Blogs from North, Ecuador, South America - page 222

I finally arrived in Quito late last night, about 1 hour late after a minor adventure in Houston... Houston was so windy that they decided to close the airport just before we were about to land. So, we were diverted to Elliston Air field, an apparently "ex-military" air base (according to the flight attendant), just south of Houston. While we were trapped on the plane re-fuelling, we were treated to fields of blackhawks, fighter jets, transports, and one of the oddest-looking planes I´ve ever seen (I´ll post a photo when I can get it off my computer). Basically it looked like a giant tropical fish with propellers on the fins - probably a guppy-like transport of some sort. Eventually, the weather moved away from the airport and Houston re-opened, although by that time, "The Weather" was ... read more

Dear all, During the last two weeks I have been doing a few (if little) hikes and walks in the Sierra around Otavalo. Waterfalls, mountains, lakes and healing trees - I can't begin to describe how beautiful it is around here. And what amazes me every time is how quiet those places are. One can hear the occasional pig gruntling or a bird singing, but apart from that there is just absolute silence. (Unless some annoying tourists have decided to take a taxi all the way) Despite having seen absolutely beautiful countryside, I am a little disappointed about the limited amount of native animals that I have come across. So far, the scores are: category "Exciting!" llamas: 4 (three white, one brown) eagles wild: 1 eagles in big bird rehabilitation centre up in the mountains: 10 ... read more

#2- Still in Quito, Ecuador- Saturday, August 20, 2005 Time to catch up to the present… In the last update I had just arrived back from my tour in the jungle. The area is called the Cuyabeno River & Wildlife Reserve- it borders the north-eastern boundary to Columbia. I mentioned that the access to the area was thanks to the roads from the oil company in the area. Well, what I forgot to mention was that on our last day in the jungle, our tour guide confronted one of the later arrivals to the camp. He mentioned that in a few days there was going to be a strike with the buses in the area and suggested that Lara (the late arrival) go home a day early to avoid any problems. Luckily, Natasha, Helen and I ... read more

#1- First 10 in Ecuador- Wednesday, August 17, 2005 I suppose I have quite a bit to catch up on. Not much happened in the first five days here in Quito, but I’ll give you a quick description… Upon arriving from Canada on the plane I went to straight to bed, as it was quite early in the morning (about 6 am), and I hadn’t been able to fall asleep on the way over. At first glance, the hostel looked like a nice place to meet people; when I got up a few hours later, that proved to be a correct assumption. Hoping to find people headed in the same direction as I was, I leisurely perused the hostel for a couple days. Upon the passing of those two mellow days, I hooked up with a ... read more

Dear all, today was my second day teaching in Urqusiquie. Behind this beautiful names lies a number of rather basic tiny classrooms at 3000 metres in the Andes with no running water. The toilets that are so dirty that even the children prefer to go into the fields...(as do I!) A pick up truck takes me and the other three teachers up into the mountains around 7.30 am. It is so cold in the mornings on the back of the truck that I am going to buy a woolly hat on my way back from the Internet Cafe. I might even consider teaching with gloves at least during the morning. The sun shines all day but with no radiators in school it is always chilly. The children, however, don't seem to mind at all. They turn ... read more