Jatun Sacha, Quito, and life in the jungle

Buenos dias everyone!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I spent it here in Colombia and visited the Colombian National museum. But more about the life and times of Colmbia later as this post is not about that, it is about the pictures and wrap up of my time at Jatun Sacha and Quito--that´s right, more pics are finally in the house!

As for the volunteer work, I am having a bit of mixed feelings about it at this point. While due to the large volume of people, the constant moldy clothes, and lack of actual good work to be done (because of the constant rain and mud) left me feeling a bit disappointed in the whole thing, I must say I really met some great people--both staff and other volunteers--and learned about that part of Ecuador and a way of life of the locals that we could never imagine, so that was good. I also learned about some medicinal plants and what many of the local issues are. So all in all I will call the experience a good one--it definately gave me a new appreciation for the hot shower!

Also of important note is the industiousness of the ants in this part of the world. You will see a couple of pictures regarding this, but these folks work sun up to sun down and never take a day off. Of course since it rains everyday and washes away whatever huge ant condo they are building, they have to work everyday since they must be constantly starting over.

I learned that in honor of our last night they decided to kill the last of the chickens. Unfortunatley they did it right in front of us, as we were working digging a huge whole for the pig shit, which was unexpected and unappreciated. Thankfully we didn´t have to see it, but sure had to hear it.....anyway, a few photos are of the replacement set of chickens. The chickens were originally donated by volunteers in order to have eggs, but apparently the staff dídn´t want to wait for them to start producing eggs, and so would just kill some everyone once in a while for food. Which was a shame and waste since as there were so many people, all you would get would be a wing. Why bother? I made the mistake of donating chicken feed which apparently meant that in their apppreciation I was due a special piece of chicken on my last night. Hard to expalin in my limited Spanish that I donated the feed to feed the chickens so they could start producing eggs, not so I could have a fat piece of chicken on my last night!

Oh well, such as life and communication. Let see...in the pictures, there are lots of photos of the staff and other volunteers. Some dirt here--Pedro is the volunteer coordinator and Rosa is one of the kitchen ladies. Pedro apparently has a wife and kids in Tena, Rosa is married to some guy that kills pigs, and Pedro and Rosa hook up regulary at his cabana, and everyone knows it. Latin American folks have very different ideas about monogomy and it is fun to chat with the volunteers about it, as people´s views about it tend to reflect thier age. Very interesting conversations were had.

Patricia is kind of the girl who does everything: All the cleaning of cabanas, bathrooms and laundry. She lives in the community about 40 minutes away, and so started sleeping in my cabana after my roomie Alison hooked up with Gato, one of the bosque guards. Alison started spending most nights at Gatos place (which has no bathroom) and so Patricia would stay in my room. It was fun and she is a great lady. I think she needs an American or foregin man to get her out of here and she is so wonderful (and had a crush on Steve who is a really shy brit), so if anyone of you know a suitable man, let me know and I will pass the info on!

Lots of pictures of volunteers, a few of Rob, the volunteer who never actually worked. His job seemed to be going to Tena everyday in search of real food. He did work this one time, so I was sure to get a photo of it.

There are also a few photos of our trip to Amazoonico, which is an animal rehabilitation center. Some of the animals roam free, others are in caged environments for either their own safety (they are ill and vulnerable to attack) or for the saftey of other animals. There was one monkey that I don´t have a picture of because he is in a double wired area. Apparently he got out one night and killed 20 other monkeys.

Photos of my time at Jatun Sacha are here:

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Jatun%20Sacha%20y%20Tena/?start=all

and here are some pictures of Quito:

http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w190/sweidmann/Quito/?start=all