Saturday 22 September 2007

Ecuador!!!

My flight on the 17th was the most hectic one I have ever had. Upon checking in at JFK, I found out that in order to pass through customs in Ecuador, a return ticket was required. This led to a good 45 minutes of stress, which ended in my purchasing a $450 plane ticket. I checked in and passed through security, after which i sprinted barefoot to my gate, boots in hand and worry in my mind. I got on the plane in time, and found out that I had been mysteriously upgraded to Business class. Cheers! Upon my arrival in Quito, I could not find my bag on the carousel. Much to my dismay, I learned that my bag was late and did not get on the plane in New York. Instead, it was flown to Salvador, Brazil. After 2 days and 2 trips back to the airport, I had my enormous bag full of gear and I felt ready to go face whatever lay in my path. Quito is unbelievable. Its a long and skinny city snuggly nested in the Andes. We had a great two days in Quito, walking around the city, visiting churches, playing pool and foozball in Finn McCools (a homie Irish pub), taking a cable car to a mountain overlooking the city, and checking out the city´s night life.After our time in Quito, we took a bus to Tambillo, a town about 45 minutes south of Quito. We came to Tambillo to volunteer at Hicienda Santa Martha, an 120 acre animal shelter in the hills of Tambillo that takes in badly treated animals with the goal of eventually setting them free. After the bus (which cost 55 cents) we took a cab (a white pickup truck) up to the animal shelter. We sat in the bed with our bags and the two daughters of the taxi driver. We conveniently arrived at the center a little while before dinner, and we met the people we are sharing a house with and Lean, the coordinater of the center. The next morning we were given the grand tour, and I couldn´t have been any happier. Lean showed us all of the animals, including 13 lions, a jaguar, a puma, 3 ocelots, 2 andean bears, HUGE tortuses that are over 100 years old, more birds than you can imagine, mammals that you´ve never heard nor seen of, 2 porqupines, and a howler monkey. At one point in the tour, we were walking by one of the four lion enclosures when a huge, aggresive male lion leaped on the fence and started roaring at us, a mere two feet away. This thing wanted to KILL us. Due to the tall grass surrounding the fence, I did not see the lion before he jumped up, and as you can imagine I was shocked. We have been spending our time at the station clearing out an area for the new jaguar cage, cleaning animal cages, and feeding the animals. The coordinater, Lean is an amazing character. He is a 6´5´´ 29 year old from New Zealand, and he has been working at the station for about 3 years. He does things like take the puma for walks and roughhouse with two of the lions that grew up in his bedroom. We have the weekend off, so Merle, John, 5 other volunteers and I are going to climb Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world. It is situated about 2 hours away from Quito, and its peak is 19347 ft. high! Today, we paid for our guides and rented equiptment, which included heavy duty boots, clamp ons, and ice axes. At first we thought this would be a difficult but managable hike, but as it turns out this is a climb that only offers success to about 50% of those who try to reach the top. We are all quite excited, but have some doubts about whether or not we will be able to handle the altitude. Wish me luck, and hasta luego.