Would you believe that I haven't written in so long because I've been busy with work?!? That's right, I've been working!!! Mostly helping plan charlas (workshops), going to meetings, giving a health class in English (the easiest and my favorite) and helping organize Bienestar’s plans for next year. It's all really been a welcome change from doing tons of nothing all day!
Other than all that work, I've also managed to squeeze in a little vacationing as well! This past weekend I went to visit Joy in her site, Pedro Vicente Maldonado. Its WAY up north, in the transitional zone, and it took me 8 hours via bus to get there. It's funny how accustomed I’ve become to bus travel; I consider 2 hours a short trip now. It might have something to do with all my free time (or the free time I used to have). Anyways, the transitional zone is the area in between the sierra and the coast, and is also a cloud forest.
For those who are interested, refer to Wikipedia for the specifics on cloud forests.
It was such a magnificent place, and actually one of the best places in the world to bird watch. If I remember correctly, there are more species of birds in those forests than in all of the USA. Really nice, but it wasn't so nice at 4am when 3.675 million birds were singing outside my window. If you haven't gathered, its really kinda tropical, except that the temperature drops at night to make it quite comfortable- imagine the Crystal Beach weather in the winter.
Lucky for me, Joy happens to live 1 hour from a national reserve called Mindo, which is also the name of the quaint little tourist town in the reserve. Naturally, we for a night and I honestly had the time of my life. I would have been just as happy doing some nature walks, because this forest was FULL of butterflies, birds, awesome flora, rivers and mountains covered with trees. I kinda felt like I was walking through Jurassic Park and at any moment a T-Rex would come bounding after us. Of course we decided not to risk a dinosaur attack and did a canopy tour through the jungle. The tour consisted of 10 zip lines, strung throughout the forest, with pretty little walks between the platforms. Honestly, I was scared out of my mind at first because the lines were REALLY high and REALLY fast... But I got over that as soon as I realized that 1) I was strapped in pretty securely and 2) It would be a quick death if I fell. As it turns out, I survived and can't wait to go back and do that again! They also have bird watching tours, which I want to do next time I go.
After the Canopy Tour, we signed up to go to a "Frog Concert" that night, which was supposed to be 3/4 frog tour and 1/4 listening to frogs harmonize/sing/make noises in the jungle. It was a 30 minute hike up a mountain and through the forest to even get to this place. Needless to say it was remote, which raised my expectations for the whole event. I can say that they delivered on the concert part, because, yes, there were about a gillion frogs croaking. I can't say that they lived up to the whole seeing frogs deal though. In the course of 1 1/2 hours, we saw: 1 toad, 1 frog and 2 tadpoles. Whoopee! I think I'll stick to an aquarium next time I want to see frogs...
After we got back from Mindo, Joy and I visited another volunteer, Cindy, who lived way out in the middle of nowhere- the kind of place that's not on any map I've ever seen. She has her own little cabin in the woods, which was really cute. So we hung out there, drinking ghetto mojitos (rum, sprite and bottled mint extract) which tasted more like mouthwash than anything else. The point is, that while we were hanging out a gigantic cockroach flew in through the window. You have to see the picture on Facebook, because coming from Beaumont, I know what a big cockroach looks like. This monster was the largest roach I've ever seen in my life- like it would eat Beaumont roaches for a snack. Anyways, Cindy went on to tell us that they don't really bother her that much, and that this particular species is actually close to being put on the endangered species list. Given my irrational fear of roaches, I didn't care, and proceeded to murder the giant endangered roach anyway. It was freaky, because it took two direct hits with my flip-flop to kill it, and it still didn't look all that crushed. That's one species I wouldn't mind totally extinct!
I had a few problems getting back to Riobamba, but finally made it back here on Monday. I've been working all week and this weekend I'm going to Guaranda for a conference. Don't y'all worry, its in the sierra so there is no chance of monster, iron-plated roach attacks!
Lastly, the zoomobile finally sold! It feels bitter-sweet- I’m happy it actually got sold, but sad to see it go. Oh well, that’s funding for a trip to Peru next year!
