Hola! Bienvenidos a Ecuador
There are two things I learnt very quickly upon arrival in Quito, Ecuador. 1: Time is more of a fluid idea that does not have to be adhered to. 2: Speaking Spanish is not a luxury, it’s a commodity.
After a solid 34 hours or so of traveling, which includes sleeping (or more accurately trying to sleep) in an airport, one bus and three flights, the last thing you want is to end up stranded in Quito airport with no phone, no knowledge of the language, and no one there to pick you up as you expected. But these are the joys of travel.
Fear not lovely friends, I made it eventually, and things are looking up. I am beginning to perfect the art of holding a conversation of mutual understanding and misunderstanding, and a deep seeded desire to need to connect with people. When one speaker knows no English and the other no Spanish, things get interesting and much slower. But with patience, you can eventually form that connection we all desperately want to have.
From there I continued to meet many more wonderful souls. Patricio who made sure I got on the right bus and took great care of me, and Daniella, the Californian/Ecuadorian who chatted with me and answered all my silly questions on a five hour bus ride, then told me to definitely get in touch when I finish in the jungle. And then finally into the jungle where I will spend the next three weeks of my life.
Now for some details about the jungle, because I’m sure you’re all dying to know. The volunteer centre in which I will be spending the next three weeks is called Sacha Yacu. The main objective is to care for and rehabilitate animals native to the Amazon who have been previously kept as pets, were illegally removed from the Amazon, or are sick and need more attention. As a volunteer you spend a few hours each day feeding the animals and cleaning their cages, cooking for the rest of the volunteers, or helping to construct new cages for the animals. They have all sorts of animals like monkeys, birds, turtles, some sort of pig type thing, some sort of mini jaguar/leopard (can you tell I was just given the tour today and remember very little; I was more focused on not falling as I trekked further and further into the jungle), and all sorts of other animals. Some of them are cute, some are aggressive, some are just plain funny, and they all have their individual personalities.
A friendly face to welcome me on my first night in the centre.
As for the volunteer house, it’s pretty incredible. It’s an hour bus ride from the nearest city, and then a half hour walk down a mountain from there. It’s about as remote and in the jungle as you can live, without actually spending your life living in the Amazon. We have a generator that gives us electricity for two hours every night, and other than that it’s all candlelight and headlamps. There are six other volunteers from all around the world, and we live together, eat together, work together, play together, appreciate the rain together, and spend our weekends in town together (it’s important to take full advantage of hot showers, electricity and internet when you can).
This is the view from the girls room. Jealous?
Seeing as how we are in the city, we are heading out for dinner and some sort of partying, until we drop out of sheer exhaustion (hiking in the jungle is exhausting).
So stay tuned and next week when I’m back in the city I will have many more stories about me and the animals!
