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Published: October 15th 2006
Sunset
This is the view of the island from our ¨house¨at the station, right behind me there are 3 hammocks and a couch made of bamboo.So we have been here for about a week and a half. Its an amazing place...
The first day we arrived with two other volunteers and rode to camp in the back of a pick-up, the local taxi´s are all 4 door white pick-up trucks, some with 4wd but mostly not. The other volunteers we came in with are a Spanish guy named Pablo, who we´ll definitely meet up with in Barcelona and a girl just out of high school from Minnesota, Katie. We got to camp and its definitely in the jungle, its an old farm, and we´re actually staying in the original house. Although we´re sometimes concerned with the mold in the wood, its a solid 2 story building with plenty of hammocks and several rooms upstairs and down. We actually have our own room downstairs wtih a nice double bed (two mattresses put together of course) But it feels nice with the white mosquito net over it. That day we didn´t do any work, just unpacked and got to know the other volunteers that were already there, 4 German girls, 1 German guy, and a Californian UCSB alum who teaches high school in Ojai, and surfs ventura
Work
the work is muddy and hard, but aren´t we cute in our matching outfits (he was practically our friend before we even met) On first impression we were really excited, the area is lush green with lots of trails and an outdoor kitchen. There are flush toilets with cold showers and plenty of biting insects and spiders. Its really out there too, almost an hour drive from town. Its pretty cool.
The next day was our first day of work (Thursday) and we worked really hard clearing the forest for a tomato patch. We used machete´s to hack and cut branches, bushes, and a lot of invasive species. It was really hard work, especially because you have to wear your mosquito net over your face so you don´t get a lot of airflow, but much fewer bites. You also have to wear this big rubber boots cause its incredibly muddy (i guess we´re in the rain forest or something) After really hard work and sometimes getting rained on, with a break of eating oranges picked right there from a tree, we have a nice lunch and a afternoon break for about 2 hours. Afterwards we have another task and have to get all sweaty and dirty again for another 2 hours. But that
Our beach
this is the snorkling beach we go to on the weekends, sea turtles, sea lions, and all the interesting fish you can imagine day Aaron got really sick and was sick for a few days finally getting better by Monday, ready to work, but thats when I got really sick. Apparently they just get the water from the river. They boil the drinking water, but they wash the vegetables in the river water, thats the water in the tap that we brush our teeth with, etc, so we didn´t know that, we thought it was at least chlorinated, so now that we are aware to stay away from the water we´re feeling great.
So on Fridays at the station we go on a hike and bring a packed lunch, Aaron wasn´t feeling up to it on the first friday, but I went on the hike and he and a few others came in a taxi and met up with us. We hiked through the jungle, past farms, and national park areas, through mud and streams, past trash heaps and banana plantations and made it out to the beach. We first went to the galapaguerra where they are raising and releasing giant tortoises, and it was really cool. They had a bunch of babies as well as huge adults munching on leaves. After
Iguanas
see how many iguanas you can find, they are surely the last dinosaurs that we went to a really nice beach and went swimming while frigate birds (the ones that look like pterodactyls) dive bomb and catch fish. That was the start of the weekend, that night we went to town after dinner went to bed early. The next day we went out to the beach with rented snorkel equipment and snorkeled with sea lions, sea turtles, so many fish I´ve never seen before. It was really cool and relaxing, its the unofficial volunteers beach, almost everyone from the station goes out there (a little hike from town, but worth it) That night we went out to a bar with the other volunteers and it was fun, but we went to bed early compared to everyone else. On Sunday we went snorkeling in a cove opposite of the beach and were chased off by an aggressive sea lion. Apparently they are territorial, especially now cause its mating season, so the males are really aggressive. He kept swimming right at us and barely missing smashing into us, at first it was funny and playful, but after he followed us everywhere we didn´t feel comfortable and got out. He looked relieved when we finally left. One theme of the whole weekend is the election. In Ecuador its compulsory to vote and there are campaign banners and flags on every building. All weekend there was music and propaganda blasting until 4am and at each candidates headquarters there are many men drinking and hanging out, totally crazy, not at all like in the US. The election was to be the next Sunday (today)
The next week back at the station started with me being sick and staying in bed all of Monday and most of Tuesday, Aaron worked really hard, enough for the two of us! Wednesday I was feeling better and worked the rest of the week (wednesday and thursday) Friday we were going to hike to the lake, but it had rained all night (it rains like that almost every night now, a little longer each night though) and it rained through breakfast, so we decided that hiking uphill to a big lake that we probably wouldn´t be able to see and barely get to considering the mud, just wasn´t a good idea and we should go early to town. So we got to town around 11 and went for lunch, after a week away from cold drinks and junk food, soda, chips and beer are so great. Friday we spent some time on the Internet, Aaron and I are looking to book a tour at the end of our stay here so that we can see a bunch of the other islands, and I think we found a good one. That night we found out that all the bars were closed because of the election on Sunday, luckily we bought a bunch of beer in the afternoon. Saturday we went on an all day snorkel trip out to an island called isla de los lobos (named for all the sea lions there) where we saw a few curious playful seals, a lot of rays on the sea floor, a bunch of puffer fish and schools of fish so big they spanned the whole side of the island, so cool. We then went out to Kicker rock, its a big rock (like 20 stories high a couple miles off the coast) and its split in two pieces, and you can swim in the channel between the rocks. We saw a Galapagos shark down at the bottom there, and the scuba divers even saw hammer head sharks (too deep for the snorkelers to see) We relaxed on the boat and went to another beach where we saw some cute baby seals reuniting wtih their moms and barking to each other, cute! That night al the bars were closed again so we just hung ot at the hostel. Our hostel is really great, we think the volunteers at Jatun Sacha are the only ones who ever go there. But its got a variety of rooms that are like little apartments, kitchens, hang out areas, hot showers, refrigerators. So we´ve been cooking cause we know we´re going to make some great food and its cheaper that way too. We also have a little internet cafe we always go to that serves great food, and dessert (brownies and ice cream!) All the volunteers congregate there.
Today we went out to the beach called Loberia (sea lions again) and saw tons of iguanas and baby seals it was awesome. The iguanas really look like the last dinosaurs, just hanging out on the rocks. The baby seals are really cute too, there was one that seemed so small and we were worried that it wasn´t going to find its mother, I just wanted to take it with me. They really are like little puppies, cute and cuddly.
All in all we are having a great time, the work is hard, but the weekends are really fun and its nice to have a home for a while. Sometimes its really hard though, cause its a bit unorganized and your left wondering why we do certain things, like I understand why we´re planting and maintaining vegetables around the farm, but we even went to the neighbor and helped mix and lay concrete for the new bar (not exactly the re-forestation project I had in mind) There is a bit of resistance to change at the station among the staff, and a lot of us just feel like we are doing the shit jobs on someone elses farm instead of trying to kill invasive species and reforest with native plants. As with most volunteer efforts its hard because no one is there very long so there isn´t much accountability.
On another note, make sure you check our Aaron´s blog for another prospective and other pictures as well: www.travelblog.org/bloggers/jbandsandy
Oh and one last request from all you readers, I feel like I´m getting disconnected from everyone´s life back home, you get to be updated from me with this blog, but I have no idea whats going on with your lives, please send me an e-mail, photos or just a quick message and let me know whats going on! Keep us in the loop!!
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wendy Albrecht
non-member comment
Hi Beth, wow that all sounds so wonderful! Things are good in Austin. Lauren came home and surprised Aunt Brigdie for her birthday on October 7 which was so fun! chad is going out to visit her in San Diego this weekend. Annie is KICKING BUTT in soccer! I tell you! She was applauded when she came off the field yesterday because she had played so well! I'm settling into my new house with my kitties and we're loving it! Love, Wendy