- if it is dark don't come to the farm because you don't want to walk the trail at night (the last daylight bus is at 4:30pm from the terminal). Go find a nice hostel.
- Let us know who you are, where you are and when you will be at the farm. Tina keeps a small room at Soraya and Nelsa Carpios house in Vilcabamba which is a handy place for us to coordinate from. The number for the farm actually rings at this house (there is no phone at the the farm). At the house there is a Neverland notebook where we can leave notes for eachother. This book usually says when Tina (or the car) is coming to town and you could leave a note there too. Soraya and Nelsa live in a green building right off the main square of town, just down from the La Terrazza restaurant (in between a liquor store and a bike shop.) If you don't speak Spanish ask for Sue (a gringa). Be sure to leave a message in the Neverland Notes. The women in the house are only there for messages, they do not live with us.
- Stock up on food and supplies while in town! Here is a list of things you may want.
- The bus terminal is where the bus from Loja will drop you off. There are buses that leave at 1pm and 4:30 pm, and either one will drop you off with enough time to get to the farm before sundown. There are also morning buses, but you'll need to inquire at the Terminal what time. You want to take the Sur Oriente bus thats goes to Quinara via Tumianuma. Check to make sure that the bus DOES go to Tumianuma, as the other buses go to Quinara via another route.
- After a little over half an hour on the bus you'll want to get off at Tumianuma, a small town the bus passes through right before it reaches its final destination in Quinara (after Cucanama, Los Linderos and Solanda). Ask the bus driver or the guy taking money to tell you when you arrive, wait 30 minutes and ask again. In Tumianuma have the bus stop in front of the church right near the entrance to town. You'll be sure you've arrived when you see the torquoise cross in the middle of the road:
the town...pretty small, huh? Almost directly across from the church there is a dirt road next to one lone
goal post...on the weekends people may be enjoying a delightful game of passing a ball around with their
feet...they call this game ¨football¨ Do not be afraid, you can join in, but have caution, these people are friggin' good at football. Otherwise, if you feel like a cold shower AND bed at the farm, pass by the game with a simple wave and go down the road I described above. Walk down the dirt road across from the cross. Walk down this road for about 1 km., until you reach a really big fancy foot bridge. It is very orange and yellow, if you cannot see it you are blind.
path. This path will take you up and down and you will follow the curve of the mountain. If it is
raining hard (really really hard, mind you), you might not want to do this walk because there are waterfalls
and creeks that form, and there can be flash floods. This almost never happens, but you might get wet. You
will pass by a lot of farms, you will see a lot of gates (by a lot I mean about 5). The best rule of thumb is to stick to the right, if you see a gate of metal, or anything that is well built and strong, it is the WRONG gate . It likely leads to someone elses property which probably has some delicious bananas and rampant dogs.
- Take switchback on the left to walk down towards another gate (but not through it!) and past. If you keep going you will pass thru a swinging gate, coming to a creek. If it is flooding go back to the intersection and try the other way, along the base of the mountain. If it is not flooding, walk along it upstream for about five minutes until you see the gate on the left. This gate is big and black with grafitti. Welcome, this is the entrance to Never Never Land!
- Another way is go forward, along the base of the mountain, sort of to the right. You will come to a
gate that is made of barbed wire and sticks. This is for keeping cows from shitting everywhere (and wandering off in the process). Go through the gate/fence and continue on the trail. Next you will come to a clearing on your left with a house that is abandoned on the other end of the field. Enter here through the gate. It is this peoperty for sale. One guy named Julio tends to the land, and he is OK. You want to
cut across the the property so open the barbed wire gate and go on in (rule of thumb with gates: if they
are open leave them that way, if they are closed, close them after you walk through). Look out for
cow patties, go through the property, pass in front of the house (greeting anyone you meet politely) and
through the gate on the other end, right next to the house. The trail is a little overgrown , but after two more insufficient gates, if you watch to your left there is a blue rope bridge (the Leap of Faith bridge) which if you cross will put you on Never Never Land, take the trail (to your left as you exit the bridge) back down the creek a bit, you cant miss the houses. Yell for us as you are coming, we will turn out to meet you. Barbie is our Husky, she is very nice, greet her with more affection than the neighbor!