Hello from Tumbes, Peru! We've had an eventful week in Ecuador. We started off by going east from Quito to Papallacta, where we carried our packs up a 2.5km road to some thermal baths. We got some choclos (corn on the cob) from an old lady whose choclo stand was also her house and continued on to Baeza. From Baeza we visited Las Cascadas del San Rafael, the biggest waterfall in Ecuador. It was absolutely amazing! (see photo) Next we went through Tena to the small jungle town of Misahaullí. There we played with the seemingly innocent capuchin monkeys in the [View Full Entry]

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hmm. thought we´d put a blip up. we packed our bags up after a month and some in the galapagos and are headed back to quito on monday. last update i think emily mentioned we found a cheap boat to hop on to tour the islands. we had intended to just spend a long weekend on santa cruz (another island with a larger town and bigger harbor) to look for ways to get around the islands, but a few hours after we got off the ferry, we happened apon a tour that was leaving that afternoon. they had two places left, [View Full Entry]

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Update from the land of giant tortoises - We went on a search this weekend for a cheap tour for the week after our last work week at the reserve, which is our last week in Galápagos. We didn´t have much luck in the port of San Cristobal, so we decided to take a ferry over to the bigger town of Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz. We got here this morning and within one hour of being here we found a tour for an extremely good price, about 1/2 off the normal price! The trick is that it leaves today! So [View Full Entry]

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We just finished our second week of work at the reserve...the time is flying by! This week included a lot of machete work, clearing some land for the organic garden. Other than that, we did some seed planting, watering, and a trip to the Interpretation Center where we read all about the history of the Galápagos. During the week we had the chance to go on a authentic Galapaganian pig hunt! We ventured into the dense island woods at night with a flashlight or two, a sling shot, a bucket of rocks, a few guys speaking spanish, a quite german girl, [View Full Entry]

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Hello from the Galápagos! A beautiful place! The weather has been amazing! We heard it cleared up right when we got here...it was rainy and moist everyday until we arrived. Now it´s been sunny and warm! The reserve is located about 45 minutes away from the main town, Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, on San Cristobal Island. Everyone at the reserve has been very friendly, especially the volunteer coordinator (Cesar) who reminds us of one of our permaculture teachers Claude William Genest. We also met up with Phil, the Scottish man who was at La Hesperia who came here a week ago. (Phil [View Full Entry]

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thought i´d put a blurb in my blog. yesterday i climbed mt cotopaxi. 19,300 some foot active volcano. one of the highest in the world. it was a very radical experience. probably one of the most physicaly intense experiences of my life. a friend from la hesperia (matt) and i decided to go for it. most people acclimate near the base of the mountain for a few days, but we heard you can do it with out and we didn´t have much time... so we just went. we got rental gear and a guide and headed out. went to the [View Full Entry]

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Hi from Quito again, We just finished our volunteer time at La Hesperia. We really enjoyed the time we spent there, but are excited to move on to new and different things! Such as going to the Galapagos Islands on Monday for three more weeks of volunteering! We heard from some volunteers at La Hesperia who knew people who had volunteered there who said it was absolutely amazing. I´m really excited, but am enjoying the few days we have off from work. At La Hesperia we met another couple from Canada (Kelsey and Matt) who are traveling Ecuador and Peru. They [View Full Entry]

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We´re about to leave Quito to go back to the reserve for our last week there. We came to Quito with a few of the other volunteers to go to the Ecuador vs. Uruguay fútbol game. If Ecuador won, they would have qualified for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but sadly they lost! It was a very close game, with some unfortuneate events (getting scored on). We were really anticipating Ecuador winning for obvious reasons, but also that the city would have been crazy the entire night! It would have been quite the experience, but instead it was just [View Full Entry]

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Now. I don´t know what was written last time. or i forget. The soccer game was a blast. It was raining, and there were plenty of people for a good pick up game. the soccer feild is pretty incredible, a grassy clearing amidst the cloud forest with rectangluar goals made from little trees stuck in the ground. one ¨sideline´ is jungle, the other is barbed wire between trees. The backdrop tö the setting is shear mountains rising into the clouds. the game is fast paced and aggressive with alot of shouting in spanish. Most people playing in big rubber boots (gummi [View Full Entry]

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It´s the middle of the work week at La Hesperia and we are tired! Zack and I have spent the past few days doing a lot of different jobs. I´ve been spending a lot of time tending to the vegetable garden - making new garden beds, mixing in cow poop, and other farmy stuff. This morning I took the mule down the mountain with the milk, dropped it off, and rode it back up the hill! Apparently it´s pretty hard to get him to take you all the way up but he must like me. :) The work has been really [View Full Entry]

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