Mar. 3-7 - Jama Volunteer Project

After considering a few projects on Friday I made my way towards the coast on Monday to start my second replacement project. Even though I had a rough start and didn't get on the road for a few hours, I felt very confident about this project as the information the foundation was able to provide made the project sound extremely interesting. I would not be disappointed.

The bus trip would be 8 hours in total and I would have to change busses at Pedernales on the coast. It was a very uneventful trip. The only thing that happened is that I have determined 8 hours on a bus is much too long for me. The only hiccup of the trip came in Pedernales where the last bus for Jama left 15 minutes early - an Ecuadorian first. Thankfully there was an overly energetic man at the bus stop who was more than happy to show me to a taxi, for a fee. Yet again I think I was taken advantage of as the taxi was behind the bus (not hard to find) and I suspect that the bus to Jama hadn't actually left.

Since for me it seems nothing can be to easy, my cab driver and I had a little trouble finding the project. I was told it was in the town of Jama, but according to my cab driver it was before Jama. The only thing I knew for sure was that it was beside the Punta Blanca hotel. When we finally arrived at the hotel it was in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road (with no traffic). It took a little bit of snooping around the area before we actually determined this deserted hotel was actually the site of my project.

As I climbed up the hill in search of the volunteer house I was greeted by the ever so warm and friendly Manuel, my project coordinator. While we walked and talked he informed me that the bus to Jama should actually be running. I didn't let that bother me too much since if I hadn't taken the taxi there would be no way I would have found the project.

Once we arrived at the volunteer house I met Yajaira, our chef for the week, and went to settle in. The volunteer house was more like a resort on the coast than a volunteer house. Downstairs housed the kitchen, bathroom and outdoor eating/rest area complete with two of the most comfortable hammocks and speakers playing the best selection of relaxing music I have ever heard. Upstairs housed the rooms for the volunteers. Even though you couldn't see the beach from the house you definitely heard the gentle crashing of the waves against the beach. All in all it was one of the nicest places I've ever stayed.

That evening, over a dinner of local fresh shrimp, Manuel and Yajaira told me about the history of the project (Foundation Arena .... sand in Spanish) and it's purpose, while giving me a rundown of our goals for the week (thankfully Manuel, who speaks very good English, recognized my desire to practice Spanish so we only spoke Spanish for the next four days). He informed me that six years ago Foundation Arena was set up to help Jama County with all things related to the beach. Funded by an American benefactor, the foundation focus is to educate the locals on beach conservation, sponsor marine biology reserch projects in the area and work with volunteers to help the fishermen and conservation of the beaches. My tasks over the next few days would be cleaning the beaches and helping the fisherman anyway I can. Manuel was very quick to inform me that they were very open to new initiatives and anything I can think of to help would be greatly appreciated.

Tuesday morning I began my work on the beach. We had an early start in hopes of avoiding the heat of the day, which according to Manuel we did do, although I'm not fully convinced. Today's task was to work at the beach in front of the volunteer house which hadn't been cleaned in about 2 weeks. You would never know. Over the course of the day we probably cleaned half of the 2km beach as we had to both pick up garbage (the contents of which was recorded) and move the wood on the beach to higher ground in order to keep it out of the water and provide fishermen with firewood. Over the course of the day we managed to pick up 31lbs of garbage, everything ranging from shoes (we even found a matching pair of pumps), bottle caps (more caps than bottles), fishing nets, doll body parts and lots of small pieces of plastic. Those pieces of plastic are actually the most important because they were small enough for the fish to eat, among the most destructive to the ecosystem.

Even though picking up garbage isn't the most interesting thing in the world, the surroundings made up for it. When we got too hot, we went for a swim until we were cooled off enough to start agin. For lunch (because it is the hottest time of the day) we went back to the hostel to have a nap in the hammocks before returning to the beach to clean and swim some more. That evening we sat around the house relaxing, eating fish (with the head and skin still on) and chatting about the political situation between Ecuador and Columbia, which in recent days had escalated due to Columbia attacking FARC guerillas in Ecuador without government approval.

The next morning I got up early as I was going to join two local fishermen for two hours of fishing before returning to my beach cleaning. I went with full intentions of helping out wherever I could only to find out they had such thick accents that I couldn't understand what they were saying, and thus couldn't figure out how I could help. So instead, I sat on the bow of the boat and enjoyed my time on the water and observing how they fish. One major problem with this plan is that if the fishing is good, they tend to stay out longer, and today was a good fishing day. We stayed out the whole day I had been expecting only 2 hours) and I didn't have any water, food, sunscreen or jacket with me. Needless to say I got burned to a crisp. They did offer me some lunch as I gather they had come prepared to feed me.

Regardless of my lack of equipment, I quite enjoyed my experience. We were fishing for the giant shrimp found off these waters (I think it was a king prawn) and with the special nets we had (four nets about 150m long and 1m wide with a very fine mesh) we managed to catch about 170 shrimp over the course of the day. The sad part was that we seemed to catch, for every shrimp, 10 fish or jellyfish, of which only 2 were going to be eaten, and the rest were going to be thrown away. This bothered me quite a bit as there was no need to throw away the fish, and those that were being thrown away, were dead before being placed back in the water.

Toward the end of the day we decided to head back as a storm which created some very big waves, struck the boat and prevented us from being able to see the shore. We quickly hauled in all the nets, without removing the fish, and high tailed it into shore where we had to surf the waves in order to make it to the beach (I had the lovely seat on top of the nets filled with fish ..... mmmmmm). Once we reached the beach, the fun of cleaning the four nets started and then the whole town descended upon the boat and started helping themselves to fish (I was given three lobsters which we had for dinner .... well Manuel and Yajaira had them for dinner). It turns out there is an agreement among the fishermen that you can help yourself to fish that was caught that day. Another day when you go fishing, you allow everyone else to help themselves to the fish you caught. Whatever fish is left over gets sold. This is true only for fish. The shrimp belong to the fishermen who caught them, not for anyone else to eat.

We spent most of Thursday working in the town of Don Juan helping the local fisherman. In order to get there we walked along the beach picking up garbage as we went. As this beach was more inhabited than the one on Tuesday, there was much less garbage to pickup and we were able to cover 3km faster than on the previous beach. Once in the town we set up to help out the fishermen at Yajaira's brother's bar. While we waited for the fishermen to come in and out, we spent the day hanging around the bar playing pool and drinking beer while I had a chance to interact with the locals and find out about the hardships they face and how they can be helped.

Probably the most interesting thing I learned from spending all that time at the bar is that these people don't need the kind of help one would expect as they passed the town. Even though the houses look run down, the people aren't starving and in dire situations. They are very happy people and never go hungry. If anything they only need some services to help make their lives better. Things like waste removal systems (garbage trucks, sewage treatment) and better education. In fact, even though they don't have the things that Western countries think are necessary, they are probably happier and have a better way of life than we do in the West. They work when they want to, they are happy, they live for the day not the weekend, and most important they are a strong community where everyone looks out for each other.

I did eventually help the fishermen. I even went back out on a fishing boat and was able to help them remove fish from the nets ..... I was covered in fish scales, just the way you want to end the day!

We headed off to another beach on Friday. This beach was about 30km away from the volunteer house on the other side of Jama, the largest town in the area. This beach was what Manuel called a virgin beach that was largely untouched. As far as we walked (about 9km) we didn't see another soul. We were surrounded by crisp, clear water, high cliffs and a beach that spread out for as far as the eye could see. The only inhabitants of the entire beach were the crabs .... and boy were there lots of crabs ... hundreds of them that would dive into their holes as soon as we walked by. After combing the beach for a while, we rounded a point we had to reach before the tide got to high and then stopped for lunch. During our break we went for a swim and then ventured to the point where the waves were breaking over the rocks. We got a little too close to the edge. At one point the waves were breaking over our heads created a strong current around our feet that made it very hard to stand up. Even though it was probably one of the dumbest things I have done, it was probably the most exciting and thrilling thing I have done in a long time.

After lunch we started to head back to the local town to catch a bus back to our house, only to find our route was blocked by a high tide. We had to use various techniques, including climbing along the cliff, wading in the water up to my chest (with my bag holding my camera above my head) and running along the beach as the waves pulled back out to sea, in order to make it to our destination. Luckily I managed to keep my camera dry, but none of our clothes managed to stay dry. Along the route we stopped at an old pumping station at the top of the hill, that supplied water to the shrimp farming operations. From there we watched the waves crash high above our heads. Yajaira who was sitting on the edge seemed engulfed by the waves. Once back at the house we sat around and talked about the area and the situation in Columbia (which had subsided) as we had every night. It was the perfect ending to my week on the coast, before I had to head back to Quito on the overnight bus that evening.

Mar. 1-2 - Otavalo Weekend

After getting everything organized for my next volunteer project, I joined Anna and Mary (a friend of Anna's) for a trip to Otavalo. Since it took me a little longer than expected to get everything organized, we opted to take a taxi to the bus station. Our cab driver seemed to think that the north bus station was a better option than the main terminal, even though none of us knew a north bus station existed.

On our way to the bus station, we chatted with our cab driver, who seemed more than entertained to have people to joke around with him. It wasn't until we saw a bus with Otavalo written on the side that we realized how entertained he was with us. When we saw the bus I joked with him that he should drive faster to catch up with the bus, and he did just that. After managing to flag down the bus in the middle of the highway, we boarded to begin our 2 hour journey to Otavalo.

Over a tetra pack of the most disgusting sangria, Mary managed to make a friend on the bus who decided to take us under her wing. She had us get off the bus a little early, because the bus station isn't the safest place at night, and took us to a wonderful hotel she knew in town and told us where to go for dinner.

The hotel was fabulous. We managed to get a room for three people with a single bed in a separate room (as I'm sure you guessed, that was my room .... with a bed built for a hobbit). It had a lovely outdoor courtyard with hammocks and the best breakfast. Most importantly, it had a great shower .... or at least I was told by the girls that was more important.

After settling in we headed out on the town looking for some food and stumbled upon a pizza joint (which served cheese and chocolate pizza .... best idea in the world) that had a live folk band playing. We spent a fair chunk of the evening there listening to the music and chatting before turning in early as we had to get going first thing in the morning.

Our goal on Saturday was to visit the animal market before breakfast. From what we heard, this was one of the most unique markets you would see, and we weren't disappointed. This market can be best described as ordered chaos. Located in a field on the other side of the Pan-American Highway, the animal market is roughly divided into two parts; cows and other animals. The way it works is people bring animals to the market to sell and if you want one you walk around (watch your step .... there are hundreds of animals here who didn't use the bathroom before leaving the farm) and shop for animals in much the same way you would shop for fruit. Look at it from all angles, shake it, poke it, smell it and if you feel you need to, look inside it from all angles. If you like it, you pay around $350 for a cow. Not to worry, there is every kind of animal you can imagine here from sheep to llamas.

After we had enough of the animals and breakfast, we headed to the artisan market which we thought was in the Plaza de Ponchos, but ended up engulfing the whole town. There were more blankets, scarves and ponchos around every corner ... more than you could ever imagine. It didn't take long before we got into textile overload. But one thing that didn't cease to amaze was the quality of the textiles. Everything was top quality, bright and colourful and most importantly, dirt cheap. Things that would be $80 in Canada were $8 here, and that's before you started the bargaining.

In the afternoon we decided to go for a hike (mostly because we had no money left) to some waterfalls close to Otavalo. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed out to find the waterfalls, which we could see on the map, but it didn't provide enough information on how to get there. After asking a few people, we managed to find our way.

The Cascades de Peguche are a collection of waterfalls, of which the largest holds spiritual significance to the indigenous people around Otavalo. When we arrived we found a very well manicured park with a lovely trail to the top of the waterfall that slowly turned into a cliff you had to scale with a mud bridge you had to use to cross the waterfall. In the end, we went from a paved trail to bushwhacking our way around steep cliffs and rushing water. Once we got around the other side we started to follow the aqueduct back to the entrance before returning to Quito for the night.

Feb. 26 - 29 - Mindo Volunteer Project

Today, after delaying my start for 2 weeks for more Spanish classes, someone being too sick to take me to Alto Choco and landslides closing Alto Choco, I headed off to Mindo to work at a biological station. After a tearful goodbye to Susy (whom I will see again in a few weeks) I headed off to a Metrobus station to meet up with the man who will take me to my project. I must say I am quite saddened to be leaving Quito. I have grown fond of the city and only a few days ago realized that Metrobus, Trole and Ecovia are three different bus routs, not three different Spanish words for bus.

After meeting my escort we headed off to a secondary bus terminal for the two hour drive to Mindo. On the way to the bus terminal I grilled my escort on what my project entailed, to no avail. This surprised me since he is the coordinator of both the Mindo and Alto Choco projects. Rodrigo bought me a ticket at the bus station and sent me on my way to Mindo alone to meet Claudia at the other end.

The drive to Mindo is one of the most scenic roads in the world. As I left from a bus terminal at the northern end of the city, it took no time at all before I was in the countryside. Mindo is located about 1,600m below Quito (still 1,250m above sea level) so the road drops off quickly, and thus the climate changes just as rapidly from the Serra to the cloud forest, for which Mindo is famous. Clinging onto cliffs, the bus drove around hill after hill of lush green tropical forests that seem to breed clouds. It's a magical drive that makes you want to become one with nature.

As I arrived in Mindo and got off the bus I was struck by the humidity and pleasant smell of the fresh sweet tropical air. After a few minutes of waiting, I began to realize that Claudia was not going to be meeting me at the bus stop as I was informed. It wasn't until someone asked me who I was looking for that I figured out how small a town Mindo actually is. This man gave me the directions I needed to get to the hostel Claudia ran. As I walked down the dirt and mud soaked road to El Rocio I started to wonder if I was actually going to meet the correct Claudia. NO problem, it ws the right person.

She welcomed me with open arms and told me to make myself at home while we waited for our ride to the project. She also introduced the two other volunteers, Cian and Ash. Not long after meeting them did we find out that we were not going to be heading up to our project today as the tractor which was to provide us with a lift was broken and thus we couldn't make it to the biological station. Instead we were going to help Rose with whatever tasks she needs help with (Cian and Ash helped her weed her garden yesterday).

I changed into work clothes and we headed out into the town of Mindo to find Rose to give her a hand. After waiting at the community centre where she works for half an hour we went to her house to see if she was there, only to find out that she wasn't working today or tomorrow (I'm starting to wonder if Ecuador really wants me to do any volunteer work). While heading back to the hostel we bumped into Luis (project director) who told us about the tractor and informed us over lunch that we would be heading up to the project tomorrow. He also suggested that we spend the rest of the day relaxing around Mindo.

We took him up on his offer and decided to head off to the Mindo Canopy Adventure, a series of 13 zip-lines that gave you a close look at the cloud forest around Mindo. After an hour hike uphill through the heavy humidity we reached the zip-lines and were joined by a British family who were going to be with us through our adventure. I must say, this had to be some of the most fun I have had in my life. These zip-lines ranged from 20m to 400m in length and some of them went over ravines about 80-100m deep. You even reached speeds of up to 60km/h flying through the trees (luckily they had padding at the end because I couldn't stop on one of them and smashed into the tree). It was absolutely amazing. The guides even found ways to make it more interesting as you went along including bouncing the wire you are flying on, attaching the zip-line to your back so you could fly like superman, and the most nerve-racking of all - flying upside down with your feet in the air and your head below. All in all it was a crazy afternoon that wiped us out so we relaxed for the evening playing cards in the hostel.

On Wednesday we finally were able to make our way to the volunteer project, and my home for the next three days. After breakfast (including instant coffee made with milk instead of water....the only way to make it taste good) we loaded our gear into the pickup truck that was going to take us to our project.

Now to say that this road was in poor condition would be an understatement. It was covered with landslides, potholes and mud sinkholes in which the truck would get stuck from time to time. It was the condition of the road that made this trip so much fun, especially since there was no room in the cab for me, so I had to sit on all the bags.

After half an hour of holding on for dear life we finally reached the end of the road for the truck (about 8km from Mindo). From there we started our hike into the project, which was only supposed to take 40 minutes. Since the tractor was broken it became necessary to carry our own gear. I figured that since I had carried a heavier bag though the streets of Europe for a longer period of time and I had been in the high altitude of Quito for so long, I had tons of blood in my system, and this would be a cakewalk. Well it wasn't. Walking uphill in mud with 80% humidity and a 40lb backpack on at 1,600m is actually as hard as you would think. It only took five minutes before we were dead tired. We took a break about 40 minutes into the hike at the entrance to the Rio Brava Ecological Station.

From the top of the hill where we rested, we were blessed with a fabulous view over the valley which housed the station. It was a rich, fertile valley of untouched cloud forest and a waterfall only a three minute walk away from the house.

Once we arrived at the station (which could only be reached by a precarious bridge over the Rio Bravo....actually the safest bridge at the project) we had a chance to rest for a few hours while Soña (project director) worked on lunch. We took this time to head towards the waterfall close by to potentially go for a swim, only to find out that the force of the water was too strong to stand underneath and too cold in which to swim. We probably should have expected this since it is mountain water.

After a most delicious lunch we started working on a project for Soña who was looking for some work for us to do until Luis (the other project coordinator) arrived tomorrow, he knew more about what needed to happen around the reserve. I had some issues with this as I had come down to Ecuador to do volunteer conservation work and from what I could tell building this garden wasn't going to be the kind of conservation work I came to Ecuador to perform. The purpose of this garden was to provide Soña with the flower garden she had always wanted, something to help brighten up the property. I wouldn't have minded at all if we were doing this to build a garden to grow endangered plants that would be later transplanted back into nature, but instead it was a landscaping job so her property would look nicer.

We didn't work on it very long as it started to rain and Soña didn't want us to work in the rain. So Cian, Ashlean and I spent the next four hours playing cards until dinner. That evening we ate in Soña's place and I tried to get some more information about what we would be doing at the project and what our tasks would be, ... again learning nothing.

Thursday brought some different tasks for us. We had a late breakfast. We were still waiting for Luis to come up with the tractor and our food for the week. Once he arrived we had to go over to the tractor to give him a hand with carrying everything to the house. There had been a landslide that prevented the tractor from making it the entire way to the station. After that was finished we went back to working on the garden while Luis had breakfast and got ready for a day of work.

When he was ready Luis asked some of us to head to the top of the waterfall to help him unclog the water pipes so that we could have running water (we were living off of rain water at this point for flushing the toilets, washing in a bucket and cooking). The hike up the mountain was incredible, possibly a little dangerous as we were hanging off the cliff while the waterfall was gushing past us. I have to admit I was quite conscious of whatever animals might be lurking behind or under the branches I was grabbing for support. After awhile you just blocked it all out as there was probably more of a danger if you didn't hold on than if you did grab something you weren't expecting.

Once we got to the top, we had to take apart the water pipes to clean them out so the water could start flowing through them again. It was kind of fun working in the basin of a 20 foot waterfall at the edge of the next waterfall which dropped about 50 feet. As we descended the hill back to the house we checked the pipes at various points to make sure the water was flowing and there was no more sand blocking the pipes. Because of all the sand (which you notice while brushing your teeth) and high water pressure the waterfall provides, the taps in the kitchen don't shut off. It's kind of interesting when you are trying to preserve water around the country to find taps that cannot be shut off.

The rest of the day was spent building the garden which proved difficult toward the end, as we started running out of dirt to fill the last couple of terraces. After working on that a few hours we stopped for dinner and to get cleaned up (which consisted of a shower from a bucket of hot water heated over the fire.....I don't think I have dunked my head in a bucket of water to wash my hair since I was a kid on the boat .... and then I had another set of hands to help pour the water over my head) and spent the rest of the evening playing cards.

By this time I had decided this project was not the right one for me and had determined that I would be heading back to Quito on Friday to talk to the foundation about changing projects. In the morning we decided that today's work would be around the second waterfall. This meant I would have a chance to see it before I left. The walk to the waterfall was along a very well maintained path with a few muddy spots and one sketchy bridge. The walk was completely worth the effort. At the end of the path was an incredibly beautiful waterfall about 150 feet high that fell into a pool where volunteers come to swim in the summer. On the way back we stopped a few times to fill some of the mud puddles with rocks.

Following this I left for the town of Mindo to catch my 2:00pm bus (the second and last one of the day to Quito). After saying my goodbyes I started my hike out of the forest towards Mindo. This time I was to be picked up about a half hour down the road by a pickup truck that would take me to the town, so I didn't have to do the entire 3 hour walk out. The only problem was that the truck didn't show up so I kept walking for about an hour and a half before I managed to find some birdwatchers who had hired a pickup truck for the day. After stealing the pickup truck and driver from the bird watchers (he was going to return to pick them up later in the day) I arrived in Mindo with enough time to give the foundation in Quito a call about my situation before getting on the bus.

Once back in Quito I stopped by the foundation to see what other projects they had for me that I could do over the next week. There was one deep in the Amazon Jungle, one on the edge of the jungle, and another on the coast working with fisherman. I decided that the coast sounded fun because if worse comes to worse, I could buy a bottle of rum and relax on the coast (I'm a little jaded about volunteer projects right now, but it would turn out volunteering on the coast would be the best time of my life).

Description - Conservation work in Intag

Over the next two weeks I'm going to be working at my first volunteer project, conservation work at the Alto Chocó reserve. I thought I would provide a description of the project so you can better understand what I will be doing.

Alto Chocó is located in Intag, about four hours north of Quito in Ecuador. This region has been designated one of the most important endangered areas for biodiversity. The reserve is located on the slopes of the mountains in the cloud forest, at an altitude between 1,000 and 2,950 meters.

Alto Chocó's main purpose is reforestation to try and recover about 225 acres of cloud forest. To help supplement this reforestation work, my tasks, along with tree planting, will include growing tree seedlings, maintaining the botanical garden (with hopes of transplanting the over 60 species of orchids back into the woods), developing worm compost, maintaining the infrastructure of the reserve and gathering native tree seeds to germinate.

A secondary purpose of the project is researching the Spectacled Bear. Once or twice a week, I will go for hikes in the woods to look for signs of the bears in hopes of better understanding them so that eventually we can help bring their population back. These bears are small in comparison to Canadian bears. They would be around the size of a baby black bear. To aid with the research, one of the tasks is to plant corn plantations to feed the wild bears in hopes of increasing the opportunity for more research.

The most interesting part of my project is going to be my living conditions. I will be living at a remote research station that's a 20 minute walk from the road and a 30km bus ride from the nearest medical facility (it also doesn't have any electricity). The hardest part of all of this is that I met with the project coordinator on Friday and he told me that at this time there are no other volunteers or researchers. It will be just me and a guide/supervisor who I will be working with .... and as far as I can tell, he goes home at night.

So needless to say this project has the beginnings of a great horror movie ...... Dave heads into the Ecuadorian Cloudforest .... all that was found of him was his camera ..... this is what happened .... (in blogs everywhere March 1, 2008)

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!It turns out that after I had written this entire description, things have changed. There has been a lot of rain in Intag which has caused landslides. Thus my project in Intag has been closed. As such I'm heading to Mindo for a different conservation project. I have no idea what I'm going to do there and all I know of Mindo is that it's west of Quito and has lots of butterflies. That's all. Good thing I did all that research on Intag over the past three months .... and a really good thing I didn't go to Intag on Saturday as planned!!

Feb. 25 - Another exciting night at the opera

Tonight I opted to join Anna at the opera as she wasn't able to join us on Saturday night. So yet again I donned my best travelling clothes (which include hiking boots since they look nicer than my running shoes) and head to the "almost black tie" opera.

Even though I had seen the Opera before, it didn't disappoint this time. My "date" might have been Anna, but my interest was on tonight's special guest, President of Ecuador Rafael Correa. This surprise guest helped explain why the tiny square outside the theatre had 25 police officers and the bomb squad. It also explained why this guy watching the opera across from me was dressed in full riot gear holding a submachine gun.

The excitement didn't end there. Between scenes a man stepped in front of me and threw two handfuls of pamphlets out into the crowd then left the building. We were all stunned by this, even more so when during the next scene, nine secret service agents swarmed onto our balcony. This posed a slight problem for me. First off I had seen the opera before and found this "police action" more interesting than the play. Second, when people looked to see who threw the pamphlets (we assume against the president) they saw me since the man ran off quickly. So needless to say every time I glanced over (which was more often than an innocent person should) the secret service agents were looking back at me. It could have just been my ego, but I was fairly certain I was the prime suspect for throwing the pamphlets, or they were wondering what I was doing in zip off pants and a rain coat at a black tie affair. (I spent most of that act trying to figure out how to find the number for the Canadian embassy. I figured if I was actually arrested I woudl only have one phone call, so this was a very good use of my time). The police left as soon as they saw me struggling to answer an old man's question about what happened (in Spanish of course). Either that or they had to go protect the president during intermission.

But (as is the way with me) the fun didn't end there. As soon as the police left, the woman who Anna and I thought was with the pamphlet man started walking around asking everyone what was on all the pamphlets, acting quite ignorant about what happened. She told Anna and I she wanted to go to the police and tell them the guy who threw them was sitting behind me (it wasn't the same guy....just some poor sap who chose the wrong time to go to the bathroom and returned at an inopportune moment). She even went as far as to go to the police afterwards and provide a description to the police.

After the show, while Anna and I were waiting outside for Kat, President Correa came out of the building (his secret service agents actually had to move me to make room for him) and shook hands with some people outside, hopped in his car and left the square in a grand show of protection and motorcade of about 20 cars. All in all, Anna and I were quite pleased to have spent the evening in his presence.

Feb. 23-25 - Globalization

We didn't have much planed this weekend as I was supposed to be leaving for my volunteer project at 7am on Saturday morning. Instead we had some very lazy days around Quito that I used to prepare for my trip into the Cloud Forest.

On Saturday morning I went in search of waterproof pants and a second waterproof jacket as mine doesn't work as well as I hoped. You would think this would be quite simple as Quito is the starting point for many trips into the Amazon. It turns out that the height of Ecuadorians precludes any stores selling things in Canadian sizes. After visiting about 6 stores and trying on 20 different jackets, I came to the conclusion that I'm destined to get wet in the Cloud Forest. Luckily I managed to find waterproof pants, which will work even though they are a little short (I figure my rubber boots are high enough so it won't matter too much).

Once I determined I was going to be sufficiently dry, I met Lee for an afternoon in the Irish Pub watching rugby. It was quite the experience as I have never watched a rugby match and here I was in the middle of Quito in a bar where the only two languages being spoken at the time were English and French (it was an England vs France game). Lee spent most the afternoon teaching me the rules while I was being entertained by the Frenchmen yelling insults at the English. Needless to say the French team lost.

My cultural education and international exposure continued throughout the evening. Lee and I decided to go and support Kat by watching the Opera she had been working on for the past few weeks, La Traviata. Her roll has been slightly undefined, but she has been working basically as the director's assistant. Needless to say, Kat has been very excited about her project and every time we meet up with her she only has more exciting things to say about the opportunity. Lee and I went to the dress rehearsal.

As it was pouring rain outside, Lee and I joined a Korean tour group and were let into the theatre a little early for the show (why they thought two white 6'3" guys were part of the Korean tour group, I have no idea). Once inside we ran into one of the coordinators from the school who was there to support her roommate, a lead in the opera. It as a good thing I met her there as she informed me that no one would be at the train station on Monday to take me to my project. Instead I would be leaving on Tuesday.

Since she was busy working we didn't get a chance to meet Kat before the show (at least that's what we though, it turned out she was waiting for us in the rain outside). Overall, Lee and I were very impressed with the show, even though the director was quick to inform the audience that this was a dress rehearsal and some things might go wrong. It was also probably one of the most international experiences one could have. Here you have a British and Canadian guy going to support a German friend who helped put on an Italian opera, set in Paris, produced by Columbians, staring Koreans and Ecuadorians, located in the beautiful Theatro Sucre (modeled after a theatre in France) and translated into Spanish subtitles for the audience to follow along. Who says globalization doesn't exist?

Lee and I wanted to congratulate Kat on the great show so we headed backstage in hopes of finding her. She told us everything that was happening backstage. She couldn't contain her excitement, and who could blame her, it sounds like things are more interesting behind the scenes.

Sunday and Monday transpired without much happening. Sunday afternoon we met for our "family outing in the park" before heading out for drinks that evening. Monday I spent puttering away at a few things I wanted to get done before I headed into the woods, including arranging my next few weeks and making plans to meet a number of new friends, over the next few weeks.

Monday morning I managed to visit Anna's project again at a time when the kids weren't all stuck in class. Anna had asked the headmaster if it was alright if I came by to visit. He was excited to have people come in, and made sure to stop by a few times while I was there to see how I was enjoying myself and to welcome me to his school. It took a while for the children to warm up to me, but once they did, they figured out I was a great moving jungle gym and spent most of their break getting me to lift them up and take their picture. After what Anna had told me about these children (most are street kids and some are orphans) it was great to see them so happy and full of energy. They were exactly the same as Canadian children and it broke my heart when they tried to block the door and keep me from leaving. If I had my large backpack, I probably would have grabbed a few to take with me.

Feb. 18 - 22 - Puedo Hablar Español

My final week of Spanish lessons started off great. I had a fabulous teacher in the morning, and the afternoon teacher, Pablo, was a guy I had met my first week at the language school and really wanted as a teacher.

I managed to click with my morning teacher very quickly, so much so that she is insisting I return to the language school when I'm finished my project to say hi and let her know how it went. We had some great discussions (in Spanish) about the political situation in Ecuador and how it is being affected by the US and other countries. We also were able to learn the other three past tenses (yes, Spanish has four past tenses...one of which I can't determine when to use). As the week went on I started to realize how much confidence I had gained in Spanish (I'm cracking jokes left, right and centre in Spanish now) so the classes moved away from learning grammar and vocabulary, and more towards just sitting back and chatting. By the end of it I felt I had learned enough Spanish to survive quite well, and all I needed now was to increase my vocabulary. That will come over time as I head off to my projects and travelling.

My afternoons with Pablo were just as entertaining. He was a very relaxed teacher and tons of fun. We even spent two afternoons at the school playing Cuarenta. (popular card game in Ecuador) and chatting about soccer and his life (A quick side note ... Ecuador used to have mandatory military service and Pablo's service was on the front line with Peru in the jungle while tensions were high between the two countries. His service ended two months before the war broke out and his posting was one of the first places hit. Now the military service is governed by a lottery.) It felt like hanging out with one of the guys at home, except that we spoke Spanish. The best thing about Pablo was his desire to remove any evidence of my knowledge of French when I speak Spanish. We spent many hours just working on my accent to make sure that I used the Spanish rules when speaking, not the French rules (but some words are just so close that I default to my French classes .... especially with the number 10).

When Pablo and I weren't playing cards (which included a match between Lee and his teacher on Thursday .... Pablo and I won .... or rather Pablo won and I was on his team) we headed downtown. On Monday we tried to get into the Quito Cultural Museum, only to find it was closed along with the President's house. Instead Pablo took me on a tour of the churches in downtown Quito, although about half of them were closed as well. I was able to experience a bit of Ecuadorian business as Pablo works part time selling perfume and makeup. We met some of his clients/friends where I was able to help with my first (of hopefully many) Spanish business transaction.

Friday's trip was to the house of the President. This was a fascinating visit and a relatively new attraction in downtown Quito as it has only been since the last President that you are allowed to visit the house. It was an incredibly beautiful colonial home full of gifts from other countries which the current President has determined are gifts to the people not to him, as previous presidents have determined (a main goal of his administration is to bring the government to the people .... a good strategy since Ecuador has had 10 presidents over the past 12 years). The President's house is situated on east side of Plaza Grande. The other three sides include Ecuador's main church, the provincial government building and the Hotel Quito. From this plaza the Spanish were able to control Ecuador since all three branches of power were situated here (Spain, Ecuador and Church). The square carries so much importance that one journalist went so far to say that the Hotel Quito is the craziest hotel in the world because every day at 2 you were able to look out your hotel room window and see a revolution in the plaza (not far off when you remember this country has had 10 presidents in 12 years).

During my time at the school I have become very interested in the projects other students are doing here and I really want to know more about them. As such on Monday morning, Mer took me to see where Anna is currently working as a teaching assistant at a school for street children. These children come from various backgrounds (orphans and street kids ... some are even child prostitutes) and attend this free school (you have to pay for most schools in Ecuador). The school consists of about 200 students in a remarkably well equipped school. Sadly when Mer and I arrived the students were actually in class, so we didn't get much time to interact with them. However, I will have the ability to return after I'm finished my project to spend time with the kids at their break and find out more about them.

The nights were pretty unadventurous, except for Friday night. While I was tying my shoes at Susy's doorway, to head out to catch the bus downtown to visit my friends for a drink at the Coffee Tree, there were two loud cracks and then alarms started going off all over the street and Susy started screaming. All I could gather from her screams was that the guard had been shot (his post is directly below Susy's window). For the next five to ten minutes Susy kept yelling at the top of her lungs out the window to "kill him" (the criminal). She was so frantic that I didn't know whether or not the assassin was still out on the street, whether the guard was alive or dead, nor could I comprehend what was happening. We crouched low in fear until we were sure the assailant was no longer in the street. It wasn't until we went down to the street and joined a group of men who were examining the shell casings that was I able to determine what had happened. (Susy was still in shock as she was the one who saw the whole thing and sounded the alarm). It turns out that a man had come to this neighbourhod and assaulted the guard (it appears he was only after the guard, no one else on the street). The guard got into a struggle with the assailant when the gun went off twice. The guard chased the man down the street where there was a taxi waiting. He jumped in and sped off. The man I spoke with wasn't sure where the guard was hit (possibly the leg), all he knew was that the guard was still alive. Needless to say I was quite shaken and my only thought was to get out of there. I hailed a cab and headed downtown (it was about 30 minutes after the shooting and neither the police nor ambulance had arrived .... yet another eye opener).

Once I got to the Coffee Tree (my forth night in a row. I think I have been there too much because Lee and I were able to correctly guess the next song 3 out of 4 times that night) I had a strong drink to calm my nerves. Surprisingly I wasn't as shaken about the whole thing when I returned that night so I slept quite well. Susy on the other hand, has been more overprotective now insisting that I stand at the corner instead of the bus stop so that I have more escape routes if someone comes up (she yelled at her nephew when he didn't stand at the corner). In the days following we managed to learn that the guard will be alright and only received a flesh wound to his hand. For me it was a lesson that has made me even more aware of the dangers around the city, most of which I can do nothing about, but that I have to be conscious of and take any precaution I can.