Eso Es

So, where to begin? These past two weeks have been jam packed with adventure and misadventure. I don't really know the difference. The first week of our trip was in Puerto Quito (about an hour and a half or 2 hours from Quito). I have not had the opportunity until now to experience the diversity that is Ecuador. Even from the busride from Tabacundo/Cayambe to Puerto Quito, the change in scenery is vast. You go from the somewhat bleak nature of the Sierra to a jungle in the clouds- the transitional zone of Ecuador. It is even amazing to spot the differences in crops. In the Sierra, a great deal of corn, potato, tomate de arbol (yes, tomato tree), and all the other stuff up here. However, along the highway en route to Puerto Quito, you are able to see the transition to more tropical crops. Cacao (chocolate's actual fruit). Platano. Maracuya (passionfruit). Yuca. The green is also more prevalant. Makes sense since you are moving away from the barren volcano mountains to mountains covered in tropical plants.

 

Anyway, enough about that. We arrived at our hotel in Puerto Quito and the first thought running through everyone's mind, "Welcome to paradise!" Somehow we managed to squeeze out classes during the week, but it was tough. Here is a quick list of facilities we had in our grasps- basketball, soccer & volleyball court, soccer field, pool, river, hiking trails, bar, ping pong and pool tables. Yeah, just another week at the office. Tough I tell you! As I said, we did have classes, and we really did learn a decent amount while in Puerto Quito. Lombriculture, raising tilapia, soil conservation, and integrated farms. I will attempt to add pictures into this blog entry to drive the point home. Two other places we visited during the week were Mindo, a famous spot in the world for butterflies and its biodiversity, and Pedro Vicente, a small town close to where we were staying.

 

Week 2 was a lot different and not as posh, but definitely one of the cooler experiences in my life. The coastal agriculture folks (that includes me) started off the week by heading to Il Poste (near Santo Domingo). If you look it up on Wikipedia or somewhere on the internet, I am sure you can find information on it. Il Poste and the surrounding area are Tsa'chila communities. One of those cultures you have probably only read about in National Geographic. While they are not completely cutoff from the real world, they like to keep there customs alive. From the native dress to the cleansing ritual, it was quite the cultural experience. I am even now part of Tsa'chila history- I was the first person to accidentally break a wooden spear in half when doing target practice. Our living situation for two nights was a straw hut, a straw mattress on top of three wooden planks and a severe lack of mosquito/annoying gnat protection. I looked like I got chicken pox all over again.

 

The rest of the week wasn't as exciting as our time with the Tsa'chilas but it was rewarding none-the-less. First, we went to El Empalme (I think in the Guayas province). The days there were super tech packed but a whole bunch of useful information. Empalme was a pretty sketchy town, but we all enjoyed ourselves. After two nights staying there, the coastal agriculture people working with cacao headed to Vinces (about 3 hours south of Empalme). Before talking about how awesome Vinces was, I have to note the view on the busride again. Passing these grand Dole and Chiquita banana plantations is quite the site to behold. I guess you can liken it to corn in parts of the United States, but it was still quite impressive seeing a mar of banana/platano/whatever. Back to Vinces, or the mini Paris of Ecuador. It even has its own mini Eiffel Tower. It is difficult to describe why Vinces was so nice, but the atmosphere at night, walking along the river was great. And unfortunately for whatever reason, I have no pictures of Vinces because I forgot to sacar mi camara. One of our language facilitators said Vinces is very similar to Atacames, the difference being an ocean in Atacames instead of the river. It makes me a bit upset that our site visits got cancelled, but now I am pretty damn excited for my actual work.

 

I guess that is it for now, hopefully I can get these pictures integrated into the blog properly for you all.