Adventures on the Farm

Hola Amigos!

No time for a proper update, but I just wanted to share that I had a fantastic week on the farm. Mostly helped out in the garden (where they have over 50 different kinds of organic veggies and herbs!). It was an eventful week, as I also learned how to milk a cow, slaughtered and prepared a couple roosters (that´s right, I slaughtered a chicken!), and yesterday evening watched a cow give birth!

I´m back in Otavalo now, getting my bartering face on and hitting the market.

Chao

Since returning to the mainland...

I spent a couple of nights in Quito at the lovely guest house run by Darrel and Mandy Klassen (a couple with roots in my hometown, who also happen to be relatives...2nd cousins I think we figured out). I was so happy to return to the mountain climate where it cools off at night. In my four weeks on the Galapagos I learned how much I dislike heat like that. Anyway, Darrel and Mandy have been wonderful. There was another group at the guest house going to Banos, and they were kind enough to offer me a ride.

So I headed down to Banos, a town with a really cool vibe. It reminded me a lot of Canmore...surrounded by mountains, and a cool cafe on every corner. It´s also at the base of an active volcano (last eruption in 2005), and was evacuated a few months ago because the volcano started spewing smoke. I really didn´t want another evacuation story (the tsunami was enough), and fortunately I survived my stay in Banos without a volcanic eruption. It was a really good place to relax, with lots of time for thinking and reflecting. No major inspiration to report, but it´s always good to spend some time sitting still and being quiet - especially in the season of lent. The (relatively) small cathedral in the middle of town was a good place for that. I also helped some paramedics practice their english. They needed english speakers to be mock accident victims so they could practice different scenarios in english to be able to better serve the many tourists that visit the area.

I met up with a friend from the bear project and a few of her friends and we headed down to Puyo, a town right on the edge of the jungle. There we visited a monkey reserve that houses 54 monkeys, all sick, injured, or were kept as pets and aren´t able to live in the wild. These monkeys were crazy and would literally climb all over you and jump on your head and unzip your bag to steal your stuff if you weren´t careful! A pretty cool experience!

Next I moved on to Riobamba for a short visit. I left today on a bike tour. We drove up to the base of Volcan Chimborazo - the highest in Ecuador (6310m), and because of the equatorial bulge, the furthest point from the centre of the earth. We walked from 4800m up to the refuge at 5000m; a breath taking hike - not so much for the view (it was really cloudy), but because it´s really hard to breathe up there! We were able to catch a few glimpses of the snow capped peak between the clouds and it really was amazing. Later, we biked 45km, descending almost 2000m, down a beautiful road winding alongside the river through canyons and past villages. Absolutely gorgeous!

On this tour I realized two things:

1. It was a great tragedy that my mountain bike spent last summer in the garage. We need to spend some quality time together this year...(not just on my birthday, Kim).

2. I´m drawn to the mountains by some force beyond my control. The refuge was extremely basic and it was cold and hard to breathe, but I wished so much that I was spending the night in preparation for a summit attempt. I will always love the prairies (in that way that only someone who grew up there can), but the mountains are calling!

The tour ended in Ambato where I took a bus further north to Latacunga. I´ll spend the night here, do a day trip to the Quilotoa crater lake tomorrow, then head back to Quito. On Monday, I´m going to spend a week on a farm north east of Quito (www.fbu.com.ec).

Then it won´t be long till I´m back in Manitoba. I will miss many things here, but there is a lot to look forward to at home: clean water coming out of the tap, cereal with milk, catching up with family and friends, ROCK CLIMBING!, etc, etc.

Hope all is well! See some of you soon!

Apologies...

Sorry the comments don´t match up well with the photos. I am a bit technologically challenged, and too short on time to fix it.

Also, at the volcano we were really lucky, not ´really like´

Last Days on the Islands

Last Saturday, about an hour and a half after the tsunami warning was called off, out of bravery or stupidity, eight of us got on a super dodgy boat and headed out into the Pacific. (The motor kept dying and someone literally held the wires together for a good part of the 3hr. journey).

In any case, we made it to Isabela and very quickly realized why everyone loves this island. There are way less people which also means way less tacky tourist shops, and we got a hostal right on the georgeous 2km long beach. Went for a sunset swim the night we got there and watched one of the most spectacular sunsets I´ve ever seen. Did a volcano hike the next day to see the second largest volcano crater in the world. We got really like with a perfectly clear morning so we had quite a good view. A short tour the next day, to see loads of marine iguanas nesting, frigate birds, and penguins! (No penguins on San Cristobal or Santa Cruz so this was exciting). We also went on a (successful) flamingo search. An excellent trip.

This is my last weekend on the islands, I go back to Quito on Wednesday. I did another snorkel tour today, the best one yet. We saw loads of reef sharks (it was impossible to count, but I would guess there were at least 30). Also about a dozen spotted eagle rays swimming by. And the usual sea turtles, parrot fish, puffer fish, etc. Definitley one of the most amazing things I´ve done.

I can´t upload my own photos, but here are a few I´ve stolen from another volunteer...

Post-tsunami evacuation. I think all of the town´s vehicles were called in to help with transport, so we rode back in this dump truck.


The beach and the pier is crowded with sea lions every evening


Cliff jumping on Santa Cruz


Sunset on Isabela


Volcan Sierra Negra

Tsunami Alarm

You have probably all heard about the earthquake in Chile. Just a quick note to say all is well here. I was woken up at 5:30 this morning and told we needed to move to higher ground. The details were a bit vague but we all started heading up hill and eventually found out what had happened, and that the wave (if it was coming) was expected here between 8 and 9am. Luckily, because this is a volcanic island you can gain elevation without going very far. Apparently this hasn´t happened here before, but the town was really quite efficient at evacuating everyone quickly. In the end, we were not hit here. At 10am we were allowed back to Port, and it`s business as usual. Thoughts and prayers with those in Chile.

A cold shower is my favorite part of the day

The Galapagos in the tourist brochures is a paradise. The highlands, on the other hand, are less of a paradise. I have never been tree planting before, but from the stories I´ve heard I think life at the Jatun Sacha station is similar. Similar in that it´s uncomfortable all the time (hot, sticky, surrounded by bugs). Different in that instead of getting paid, we´re actually paying to be here (to be fair, I´m sure we don´t work nearly as hard as tree planters). I´m actually glad to be cutting mora (very invasive blackberry bushes), and planting trees...it´s like a tax for visiting, since increased tourism is putting a major strain on this unique ecosystem. It´s nice to be able to have somewhat of a positive impact on the island (and relieve a little bit of my guilt). I´m also glad I don´t have to do it longer than four weeks.

We have had an incredible amount of rain in the last week, which has caused a bit of damage, most notably:

1. So much water flowing down the river breaks the connections in the water pipes and cuts off our water supply.
2. Mudslides, downed trees, and major erosion makes the road to the station impassable (it´s not a good road to begin with). After a rain storm we go out and fix it (I use the term ´fix´ loosely, it would be more accurate to say ´we make it barely passable´) and then we get another hard rain during the night that washes out the road again. This morning we had to walk half an hour to meet the taxis.

Our station manager, Cesar, has never seen so much water in the eight years he has been here.

So, life at the station is an adventure - challenging and rewarding. But don´t get me wrong, the coastal region of the Galapagos is a paradise. Beautiful beaches...sea lions everywhere! I´ve also seen blue footed boobies, frigate birds, marine iguanas, lava lizards, and giant tortoises, but the best part is the snorkeling. Huge sea turtles, and loads of colourful tropical fish. Sting rays and sharks are also quite common but I have not seen them yet. A group of us are taking another extended weekend and travelling to Isabela (4 hours by boat). It´s the largest island, not very heavily populated, and seems to be most people´s favorite one to visit.

A few more from San Cristobal and Santa Cruz

Sea lions, pelicans, lava lizards, tortoises, marine iguanas...