The One and Only... full week in the Galapagos

Well, apologies that I can´t do daily updates like some sisters of mine who clearly spend ALL of their time in front of the computer! But we don´t have internet or phone (or even cell phone) connections/service at the reserve so we all enjoy our serenity (um... sort of) and distance from technology during the week, counting down to the weekend when we head into Port for a brief escape from bugs and work.

As my last post showed, Port is a beautiful little tropical town on the island of San Cristobal, the provincial capital of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. I could post more pictures of sunsets and sea lions but I think that that might be a bit redundant. This week we got back to the reserve Monday night in time to meet the new volunteers (10 of them!) that arrived Monday afternoon. They´re all quite cool and there are 3 canadians, one of whom actually does know a friend of mine! The other volunteers are of various ages, sex, and countries of origin, but I think my fav would have to be Owen, my new Aussie buddy who is on one of those ¨self discovery¨trips around some of South America before heading to the Mediterranean, Egypt, and some of Asia... don´t worry friends, he mentioned the girlfriend/¨other half¨ within about three minutes of chatting and we´ve been great friends ever since ;P Other than my new partner in crime (or rather ¨partner in psychological assessment of the rest of the crew¨) It´s been a good week for hiking, getting some pretty back breaking work done, and getting to know people. With 30 volunteers here now (3 more arrived on Wednesday) there are a LOT of diverse personalities and personal histories to get acquainted with, which I quite enjoy. Wednesday night was a rescehduled ¨bar night¨ (usually occurs Thursdays) because one of the staff members is leaving and moving back to the mainland so we gave him a good send off.

Thursday I was supposed to have the morning off because I had lunch duty but it turned out that I worked all morning, got pissed off at having to clean up after 20 of the 30 who did crap-all, and tag teamed the group with the help of Danny, the volunteer co-ordinator... and I must say, I got many apologies and things changed immediately which was GREAT!

The rest of Thursday went off without a hitch and Friday am we packed our stuff up for the weekend and headed off for our hike.

The hike took us to the Galapaguera which is the breeding and information facilities for the protection and rejuvenation of the land tortoise population. Here they take the eggs that are laid in the Northern part of the island where the tortoises live and bring them here to raise them until they´re big enough to survive in the wild again since introduced species´ of animals have taken to eating them when they´re small and soft. We walked around and hung out with the big guys and checked out the cute little babies in their holding cages (for their own protection from local wildlife), one of whom got flipped onto his back and had a heck of a time flipping back over... but he did it the little champ! From there we headed down to Puerto Chino... the beach where Shane and I did our surf lessons last weekend which is fairly secluded and so beautiful. I managed to stay in the water, chasing fish and body surfing, for about 3 hours... what a blast! The surf was a lot rougher with many big waves coming in a lot more often than last weekend unfortunately. Matt, our Kiwi friend, said that the waves break too close to shore at this beach but we don´t expect to be on the board for so long that it matters at this point when we surf there! Now, to be fair, after my 3 hours in the water I am quickly approaching my Mexican/Ecuadorian colouring so I am paying for it with burning salty skin... ah well. Well into our time at the beach the foreign exchange students from the local university campus joined us and filled up a lot of the water and beach area but they were pretty cool. I also appreciated the beckons to come closer to shore when two of the guys thought that they say a pretty big shark out along the outskirts of the cove... they´re supposed to be fairly docile with humans here but I´d rather not become the exception to the rule... but not to worry, a bunch of the girls from that group swam pretty far out so I figured they´d offer a better meal than I would anyway.

Once I finally got back onto dry land and sorted myself out (so much sand in my suit) we headed back to the road to catch taxis to see Laguna El Junco, the only fresh water lagoon on all of the islands which is in a small volcanic crater. When we got there is was a heck of a walk up (my ass hurts today so that´s good) and getting rather cloudy, however, after walking around the lake (which took 15 minutes max) the clouds had cleared and we got a great view of the lagoon and surrounding island areas... it was amazing and really put into perspective the size of the island. Once back down to the road we hopped into our taxis and heading to Port to grab our hostels and settle in a bit.

Last night the majority of the volunteers collected at one hostel, had a few drinks (some a few too many), and headed to the local club... it was a pretty good time but as with any scenario of lots of people (mostly women) and booze, the drama started to come out of the wood work... it is an unfortunate eventuality but it just makes me even more excited to get back to the mainland and to La Hesperia. As I sit here and write this Shane has been on the phone for over an hour to get his flights changed and I´m supposed to do the same. The plan is that we´ll both be staying in Ecuador for longer (4 more weeks for me, 5 or 6 for him) and then unfortunately we have to fly to Peru and then home from there because of cancellation crap, but in this time we´ll get to see places we missed before and get back to La Hesperia for a few more weeks. If anything interesting happens in the next day or so I¨ll update the blog but it´ll likely have to wait until we´re back on the mainland on Wednesday.

Hasta Luego! Love you and miss you all oxoxoxox

The Galapagos and Jatun Sacha Reserve

Well Shane and I actually made it to the airport, on and off the plane and were (eventually) allowed onto the island of San Cristobal in the Galapagos.

This new reserve is quite different from La Hesperia, not only in environment but also in the way things are run, the atmosphere, the bazillions of volunteers, etc. But not different in a bad way, just different!

Our first full day consisted of bright and early breakfast at 7am followed by the work allotment meeting at 8am. Shane and I were given the job of cutting the fungus infected leaves off of the banana trees around the reserve to be burned (controlling the fungus spread hopefully)and cutting down banana trunks for the Japanese compost that is being made in the nursery. The job itself wasn´t too hard as long as you´re not squeemish when you poke a leave with the sharpened shovel and spiders and cockroaches fall down... but the cleanup was a real bitch! Everything was wet and heavy and there was no real direct route between where we were working and the fire pit. Also, with all of the rain that has been falling lately the very hilly road was a slippery muddy mess!

After a tough morning of work we had lunch followed by free time until 2 as per usual... however, after 2 we still didn{t have to go back to work since we decided to have some celebrations for Carnivale which is this weekend. The celebrations, of course, meant water fights, mud fights, soap fights... sadly, not in that order... but it was pretty funny times!

Once we all dug the mud out of our ears and showered as best we could we had dinner and chilled some more until about 830 when a group of us headed to the ¨bar¨... a building the same size as our dining area except the kitchen is replaced by a bar and the pingpong table replaced by two pool tables. The patrons were: US... and two locals who actually also work the bar!

So needless to say, Shane and I decided to participate in drinking games with the other volunteers (all under the age of 21 lol) and we most certainly are paying for it today :( Ah well... it was fun and good for bonding with the group, right?

So this morning came unusually quickly, partially due to my turn at breakfast duty that started at 6am... but it´s ok since I was still drunk, lol, so I was FANTASTIC!... til later today. After breakfast we took some taxis and did the 40 min drive from the reserve to town for our ¨hike¨that consisted of a wander around the Interpretation centre before heading down to this little cove where we lunched... after a few sandwiches which helped with the sobering process, a few of us grabbed our snorkles and jumped into the water to hang out with the sea lions who happen to be everywhere, sweet, playful, and fearless...

I{m looking forward to playing with them more as we´ve been given leave from the reserve for a 5 days weekend to continue the Carnivale celebrations so we don´t technically have to work until Wednesday next week!

That said, I´m off to grab some food and a bevy (not beer!) and will post more as things happen with sincere effort to be more diligent, I swear!

oxox

Last week at La Hesperia and Otavalo

Well, the last week at my first biological reserve was bittersweet to say the least. The other volunteers really banded together to learn about milking the cows in order to take over for Shane and I upon our departure, and two new volunteers from the UK arrived and also quickly fell into our early morning routine. Sadly, we really didn´t want to leave and by mid week I was quickly succumbing to a nasty flu. We did a lot of important work on the new nursery as well as helping out with a group of school children that were staying at the reserve for 5 days (21 little niños!)... the group held one particularly important member (the president´s son) and thus also came with an entourage of several teachers AND body guards! The kids were great though, and the adults were pretty cool too.

The weekend plans initially included Shane and I heading to Baños to check out the sights and visit our favorite Guelphite-Retired-Teacher couple, Chris and Connie, but then we heard that there was a landslide that closed the highway, destroyed 7 houses and killed 8 people! So we double checked to make sure Chris and COnnie were ok and rescheduled before heading to Otavalo- the largest market (town) in Ecuador.
By about midnight Friday night we finally found ourselves in this quaint and beautiful little hostel in the core of OTavalo and I found myself absolutely destroyed by the stupid flu. I headed to bed only to emerge once from about 330-630 ion Saturday afternoon and then not again until 8am SUnday.

Fortunately, while I was battling fevers, chills, and a killer sore throat, Mike and Shane (serious bromance going on) headed to the ANimal market in the AM and then the regular market later in the AM and took many pictures for me! (ANd spent bazillions of dollars shopping... bunch of girls). I´m glad MIke was there for Shane´s entertainment but definitely didn´t need to hear the boys, drunk by 3PM, and their giggle fits.

Sunday allowed me to emerge from my cave for some food and a brief wonder around the regular market. The wares were stunning and bartering was pretty fun but tough on my diminished energy levels... thankfully said energy lows kept me from spending too much money which saved me later since I realize that I do have to carry everything I buy (Shane and Mike needed to buy more luggage! YIKES!!) The town itself is gorgeous and surrounded by lovely mountains and some crazy lakes... the locals were sweet and helpful, and really tiny! (I know... kind of a ¨tourist¨thing to say, but coming from me... so true!)
Sunday night we returned to the hostel and met some great people and had some really intriguing chats before an early dinner and bedtime for me. Monday morning we continued our chat with our new friends before packing up and heading to Tumbaco, hometown of Shane´s girlfriend and of the world´s highest bridge-bungee jump... I was going to go for it but was told that the adrenaline/shock actually acts as an immuno-suppressant and thought that now isn´t the time since I just today (Tuesday) have been able to swallow sort of properly.

I guess I´ll try to get a few more pics added to posts tonight before heading to the Galapagos tomorrow. NOt sure on my interweb capabilities when I get there so I´ll just have to let you all know when I know.

oxoxo

Mindooooo!

Well, I guess I´m getting used to the long bus trips... but the trip to Mindo was super cool as we passed fields of palms (for palm oil?), coffee fields, and other various neat farms, little communities, and of course, the ever-changing landscapes of Ecuador. We arrived in Mindo around 430 or so in the afternoon and wandered about until we found La Casa de Cecilia... a stunning little log cabin-style hostal just off the main road. When I say we I mean: Mike, Charlotte, Olivia, Scott and I... and Tristan is with Shane in Quito and coming on Saturday... which basically rounds out the ENTIRE volunteer group! (So not much of an escape but that´s ok I guess... good bonding?)Mindo is definitely a beautiful and relaxed little town set in a high altitude valley within the cloud forest. The atmosphere was so welcoming and quaint, it was a real treat to be there!

We went into town and had a nice pizza dinner and just hung out and then smuggled some beer back to the hostal (alcohol free!?!) and played cards for the remainder of the evening. Mike bailed early and the rest of us headed to my room (got my own!) to continue the card games. The following day we all got up and had breakfast before wandering down to the hummingbird/orchid/butterfly garden while we waited for Shane and Geovanna to show up. Once they got there we grabbed lunch and then headed out to do some ziplining... what a blast! 13 lines, varying speeds and heights, but all at the top of the cloud forest canopy... if it wasn´t for my harness almost damaging my box it would´ve been a perfect afternoon! After that we all went back and chilled at the hostal until dinner time when we all headed out except for Shane and Geovanna who stayed in to nap... or ¨nap¨ lol

Saturday night had the Friday crew heading out to the Mindo club scene... lots of drinking and dancing including a little salsa lesson for me from some guy... sadly for him my coordination was compromized and he ended up getting elbowed in the face not once, but twice! His own fault I think and thankfully Scott saved me soon after.

Sunday morning was mostly recovery time I think and just wandering about until our bus left to head back to Santo Domingo... there was a bit of a f-up in Sto Domingo as a few of us wandered off to find a bank machine only to realize that there were two in the bus station and we ended up waiting an hr and a half in line for a bus back to the reserve! Brutal!... ah well, it was a wicked weekend anyway, despite the crappy ending.

La Hesperia

I´ve recently been informed that people don´t like a lot of text in their blogs that they read but rather, less text, more pictures! Sadly, the computer I´m on at the internet cafe in Otavalo is lacking in a scandisk drive so there still aren´t pictures just another apology for how incredibly long it´s been since my last post...yikes!

ok... let´s see... I´ll do a couple of smaller updates k?

So firstly, the reserve: absolute heaven set in the cloud forest between Santo Domingo and Quito, west of the Andes in Ecuador. My typical day includes getting up at 5:30am and heading to the barn to milk the cows, then feeding the baby cows and cleaning up the cow shit in the pens, all before breakfast. Continuing from my last post which came after Shane and I returned from the crater at Pululahua, more volunteers showed up followed by a group of 15 canadians (all from Orangeville area and the gta) to spend a week building the school that is going up at the reserve. And what a blast! They were some pretty fun people and some of them even seemed quite familiar, which is a little funny since we´re in Ecuador.
Anyway, prior to the Canadians showing up, Shane went into Quito to finally have a date with the volunteer coordinator of ours for the galapagos and it seems that they are quite smitten... staying at the reserve for the weekend was really nice for me too since I got to wander about (no horseback riding though), do some hikes, and get to know my other volunteer peeps better. It was actually really fun and I´m quite sad that I´ve left the reserve now.

Anyhoo, the following weekend is our rescheduled trip to Mindo which, again, was altered to accomodate another date for Shane, but this time I just decided to go myself on Friday when we were supposed to go originally... well it turned out to not quite be ¨myself¨...