OK, so I feel like a) sitting in Quito deserves time spent in an internet café and warrants updates so that I don´t have to do it when I get home, b) it´d be weird to update my blog about my travels from Ontario, c) I may as well spend the next 1/2 here waiting for Shane since I´ve already been here for 4 hours...
So beyond just working at the reserve over the last three weeks I also decided to stick around on weekends and explore as much as possible of the 814 hectares. The first weekend consisted of playing soccer everyday with the locals and my dear friends, Dave, Bea, Meggy, and Kate (Marina didn´t play)- the girls being 15/17 year olds from Lakefield, Ontario and SUPER fabulous. As well as the soccer the four volunteers that stuck around (Shane, Dave, Rob, and I) headed down the hill Saturday morning with donkey and while Shane and Rob headed into Tandapi to do a little grocery shopping, Dave and I ventured along a part of the cascade trail. It was beautiful, fun, and a little treacherous but totally worth it even though it was followed by the hiking back up the hill with donkey for lunch and then soccer in the afternoon. The boys did some garden work while I did some catch up on internet time and cleaning and then we had some good partying on the homemade moonshine aguardientes that Shane bought in town. This made Sunday morning a little rougher than I was hoping but I sweated out the alcohol on our 5 hour hike to the top of the mountain with Shane, Dave, and the Ontario girls... what a blast!
A blast until Jorgé insisted on more soccer once we got back down that is, lol...
The following weekend was another reserve weekend before my departure. Shane had to leave Thursday night to deal with some visa stuff Friday morning but we had a movie night and early bedtime... Friday was awesome. Those remaining people packed up our stuff and around lunchtime begain another trek to the top of the mountain, this time for a camping trip! So Rob, Simon, Dave, Escott, myself, Walter, and the 4 TVL Ontario girls (and Donkey) camped out, looked at birds, learned about low impact shitting in the forest, and played frisbee, cooked some dinner and chilled by the fire. It was a blast!
Saturday consisted of the frontier hike which was about 7 hours, treking through primary forest, heading down along the border of the reserve to the bottom of the mountain (yes that meant having to then walk back up the hill to the reserve). I don´t think that I have the skill to sufficiently describe how beautiful and surreal it is to walk through the jungle and I really don´t think that pictures are sufficiet either but I guess I´ll include some in hopes of inspiring people to see it for themselves. Saturday night was a quiet night as we were all wiped but I still had the pleasure of relaxing over a few beer with Dave and Scott for my final night. Sunday was also wonderful but bittersweet as I had to leave for Quito and then Papallacta (more hotsprings!)... hopefully people will appreciate why I love the reserve... and why I have to return :)
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