More Sights and Sounds of Ecuador

So, my first two weeks (plus a few days) in Ecuador are complete! I could write a novel about everything that has happened so far, which is what this blog is for...,but as you can see if you've tried to check it, I don't update often because of the utter lack of internet here. In an effort to keep you in the loop, here are a bunch of paragraph observations of the first two weeks. They have titles so you can read what you think is interesting (there is a lot here) and skip the rest!

For the photo (and video) supplements, see the following post! I apologize in advance for grammatical and typing errors - I had to do this quickly!

The path that I take to get to my cabin

Jungle Walks - My Favorite Part of Jatun Sacha
One of my favorite things to do here has been to walk in the jungle with the forest guides. They know everything about the forest and even with my extremely broken Spanish, I feel like I learn so much from being with them. I mentioned that I would like to do another forest walk to the volunteer coordinator the other day and was pleasantly surprised when he told me that I could walk en bosque (in the forest) that day! This time I went with one of the guides that I hadn't met yet. His name is Gato, and, like most of the other forest guard, has been a guardabosque for his entire life. He's a bit mysterious looking...his nickname translates to 'cat' afterall...and I was a little nervous I would be up for a rough and tumble day in the jungle. As it turned out, we had a great, leisurely walk through the forest, and stopped often to look at different insects, butterflies, ants, flowers, you name it. The two highlights were a unique morning activity by the river, and lunch time. After about an hour of walking, Gato said it was time for a break, and we sat down by the river for some water and a snack. While another volunteer and I relaxed, Gato kept walking around the river, bending down and picking up rocks, examining them and then keeping some while tossing others away. After gathering a colorful collection of river stones, he began mashing them up on his machete, carefully adding droplets of water to each colorful pile. I watched him and he worked, wondering what was in store for us, and about 10 minutes later he looked up and said in Spanish, 'So, who wants their face painted?' I laughed at his silly it was -- here I am in the Amazon, about to get my face painted so I can walk around the rest of the day with art on my cheeks. (You can see the finished product in pictures on the blog). Very cool moment and great afternoon--walking around eating ants that taste like lemon, watching hummingbirds hover at eye level about a meter away, and eating lunch on a palm leaf (no plates that day).

Face painting in the jungle.

The machete was the palate, with paint made from stones we found in the river and mashed up with water. This happened early in the day and then we walked around for the rest of the afternoon like this. Other highlights were eating ants (yes I did that for real) that tasted like lemon, and seeing a hummingbird hover about a meter away from my face as my forest guide (Gato) whistled bird calls to make it fly closer.

The signature frog of Jatun Sacha, which is also the colors of Ecuador - red, blue and yellow. Very cool to see!

Daily Life: Kitchen Duty and Bed Nets
I think I mentioned in my earlier email that sometimes I feel like this is the sleep away summer camp that I never went to as a kid. We live in cabins, doubles with 2 people in each one, have kitchen duty, and shower in communal spaces. One of the things that is really interesting is the 'anything goes' attitude that people seem to have. When you eat, sleep, bathe and use the bathroom all next to each other, there has to be a certain amount of willingness to push aside embarrassment and shyness aside. That has been one of the most interesting things to observe here too, because it's almost like no one even acknowledges that most of us are not used to this type of close living in our normal lives. It's just like once you are here, you adapt immediately.

Kitchen duty is a particularly exciting event. When you get it, you have to get up at 5:30 am to help make breakfast, which is served at 6:30 am every morning, and then help with lunch and dinner. Everything is collected\chopped\etc. by hand. Last week I made french fries for about 20 people from probably over 50 potatoes. Peeled, cut and cooked them all. It was actually pretty gratifying. Then, after everyone eats, you wash and dry all of the dishes by hand. I will let you infer all of the lessons and thoughts I have had during my days with kitchen duty.

Up Next: Galapagos Islands
Today I left the Jatun Sacha Reserve to travel back to Quito. Tomorrow I catch a flight to the Galapagos Islands for part 2 of my Ecuador Adventure. I will be on the Jatun Sacha San Cristobal Reserve in the highlands of the Galapagos for at least 3 weeks (I am deciding where to spend the rest of my time in Ecuador depending on how these two reserves compare to each other).

I was actually pretty sad to leave the Amazon Reserve today. There is such a great group of people there, and after digging the irrigation lines yesterday with the whole group of volunteers was a really great way to cap off the experience. The Galapagos will certainly be a different experience, and I am sure that I will have a lot to write within the first few days. Internet once a week there as well, so keep an eye out for the updates and in the meantime, send me yours!