Into the Jungle

I finished up my two weeks of Spanish lessons last Friday, and so have carried onto my second part of the Ecuadorian Adventure! To celebrate our completion of school, as well as say good bye on a high note, Katharina (the girl who I studied with at Ecole Idiomas) decided to skip out of Friday´s class a bit early and head to Bahia, a small beach city about 8 hours directly west of Quito. We arrived with hopes and dreams to soak up some sun and thaw out after Quito´s chilly evenings but were disappointed to learn that Bahia was experiencing an uncharacteristically cold spell during the week. Dang. It didn´t stop us from exploring the sleepy (when not sunny) city and venture a bit farther up the coast to Canoa, via a small boat and another bus. Unfortunately Canoa too had grey skies and gusty winds, so our time on the beach was more of a declaration of our will to enjoy a beach as opposed to the relaxing time we had imagined. After donning all our layers and sitting in a lounger for an hour, we decided that we had been defeated, although our long beach walks were quiet and lovely anyways. No sooner than when I boarded the bus (later to break down for two hours on the highway of death) back to Quito, the sun decided to return from its hiatus which was of course nice for Katharina, as she was spending a couple more days there prior to returning home to Germany.
I have now been at the Yana Cocha Animal Reserve, 3km outside of Puyo, for one week and have been basking in the weather as it is exactly what I naively hoped all of South America might be ... 25-35 degrees and intense sunshine. Yana Cocha currently has about 40 animals, ranging from rodents, birds, monkeys, fox like animals and turtles. The majority of the animals have been given to Yana Cocha after they were apprehended from illegal activites such as holding monkeys as pets, and therefore are often unlikely to return to the wild as they are unable to find their own food. I hope to learn more about Yana Cocha´s goals and mandate as I am unsure of how I am feeling about the operation and its impact. It has become profitable in the last couple of years as it is now a tourist attraction and so I can´t help but feel that I am in a zoo. I do think that their hearts are in the right place and the animals are more than cared for and loved. I suppose I just have some questions that I would like to ask. The setting is beautiful, nonetheless, and the Amazonian landscape is definitely something I could get used to. Lush trees and flowers are everywhere and the colours are unbelievable. The family has built two gorgeous homes on the property, one for the husband and wife, as well as one for the son (about 30 years old and dating the volunteer coordinator). There is also a pool with a hot tub (a bar is currently being built on top of its shelter) and so we often spend our time between morning and afternoon shifts splashing and lounging. The work is hard though, the majority being manual labour to keep the operation running smoothly. The heat has certainly added alot to the work load but it still feels fantastic to be sweating in October.
Upon my arrival to Yana Cocha, I experienced my first pang of home sickeness as it seemed that every volunteer (there are about 15 right now) either came with a group or at least a friend. It seemed a bit clique-y (which I will explain later) and nobody was terribly friendly. On top of that, since I was the last to arrive that week, I was put in a cabana with 3 males, which never really makes a girl feel instantly comfortable! It has been good though, the ages of the males range from 17 to 42 (the 42 year old is the only volunteer older than me) so it has been interesting. It has certainly gotten a lot better though, and I have really been getting along with a girl named Rose from England who is my age. Rose just finished studying Occupational Therapy and so thought she would head out on her first big trip alone. She has organized her trip with an organization in the UK that arranges volunteer holidays so she is travelling with a group for 3 months (and happens to be the only female in it as well). Maybe we got on well together due to our related occupations, or our solo-female experiences, or our apparent elder status amongst 95% of the volunteers .... or maybe it was our mutual affinity to street food vendors after a couple of $1.25 (700ml) beers. Nonetheless, we have had a great time being the old ones, watching the cliques clash and the devestating love triangles unfold. Wednesdays and Fridays seem to be the big nights to go out and so we headed out with the 17-20 year olds, salsa-d away and felt proud (and oh so mature) when we were the only ones who didn´t proceed to vomit at some point in the night.
This weekend I headed into Puyo as the majority of people went to Banos instead. Ian and I will be in Banos for 4 days so I figured I would enjoy exploring all of Puyo´s quirks instead. It´s an awesome city ... fairly small but exactly what it seems a South American city should be. It´s bustling and certainly ramshackled but colourful, loud with upbeat music and millions of chickens and stray dogs running around. I found a really quaint little hostel with hammocks and a garden. I inhabit the room with the anteater figurine on the door. I think I covered every inch of Puyo today, the best part being walking along the river and coming upon a little beach where a bunch of Ecuadorian children, teens and adults were cliff jumping and floating on inner tubes. I sat there for quite awhile, maybe getting a bit too much sun, but enjoying the authentic, Saturday afternoon activities. The water was amazing and I could hear music in the background as we all splashed around in our underwear. I then had probably the best pineapple juice I will ever have in my life and enjoyed my first hot shower since arriving here when I returned to the hostel.
It´s time for dinner now ... with a trip to ¨Nice Cream¨after for my first ice cream in 3 weeks!
I am looking forward to Ian making his way here next Saturday although it is hard to believe I am already half way.