Baños

I´ve been in Baños for a week now - seems like longer. I managed to find an apartment..actually more like a hotel room. And I think I found a volunteer position teaching english and helping out with the online advertising for the language school but haven´t gotten information on exactly when they want me to work yet...not really surprising :) I´m actually hoping to move into an adjacent studio apartment this week - they are finishing up the kitchen so not exactly sure when. It´s quite possible that I head back later tonight and all my things have been moved and I have no key to the door. That happened with the front door of my building...they put a lock on the door (previously unlocked because there is a front gate) and I came back and couldn´t get into the building. I basically had to walk around the city looking for my landlord to get a key. Always works out in the end!
Overall I´m psyched to be here...went canyoning last week and have been enjoying beautiful weather in the mountains. I will hopefully be heading on a short trip to see Quilotoa, a famous lake formed in a crater near the volcano Cotopaxi at the end of the week. Until then I´m setting up camp here in Baños, off today to get towels and things for my apartment. Last thing on the list is an actual job..hmmm. Meantime here are some pics...

Walked in a rally in Baños to oppose the building of 4 dams for hydroelectricity elsewhere in Ecuador. No water in the rivers means no more tourism in Baños


Canyoning down a waterfall in Baños


My first try was a bit smaller


Out to dinner with the fam in Puerto Lopez


This is the actual Sr. Iguana that shared my room in Puerto Rico..he came back to say Adios!


Baños from above during a moto ride up in the mountains

I´m Moving!

But before I get to that info on my last 2 weeks in my pueblo...

I have been working in the mountains in a ´vivero´. After a 40 minute walk into the mountains (luckily not so much up as in) there is essentially a garden of various types of plants and trees being grown for reforestation. It´s beautiful and always filled with butterflies (and unfortunately mosquitoes). It´s basically a one-man show and I follow Marseal around and do as he says. Some days we are filling small bags with dirt for planting seeds. Other longer days :) we are shoveling dirt and sand and wheelbarrowing them into huge piles for later use. It´s humid and sweaty and bug-infested but he´s an interesting guy and the area is beautiful.

We finished the houses before I left for the jungle and I have been told that the families are moving in this week so I need to go check and see today or tomorrow. It would be fun to see them all moved in.

Ok so back to the move. As I have been traveling here and there around Ecuador I have been to a town called Baños several times and have really enjoyed my time there. The pics of the waterfalls, jumping off of bridges and rafting are all from there. Anna-lee and I became friendly with a lot of the guys that work as guides so that´s fun. There are also great restaurants and fun bars with lots of locals and tourists passing through. It´s pretty small and walkable and just overall my favorite place so far in Ecuador.

So I decided it might be time to leave my sleepy pueblo and try out Baños for a while. I was most nervous about telling my family as I thought they might take it personally that I wanted to move. Turns out they were totally cool about it - so cool that I´m a little suspicious that they want to be rid of me!! Next issue was to find out if my program has projects there to work on. Turns out that is a no but there are projects mostly working with children in places such as orphanages in a town a 40 minute busride away which isn´t so bad. So I have decided to take the plunge and if I can´t find fulfilling work in Baños I´ll commute..what the heck. Since my program doesn´t really exist in Baños I´ll likely rent a small apartment for a whopping $60 a month including water, electricity, everything. A few guys I know live in the apartments so they can show me the ropes and hopefully teach me to cook something in the communal kitchen :) Yes, miracles do happen.

So Sunday 11-18, I am heading off on a new adventure to hopefully survive on my own in Ecuador. Stay tuned...

I survived the jungle :)

We finally made it to the jungle and we saw incredible wildlife, bathed and swam in the Amazon River which the guide told us has taken over from the Mile as the longest river the in the world - little bit of trivia for everyone. After a 3 hour van ride along the bumpiest rockiest roads and a 2 hour canoe ride, we arrived at a lovely lodge/campsite. The showers and sinks use water from the Amazon so we mostly bathed near the dock in the river with biodegradable soap and shampoo. The water was extremely refreshing because it was so hot and muggy the whole time. We saw unbelievable sunrises and sunsets from a lake near our lodge. We saw pink bellied dolphins, monkeys, birds and parrots galore. We caught barracuda and put them back of course. We hunted for and found boas and caymans...but alas no anacondas. We also saw a village of locals who must live a very quiet life among the wildlife..with no phones, no cars and not many people. The river actally is like their road because they zoom around in canoes with motors. I also had a great group of people with me, 3 french girls, 2 dutch men, an awesome american and new zealand couple and a norwegian brother and sister. Below are pics!