Visitors to Ecuador receive a 90-day tourist visa. Here's how I'll be spending my 90 days:
- 4 weeks in the Intag Valley (west of Otavalo in the northern highlands) volunteering with the Andean Bear Conservation Project
- 1 week of transition time, perhaps take some Spanish classes
- 4 weeks on San Cristobal (one of the Galapagos Islands) volunteering with the Jatun Sacha Foundation
- 3 weeks back on the mainland, activities yet to be determined
THE WORK:
Andean Bear Conservation Project, a small grass-roots organization working to save the Andean Bears from extinction. Bears are fitted with radio collars, and volunteers go on hikes to track the bears using radio equipment. Data gathered in the field (size of home range, diet, behaviors, etc) is used to inform government and non-government organizations on how to best establish and maintain forest reserves for the bears.
Fundacion Jatun Sacha, an Ecuadorian, non-governmental, non-profit conservation organization that runs a number of biological field stations and reserves throughout the country. Volunteers work on habitat restoration, station maintenance, and organic agriculture while participating in guided hikes to learn about local ecology, natural history, and social dynamics of the region.
THE GOAL:
To develop skills I can use in future work in conservation biology. To participate in conservation efforts in one of the world's biodiversity hotspots. To play in the mountains. To connect with different people. To learn the kinds of things that you can only learn when you push your limits. And of course, to continue the ongoing quest for grand adventure.
ONE LAST NOTE:
I hope that one day I will be content to seek adventure closer to home (and save the embarrassingly large amount of resources required to fly to Ecuador). I expect all kinds of good things to come from this trip, but I'm not entirely convinced that they will justify the environmental destruction caused by trans-continental travel. After all, as I was reminded (by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, of all things), "what enriches you may rob and violate others". But I'm going anyway. I go with a little bit of guilt, and a whole lot of hope in the power of grace.
