Santa Lucia

If you go to Ecuador and you don't mind a bit of a hike, go to Santa Lucia.

When we reached the lodge after ascending 2000 feet over a well-maintained 3km trail, Eduardo met us on the porch with glasses of lemonade sweetened with raw sugar from their own plantation. We sat to take off our shoes and sip lemonade while empress brilliants and andean emeralds lapped nectar from the hummingbird feeder. We found that, despite our afternoon arrival, lunch had been kept for us and we sat at the broad-planked table to enjoy a hearty oat and vegetable soup, rice, beans and lettuce from the organic garden.

Santa Lucia began as a farming cooperative. As the enterprise grew, members began to seek out viable alternatives to clearing the land and farming with pesticides. Construction on the lodge began in the mid 90s, and today, the cooperative offers simple and sustainable accomodations perched on a ridge surrounded by primary and regenerating forest.

In our three days there we slowed to the pace that living with minimal electricity allows. In the morning dailyight and birdsong woke us, and after a delicious breakfast of bread, blackberry jelly, and scrambled eggs, we headed out along the main trail following the ridge. We stopped to watch a masked trogon and later a golden-headed quetzal. Wrens sang in the undergrowth, and mixed flocks of tanagers drew our eyes to the canopy.

While our bird list grew, our minds and hearts settled. A place in which everything - food (outside of that grown in the garden), supplies, building materials, and in many cases one's luggage - arrives by mule, teaches gratitude. From eggs in the morning to papaya cake after dinner, each offering was a treasure. Hot showers were made possible by propane tanks carried up the mountain by mule. The bare bulbs that lit our after dinner bananagrams games came from solar pannels. In light of their sources, we found these accomodations to be the luxuries they are.

Eduardo and the other members of the cooperative live this gratitude as well. Their pride in what they have created is evident, and their joy in living a simple, non-harming life is infectious.

As we walked down hill, scanning the canopy for tucanets and barbets, our talk turned quickly to returning and to all the people we wish we could bring when we do.