Blogs from Puyo, Centre, Ecuador, South America - page 3

Arrived in Puyo expecting jungle. Was surprised to find out that the Lonely Planet description of a large town obsessed with the internet and American jeans was actually closer to the truth that monkeys and mosquitos. In fact, miracle of miracles, I managed to escape from the jungle without a single mosquito bite (this truly is a miracle as I´m normally the buffet for any kind of insect.) Have an amazing hostel in Flor de Canela which is full of little bridges and walkways with cabins hidden everywhere - figured it´s better to pay more for a decent hostel than end up sharing a bargain one with lots of creepy-crawlies. Our first foray was into town to find food and a tour. The first was very easy, the second not so easy. I was expecting finding ... read more

Greetings to all blog readers. As many of you know, I have written about fellow Puyo Volunteer, Matt, in a few of my blogs. He is working on a project along the same lines as my Env. Education guide. My project was to train teachers, his project is to provide ¨workbooks¨ to actual students who lack any real materials. It is a worthy project that was started by former Volunteer Katie Wallace and Matt has refused to let her hard work go for naught. I know that economic times are tight, but I´ll ask you anyhow to take a look at his project below. If you can donate even $5 or $10 it would be wonderful for him and for the students of Pastaza. I've been in Ecuador for about a year and its been a ... read more

So Susan and I have celebrated another Christmas in Puyo, as well as, ushered in another New Year. Just like last year, we invited friends down to Puyo to spend Christmas with us. Last year, there were 8 of us, this year we numbered 20. Somehow, Susan and I have become social chairs of our Omnibus, or so we have been told. People heard about the great Puyo Christmas of 2007 and thus, more wanted to come this year. We invited people to come anytime from Christmas Eve until the 27th, when the real party would occur. Our friend Roger came on the 24th and we had a nice Christmas Eve dinner at our house with him and Casey (other Volunteer in Puyo). We stayed up chatting and then Casey just decided to sleep over instead ... read more

Well, I am having one of those weeks. On Sunday, I was shaving with new razor on my upperlip and managed to slice the hell out of my nose. It bled and bled - I am still trying to figure out how I did that. On Tuesday I woke up with an incredible pain in my right eye as though I had a piece of glass in it. I must have scratched it with something and after multiple flushings and standing under the shower with my eyes open I think I cleared out whatever was in my eye, but am left with horrible pain like someone is grating my eyeball. I spent most of yesterday in my bed with my eyes shut (as advised by the PC nurse) and woke up this morning with the same ... read more

Situated on the edge of the Amazon rainforest, Flor de la Amazonía Animal Rescue Centre is a volunteer based non-profit organization striving to help the native animals of South America and the indigenous communities of Ecuador. The Flor de la Amazonía Animal Rescue Centre, locally known as "Wayra Urku", was created out of necessity for a rehabilitation centre for a wide diversity of Amazonian wildlife. These animals have sadly been victims of trafficking, destruction of their natural habitat or mistreatment, still too common today in Ecuador and South America in general. The Flor de la Amazonía Animal Rescue Centre is responsible for rescuing these wild animals from captivity, commonly found tied up with ropes or chains or kept in tiny cages with no water or food. Once they arrive at our centre their rehabilitation process begins ... read more