From London To A Remote Village In Ecuador

Remember about San Antonio Community I recently visited and blogged about?

In this isolated place I met Ned Cresswell, an English man who’s the owner of the San Antonio Farm, where Carlos and I stayed for a few days.

I found it very intriguing to know about Ned’s way from London to Ecuador, and about his decision to settle down in an isolated community as the only foreigner (besides, most of the locals are somehow relatives among them).

So I asked and Ned agreed to have a kind of informal interview about his life in the San Antonio Community. I’m looking forward to read his responses and I’m sure they’ll be of interest to my readers.

Here’s my first question:

Please tell us a bit about your previous life in England, why you decided to come to South America and then stay in an isolated village in Ecuador.

And Here’s What Ned Answered:

I grew up in Northumberland, which is a “province” in the North of England, bordering with Scotland. My parents are farmers, and have always loved life in the country. My happiest childhood memories are of riding horses and hunting birds in the woods – a typically destructive boy!

As I grew up, I realised that I would never be a farmer in the style of modernised, industrialised England. I studied botany, but as soon as I graduated I moved south and took work near London as a gardener. Over the next 15 years I tried a series of jobs: postman, lawyer’s assistant, driver, “noise nuisance” assistant (can you guess what that is? I don’t think it exists in Ecuador yet!). I enjoyed all these simple jobs, but never felt sufficiently interested to build a career in any one field.

In London I spent 10 years studying shotokan karate, and am very grateful for the excellent teaching that I received. I think that, without my interest in karate, it would have been difficult for me to have spent so many years in London, as I found myself increasingly reacting against many aspects of modern city life.

In 2005 I said goodbye to England and set off for a 2 year tour of central and south america, mainly working unpaid on small farms. I soon found that farming in the andes is unlike farming in England, because in the andean countries most of the farms are much smaller, and are cared for using more traditional methods by the family that owns the land. Perhaps this is partly due to the topography, which makes the land less suitable for industrialisation. I like this way of life, which I suspect was common in England 100 years ago.

My brothers expressed surprise at the news that I had decided to buy a small farm in a remote part of Ecuador, without much planning. However, I had lived under circumstances that did not really suit my character for most of my life, and so I did not need to think twice when at last I saw an opportunity to live in a way that was better fitted to my character.

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Thanks for your answer!

I get it when you say “without much planning”. The people of the community told me you made only one short visit before buying the farm. Sounds crazy!

I think it’s great you found a lifestyle that fits you and decided to go for it. I don’t see the point on struggling to live  under other people’s standards, and unfortunately it is what most people in the modernized world is trying to do.

It was fun to hear about your job as noise nuisance assistant…lol! – You don’t need one of them in your farm, for sure!

* This interview will  probably continue next week, as Ned access the Internet only on Sundays, when he goes to the town of Cuellaje.

Here’s my second question. Feel free to expand your explanations, as I myself am very interested in what you have to say.

Why is it important for you to promote tourism in the San Antonio Community and the Intag Region?

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Related posts:

1. The Hardest Part
2. The Best And Worst Memories In San Antonio
3. Why Tourism In San Antonio
4. The Only Foreigner In An Isolated Ecuadorian Village