Friday, January 27, 2006
Jatun Sacha
I´ll write a bit about the routine here. Breakfast is at 6.30...yep 6.30, including on Saturdays and Sundays. It´s relentless. Then we work until lunch, at 12. The morning session is the worst because you start so early. What happens is that you work for a bit, have a break, work for a bit more...and by this time you´re sort of ready for lunch. But you look at your watch and it´s like 9 o´clock! What! Surely that´s when the day normally starts! The afternoon session is quite short, from about 1.30 to 3.30. Normally we only work until about 3, but have to sit around until 3.30 before going back: the old guy who runs the place, Alejandro, is a bit of a wanker and tells off the staff if we´re back too soon. To be honest, we don´t have to work that hard. Dinner´s at 6. It´s dark by then, and hence there´s not much to do, so I normally faff on the internet, write my journal or try to learn some Spanish, and then go to the bar with the other volunteers.
The highlight of the day is definitely mealtimes (I don´t get to eat at any other time!), followed closely by the time between about 4 and 6, after we´ve finished work. At this time I´ll lie on one of the hamocks and read or do a Su Doku...or on special occasions, both. It´s bliss. When you´re somewhere like this you really appreciate the simple pleasures more.
So, last Saturday we went for a long walk in the forest. One of the more random things was when our guide split open a pod on a plant which was full of tiny tiny ants, and offered them to us to eat. Apparently they´re "really good" and "taste of lemon", but I only had one, so it was pretty difficult to tell. We stopped on a beach for lunch and some of us swam in the river, which was probably the funnest thing I´ve done so far. It´s difficult to adequately describe the strength of the current in words: in some places the water was only knee deep, but it look literally all my strength and concentration and balance to remain standing up. I eventually lost the battle and fell in...but it was much shallower than I thought and had a hard rocky bottom, so I desperately tried to stop myself using hands, feet, anything. There was no chance, of course, so I got buffeted along for a bit, but it was great fun.
On Sunday a woman came to help us make handicrafts using natural materials. We took these huge leaves (about 2 meteres in length), tore them open and scraped the green stuff off to leave us with the fibres. This was made into string. I used this and some seeds to make a wristband which I was rather proud of (I want to say bracelet...but surely that´s too feminine?). While I was doing that I saw some monkeys in the trees nearby which was cool! That´s the best wildlife I´ve seen so far.
On Monday I was on kitchen duty. For this you have to get up BEFORE 6.30...to be precise, at 5 o´clock. You then work for most of the day, so this is considerd to be the worst job.
Yesterday was random: the idea was to go for a long, intersting hike in the forest with one of the staff. To start with it was really good - he was really knowledgeable and telling me about all the medicinal plants. We stopped in a small community...I guess they were indigenous, but they weren´t a tribe waving spears or anything. They lived like pretty much all the people around here, in simple wooden huts up on stilts. The land´s quite open around the huts, and I guess they make their living by farming fruits. Chickens everywhere. Anyway, I digress....we stopped for a break at this platform where a woman was scraping the corn off corn-on-the-cobs. I expected it to be, like, a half-hour break...but we stayed there for over FOUR hours. It was SO boring. I didn´t ask when we were leaving cos I thought it would be rude, so I didn´t know what was going on. I spent the time mainly helping with the corn scraping. I tried to think positively, e.g. I was experiencing a totally differnt culture, I wouldn´t do anything like this again in my life (at least I bloody well hope not) etc. ...but it was still boring. On the way back he kept saying to me "¿Está bien, sí? ("It´s good, yeah?")...I think he expected me to really enjoy it! Last night made up for it though, we all went to the bar and it was hilarious, loads of people were getting drunk and embarassing rumours were spead (not about me of course). Alejandro was being cringingly embarrassing and trying to hit on the girls.
The rest of the time I´ve just been doing more gardening. The insect bites have been pretty annoying, but today was worse than that...in fact, I stuggle to think of a time when I´ve been in more pain. We were hacking through some branches to clear a path, and the ants must have fallen out of the branches onto me. It was so unbearable I had to run out of the forest, take off my shirt and shake it out and rinse myself with water!
So this is up to date now. If you´ve been worried about the washing clothes situation since reading the last blog, fear not: I´m well on top of it now. I haven´t taken a day off so far, so this means, funnily enough, that I only have to do 5 more days of work. And I´ve only been here for 2 of the 4 weeks so far!
I´ll write a bit about the routine here. Breakfast is at 6.30...yep 6.30, including on Saturdays and Sundays. It´s relentless. Then we work until lunch, at 12. The morning session is the worst because you start so early. What happens is that you work for a bit, have a break, work for a bit more...and by this time you´re sort of ready for lunch. But you look at your watch and it´s like 9 o´clock! What! Surely that´s when the day normally starts! The afternoon session is quite short, from about 1.30 to 3.30. Normally we only work until about 3, but have to sit around until 3.30 before going back: the old guy who runs the place, Alejandro, is a bit of a wanker and tells off the staff if we´re back too soon. To be honest, we don´t have to work that hard. Dinner´s at 6. It´s dark by then, and hence there´s not much to do, so I normally faff on the internet, write my journal or try to learn some Spanish, and then go to the bar with the other volunteers.
The highlight of the day is definitely mealtimes (I don´t get to eat at any other time!), followed closely by the time between about 4 and 6, after we´ve finished work. At this time I´ll lie on one of the hamocks and read or do a Su Doku...or on special occasions, both. It´s bliss. When you´re somewhere like this you really appreciate the simple pleasures more.
So, last Saturday we went for a long walk in the forest. One of the more random things was when our guide split open a pod on a plant which was full of tiny tiny ants, and offered them to us to eat. Apparently they´re "really good" and "taste of lemon", but I only had one, so it was pretty difficult to tell. We stopped on a beach for lunch and some of us swam in the river, which was probably the funnest thing I´ve done so far. It´s difficult to adequately describe the strength of the current in words: in some places the water was only knee deep, but it look literally all my strength and concentration and balance to remain standing up. I eventually lost the battle and fell in...but it was much shallower than I thought and had a hard rocky bottom, so I desperately tried to stop myself using hands, feet, anything. There was no chance, of course, so I got buffeted along for a bit, but it was great fun.
On Sunday a woman came to help us make handicrafts using natural materials. We took these huge leaves (about 2 meteres in length), tore them open and scraped the green stuff off to leave us with the fibres. This was made into string. I used this and some seeds to make a wristband which I was rather proud of (I want to say bracelet...but surely that´s too feminine?). While I was doing that I saw some monkeys in the trees nearby which was cool! That´s the best wildlife I´ve seen so far.
On Monday I was on kitchen duty. For this you have to get up BEFORE 6.30...to be precise, at 5 o´clock. You then work for most of the day, so this is considerd to be the worst job.
Yesterday was random: the idea was to go for a long, intersting hike in the forest with one of the staff. To start with it was really good - he was really knowledgeable and telling me about all the medicinal plants. We stopped in a small community...I guess they were indigenous, but they weren´t a tribe waving spears or anything. They lived like pretty much all the people around here, in simple wooden huts up on stilts. The land´s quite open around the huts, and I guess they make their living by farming fruits. Chickens everywhere. Anyway, I digress....we stopped for a break at this platform where a woman was scraping the corn off corn-on-the-cobs. I expected it to be, like, a half-hour break...but we stayed there for over FOUR hours. It was SO boring. I didn´t ask when we were leaving cos I thought it would be rude, so I didn´t know what was going on. I spent the time mainly helping with the corn scraping. I tried to think positively, e.g. I was experiencing a totally differnt culture, I wouldn´t do anything like this again in my life (at least I bloody well hope not) etc. ...but it was still boring. On the way back he kept saying to me "¿Está bien, sí? ("It´s good, yeah?")...I think he expected me to really enjoy it! Last night made up for it though, we all went to the bar and it was hilarious, loads of people were getting drunk and embarassing rumours were spead (not about me of course). Alejandro was being cringingly embarrassing and trying to hit on the girls.
The rest of the time I´ve just been doing more gardening. The insect bites have been pretty annoying, but today was worse than that...in fact, I stuggle to think of a time when I´ve been in more pain. We were hacking through some branches to clear a path, and the ants must have fallen out of the branches onto me. It was so unbearable I had to run out of the forest, take off my shirt and shake it out and rinse myself with water!
So this is up to date now. If you´ve been worried about the washing clothes situation since reading the last blog, fear not: I´m well on top of it now. I haven´t taken a day off so far, so this means, funnily enough, that I only have to do 5 more days of work. And I´ve only been here for 2 of the 4 weeks so far!
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Jatun Sacha
On Saturday I had the most daunting experience so far, when I was left to fend for myself at Tena bus station. It was very busy and I was sure I looked realy different and noticable. I sat down for a while, too scared to move...but then increased my confidence by asking where the toilet was in Spanish. When the bus to Jatun Sacha arrived, I thought "you´ve got to be joking" - it was absolutely packed and even had people hanging out of the door, and I had a huge backpack and 2 bags. Once I´d got on however, there was actually a seat reserved for me as I´d bought a ticket. But it was intimidating being squashed in amongst all the noisy locals, so this replaced the above as the most daunting experience so far.
Well, I made it to Jatun Sacha, and this is my 6th full day here. Jatun Sacha is a big reserve in the rainforest, run by an Ecuadorian non-profit organisation. It´s huge, but I´ve only seen a tiny part of it. You can find out more at www.jatunsacha.org if you want. Excitingly, since it was founded in the 80´s, loads of species of trees and plants new to science have been discovered here.
What have I been doing this week...On Sunday we helped set up a stage for a local festival, down by the Rio Napo. It was a pretty awesome setting, but the festival was a bit boring as nothing much happened. I enjoyed getting a ride back in the back of a truck though - it was bloody scarey. I´ve also planted tomatoes, pruned branches off trees, pulled up weeds, gone for a long walk in the forest, cut down some bamboo to use as support for plants, and swept up some leaves. The most unusual thing has been spending a couple of hours sifting through soil and picking the worms out. The worms were then to be put in a fresh trough of cow shit, in order to make more soil. The work´s basically been gardening: in the vegetable garden and the botanical garden. I don´t think I´ve yet done anything to "Help preserve the Amazon rainforest", which is the title of the project. I´m hoping to plant at least one tree in my time here.
I´ve got used to not having tea (which I was pretty impressed with) and I even don´t mind the cold showers and the insect bites. What I can´t stand, though, is the dirty clothes. It´s becoming something of an obsession, planning when to wear which clothes and when to wash them. I did some washing on Monday...in fact I did some of it in the stream. Strictly, we´re not meant to use the tap water for washing (even though everyone does) so I made the mistake of asking permission, and was told to use the stream. I thought it would be a laugh, but it was absolutely useless as the red stuff on the rocks washed onto my clothes. So anyway, I did the rest in the sink....but the humidity stops everything from drying. Only now, 4 days later, have I got clean underwear on. I think I was wearing the last pair of boxers on and off for 6 days. It was pretty disgusting.
Most evenings I´ve been going to the bar with the other volunters. Yes, the fact that there´s a bar 100m down the road rather spoiled my impression of Jatun Sacha being in the Wilderness! As you can see, there´s even internet access! More details to come soon.
On Saturday I had the most daunting experience so far, when I was left to fend for myself at Tena bus station. It was very busy and I was sure I looked realy different and noticable. I sat down for a while, too scared to move...but then increased my confidence by asking where the toilet was in Spanish. When the bus to Jatun Sacha arrived, I thought "you´ve got to be joking" - it was absolutely packed and even had people hanging out of the door, and I had a huge backpack and 2 bags. Once I´d got on however, there was actually a seat reserved for me as I´d bought a ticket. But it was intimidating being squashed in amongst all the noisy locals, so this replaced the above as the most daunting experience so far.
Well, I made it to Jatun Sacha, and this is my 6th full day here. Jatun Sacha is a big reserve in the rainforest, run by an Ecuadorian non-profit organisation. It´s huge, but I´ve only seen a tiny part of it. You can find out more at www.jatunsacha.org if you want. Excitingly, since it was founded in the 80´s, loads of species of trees and plants new to science have been discovered here.
What have I been doing this week...On Sunday we helped set up a stage for a local festival, down by the Rio Napo. It was a pretty awesome setting, but the festival was a bit boring as nothing much happened. I enjoyed getting a ride back in the back of a truck though - it was bloody scarey. I´ve also planted tomatoes, pruned branches off trees, pulled up weeds, gone for a long walk in the forest, cut down some bamboo to use as support for plants, and swept up some leaves. The most unusual thing has been spending a couple of hours sifting through soil and picking the worms out. The worms were then to be put in a fresh trough of cow shit, in order to make more soil. The work´s basically been gardening: in the vegetable garden and the botanical garden. I don´t think I´ve yet done anything to "Help preserve the Amazon rainforest", which is the title of the project. I´m hoping to plant at least one tree in my time here.
I´ve got used to not having tea (which I was pretty impressed with) and I even don´t mind the cold showers and the insect bites. What I can´t stand, though, is the dirty clothes. It´s becoming something of an obsession, planning when to wear which clothes and when to wash them. I did some washing on Monday...in fact I did some of it in the stream. Strictly, we´re not meant to use the tap water for washing (even though everyone does) so I made the mistake of asking permission, and was told to use the stream. I thought it would be a laugh, but it was absolutely useless as the red stuff on the rocks washed onto my clothes. So anyway, I did the rest in the sink....but the humidity stops everything from drying. Only now, 4 days later, have I got clean underwear on. I think I was wearing the last pair of boxers on and off for 6 days. It was pretty disgusting.
Most evenings I´ve been going to the bar with the other volunters. Yes, the fact that there´s a bar 100m down the road rather spoiled my impression of Jatun Sacha being in the Wilderness! As you can see, there´s even internet access! More details to come soon.
Friday, January 13, 2006
Welcome to my blog! I´m sure you won´t regret reading it.
It´s now my 5th day in Quito and I´ve had a very busy week. I flew from Heathrow, via Madrid, on Monday 9th January 2006. Unusually, I really didn´t enjoy the flight. I wasn´t happy that I didn´t have my own individual TV screen, and I thought we should have got more than 2 meals. This attitude didn´t bode well for the ´hardcore travellar´attitude I´ll need to adopt, and I was telling myself that I´d have much more uncomfortable expreience in the months ahead.
Once I got to the airport, however, everything went like a breeze. I was met at the airport by the friendly i-to-i representitives and driven to the apartment of the woman, Magda, who´s hosting me. I was delighted to find that she speaks fluent English, although I´ve made a few token attempts to converse in Spanish (usually "Hola, buenos dias, como estas?") She´s been so kind and helpful - she´s made us breakfast and dinner every day, and even made us packed lunches! We´ve had a different home-made fruit juice every morning, none of which I´d heard of. (Something like narajina, tomatina? (looked a bit like a tomato but was sweet, something white, etc...) After my meal I was very relieved to get to bed.
From Tuesday until today, Friday, I´ve had 4-6 hours of Spanish lessons per day. I´ve definitely learned loads, but still have difficulty speaking to people and get flustered when people speak to me, so I think I´ll need to use it loads before I get any good.
On Wednesday afternoon i-to-i organised a trip to "Mittal del Mudo" - the middle of the world. There was some ancient civilisation stuff, but I was more concerned with standing astride the equator! There was an old sink which our guide filled with water on the equator, and the water went straight down! Wow. Then she moved it about 2 metres to either side, and amazingly even at that distance, the water swirled anti-clockwise on the north, and clockwise on the south. I´d always wanted to test that. Then we did this experiment
****physicists please read****
where our guide tried to force someone´s fingers apart on one side of the equator, and couldn´t do it. Then they moved to the equator, and she could do it easily. She said something like "equator literally means equal, so all forces are equal" which I wasn´t very impressed with. But I tested it, and there really did seem to be a difference. If anyone can offer any explanation, I´d be most interested.
***physicists stop reading***
Oh yeah, and I blew a dart out of a blowpipe and hit a cactus, which is always fun. And the most exciting thing of all: I saw some llamae!!!!
On Thursday I went with my fellow Spanish students to visit the historic "old town" which was very beautiful. I´d like to go back there and see more of it at a later date. This afternoon, we had a salsa lesson. It was fun, but I was the same as the other 2 times I´ve tried it: I´m fine with the stepping forward and backwards bit, but then get stuck when you have to do the twirling around thing.
I´d better get back, or Magda will worry about me! Tomorrow morning it´s an early start to Tena, and from there to the Jatun Sacha station in the amazon.
It´s now my 5th day in Quito and I´ve had a very busy week. I flew from Heathrow, via Madrid, on Monday 9th January 2006. Unusually, I really didn´t enjoy the flight. I wasn´t happy that I didn´t have my own individual TV screen, and I thought we should have got more than 2 meals. This attitude didn´t bode well for the ´hardcore travellar´attitude I´ll need to adopt, and I was telling myself that I´d have much more uncomfortable expreience in the months ahead.
Once I got to the airport, however, everything went like a breeze. I was met at the airport by the friendly i-to-i representitives and driven to the apartment of the woman, Magda, who´s hosting me. I was delighted to find that she speaks fluent English, although I´ve made a few token attempts to converse in Spanish (usually "Hola, buenos dias, como estas?") She´s been so kind and helpful - she´s made us breakfast and dinner every day, and even made us packed lunches! We´ve had a different home-made fruit juice every morning, none of which I´d heard of. (Something like narajina, tomatina? (looked a bit like a tomato but was sweet, something white, etc...) After my meal I was very relieved to get to bed.
From Tuesday until today, Friday, I´ve had 4-6 hours of Spanish lessons per day. I´ve definitely learned loads, but still have difficulty speaking to people and get flustered when people speak to me, so I think I´ll need to use it loads before I get any good.
On Wednesday afternoon i-to-i organised a trip to "Mittal del Mudo" - the middle of the world. There was some ancient civilisation stuff, but I was more concerned with standing astride the equator! There was an old sink which our guide filled with water on the equator, and the water went straight down! Wow. Then she moved it about 2 metres to either side, and amazingly even at that distance, the water swirled anti-clockwise on the north, and clockwise on the south. I´d always wanted to test that. Then we did this experiment
****physicists please read****
where our guide tried to force someone´s fingers apart on one side of the equator, and couldn´t do it. Then they moved to the equator, and she could do it easily. She said something like "equator literally means equal, so all forces are equal" which I wasn´t very impressed with. But I tested it, and there really did seem to be a difference. If anyone can offer any explanation, I´d be most interested.
***physicists stop reading***
Oh yeah, and I blew a dart out of a blowpipe and hit a cactus, which is always fun. And the most exciting thing of all: I saw some llamae!!!!
On Thursday I went with my fellow Spanish students to visit the historic "old town" which was very beautiful. I´d like to go back there and see more of it at a later date. This afternoon, we had a salsa lesson. It was fun, but I was the same as the other 2 times I´ve tried it: I´m fine with the stepping forward and backwards bit, but then get stuck when you have to do the twirling around thing.
I´d better get back, or Magda will worry about me! Tomorrow morning it´s an early start to Tena, and from there to the Jatun Sacha station in the amazon.
