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ECUADOR - FIELD UPDATES - Weeks 3-6
by Kate Etherington
The rainforest
After 5 hours car journey from Quito we arrived at Huasquila and were
welcomed by the lodge managers, Juan and Cecelia. Juan introduced himself as
the ´handyman´and Cecelia explained she was the person we were to go to if
we had any questions. Both of them were lovely, friendly and approachable;
and we really should mention Cecelia´s interesting fashion sense- purple
lycra cycling shorts anyone?
There were 3 things available to do during the day at Huasquila. 2
people each day went to the local school to teach the locals how to speak
English. The ages are varied hugely, as did the ability to speak English but ALL
were willing to learn and most picked up English pretty quickly.
One person a
day volunteered for kitchen duty which involved making juices, laying the
table and washing the dishes. Most of the days during the week were spent
working hard on the land owned by the lodge doing a variety of tasks. These
jobs were building a bridge, building a path and planting plants both for
the lodge and to help reforest the rainforest.
All of the work was overseen
by a local called Jose. Jose porovided us all with so much knowledge
inlcuding telling us which medicines the different trees provided (most
seemed to help with stomach problems).
One of the days after work we spent
walking through some of the secondary rainforest with Jose, up the path of a
stream to a bat cave filled with fruit bats. Jose was a knowledgable man who
had a small soft spot for many of the girls- if you´re lucky you may even
get a home-made necklace given to you at the end of the 3 weeks!
During our time at Huasquila we had a few days out. One being to
the local water park- which was a welcome relief for our sunburnt,
mosquito-ridden bodies!
Another day was spent making jewellery at one ot the
artisans ina nearby village. For $2 you can make a unique, personal piece
of jewellery.
One of the favourite days out would have to be when we visited
an animal sanctuary where the main attractions include a one-armed monkey, a
REALLY strange sounding bird and the chance to hand-feed ostriches.
After a hard days work we all had fun, relaxing evenings spent on
the lodge sofas. We played countless games of cards, ´wink murder´,
émpire´and ´charades (in a hat)´ One evening due to Sarahs birthday we had a
party in one of the Cabanas, which we´d decorated with loads of leaves and
balloons. We had stocked up on beerl, pizza and cake and the
kitchen staff provided the chips! After a
while we played a rather revealing game of ´I have never´.
The food provided at Huasquila was good. We had a varied breakfast,
sometimes egg, sometimes pancakes, sometimes porridge and apple- and there
was always fresh fruit and juice availaeble. Lunch consisted of 3 courses,
the first being soup that was sometimes served with popcorn (odd!), a hot
meal was main that was carbohydrate based and the third was a dessert that
was VERY strange which looked a cross between cold custard and jelly! In the
evening hot chocolate was a perfect pre-bed drink!
The weekend´s in the rainforest allowed people to get out of the
lodge and see some of the surrounding area. The 1st weekend was spent in
Tena. We spent all of Saturday white-water rafting soaking up the amazing
scenery. The lunch was fantastic. Burritos, pineapple and choclate cake. All
of these plus points added to the fact the instructors were good looking
and ensured we were in for a good time! The route down the river had lots of
rapids, which allowed many opputtunities for people to fall in. Lots of
people were pushed in, however a couple fell in unintentionally- in
particular Steve-o! Steve managed to fall in a record 3 times!
The
night life in Tena was like any other night in Ecuador- Lots of music and
dancing. There were great cocktails (for very little money),
Dancing to a mixture of Latina and Western beats and the STRONGEST drinks
known to man! When you asked for a single, the barman gave you a quadruple!
The 2nd weekend was spent in the Primary rainforest where the loud
music was replaced with a variety of different bird songs and wildlife.
After a game of football with the locals (we didn´t lose TOO badly) and a
game of volleyball (we did lose badly) we settled into our beds. The next day was spent trekking through Primary
rainforest for 5 hours with Jose and his friend, also called Jose looking at
different plants and animals.
The rainforest was very interesting and I wouldn´t have done anything
differently. It truely was an experience to remember!
