Dia Uno en Puyo

So my first real day with the program began in Puyo. We had two events scheduled for us: a visit to the Orquidearo?(Orchid Garden) and then Omaere, another garden run by a Shwar medicine woman and her American husband. The purpose of both was to familiarize us students with many of the natural plants that indigenous tribes around the Oriente(eastern Ecuador, Amazona) use for medicinal and dietary purposes. Much of the jungle around this area is considered secondary forest because it is not natural and has been destroyed quit significantly, but the families at both places work very hard to preserve the forests and return them to their natural primary forest state in appearance. Much of the destruction of the surrounding jungles has occured as a result of the exploitation of the natural resources located within the jungle, amazon by petroleum companies--a group greatly despised here in the Oriente. Both of the places were beautiful and I was able to take pictures of alot of the plant life that had been brought back and the resultant animal life that followed the reinstatement of certain plants and trees



The mud pile is a piece of a maggot nest or whatever you wanna call it...I actually ate some...apparently they are high in protein. The forest is teamed with all sorts of insects and at the beginning of the tour in the Orquideario, there are pictures of the new inhabitants every year as the forest develops more and more.


I spy a stick bug...do you see it?


If you look closely at the girl, you will notice that she is wearing natural lipstick! Actually it is the flower of a plant found at the Orquideario that the tour guide placed in her mouth!


The second half of the day was spent at Omaere. The Shwar medicine woman was out of the country and so we were greeted and guided by her husband. His name was Chris and he looks as crazy as he is--he came to Ecuador some 18 years ago for his thesis and ended up never leaving!! He was quite the character and eventhough he came on strong in his beliefs, he did a good job of explaining some of the indigneous culture...housing, waring, family doings, and such.


Below is is a picture of the bottom part of the "walking" palm. It is a really interesting tree that looks like most of its roots are exposed, but actually those are "legs". The lighter leg is a new growth that anchors to the ground and eventually over time allows the tree to shift position into lets say a more suitable basking spot. The Next picture may be hard to make out, but it is pretty much a swarm of some giant ants or something...I am not exactly sure.


I cut out alot of the other stuff, because it is repeat from the Orquideario, however, I wanted to take moment to show the Green Parrot and Scarlet Macaw (Louis and Robert, I am sure you will enjoy this). These birds are inhabitants of Omaere and moved there as the forest began to grow and resemble a more natural state.


And finally just a little bit of the messages you will see in the Oriente about the value of the environment:

Baños Parte Dos

Saturday I spent with Chris, one of the guys in my program, on a hike around Baños. The first stretch was up to the Virgen, located on the side of one of the mountains around Baños where they had built steps leading up to her. We were able to see the whole town of Baños and the river and mountains surrounding it. At the top of the steps was the Virgen. The walk is a apparently a ritual done during important ceremonies such as marriage or the death of someone close. From there, we had two options, one was to go across to the Cross and the other pointed up the mountain to the Ventana or a view from above.

I found out later that evening from a guide in Baños, that we were crazy for going for the Ventana, which makes sense as the path looked like it hadnt been used for a long time. The hike was extremely long and once we reached the top, we know it was well worth it. At the top we met a 65-year old man from Brasil who was a world traveler: he told us that he had biked from the southern tip of Argentina all the way up to Alaska over a six year period! Yikes!

At the top we were able to see Cotopaxi (although it had become covered with cluouds) an active volcano that had erupted within the last five or six years. From there we continued on around the mountain trying to find another path down. We walked through some farms and I took some pictures of various flora and fauna.

On the other side of the mountain near the top was a cafe/resort called Cafe El Cielo. It was really nice and I relieve Swiss-run. We rested there for a mintue and headed back on down the mountain. On the way we were able to observe different views of the town and surrounding area than we had before.

Also I ran into two people from Houston who were working at the orphanage in Shell, a small town not too far from Baños. After reaching the bottom, we rested for a few hours grabbed a late lunch and walked to the otherside of the town where there was a bridge and a path down to the river that you see in the pictures I took from the top of the mountain. From there we could see waterfalls (cascadas) leaving the town and reminance of past constructions. One of the bridges looked like a death trap, just waiting for one too many people to cross at once and fall to impending doom!(The second picture is my friend Tarik standing on the death bridge that you see in the first pic below)

I live down by the river:

One thing that has ceased to amaze me about Ecuador is the ability for people to live anywhere and everywhere, on the sides of mountain, secluded down by the river, out in the jungle(cut off from the rest of society); you name it, someone lives there.

That night we went to the public baths where they had a cold, hot, and really hot pool, as well as a couple showers that used water from a waterfall, which was extremely cold. I took the rest of the night to rest as the next day was going to be long.

The next day we headed out to Puyo…on bikes. The total ride was about 60 kilometers through the hills, with lots of ups and downs. On the way we stopped a few times to rest and take pictures of the dam and beautiful scenery surrounding us.

We also stopped along the way to jump of a bridge from which we were connected to a rope. This was the most exhilirating thing I have ever done in my life! The video won't post on the blog so I will upload it to facebook! Towards the end of the ride I cramped up and fell over on the side of the road, which was rough. I managed to finish out the ride, but was pretty dead for the next day and still recovering from a serious cold, but I made it to PUYO!!

Weekend in Baños

My first weekend in Ecuador was spent on a toursit trip to Baños. The first two pictures are taken from my window on the third floor of the hostal we were staying in. The third picture is taken from the restaurant we had lunch in called Casa de la Abuela. That night we all went out and walked around the town a little bit and went out to a couple cars with some of the local tour guides. Below are a few of the other people in my program up on a bridge located in one of the Parques in town.



Beer here is pretty cheap although the selection is limited. The two types you tend to encounter are Pilsner and Club. Pilsner comes in 20 oz bottles for about $1, while the Club is the same price for a 12 oz.--Obviously I have the Pilsner.

I also want to take a moment to apologize for being so slow about updating this-- I have been in the jungle the last three days and busy traveling around, not to mention computers here are slow and the internet even slower. I will hopefully be caught up this weekend. Keep checking in for updates