Mugging, Bugging, and Tree Hugging

Well, my trip is already one quarter done, and I can definitely say that it has been quite the week in Ecuador. Since my last entry, I have been mugged, eaten alive by insects, and soaked in both rain and sweat! We met up with David´s family (Robin´s boyfriend) and they fed us an amazing feast on Saturday. There were probably about five courses of some of the most amazing food imaginable, followed by a trip to a fruit market where we tried so many different things I can´t remember what any of them were called. After that we went to another family member´s house for a ¨dessert¨which was more like a second meal made up solely of sweet foods. It was incredible. We topped the day off by going to a local bar in the Mariscal region of Quito for some live music. The following day we took a trip into the historic centre of Quito, and behaved the way any tourists would in the city. We rode up a gondola, or ¨teleferico¨which would have given us an amazing view of Quito if the clouds and rain hadn´t come in so soon. The weather has been consistently inconsistent. We haven´t had a day without at least two changes. The sky is usually bright and clear in the morning until about 2 PM and then the clouds will roll in, drop ridiculous amounts of rain preventing much outdoor activity, and then they usually dissipate by about 8 in the evening. Following our tourist activities on Sunday we decided it would be a good idea just to walk to the tourist district for a cup of coffee before calling it a night. We went to a great little cafe just off the main street, but on the walk home I was taken by surprise by a man and his accomplice who ran out from around a corner and attempted to rob me of everything I had, which would have been extremely unfortunate considering I was carrying not only my passport and VISA card, but also my camera full of pictures that I had taken. I managed to put up enough resistance to keep them from getting anything, but they attempted to gas me, and left my mouth stinging for the next few hours. They had forced me to the ground because I was yelling so loudly, and I didn´t think I had much hope of holding on to anything, until I saw an opening to make an attack: I had a wide open shot at the second man´s crotch! To say the least, he wasn´t walking straight for the next hour or so, and upon kicking him in the cajones he and his partner scattered without managing to get a single thing from me! I was amazed at my luck! It was quite the scare, however, and slightly changed my view of Quito. The next morning we were picked up from the hostel and traveled to our placement. Somewhat unfortunately, it was not much of what I was expecting at all. We are not very close to Mindo, or even the town of Los Bancos, which is about a 10 minute walk and a 15 minute taxi ride away. Also, where I was expecting to meet many volunteers at the same placement, there is only one other boy there with us. He is, however, quite friendly and speaks english very well, which is quite refreshing! We did not work monday at all, as it was more of an orientation to the volunteer site. Tuesday we started early in the morning. Jon and August (the other boy at the placement) are volunteering at the school in the morning, while Robin and I are working in the environmental reserve. I now have a much better idea of what this organization does than when I first came. The Mindo Cloudforest foundation is a sort of sanctuary for endemic bird species in the region. Our work consists of planting trees, making and maintaining trails, and weeding. Jon and August join up with us in the afternoon where the bulk of our environmental activity takes place. It is hard work but it is fulfilling. The only real down side of our placement is the bugs. They are EVERYWHERE! My mosquito net was definitely a good purchase, but I am still managing to get eaten alive. At the moment, the four of us from Mindo are back in Quito and are making a trip to the hot springs in Baños tomorrow. All is going well, aside from my minor VISA inconveniences which are disabling me from withdrawing money in any way. I´m working on fixing that at the moment, but hopefully these problems won´t be around for much longer!
Peace and Love!

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