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