Volunteering in the Cloud Forest

So you ask, what exactly is a cloud forest? A cloud forest, my friends, is a forest full of clouds. Or at least that was my full knowledge of cloud forests before accepting a three week volunteer position in one.

I just came back to Quito after a week of volunteer activity to first let you all know there is NO INTERNET in the cloud forest. None what-so-ever. E-mails to the cloud forest reserve are printed in the office in Quito, then sent in daily envelope deliveries by car. Replies are hand-written and sent in envelopes back by car to be typed up and e-mailed from the main office. I decided to deliver myself to Quito's internet cafe instead. For a day, anyway. Besides, had to get my 4th rabies shot.

My volunteer experience so far has been wonderful. I have my own room in a basic hut a half hour walk uphill from the main reserve. I sleep to nothing but the sound of crickets (and sometimes mice). No blaring TVs, no car alarms, no muffler-less hotrods, no discotecas or laughing or fighting in the street. To me, after 8 months of hostel dormitories and noise-loving latinos, this is sheer heaven. I wake up every morning at 6am to a woodpecker that loves imitating jackhammers on the hut roof, and I love him, too! I work and eat with a wonderful group of about 15 Ecuadorians and Colombians who have been treating me as a part of the group and as a friend from the beginning.

My home in the woods
My "work" so far has been painting trail markers and sometimes hacking away at the vegetation clearing trails. A new volunteer from England has recently arrived and we will be working on a project to set up a garden of local medicinal plants.

My work
So far I am very happy and look forward to my next two weeks at the reserve.

Oh yeah, so what is a cloud forest? In this case it is a forest between the Andes mountains and the Pacific where the collision of the Humbolt and warmer northern ocean currents push precipitation inland, which gets kind of stuck here. Mornings are sunny and afternoons are shrouded in fog. The birds LOVE it, there are at least 20 native species of hummingbirds, and bird-loving freaks come from all over the world to see them. I have recently been trying to identify them and memorize their impossible names. The Green Violet-ear, the Tawny-bellied Hermit, and the Fawn Breasted Brilliant are just a few hummingbird names that I think I finally remember correctly. (or was is the Fawn CHESTED Brilliant...or the Violet Green-Ear??) There are tons of other birds and lots of other funky things like leaf-imitating bugs and tarantulas crossing the street. Plant life is amazing, bromeliads and orchids everywhere.

Hummingbirds: The Banded Inca (R) and Buff-Tailed Something-or-other (L)
The only downfall to the situation is that going anywhere requires a lung-busting climb or muddy toe-smashing descent, sometimes twice. I have sworn many times this week to make darn sure the next time I volunteer will be at a place with a FLAT terrain. After my second day of hiking I actually had trouble sleeping because my butt-muscles were so sore.

So I will be out of touch for the next two weeks, but alive and well, don't worry. Will get back to everyone as soon as I'm back!

Five days in the Ecuatorian jungle

I just spent the most awesome five days at a lodge on the river Cuyabeno in primary rainforest (a.k.a. jungle). It took forever to get there (8 hour overnight bus, 3 hour taxi ride on dirt roads with one flat tire, and a 3 hour boat ride in pouring rain), but I could have stayed forever and ever and ever. The food was great, the guide was wonderful, there were no mosquitos (!!!), and the animals---oh the animals! Just to make you a little bitsy jealous, here's a list of just a few animals I saw:

• black caiman (caiman is like an alligator)
• dwarf caiman
• dusky-headed parakeet
• white-throated toucan
• three-toed sloth
• squirrel monkey
• white fronted capuchin monkey
• monk saki monkey
• pink river dolphin
• grey river dolphin
• and lots, lots of birds

And a list of animals I could have seen but was happy I didn't:

• tarantula
• poisonous snakes

Unfortunately my humble camera couldn't catch anything high up in trees or anything that moved. Here are some pictures of what I could get:

Caiman lurking in water

Baby caiman

Swimming with the piranhas and caimans

"Hiking", thank goodness for rubber boots!

Strange fruit

Resident parrot (also known as breakfast-crashing evil little s··t)

Happy boater

And with a full-circle finale, a flat tire on the way back (same taxi same driver, this time a different tire)

It's about time I wrote an entry on Ecuador

It's been awhile, I know. Things were going so smoothly, I was relaxing, hiking, making friends and just plain doing nothing that was entry-worthy. But I suppose you might want to know what Ecuador is like? Maybe, I hope?

Ecuador was instantly a lush green oasis after crossing the border from the sand dune covered Peruvian coast. I found myself in a travellers' paradise called Vilcabamba, famous for its apparent Fountain of Youth. I didn't find the fountain, but did do a lot of steep and amazing hikes around the surrounding foothills with other travellers I'd met in the hostel. It was under this lovely backdrop that I had the worst dormitory experience of my entire backpacking career.

Note: For those with weak stomachs, do NOT read this paragraph
The dorm was a cute wooden two-storey loft. I was on the top floor. There was a very nice American girl on my floor, but she ended up drinking a bit too much that night and was vomiting in her sheets all night. It was disgusting and needless to say I didn't get much sleep that night. I escaped as early as I could to the dining area that morning, but the next thing I know the American girl decides to join me for breakfast...BLAH!!!!!!!! I had to be nice but really I wanted to ream her out. If you have a weak stomach and are reading this paragraph anyway, don't read this part: the guy in the bed below her mentioned there was some kind of liquid dripping onto him all night. Ick ick ick ick ick ick... The next day I moved into a private room.

Next I moved on to a colonial town called Cuenca, and then to a thermal springs resort town called Baños (baths) at the foot of an active volcano. I was DYING to see the volcano, but it rained and rained and I didn't see much more than the foot in the clouds. The baths were great.

My next stop was to the middle of nowhere, to a tiny town called Chugchilán where an American couple runs an Eco-friendly hostel in an indigenous area with a beautiful green volcanic crater lake. (whew, long sentence) The price was more than I usually can afford ($25 a night, I know, poor me) with heavenly vegetarian meals included. I met more great travelling friends here, and had a great time. Except for one incident.

I did a 3 hour hike from the crater down into the canyon, back out of the canyon and back to the hostel. I was accompanied by two friends and we also hired a local guide. The views were wonderful, but the local dogs weren't. At one point a group of dogs came barking at us, but we put some distance between us and them and thought we were fine. Suddenly from behind I felt a giant mouth of teeth grab onto my leg. The dog let go right away, but left some bruises and tooth marks, and is costing me $150 bucks to get rabies vaccinations. Maldito perro (spanish for @$%& dog). Fortunately rabies vaccinations have evolved since I was a kid, no more thousand shots in the behind---I just need 5 shots in the arm over a period of a month. Luckily I'll be here in Quito for a month to follow through. After the treatment I can pet any dog I want and get bit by any bat/monkey/raccoon etc. that comes my way for 10 years rabies-free.

Now it's time for the exciting news part of this entry. (Exciting for me, anyway) I bought my tickets home! I will arrive in Chicago Dec. 3rd to visit a recently immigrated Brazilian friend, visit relatives in Milwaukee, then Amtrak home arriving Dec. 15th! Then Cesar (Ravioli) is coming to North Dakota Dec. 20th for his first US visit. The poor thing doesn't quite realize what kind of weather he's getting himself into...

Next week I'm going to the Ecuadorian Amazon for a 4 day escapade into the jungle, fingers crossed I see lots of cool animals. Then on Aug. 27 I start a three week volunteer experience at the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve. http://bellavistacloudforest.com/ I'm not sure exactly what I'll be doing, I imagine odd jobs of gardening or trail work, maybe work in the hotel attending guests?? But I get to live cheaply in the cloud-forest, hopefully see lots of funky birds, and take a little break from my backpack.

After that it is the Galapagos Islands! I will update before then, and even put some pictures onto this entry in the next couple of days.

We didn't feel the giant earthquake here in Ecuador, but it is truly shocking to think that the town of Pisco (remember, Poor man's Galapagos that I visited in May?) was demolished. I think about the people we ran into, the candy vendors on the street and all the other people and wonder if they are ok. They all very likely lost their homes. I am also so thankful that I wasn't there when it happened. Cesar has heard from his family and they are all ok. You never know what's going to happen, huh?

Take care, all! And CONGRATULATIONS to Sam's friends Lura and Karl on your wedding!

Last week in Peru

Wow, first of all, thanks for all your comments and votes on the Colombia poll. Even with Dad's "no" campaign, it was a pretty even toll. I'll let you know when the decision is made!

This last week in Peru has been pretty interesting. I would have liked to spend a little more time but need to flee by this weekend when the nation goes on 4th of July-like holidays. Here are the highlights:

Huaraz
Sometimes called the Switzerland of Peru, most of the snow-capped cordillera blanca mountains are 6,000 meters high, almost three times higher than the tallest mountains in Europe. I took a bus to nearby Pastoruri glacier and the views were spectacular. And it snowed like crazy---it was the sticky kind and I looked like the abominable snowman after the hour hike to the glacier's edge. The coolest thing on the trip was carbonated water, yes, carbonated water, naturally carbonated beneath the earth with real natural bisodium whatever-it-is, coming up all soft and fizzy. I tried a little and it tasted just like from the bottle, with a strong iron flavor. Here's a picture.

Carbonated water

I went to a hot spring bath nearby and made some friends, two Peruvians and a Swiss girl. We went for cake and met up again my second day for more cake, that was fun! One of the Peruvian women used to date a Japanese man so she had me call Japan and ask about him in Japanese to his mom. Turns out he is now married and the mom said please don't call anymore. This was not fun to translate.

Trujillo
Trujillo is supposed to be a charming colonial city, but I thought it was loud and noisy and as stressful as Lima. I visited because the city is surrounded by 2,000 year old ancient ruins, two of which I remember reading about in National Geographic.

The El Brujo site was just unearthed recently, and only opened to the public last year. Peru has a serious problem with people digging around looking for buried treasure, the interesting thing being that they actually find it! They sell it to the highest illegal bidder, and the country loses important keys in its history. There are so many ancient sites that the government cannot possibly fund enough security and archeological projects to keep up with the grave robbers. When they find out the grave robbers have found something important, they kick them off the site by force hoping to save what is left. Any dirt mound could be an ancient pyramid, there is so much buried treasure in this area it's overwhelming.

The word grave-robber sounds like such an evil, horrible person, but I was talking to a nice older man on the bus who told me that everyone used to go out digging on holidays, it was a normal thing to do.

Chiclayo
Chiclayo became famous for a recent archeological find, the Señor de Sipán. This was a massive tomb of rulers and warriors of the Moche people who were around the first few centuries A.D. They were accompanied by human (women, children, guardians) and animal sacrifices (llamas, dogs), and tons, TONS of gold, silver and bronze. I took a local bus to the site and got to see a real grave in the process of being unearthed. The security guard let me peek in, you could see some bones and lots of tarnished green copper. Unfortunately they wouldn't let me take pictures. The site where they are just beginning to find all this stuff looks like three normal dirt hills. These used to be pyramids---it bogs the mind to think of all the history that is still buried underneath all that earth!

Who'd-of-known that this dirt mound (L) is actually the biggest building in this temple (R)

Lima...still

Hi all! I've been in Lima the last few weeks. First I was visiting with Cesar's family, and now that he's gone back to Japan (sniff) I've been staying with my friends Tara and Loli. I haven't seen the sun in 3 weeks, blah, the weather's been so depressing and drizzly. It's been fun staying with my friends, I sometimes forget I'm not in Japan! Yesterday Tara took me to the National Museum and to a funky neighborhood called Barranco near the ocean for some sangria. Next week I'm on the road again, heading north and into Ecuador.

I put up a new poll at dad's request. I suspect he wants everyone to gang up on me, but I want to believe that some of you believe in a good adventure when it's at hand.

My picture site with Yahoo is closing so I can't put up any more pics until I learn a new picture program. bummer.

That's the latest for now, not too exciting. I hope to see your (yes) votes in my poll!

Arequipa, Peru: El Misti

Arequipa, known as the "white city" for the white volcanic stone used on all the buildings, really wiped me out. After 4 days hiking in the nearby Colca canyon I could barely walk, and then Ravioli convinced me to climbnearby Mt. Misti.

Known locally as El Misti, the active volcano is a Fuji-san shaped cone that shadows over the city in the morning and glows orange at dusk. At 5,822 meters (about one and a half Mt. Fujis) my guidebook says it is one of the easiest mountains in the world to climb at its height. Ravioli was gung-ho. "It is one the of easiest mountains in the world to climb!" he started coaxing me. "Of its height!" I reminded him, don't forget of its height, almost 6,000 meters...

Ravioli was supposed to climb Mt. Fuji with me last year but a typhoon delayed the climb to a day he had to work and he's felt left out ever since. 5,822 meters (what is that, 17,500 feet! Almost the same height as Mt. McKinley in Alaska!). This was his demented sort of revenge. He wanted to see if he could do it, and I couldn't say no.

We started the ascent at 9:30 Tuesday morning. It was going to be a two day gruelling climb and we had to carry packs with two days of water and camping gear. Ugh. We arrived at the campsite at 4,600 meters early evening, watched the sun set and went to "bed" at about 7 pm. We planned to wake up at midnight for what would be the toughest physical exersion I've ever and possibly will ever experience. Besides maybe running the mile in gym class in high school.

Fortunately we could leave the camping gear at the campsite. Fuelled by a stomach sloshing with hot chocolate and guided by the light of the half moon, our headlamps, and our Peruvian guide Teo, we strove higher and higher into colder and harsher territory. The night lights of Arequipa were a continuous glow in the valley and I wished for the warm comfort of an airplane with similar views.

5,000 meters. My head started spinning. I dragged behind the guide and Ravioli whom to me both appeared casually strolling in the park. 5,500 meters, three or four hours later, my breathing was ok, my muscles were ok, but I couldn't muster any power. For each step forward my foot slid a half step back in the sand and my head took a 360 degree swing. Sometimes I saw color flashes in my vision like if my brain was experiencing a short fuse. Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto...wah chicka wah wahhh...so this was altitude sickness! Ravioli's biggest concern was that his toes were numb, he had heard somewhere about numb toes being linked to amputation and was getting pretty nervous. Between headspins I told him not to worry, just wait til you've been to North Dakota in the winter.

The sun came up just as I was reaching the crater, and what a cool crater it was! Steam bellowed out of yellow encrusted sulfuric vents. To me the volcano-freak there was nothing more satisfying than to reach the actual crater of a real active volcano. Ravioli wasn't satisfied, he had to reach the highest point, a 45 minute climb to a rock with a cross along the crater mouth. And he made it, that toughy, congrats!

The descent was wonderful, just an hour down a soft sandslide to the campsite to pack up, and another hour down the sandslide back to the foot of the mountain. 12 hours up and 2 hours down. But I DID it, YIPPEEEE! And noone here in Lima believes us.

Funny Pictures

I'm in Arequipa, Peru. The whole city is on strike today against fuel prices, so we can't go anywhere, everything is closed, and we are being forced to relax and do nothing all day. It's tough, I tell you. I'm feeling too lazy to write, so I've decided to share some recent pictures that make me laugh. Hope you enjoy.

Goat who climbed into bus for food

Giant rooster statue in La Paz, I couldn't get his head into the picture

They call them Sandwiches in Spanish, too, but noone has a clue how to spell it

They wouldn't be so creepy without the honey bees

And I thought I got stared at in Japan...

Vicunas

Llamas and sheep

Elmo participated in the strike today, marching with the communists

We're off early tomorrow for a four day trek in Colca Canyon. More about that later!

El Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

There is a huge patch of salt in southwestern Bolivia, 100km long and 120km wide (70 miles by 80 miles?), the largest salt lake in the world. It was formed like a lot of weird land formations in this area, raised up from the ocean millions and billions and gazillions of years ago. During rainy season it fills with water and looks like a real lake, but in dry season (now) you can see only mile after mile of blinding white salt. You could almost imagine yourself in the middle of North Dakota in the dead of winter with all that flat whiteness. Cesar and I decided to take a tour across the lake in the back of a Toyota Landcruiser, staying in a few isolated "salt hotels" on the way.

We were dropped off the first night at the hotel where we happened to be two of the only four guests---in the middle of the salar (salt lake), no electricity, no light, no running water. The entire building and all its furniture were constructed of bricks of salt, and we kept tasting things just to be sure. Yep, the floor is salty, yep, the wall is salty, yep, the bed is salty. My stomach started churning, maybe I shouldn't be licking all the furniture... With the hotel in the middle of the salar, they have to carry away waste in barrels. The toilets are nothing but seat-covered tubes running to a metal drum in back of the hotel. You flushed by pouring a bucket of water down after your droppings. Believe me, a churning stomach under these conditions is not the most welcome experience.

Salt hotel in sunsetHallway of salt hotel Salt hotel plumbing (tube coming straight from the toilets)

As night approached temperatures in the hotel plummeted. The salt insulated a bit, but not enough to keep out the freezing outside air. The hotel woman started a fire for us in another barrel in the dining area, ahhhh. We spent the rest of the night chatting around this barrel, warming our hands and faces, rotating to our backs and back to our fronts again. When the fire started dying I opened the drum to see what kind of fuel they were using. It looked like it was full of coffee beans. Hmmm. There was a bag next to the fire with more supposedly coffee-beans, so we shovelled in a couple more handfuls. When the woman returned we asked her about the beans, "Beans? Nooo, ha ha ha ha, we burn llama dung!"

The salt hotel, however primitive, was an incredible experience. And the display of stars that night was the most incredible I've ever seen.

The next three days we continued in the Landcruiser with a small group of tourists past volcanoes and colorful lakes stopping to take pics of wading pink flamingos and deserts straight out of a Salvador Dali painting. The nights were freezing, my stomach never stopped churning, but the trip was well worth it.

At 5:30 this morning they took us to a hot spring pool at about 4,500km in freaking-cold altitude surrounded by ice. When we arrived there was a group of 20 bundled tourists dipping their fingers and toes in, shaking their heads and looking at each other. I had slept cold that night and was really looking forward to this bath, and there was no way I was letting the cold scare me away. I had even slept in my bikini in anticipation of this moment. Being a hot spring veteran in Japan (as I like to think of myself, ho ho) I knew it would be all right as soon as I was in the water. I stripped out of my hat, scarf, gloves, winter coat, clothes etc. and jumped in as quickly as possible. People thought I was nuts. Some people even applauded. Eventually a few more brave souls joined me and convinced the others that it was really nice. All they needed was for sometime to break the ice, literally.

Freezing outside, toasty warm inside

I crossed the border into northern Chile today. Prices are shocking compared to Bolivia but showers are hot and I feel like I'm in civilization again. I'll try to put up pics soon, but the internet connection is still slow here...

Thanks everyone for your birthday messages!