sugarcane grass roof of the round house. Hooray – its finished! Between Luis and I and about 4 other occasional workers, over the course of about 4 weeks, we stripped off the old roof – to be used as mulch for the new gardens. In Australia sugar cane mulch is bought in the big hardware stores by aspiring city gardeners – here they would have burnt it if I had not stopped them and assured them that it would be good for the garden. It seems that summer has finally arrived –
more than a month late – and it will be good to keep more moisture around the new seedlings (brocoli, silverbeet, chili, tomato, coriander, parsley, white carrot) that we have recently planted out.

The unusually wet weather was the main topic of conversation by most of the people here for weeks. People had never remembered another time like it. It affected the flowering and harvest of important local crops including coffee, peas and beans. Local people commented on the impact of climate change – and I bristled at the knowledge that this problem, caused by us rich consumers in the energy wasting 'developed' countries, means suffering for the poorest of the poor. We can go out and buy our food, while people
here have less choice, if the harvest fails because of too much rain, they don't have enough product to sell and they have less to eat.

Everyday we are reminded that we are truly in one of the most beautiful parts on the planet. Pacha and Yani are always discovering new bugs which they bring to me in glee. The sight of a big spider (even in the house) is not cause for alarm but an exclamation of surprise and joy. We have seen a few snakes, including a big false coral snake, resplendent in orange, red
and black and a small black snake that Pacha brought to me wrapped around a stick. I guess she thought that my directive never to touch a snake didn't apply to snakes less than a meter in length!

Anyway, it didn't seem to be dangerous and we quickly put it back where we found it. We have seen the famous cock of the rock bird near the river, flashing red in the trees. We watch the squirrels in the trees sharing the hundreds of guavas with us and our horse Shanti. Yesterday morning we saw what must have been an opossum
ambling along the newly laid stone path. And about a week ago Pacha saved a baby duckling at the river side. Its mother (or father) was a beautiful orange and grey blue colour and turns out to be very rare here. A dog (puppy really and very cute that the kids named ´fluffy´) that had been following us to our regular swim in the river ran ahead and grabbed the duckling in its mouth, Pacha wrestled it out. We tied up the dog (with my Thai pants which promptly broke as the dog eventually struggled free) and put the
duckling back by the stream, observing from a distance as its parent came back…

Pacha and Yani have both been practising their riding skills on Shanti everyday. Despite being a fullblooded stallion, Shanti follows Pacha around like a dog and waits every morning at the gate in the paddock for Pacha to bring him a bucket of guavas that have fallen during the night. Local people here have never seen horses that get brushed daily and cuddled and kissed…but then, they also do not expect stallions to be so placid with small children. This morning we saw Shanti do a hilarious thing. He stood outside the round house where there is a large window and he can see his own
reflection. He started neighing and whinnying and trying to nip the window – I guess Shanti sometimes feels lonely here with only ocassional visits of other horses for company.

During the past month we have also been able to meet up with many old cherished friends from Intag. A few weeks ago we got a lift with our neighbour Carlos Zorilla and a car load of other neighbours to the hotsprings at Nangulvi (about 30 mins away by car) . The occasion was an agro-ecology fair (organised by the 'consortio' made up of DECOIN, AACRI and the Women's association) that reminded me strongly of the expos we had
organised in Cotacachi.

About 50 stalls with information, ecological products and delicious food, talks, local musicians and of course the hotsprings. Pacha and Yani spend 3 hours in the water while I met many old friends from the past. So many wonderful new initiatives have been happening here, despite (or because of?) the threat of mining. It has been hard for many people, yet I felt a sense of real optimism and solidity about the initiatives.

Projects like the coffee and kabuya handicrafts have proved to be a real success and there are a range of new initiatives that mean more diversity in the potential to provide a sustainable income and healthier lifestyle. It was a great fair, though too expensive for many local people to participate ($2 per person when a daily wage is only about $7 per day) and it was hard to reach the fair without your own transport (only a few overloaded buses travel the road each day).

After Pacha and Yani could finally be coaxed out of the water we ate lunch served on non disposable plates – a real reflection of commitment to minimising environmental impact, pretty unusual in Ecuador.

Every two weeks or so we have made the 1 hour walk and 2 hour journey by bus on the dirt road to the market town of Otavalo. We book a room at a cheap but clean hostel, where we shed the sweaty muddy clothes and shoes, soak in a steaming hot shower and where the kids watch discovery kids in Spanish (one of the best ways they have been able to pick up some of the language) while I work on the first floor in the internet café, reconnecting with the world.

We emerge to have $1 pizza at the restaurant on the corner and the
kids start to beg me for the multitude of temptations we have not seen in the cloud forest – ice cream, lollies, toys, hair clips, shoes, gloves…and I remember why it is so very peaceful in El Milagro!

Sept.21

I'm finishing this up as the kids are sleeping here in Otavalo. For most of the past week one of us (Pacha, Yani or I ) have been running a fever – some kind of nasty flu. I made the decision to take the kids out to Otavalo in case any of us got any worse and we needed medical attention. I ended up taking Pacha to see the doctor as her fever entered a 5th day.

Normally I see a fever as a good sign that the body is defending itself, but Pacha just doesn't have the energy to spare. A couple of earlier rounds of diarrohea have left her underweight, So for the next couple of months my main focus will be on nourishing my children. And that's how it seems to go for us in Ecuador – a pendulum swing of wonderful, life enhancing experiences, then a sense of fear and vulnerability. We will make it, but it is sometimes tough to live a hardcore slohas life!

8/21和訳

パチャ、ヤニとともに、エル・ミラグロの霧雲森からコタカチのインターネットカフェへと出てきました。エクアドルでの各プロジェクトについて近況をお伝えしたいと思います！

●ロス・セドロス生態保護区

ロス・セドロスを拠点に雲霧林の保護活動に取り組む写真家、マレー・クーパーや彼の家族と一緒に過ごし、プロジェクトの近況を聞くことができました。

相変わらず境界線争いが最大の問題ではありますが、プロジェクトはそれなりに順調に進んでいるようです。ただボランティアたちがとても大変そうです。一番近い村までプロジェクト地まで６時間は歩かなくてはならないのですから。

今でも是非様子を見に行きたいのですが、プロジェクトリーダーのホセ・デ・クーからいつ都合がいいのか等の連絡がありません。

マレーは鳥の素晴らしい写真集を最近出版しました。相変わらず積極的に動き回っています。日本やオーストラリアの皆さんによろしくお伝えくださいとのことです。


●エスメラルダス州、オルメド、サン・ロレンソ

パチャ、ヤニの父親であるマルセロは、現在パトリシオ・タマリスとエクアドル沿岸地域のコミュニティ/持続可能/エコツーリズムを目的とした活動を行っており、最近エスメラルダスに出向いたそうです。

マルセロが言うには、サン・ロレンソのマドレ・セルバはまるで見捨てられてしまったかのようだそうです。ＲＩＣ（熱帯雨林情報センター）のジョンとルスが、一体この地に何が起こったのかを知るべく情報収集中です。私がここにいる間、このプロジェクトに関して何かやってほしいことがあれば知らせてください。

また、マルセロは、エクアドルが誇るマリンバ奏者で、かつてナマケモノ倶楽部の招きで来日も果たしたパパ・ロンコンを探そうとしていますが、見つからないようです。しかしながら、カルロス・ルビオには会ったようです。みなさんによろしくとのことです。

察するに、ルース・デル・アルバはもうそこにはいないのではないかと思われます。オルメドでのツーリズムロジェクトも継続しているのか確かではありません。別の基金をもとに立ち上げようとしているプロジェクトがもう一つあります。

マルセロは、ナマケモノ倶楽部発足前夜、１９９９年２月にみなで訪れたパトリシオ・タンバコにも会うことができなかったそうです。タンバコ農場は完全に閉鎖されていたとのことです。

彼が言うには、最長のマングローブの木々が、近くのエビ養殖場建設のせいで枯れてしまったとのことです。とても悲しいニュースですが私たちにはもうこれ以上何もできないのが現状です。


●セロ・セコ、バイーア・デ・カラケス、リオ・ムチャーチョ


以前にも報告したとおり、ニコラ、パトリシオ・タマリス、フロール・マリア、プラネット・ドラム・ファンデーション、マルセロといった人たちは、それぞれのプロジェクトを継続していますし、エクアドルの他地域に比べてもバイーア地区は比較的環境意識の高いところでもあります。

エコシティとしての１０周年記念やマングローブディ（２００９年２月）も近づいています。このような機会にエコアクションが盛り上がるよい機会かもしれません。

セロ・セコ保護区は動いていて、ボランティアも募集中です。今では地方の自治体と組んでエコツールズムプロジェクトや環境教育を進めています。ベラ・ビスタ近くのコミュニティでは、ごみの分別とコミュニティ運営の素晴らしさで賞をとりました。

リオ・ムチャーチョにも行ってきました。いろいろなことが順調に進んでいるようでした。庭も広くなって、ワークショップもたくさん行われていて、ボランティアもたくさん来ています。学校の運営も変わらず順調です。（ナマケモノ倶楽部やその他支援してくださった方々のおかげです。きっとアミからもっと情報が来るでしょう）


●エル・ミラグロ、プカラ、インタグ

エル・ミラグロでは、ここ数週間、ラウンドハウスのサトウキビの葉をつかった屋根葺き替えに力を入れています。 日本から２人、インドから１７歳のボランティアが現在滞在しています。

１１月からの長期ボランティアを希望しているドイツ人のカリンともメールを通じて話し合っています。将来の提携についても、エコビレッジプロジェクトのピーター・シアーと連絡を取っているところです。その他、プカラでアミとパートナー渡辺さんの助けを借りて、大豆のワークショップを企画しています。

地元の人たちは天候に不安を感じています。本来は暖かい乾期なはずなのに、ずっと雨が降っているからです。豆類には乾期が必要です。それに乾期はコーヒー豆を乾かすのにもとても大切です。実際は、雨が多すぎてどちらも不作です。

先週、コタカチでアウキ知事夫人のアルカマリに会いました。地元学校での英語教師採用の面接のお手伝いをしてきたのです。オルタナティブスクールをめざし、コタカチ郡が行政としていろいろな点で協力してくれているようですが、私としては
込み入った事情もよくわかります。

９０年代にエクアドルに関わってから、今までずっと見てきて、インタグは、コミュニティ機能や環境意識が、コタカチ郡のどの地域よりも高いと感じています。ＮＧＯによる自発的な活動が多く見られますし、進化し続ける地元インタグ新聞やラジオ放送が、一般市民への環境意識を高めるのに大きく影響しているように思われます。


いのちのために
アンニャ、パチャ、ヤニ
【翻訳：中島由美子】