Behind Harem Walls: Jane’s Most Daring Exploit

Abstract

Jane’s next adventure, the infiltration of an Islamic harem, came hot on the heels of Veronica’s publication, but not before she and Ken had a chance to relax for several months in what Jane would often refer to as her paradise on earth. While spending December 1957 in Quito finishing up the novel manuscript, Jane and Ken decided to take advantage of an Ecuadorian government program for land development in the eastern part of the country—the Oriente—that they had been aware of for some time. Jane explains in The Head with the Long Yellow Hair, “Under existing laws, immigrants and each member of their families are entitled to 200 acres of free land. If at the end of three years, they have put one-third of their entire acreage under cultivation, the Government of Ecuador will then furnish the immigrant with a permanent title to the property” (92). Inspired by an American female friend, Bernice Wallace, who came to Ecuador and set up a successful banana plantation,¹ Jane and Ken filed for their land grant and were soon growing bananas and coffee. She explained: “Each ‘colono’ on the ‘Plan Piloto,’ a government sponsored pilot plan to encourage Ecuadorians to cultivate a few acres of land (bananas, coffee, cacao, whatever…) was given about 25 hectares plus a rather makeshift house, not quite completed.”² Part of the arrangement was that Jane and Ken would publicize the pilot plan in U.S. publications.