Sore Feet and Sunshine

THE PARAMO
I´ve spent the last few days camping in the Paramo (high altitude grassland) with another volunteer, and one of the project staff, Samuel, as our guide. On Sunday we took a ride in the milk truck up to Samuel´s house where we spent the night. Early the next morning, we loaded Samuel´s quad with the three of us, plus all of our gear for three days of camping, and then tied a horse to the back of it, and set out for the trail. We walked for 4 or 5 hours (with lots of steep ups and downs - we were very grateful that we had the horse to carry all our gear) before it started to rain. So, we camped at someone´s house, completely in the middle of nowhere (I think they were friends of Samuel). The next day it was just a short walk up to the lake, our destination. An absolutely gorgeous spot, I´m afraid my pictures won´t do it justice. We did some fishing and caught a good sized trout for supper. Seven hours of hiking the next day brought us back to Samuel´s, where I ate a ton of (organically grown) grenadillas from his field (these are my new favorite fruit!). My Spanish got a lot better, since Samuel speaks no english and the other volunteer I was with speaks no Spanish. We spent a lot of time playing Cuarenta, an Ecuadorian card game (which is a bit tricky to learn when you only understand every third word!). It was a really cool few days, made even better by knowing that the area I was visiting is not in my Lonely Planet guide book.

BEAR TRACKING
We haven´t heard any bears in the last few days. There are only two bears with working collars. The others are wearing new, expensive GPS collars that aren´t transmitting a signal properly. Our other task is to cut new trails (through really dense cloud forest). This is so that the bears will use the trails, rub up against a tree, and we can then collect hair samples from uncollared bears for DNA analysis. We need multiple trails because the bears won´t use them if they can tell that people have been walking there.

FIESTA
There were some American university students visiting Pucara on a sort of study tour so the village held a fiesta for them. Everyone came out for games, music, and dancing. It was a great way for us to meet more of the people in the village. The people are very friendly with a great sense of humour - a really cool atmosphere.

REST DAY
I am back in Otavalo for a couple days off, which I will spend shopping in the market and enjoying a comfortable bed, hot showers, pizza, and giant slices of pie at The Pie Shop.