The past few months have been very busy since I left Ecuador. We have been working hard on the documentary, El Último Hielero (The Last Ice Merchant), and continuing to prepare our book, Train of Dreams: The Passage of Time. I’m delighted to say that, after months of silence, I have returned to Ecuador to continue work on our projects and keep things moving. This time I am here to focus on the book. And, of course, I have reunited with Rodrigo to see what kinds of trouble we can get into.

Once I arrived, we immediately headed down to the coast to collect interviews from railroad workers and descendents of railroad workers, as well as to scout locations for photography. We didn’t realize how quickly we would meet so many interesting people. In fact, we barely had to do any more than walk into Duran, the coastal town where the railway starts, to start uncovering stories.

For now I will focus on only one person, Sr. Davis. Sr. Davis is an engineer in Duran. Though he does not work for the train company, his father did, also as an engineer. His father, like many other railroad workers, felt passionately about Ecuador’s trains. The trains were such a focus in his life, in fact, that he devoted much of his personal time rebuilding miniature working versions of them in his garage. Hand-crafted and fully functioning, these trains are strong enough to carry adults across the miniature, hand-crafted tracks.

Today, Sr. Davis looks after the trains his father built by hand and brings them out of the garage on holidays. He is also always happy to give a tour of the garage and to share a personal demonstration to any passersby. The following is a video of the demonstration he gave us, with Rodrigo happily jumping on top of the train for a ride.

This morning, bright and early, Rodrigo and I begin our latest adventure: walking the entire line of the old narrow-gauge Guayaquil & Quito (G&Q) Railway, a 466 km (290 mile) hike. The trek, from the lowlands of Guayaquil, the coastal port and largest city in Ecuador, to Quito, the capital city high in the Andes, will bring us from sea-level to over 3,600 meters (11,800 feet) in altitude at its highest point.

Why are we doing this, you might ask? Why would anyone spend three weeks climbing from the sea level to the sky via old railroad tracks?

A. Because it’s there.
B. To bring attention to the rehabilitation of the railroad.
C. To raise awareness of the railroad’s history, so that it will not be lost.
D. And, of course, we both like adventure and being outdoors!

Our hope is that an American and an Ecuadorian walking together will celebrate the partnership, commitment and sacrifices that people from two different countries on different continents – North America and South America – made over one hundred years ago when they came together to complete what has been called “the most difficult railroad in the world.”

Before the G&Q Railway was built, it took up to 30 days to travel from Guayaquil to Quito – and it could only be done six months out of the year because of rains and flooding. Travelers generally started out by steamboat from the swamps of Guayaquil, steaming up an alligator-infested river, then continued on by horse or mule or Indian back picking along sheer cliff paths up into the mountains, and then finally by coach over the highlands to Quito. Everything and everyone traveling between Guayaquil and Quito took these routes. If someone in Quito wanted a piano? Up it went on the backs of Indians. Furniture? Food? Liquor? Coffee? Cacao? Same thing.

The railway effectively shortened the length of the trip to two days, with trains usually stopping in Riobamba for the night.

When we depart from Guayaquil this morning, we plan on about 15 days of hiking to reach Chimbacalle Station in Quito. During that time, we’ll be walking by foot and following the tracks. We’ll be meeting lots of local folks, and learning about the places and people as we pass. Check the blog often to see where we are and to read about the history of the railroad and the towns along the old G&Q Railway route.

We are really excited about the progress of our short documentary, El Último Hielero. Production continues to progress and the footage is looking great. But the next step is quickly approaching: Post Production.

Soon I will return to New York City where the movie will have to be edited, scored, conformed, colored and mixed. Then we have to start submitting to film festivals.

I have started a Kickstarter project in order to help raise funds to complete the film. Kickstarter is a fundraising website for independent projects that allows anyone to contribute. In exchange for support, rewards are granted on a tiered basis. It’s a great idea and I’m hoping through this we can find a way to finish this movie and make it the best that it can be!

Please consider contributing to this documentary through our Kickstarter. Every dollar helps (and that just happens to be the minimum contribution!).

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cotopaxiproductions/el-ultimo-hielero-the-last-ice-merchant

We just finished shooting the first week of what will be the short documentary, El Último Hielero (The Last Ice Merchant). For a preview of what the ice merchant does, see this post. Rodrigo and I pitched tents in Cuatro Esquinas, the small, rural town where Baltazar, the ice merchant, lives so that we can live close to the families and be around all day to shoot, without wasting time traveling to and fro.

We started the shoot with Baltazar’s brother, Gregorio, who is an ex-ice merchant. Gregorio used to haul the huge blocks of ice down from the glacier on Chimborazo on the backs of mules and make his own ice cream from basic ingredients like fruit and sugar, but he stopped when sales for traditional glacial ice cream declined and supplies grew too expensive. Now he sells factory-made ice cream. However, Gregorio agreed to show us how he used to make the ice cream. We followed Gregorio for two days as he travelled to Riobamba to buy ingredients and demonstrate the making of ice cream from blocks of ice.

The first day’s shoot following Gregorio began on the Condor Bus, the main mode of transportation from Cuatro Esquinas to Riobamba. Music blasts from the speakers, and different buses are decorated with different color schemes; the décor of the Condor Bus included swanky red upholstery and curtains that could come straight from a bordello.

Gregorio often buys blocks of ice from the ice factory, where the large blocks are frozen underneath the floorboards. The ice factory owner gave us a tour, along with a basic rundown of how the ice is made.

We then headed to the produce market where Gregorio buys blackberries to flavor the ice cream. The market is expansive with mounds of fruits and vegetables of all different shapes and colors and sizes.

And then to an ice cream shop to pick up 300 cones.

This is Gregorio’s old workshop. Here he processes his ingredients to make the blackberry base for the ice cream.

Outside, Gregorio prepares the ice, cleaning and crushing it. He then loads the crushed ice into a large wooden barrel in which a metal tube is placed with the ice cream base. By spinning the metal tube and stirring the mixture occasionally with a large metal spoon, the fruity red liquid slowly begins to freeze. Eventually the magic and delectable product emerges: blackberry ice cream!

Gregoria then loads the entire wooden barrel of ice and ice cream on his bicycle, and peddles about town, selling ice cream one cone at a time. He honks the horn on his bike to get the attention of passers-by.

Every night, in Cuatro Esquinas, I transfer the day’s film footage from camera to computer. Having scoured the area for adequate cables, Rodrigo was able to splice electricity to an outlet in Gregorio’s old workshop. This is where we finish every night, transferring footage by candlelight.