ecuadorfox

Mom says "You have gotten big." We are off to the Galapagos tomorrow. We miss Rebecca. -Aaron ... read more

I was only in Quito for 4 days, but by the time I got back to the Yanayacu Biological Station everything had changed. Actually, I guess everything started changing when the student group showed up on January 5th. Before this group from Mesa State came everything at the station was normal--- no director, very little food (a couple kilos of potatoes and a bunch of plantains), very few people (I worked alone on New Years day), and of course no luxuries. But man, when those students came the station was filled with fruit, and yogurt (which I had never seen at the station) and bought bread and there were two cooks cooking every meal and there were people everywhere and the generator was running all the time. It was crazy... I spent most of that week ... read more

I now know it takes 5 men 3hours to do what a tractor could do in 10 minutes. Because it took me and 4 Ecuadorians three hours of shoveling, slashing through roots and hauling mud to turn a hill into a flat plain. Construction on the new lab is finally "finished". After six months of construction we had a cement floor, some wooden columns and a tin roof. So we gave up waiting and moved in, the walls will have to wait. You may ask how it can take 6 months to build the roof and floor of what would be considered a shack in the States. Let me explain... By the time I got to Yanayacu in August the foundation had hardly been dug. So I picked up a shovel and started to help. No ... read more

Recipe: 1 Christmas Turkey Preheat water over open fire. Chase after and catch 1 medium sized turkey. Pour 1 cup cane alcohol down caught turkey's throat. Once turkey is sufficiently intoxicated have two helpers hold the turkey as you snap its neck (with a twisting of both hands). Once turkey is dead put it in preheated water and remove feathers. Burn the remaining feathers off over the kitchen fire. Open the turkey and remove it's organs. Rinse the turkey in the rain bucket and chop it into portions. Grill and serve. ---------------------------- When Jose said we were going to spend some time with the farming community up the road and that we would be back by 7:30 I thought he meant PM not AM. It was a really lovely Christmas Eve. The few remaining at Yanayacu, ... read more

I fished for piranah! I swam with electric eels! I swung from vines! I ate ants that tasted like lemons! I had a Huaroni elder show me how to use a 4 foot long blowgun! I paddled upriver in a dugout canoe with only a freshly plucked branch! It was one amazing Amazon adventure. Every day that I stepped into the jungle to go to work it was like stepping into a zoo. I saw so many frogs, including a Blue Jean Dart frog, and lizards and a few snakes. I saw four species of monkies including Saki monkies! Saki monkies!!! There were birds everywhere Toucans and Gruas and Parrots. The Long Tailed Potoo I saw was probably the most incredible bird I have ever seen. There were some spectacular animals along the river as well, ... read more

It would be nice to have statisticians around sometimes to tell me the probability of my life's happenings. I'm pretty sure they would would say that what happened to Jacob's camera was imposible. One of the last things Jacob did before he left Yanayacu was paint a column at the station. His design was beautiful, but he got paint all over himself and his things in the process. Once he was finished with his column he left for Quito. While there he took a day trip to Otavalo, the famous market. And on the bus ride there he had his camera stolen. By the time I got to Quito Jacob had decided that he was going to go to the black market to find his camera. He had talked with some people and he had some ... read more

We wanted to do something a little special to celebrate Halloween so we left Yanayacu, and passed little ol' Cosanga, to go to a discoteca in the big city of Baeza. Baeza, regional capital, founded in 1550, population.... 5 thousand. Jose promised that there would be a great Halloween party and after roaming around we finally found a discoteca the size of a large living room with some people in it. You get a lot of attention when you walk into a place and you're a whole foot taller than everyone else... especially from the town drunk. He insisted that I dance with someone --- a proposition that was absolutely terrifying. But some how, by the grace of god, this drunk found a pretty Ecuatoriana my age who was willing to dance with a giant gringo. ... read more

I live in a world where I am training a guy who can't count passed 100, where I have to talk over a chainsaw when I'm in my office, and where 80 year old grandmothers (Rafael's) help me push broken trucks up hills. Sometimes I just feel speachless--- so I'll let the photos do the talking.... read more