Saving the Rainforest in Ecuador

Photo Album. On February 19 we celebrated one year of traveling around the world. I can hardly believe that this year has gone by so quickly and we are still hungry for more...well, that's true most of the time anyway. At times, Andy and I go through bouts of aimlessness. What are we doing? Where are we going? How do we get there? When do we stop traveling? Why would we? Why wouldn't we? Imagine your life for a minute without a cell phone or a computer, without a car or a job, without your friends or family. With this dual-edged void in our minds, these questions arise. We talk it though and discover we need purpose. Working on a rainforest reserve to regenerate the native trees was a perfect remedy...for then, anyway.

Our host, Raul, finally arrived to the house after two days there on our own with another volunteer named Annika, a German biology student. It was the first morning of work that my horror story images disappeared from the half a dozen machetes laying around the house. Each of us with a giant machete in hand, we sliced away the invasive vines that inhibit native tree growth in a primary and secondary rainforest. Next, we planted 60 native trees underneath the pockets of sunlight we created. Unfortunately for me, as I was hacking away I must have gotten close to a wasp nest because I received four stings - two on my middle finger, one on my forearm and I batted away the fourth one as it was mid-sting in my bicep. OUCH! Both my finger and forearm were pretty red and swollen and I could hardly bend my finger (see photo album for pics). Thankfully, I am not allergic.

The next day I had the day off from the machete and planted seedlings instead. Between three of us, we planted over 1,000! It´s exciting to see a project like this in action. That afternoon, we learned how to make chocolate from the cacao plants on the property and have been indulging in organic coffee in the mornings from here as well. Raul also taught us how to make palm nut rings.

We have learned so much about the flora and fauna on rainforest hikes with Raul - I have a journal full of drawings. The sounds at night were plentiful. We heard all sorts of frogs, cicadas, geckos, sloths, birds, kikajous...and Andy saw a snake. All kinds of creatures out here. Some great news is monkeys are coming back since the forest has been regenerated in this fashion. Apparently they haven't been seen here in over ten years because of the massive clear cutting.

We have eaten all kinds of organic food from the property: macadamia nuts, sesame seeds, papaya, coffee, chocolate, starfruit, najarilla (a fruit), bananas, plantanes, hearts of palm and lemon basil. My stomach is in heaven since we have been able to cook our own food. You must be wondering what Ecuadorian food is anyway. A lot of rice, chicken, broccoli, plantanes and tomatoes. Plantanes are a staple. They are a type of large, unripe banana. They can be cooked in dozens of different ways - I learned how to make chifles, patacones and bolones. Chifles are very thinly sliced, deep fried, sprinkled with salt and taste like potato chips. Patacones are a thicker, pressed version and bolones are boiled, mixed with butter and salt and then stuffed with cheese. Yum.

Favorite foods we have eaten out are empanadas, tamales and mochiles (yuca root that is made into a soft dough, stuffed with a white cheese and fried). Unlike being in Asia, we stop into a panaderia (bread shop) most days to make a sandwich or have a fresh croissant for a snack. Oh, and there is a fruit here called guanabana that is made into juice and yogurt that is simply delicious. Be sure to check out the photos .

Now, we are in the capital city of Quito. More to come on our experience here later.