Boobies!!

On the way to the coast, we thought we would stop and stay in the town of Guaranda and then visit the small town just north of there - Salinas. Salinas is a small town famous for its community collective which makes cheeses, salamis and chocolates. MMMMMMmmmmm. Unfortunately, 4 of us never made it because we got food poisoning. Arrrghhh. Luckily this is the first time in 3 months for me. So instead of seeing a quiant village and supporting a collective, we spent a lot of time in the bathrooms. But on the drive to the coast, we drove by el Volcan Chimborazo which is not only a volcano and heighest peak in Ecuador at 6,268 meters but it is thought to be the farthest point from the equator as well. It was snowing!!!! So we did not see the top, but we did see 2 - 3 fresh inches of snow which was a sight for my eyes and soul! We also saw an immense base - what looked to be bigger than Denali!































Krysi, Dennis, Rebecca and I arrived at the coast and stayed in a sleepy coastal village of Puerto Lopez. There is a bay which ou will tons of birds and boats out on during the high tides. We went and visited the Isla de la Plata, otherwise known as the "Poor Man´s Galapogas". This island is part of the only coastal national park, El Parque Nacional Machalilla. The island is an hour and a half off of the coast by boat. The island is really dry - they even have cacti growing there. There were hundreds of Boobies - red footed ones who live in the trees and blue footed ones who nest on the ground - all over the island. The blue footed boobies were predominantly nesting. Boobies typically lay 1 - 2 eggs which hatch about a week apart. One of the parents are always guarding them so the frigate birds and other predators do not eat them. The little boobies start to gain some plummage after 7 days or so, with feathers coming in about 2 weeks to a month. They learn to fly at bout 6 - 7 months. Boobies can also spot fish in the ocean 15 meters higher. Pretty amazing eyesight! Frigates, which I also have seen in Hawaii, do not have any oils on their feathers so they can not dive into water and fish. They rely on their scavenging and thieving skills. They are amazing fliers and have forked tails which they use in their flying.
After our hike around the island, we went snorkeling and saw some amazing tropical fish. Dennis was the last one in the water and got to see some sea turtles as well.

My favorite boobies:

Happy Holidays

Baños















Happy Holidays to all!!!! May your holiday season be filled with much cheer, love, good friends and special time with your loved ones.

Krysi, Dennis and I finished up our week in Otavalo and have traveled south to Baños - a small pueblo (about 14,000 people) in the mountains. We have met up with some of my friends - Rebecca, Dylan and Neil from Alto Choco. So I am spending the holidays with some treasured friends - both new and old. It is stunningly beautiful, with green mountains in all directions. We hiked yesterday up into the hills for several hours. We came across some incredible farmland and houses. I am so impressed at how the Ecuatorianos take care of their land. It sure shows their care and love of the land.

Today we biked from town about 25 km or so and saw 4 different and amazing waterfalls. They had 2 cable cars that crossd the canyon ( at least 1/2 mile high but probably more) to get to the waterfalls. We had to ride our bikes through a tunnel which was incredible because there were no lights and it was pitch black in places and we could only see when a car/truck went through.

During the nighttime, we walked to some thermal pools - HEAVENLY!!!! They had several pools of varying sies, shapes and temperatures. We came up with a great routine which we did 3 times. First we would soak in the hot pool. Then we would go upstairs and swim in the cool pool followed by a plunge in the waterfall waters. They had 2 pipes coming out of the earth with the cold water gushing out of them - it was incredibly invigorating, enlivening and refreshing. We would go back to the cool pool, swim and then take another plunge before returning to the hot pools. It was awesome.

I have loved some of the signs I have seen along the paths - very inspiring.

Taking care of the water is taking care of our lives!!!!






























To be an owner, it is the same as you learning to take advantage of the silence of the nature














We are headed off to the coast. I am sure excited to see what the coastline of Ecuador looks like.

TeleferiQo

Krysi and Dennis arrived the other night!! It is so great to see them. I am super excited to share 2 1/2 weeks with them exploring Ecuador. I am so very grateful for the ties of a dear lifelong friendship!! It is incredible to share life and watch as your friends grow and change. As I have been learning, changing and growing, it is so great to have some of my cherished friends come and learn with me. It is even better to share the changes and share a different culture and learn together.





























We had great weather in Quito which was the first time. We decided to take the TeleferiQo which is a tram ride that goes up a little over a mile (2.5km). It starts on the outskirt of the city and goes up the flanks of the Volcan Pichincha. When you reach the top you’re at 4100 m (about 12,500 feet) and we hiked up to Rucu Pichincha - about 4700m. It was incredible! We took it slow because it was Dennis' and Krysi's first day at such heights. Rucu Pichincha is similar to Eugene's Spencer Butte.

We also visited the Basilica del Voto Nacional - a beautiful church built in 1926. It is incredibly gorgeous with tons of stained glass inside.

Today I was reminded:
sometimes success is better measured in smiles received, giggles heard, and hands held, than in dollars earned, deadlines met, and kilos shed.

Laguna Cuicocha

We - the crew from ZooBreviven - went to Laguna Cuicocha for our last day together. It was incredibly beautiful. It reminded me of our Crater Lake in Oregon. Although after some research, I discovered that Crater Lake is much bigger and deeper but that they are both caldera lakes formed by volcanoes.

A quick comparison of facts: Crater Lake is 5 x 6 miles and 1949 feet deep while Cuicocha is 2 miles across and 656 feet deep. Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the US and the 7th deepest in the world. Crater Lake is known for the "Old man of the Lake" because it has a tree bobbing in the lake, still living healthily, for over 100 years, due to the cool temperatures. Laguna Cuicocha means Lago de Cuye in the native language with Cuye meaning Guinea Pig. The bigger island looks like 2 guinea pigs. The natives cherish guinea pigs here and use them for a protein source, especially in the highlands. It is supposed to be rather tasty but I have not gotten the nerve up yet to eat one.

We hiked the entire way around the lake which took about 4 hours. We estimated the walk to be about 5 miles with a lot of ups and downs. At times we walked through narrow channels of old lava walls that are slowly being eroded down. These channels were easily 7 - 8 feet tall. I tried to take a picture of them with Santos but you really only can see one side of these high walls. At other points in the walk, we had open meadows and some dry terrain with cacti.

At the end of the hike, all of us ended up hitching a ride in a back of a pickup truck that had some fresh cheese they were delivering and we got to have a wonderful snack while getting a ride to the bus.

Last week at Alto Choco

What a fun last week at Alto Choco! There were a total of 8 of us - Ramiro, Rebecca, Elena, Santos came back and me and then we added Mimi from Sweden, Neil from England and Perretz from Israel. We planted the garden with quinoa, corn and onions and we planted over 100 trees. Rebeca and I hiked up to one of the peaks. The trail traveled through the secondary forest and up to the primary forest. It was quite alive and abundant with vegetation. We unfortunately did not see many animals but this might be because we had a stray dog with us who was our house dog for a day until he wandered off.

Elena had her 27th birthday so we had a fiesta with the cake that you see down below (made out of crushed up cookies and condensed milk) and we went to some hot pools about 30 minutes south of us in Apuelo. They had about 6 or 7 different swimming pools and smaller pools that were of varying temperatures. One of the pools had a slide to go down and splash into hot water. We went about sunset and the power got cut off while we were there so we got to spend most of our time looking up at the stars and listening to the river. It was awesome!

I can not remember if I wrote this or not but I will explain it either way. There are regular power outages throughout Ecuador. It's written in the paper and on the news when the outages will be. Some of the businesses and restaurants have generators but it is just typical for everything to just stop until the power comes back on. In some places this also effects the water. My family in Otavalo has no running water during the outages. Most of the energy down here comes from hydroelectric and to help conserve the water, they have these rolling outages throughout the country - even in Quito and Guayanquil. It also has not been raining very much. I love that it is evenly distributed and that textile plants and major businesses are effected as well. The people are so accepting of this. I have nor heard any complaints or grumbles. It is pretty amazing.

During Elena's celebration we of course drank some vodka! We learned that in Russia when they start drinking at a party or a gathering, everyone participates in 3 toasts: the first one for the gathering, the second one to parents and the third to love. Then after those toasts anyone can make other toasts.

We also hiked to a beautiful waterfall one morning at sunrise. The trail was overgrown so we had to hike up the river, across the river and scramble up the rocks but it really was worth it because they were beautiful!

I was sad to say goodbye to my friends today and not return to Alto Choco with them. Ramiro asked me to come back and help out as a crew leader. As a crew leader, I would not have to pay to volunteer but I also would not get paid. A pretty good deal - free room and board with meals in an incredible place. So I might return after my travels south to Chile, Peru and Bolivia. I also might go to Argentina and visit my friend Leslie before she leaves in March. But what is awesome is that Krysi and Dennis are coming tomorrow :-) I am super excited. They will be here for almost 3 weeks and we are going to travel Ecuador together. YEAHHHHH! I really love this country and can't wait to see more of it.

Cotopaxi

Last weekend, I had an incredible experience of climbing Cotopaxi. It is the second highest volcano in Ecuador standing at 5897 meters (19, 347 feet) - the highest volcano and peak in Ecuador is Chimborazo at 6267 meters or 20,561 feet. My crew leader at ZooBreviven is a mountain guide on the weekends and he invited me along with a group he was leading. Since I got to go along as a guest, I only hiked and camped but did not summit and climb much on the snow - the last 4,000 feet or so. I think this was smart anyway because I have never been higher than 11 or 12,00 feet so camping and hiking up at 15,000 was a goal in itself!!

It was quite the adventure. We were a group of 8 and in 2 cars. When we got to the Parque Nacional Cotopaxi, we had to wait for about an hour because they had an extreme bike/running race finishing up. Then as we drove not even 250 yards from the entrance, the other car's alternator belt broke. We temporarily fixed it using some nylon cord I had from REI (thanks Krysi), a set of pliers and my leatherman. Once the car was bandaged up, we drove to this huge parking lot at about 9,000 feet. I was shocked to see not only a parking lot the size of Mt. Bachelor's West Village lot but that there were at least 2 - 3 tour buses and a bunch of cars. Gosh almighty. I then learned that Cotopaxi is the second biggest tourist attraction in Ecuador behind the Galapagos Islands. So as we pull into the parking lot and just as we are starting to get ready, it starts hailing. Cotopaxi had been hidden under clouds the entire ride and while we were waiting I was wondering if we were going to get rain/snow. Luckily it only lasted for about 10 - 15 minutes and then we did not have any more precipitation after that for the rest of the trip.

We started hiking and it was great to see big families of 8 - 10 people all hiking up together - with food and helping each other walk up. Most people and families really only hiked up a little bit of the way and stopped but I loved seeing families together in outdoor activities. On the way out, we saw pick up trucks with their truck beds filled with people standing up and holding onto the rails. Now that road is pretty bumpy -similar to one of our forest gravel roads, except at the beginning where it was cobblestone, that need 4 wheel drive - so I am amazed at how the people arrive with a smile and full of cheer and ready to help one another hike up.

We hiked up to a refuge and then over a bit so we were out of sight. The night we were there, the refuge had about 36 people stay overnight (which includes dinner). It costs about $20 a night for us extraneros and $10 for Ecuatorianos. In Ecuador, it is common practice to have one price for the natives and another higher price for the tourists. I like that Ecuador has perks eventhough I am not able to cash in on them. We set up our tents at about 15,000 feet. The air felt so crisp and clean.

At 2 o'clock in the morning, everyone got up and started to climb the rest of the 4,000 feet. I guess at this time of year, they start at night and finish by 10 or 11am due to avalanche risks. It was quite interesting to watch all these hikers - 6 from our group and 30 from the refuge - with headlamps on hike up in the pitch black. It was like a trail of ants off to work forging up the mountain. I then went back to bed a bit disappointed that I was not going up but glad to help watch everyone's stuff. 2 hours later, one of the guides came back. He only helped get the 6 to the snow and did not want to summit.

When I woke up later, we had some beautiful views of the valley and the volcano itself. I then hiked up to the snow with another fellow from the refuge. It was incredible and I found it harder to breathe because my breath was much shallower. I made it up to the snow just as part of my group was coming down. They unfortunately did not make it to the summit - I guess the snow conditions were really difficult.



















































Here is my first snow angel in South America and I dedicated it to Marie Poueymirou - my incredible grandma who is and was such a guiding force in my life. She modeled hard work, patience, gentleness and she truly understood how important just spending time together is. She is the first person to teach me to play cards, she would swing a jumprope for hours for me and my sisters and she brought our family together, year after year - a touchstone for the 13 pouey cousins! She passed away in 2004 while my brother, uncle, some cousins and myself were up skiing in Whistler. She died in her sleep at the age of 101 years. We got the call at about 4 or 5 in the morning. When it came time to go skiing later that day, my cousin Tom came up with the idea of making snow angels for grandma every time we fell. We made a whole bunch of angels that day in some deep powder. I still continue to make them for her in all sorts of snow conditions throughout the months and years and I probably have made enough to wrap around this planet. I sure hope she can see them!!! She is and was as magical to me as those crystallized powdery flakes are to this planet.

Alto Choco

I am volunteering with ZooBreviven here outside of Santa Rosa Ecuador in the Alto Choco cloud forest. It is incredible - peaceful, rustic and so much country!!! Our community is about a 20 minute walk from the road and nearest neighbors. We do not have any electricity but have an amazing outdoor HOT shower. We use gas for cooking and heating the water. There is a nice sized river that we can hear throughout the day and night. Es muy, muy tranquilo. I am in heaven!! In the pictures, you can see our amazing views from our bunkhouse, kitchen, bathrooms and our leaders small house.

A little bit of factual info: This north west area of Ecuador is named as one of the ten hotspots in the world for all the biodiversity of plants and animals. The Alto Choco Reserve has 2,500 hectares with 1,500 of the hectares being cloud forest. (If google is correct this is roughly about 6,200 acres). The mountains range from 1,800 - 4,000 meters (roughly 6 - 12,000 feet) and we are living at about 6,000 feet. In the Notheast of the reserve borders the Ecological Reserve Cotacahi Cayapas. This area has 204,429 hectares (roughly 505,000 acres). WOW - that is a lot of land which is protected and relatively untouched by humans - my favorite kind of land!! It is filled with secondary and primary forests as well as tons of waterways.

The first week, there were only three of us - Santos, a 23 year old muchacho from Ecuador, our leader - Ramiro, and myself. Ramiro knows english as well but the conversations were all in Spanish. We worked in the garden, did some reforestration projects and started building a trail through this forest which is more like a jungle than any forest I have seen in the US. We saw toucans flying and sitting in a tree. We hear them throughout the day. I have yet to get a good picture sorry. I have not seen any of the Andean Speckled Bear yet but we have fresh claw marks on the trees daily. I hope to see at least one of these gentle creatures before I leave! The lightning bugs here are huge and incredible and they dance along to the cacophony of cicadas, crickets and various other insects at night. AHHHHH it is quite the life! Then in the second week 2 girls arrived from the US, so we became a group of 4. One is originally from Russia - Elena - and the other from Colorado - Rebecca. Rebecca and I have become fast friends with a lot in common. We had a great time making walls for the kitchen out of dirt, water and some natural plant fiber while using bamboo as the framework. Bamboo grows naturally here in the forest.
Next week Santos will be coming back and 2 more guys will be coming - one from England and another from Israel.

I am loving the constant change that my travels are bringing!! I am loving the diversity of languages and experiences that each person brings and the quick bonds of friendship that are formed. I am truly inspired by all the people I am meeting. Volunteering gives us all a shared focus and at the same time gives back to this amazing this planet.

We turn not older with years, but newer every day. Emily Dickinson