I had completely forgotten about this video and its awesomeness.  Just the right kind of happy for a Sunday afternoon.  Though its definitely making my itchy foot disease flare up… been too long since I got a good travel on.

Photos from the Scottish Irish Festival in Estes Park Colorado, September 13, 2009.

It was the first chance I’ve had to play with my new camera, a Sony H20.  So far I really like it!  Good quality combined with a convenient size and good manual-control abilities

Yesterday morning we woke up early and bid farewell to our first group of 11 students. Today I’m spending resting and recuperating because tomorrow we get our second group… of 20! Yikes!

I’m going to do my best to recap the past couple weeks, but if you want a more day-to-day account (and pictures), check out the student blogs:

First Session

Second Session

When I last wrote, we were in the Galapagos. The students performed two days of community service there and then we headed back to Quito for the night before heading out into the Oriente (aka the Amazon Rain Forest.)

We flew/bussed our way into the town of Coca, where we met our guide, Hector, and took a motorized canoe about 45 minutes down the Napo River (a tributary of the Amazon) to the Yurina Lodge, where we’d be staying for the next few days. The lodge really blew me away! It was beautiful — individual thatched roofed huts, hand carved decorations, and amazing views. They also had a pet parrot and tapir, which like to stomp down the local vegetation and follow our students around.

During the days in the Amazon we toured the local area (including the Limoncocha reserve), bird watched, saw a wide variety of plant and animal life, and learned about the indigenous culture. Our biggest (and most moving) activity was volunteering for Sumak Allpa, Hector’s island in the middle of the Napo. He runs a school for 14 indigenous elementary school children, and also provides land for primate repopulation. Our group was responsible for the transport of 200 large palm leaves (each weighing 30-40 pounds and about 20 feet in length) up a muddy embankment, over a half kilometer hike, and down to the river, where they were canoed to Hector’s Island. There, we sliced them with machetes and prepared them to be made into a thatched roof for the kitchen at Hector’s school (the previous building had been destroyed several weeks before by a falling tree.)

The work was incredibly difficult but also amazingly rewarding. I was so proud of all of my students, who worked really hard to get everything done. After all our hard work, we got to learn how to shoot a traditional blow gun and throw a spear. We also got to meet all of the children and had our asses handed to us in a pickup game of soccer.

After the Amazon, we flew back to Quito for another night then took off for the Andes. The bus ride there is considered to be one of the most breathtaking in Ecuador, and it definitely lived up to its reputation. The mountains are a green patchwork of agriculture, and populated by small villages and native Quechuan people. Along the way, we stopped at the Zumbahua market, which sells a large selection of local goods, from alpaca knitwear to roasted Cuy (Guinna Pig).

It was then another two hour drive to the Black Sheep Inn, an eco lodge just outside the small town of Chugchilan. The Inn was amazing! It has beautiful views and lots of fun amenities - a zipline, hot tub, sauna, and water slide, just to name a few - and is also very close to self sufficient. Oddly, the most impressive feature of the inn was the composting toilets, which did not smell at all and created fertilizer for the inn’s gardens. They also featured the most amazing views you could ever imagine while sitting on the lou.

While up in the Andes, we spent one day hiking from the rim of the Quilatoa volcano (elevation ~12,500 feet) back to the Black Sheep Inn, which was about a 7.5 mile hike. With the altitude and the mountainous terrain it was not an easy trek, but worth it for the awe inspiring views.

Our second day in the Andes we went horseback riding - I really enjoyed this because I haven’t been in years! Also, they let us canter and run the horses when the terrain permitted, which of course led to races (though my horse was not particularly fast, unfortunately). We rode to a local cheese factory, then up to the Cloud Forest, which is a high altitude rain forest where the clouds hang low beneath tree line.

For our final night (of group one) we came back to Quito for a traditional Ecuadorian Feast, where our students could try Cuy if they wanted (After learning that it was served with head and claws still attached, I decided against it… yes, yes, I know, I should have been more adventurous, but I really just couldn’t bring myself to do it.)

More updates to come, I’m sure. Hope all is well back in the States.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m leading an adventure and service learning trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos this summer!

Hard to believe I’ve been here for a week already. I met my students in the Miami airport and we all flew down to Quito together to meet my cohorts/co-leaders, Dan and Roberto. Only one major slip up (which actually resulted in something of a comedy of errors): one of our students from China did not get the proper stamp to get past customs and was forced to fly back to the US (where she is in high school.) Luckily she was able to get the stamp the very next day and fly down to Quito to join us!

We spent the first day wandering around Old Town and the Mariscal (which is the touristy section of the city that is, oddly enough, also one of the most crime ridden areas of the city, so we had to keep an eye out for our students and ourselves!)

Day two was White Water Rafting Day! The kids (and the leaders) had a blast on the trip down the Rio Toachi and the Rio Blanco. We hit some almost-class-4 rapids (the water was a little low so they weren’t as intense as they can get) and also got to jump off of a cliff about 20 feet high into the water! I ended up with some bruises and a mild sunburn, which I didn’t discover until later that night; battle scars of a fun day.

The past five days we’ve been in the Galapagos on a boat tour aboard the Amigo. It’s been everything I could have imagined and more. The landscape is eerily arid and ranges from desert-like to Ireland-esque. When we landed in Baltra I was reminded of New Mexico - the landscape is dotted with cactuses and plants that are reminiscent of sage-brush.

The highlight of the Galapagos has most definitely been the animals. We all learned about the giant tortises, marine iguanas, and blue-footed boobies in elementary school, what they don’t tell you is the animals here don’t have any learned/evolved fear behavior, and they will happily go about their business with a dozen tourists less than 10 feet away snapping photos of them. A few of the amazing things I saw/encountered:

• Snorkeling with Sea Lions, Sea Turtles, and Sting Rays (we also saw one White Tipped Reef Shark). The Sea Lions are incredibly playful (especially the pups, which are plentiful this time of year). If you stay still they’ll come right up to you! I had a dance off with a pup of about 4 months old, and had a young adult swim within inches of my face mask before diving gracefully beneath my body.
• Babies everywhere! We saw month-old Sea Lions nursing their mothers, Frigitbirds still in the nest, and Blue Footed Boobies (who mate for life and care for their young together) protecting their awkward looking fuzzy white infants.
• Giant Tortoises engaged in seemingly homosexual behavior. (At the Darwin Research center there is a habitat reserved specifically for mature male turtles; we saw one climb on top of the huge shell of another seemingly appearing to copulate. Several moments later they had a Tortoise fight (which involves raising their necks to see who is taller and nipping at each other with their beaks) so it may have just been part of a domination routine.
• Marine & Land Iguanas - which are some of the weirdest looking animals you’ve ever seen. One marine iguana walked right through my legs as I stood listening to our guide!
• Took a trip to Post Office Bay where 19th century whalers left mail to be shipped home to Europe/South America/America. Now it’s a tourist attraction where you can leave your own post cards and collect those of others in your area. Upon your return to your home country you’re supposed to either hand deliver (or mail) the postcards to their recipients.

Overall we visited five islands: Baltra, Santa Cruz, Floreana, Espanola, and San Cristobal. We’re now back in Puerta Ayora on Santa Cruz (a town of ~12,000 human inhabitants) and getting ready to start our volunteer work. My students area really great group so far and I’m having a fantastic time seeing the sights and getting to know them.

Two more days in the Galapagos, and then off to the Amazon!

Email is appreciated if you get the chance. If you’d like a postcard and I don’t have your address already feel free to send me an email and I’ll try to get you one.