A Day in the Life

After a year and a half, I made it to a good friends volunteer farm an hour from Quito.  The Fundación Brethren y Unida is a non-profit NGO that works in various areas of development: formulation of rural development projects, technical training of agro ecology, environmental education, local management and volunteer work.

My friend Stuart and his girlfriend started the program eight years ago for the foundation and it´s going strong because of thier work.

Volunteers work in the garden, tending animals, and participating with the local community.  Many stay in the families who are supported by the farm´s houses.

I made it up to watch the first game of the world cup and want people to know about the volunteering options.

Anyone can volunteer for a week onward.. The costs are minimal and you stay either in a homestay or at the foundation.  Volunteers switch off cooking for each other and it´s a great way to experience Ecuador!

You can contact Stuart through the website or give him a call at 593 85 987384. Usually if you call him on Friday you can start on Monday!

Let me know if you have questions.. GringoinQuito@gmail.com or leave a comment.

http://www.fbu.com.ec/volunteer_programs_ecuador.htm

The Secret Garden, Quito on Facebook

We work and live in Quito and all are somehow a part of a local establishment where we meet travellers, guides, teachers, students, and profesionals who have been in Quito for as long as twenty years.. We would like this group to be used as a resource for people who are thinking about a trip to Quito and have questions about schools, trips, hostels, finding something specific about any of the above, or just wondering if they have the right information.. Quito and Ecuador are great places and we are poeple who have decided to live here and we want to share our knowledge with those who wish to make the most out of thier experience here.. Finn McCools is a bar, but this group is not a marketing ploy.. Everyday we hear great stories from others but also we hear disturbing ones. In the spirit of good karma and good traveling we wish people to post questions they have here and we will do our best to answer from our expertise or find someone who can help.. Join if you have questions or you want to help others have a great experience in Ecuadorª

http://www.couchsurfing.com/group.html?gid=16240

Province: Pastaza
Altitude: 900 masl
Temperature: 18 to 24°c

At the wildlife rescue centre Yanacocha, we house a number of animal species that have been rescued from owners who badly treat them and keep them in appalling conditions. Thanks to the support of our international volunteers, we are able to maintain these animals in decent conditions with a healthy diet. We receive volunteers from all walks of life, from those who want to follow careers in animal sciences/ conservation/ veterinary sciences to those who just have a passion for animals and the natural world.
Under supervision of Yanacocha staff, volunteers will primarily undertake the tasks of caring for and feeding rescued animals, constructing further enclosures for newly rescued animals, and general maintenance and organisation around the centre.
Additionally, we have a number of projects in which we require volunteer help for including; making (macheteing) new nature trails within the centre’s jungle area; the creation and maintenance of a native tree and medicinal plant nurseries with subsequent planting in cleared areas of the centre; teaching English and the importance of conservation in the local schools; amongst others.  

Yanacocha is a remarkable place situated in the beautiful region of Pastaza in the Amazon rainforest. The nearby town of Puyo is vibrant but peaceful, with the opportunity to partake in a number of adventurous activities in your spare time whilst at Yanacocha. You are sure to leave with many fond memories from your stay with us.

Coordinator: David Jackson
Phone: +593 080374593
E-mail: yanacocharescue@yahoo.com

Ecuador just implemented a new tax on all imports.. The list is supposed to be linked to this page.  For anything remotely related to the restaurant and bar business this means a 35% increase on everything behind the bar that isn´t from Ecuador!  The place where I work is busy trying to find friends who fly back and forth a lot as well as buying up as much stock as possible to try and maintain some sort of a reasonable business for the next few months..

new ecuador import stuff

Part of my life here entails making fires while serving food.  Then it involves serving drinks while keeping the fire going.. In the hostel there are a great many hours spent meeting and talking to guests.  Still more of hostel world is greeting people when they come in and getting them to where they are going.. Lots of cool people and lots of faces and names to remember..

Then there is Finn´s!  An Irish Bar owned by An Irish Woman and an English guy.. Lots of trying to comunicate in Spanish and getting to know the local expats!  The worlds collide when the guests from the hostal spill into the bar at about 11 o´clock every night..  Don´t recognise half of them out of context!

 Apart from Quito I have a friend who runs a hostal in the jungle and I have been there once.. In the coming weeks I hope to hve more time to travel and get out to the magic roundabout at least once a week if I´m in Quito..

So I am in Breckenridge about to hop on a few planes to Ecuador where I am thinking I am going to volunteer at a hostel for a month while working with the yanapuma foundation..

Pretty excited but a little worn down from the end of the season..  Lots of passive aggresive stuff involved in what I did last winter..  Not a whiner but it’s not that hard to have fun in the mountains!

So far Vail has been cool.  I am a chalet host which means that I have guests come and stay with me for two weeks at a time.  Most from the U.K..  I meet them after jet lag, feed them breakfast and dinner for the duration they are here, and then wish them well when they go.

 The cooking is good fun.  I try and figure out what people like in the first couple days and then have a bunch of good dinners after they go sking.

 I’ve only been up on the mountain a few times since the job includes planning meals, budgeting for the meals, and getting the food for three days at a time.  I get one day off but a bunch of time during the day where I can multi-task and work on my plans. 

I’ve been going over to Breck to hang out with the people there that I met when I started this job.  It’s a fun town and I miss it but haven’t given up on Vail.  Just a different town and a different scene.  On the surface I don’t dig the fur and the glitz.  But there are a ton of international people here and I am hearing more and more Spanish around town. 

Ecuador in the spring!!

Yeah so I am back and trying to figure out about five things at once.. Including why English speakers are just so dang boring sometimes.  I mean say it like you mean it and get it over with will ya?  Got some stuff to do know.  Two job interviews lined up and a bunch of places that I can stay while figuring it out.  So much activity. 

Left Quito and jumped on a plane for the day.  So hard to leave and so much fun to be had once I go back.  Can’t wait to jump in a do more with the foundation that I worked with.  Yanapuma Foundation.  They rock, Thier Spanish School rocks, the peoples who go to the spanish school and volunteer there rock!

I need people who are on the lookout for volunteer projects and who are traveling to Ecuador to get in touch with me.  I would love for you to be able to take materials from America to Quito for kids who need to learn English.  And just cause it’s a cool thing to do and can meet interesting people.

Well there is much to be done on my end for the timing to end up right and to ensure that things end up moving along in a faster pattern than previously realized possible.  Tomorrow will be a good start and I am hoping that things just fall into place after the two interviews.  The cool thing about being in Quito is that stuff was set up so it would go well with the expectation that things would progress in the future.  How good is that!

So I spent the day lining things up for the return to Breckenridge and work for the winter plan.  I can see it happen and expect things to work themselves out shortly.  It would also be really fun and heartwarming to hear from a few people that I know now that I’m back.  It’s really been a while since I’ve been in Colorado for anytime over a week and can see starting  to get in touch with people I know here are seeing a lot more of them than in the last months.

I also have a thing for the irish now and am starting to look around for an Irish Pub to work for either in Breckenridge or in Denver.  I’m hoping that Breckenridge will work out as I would love to spend the season cooking and basking in the mountain sunshine.  The guy I somehow go a hold of is being a really good guy which is a relief and a welcome sight.

When there is no time to have fun that means something has to change.  I mean come on people life is always fun.  You just have to look at it the right way with the right people..  Isn’t that what rock bands are about.. So why do you spend more time listening to music rather than go out and find the people that wrote the songs?  Isn’t it more interesting when you have people there with you that can relate to you while the song is playing..

Just a thought.  And another one.. The only language a lot of Americans understand is the one with dollars and cents.  Really it took me a while to figure out but most people in Ecuador would much rather talk to you but assume that you only know how to ask for change and recognize numbers.. It really put things in perspective for me.  Not to mention got some vendors talking to me about a few things.

Bars were the best place to start up conversations.  Really had fun when I could sit and talk to someone in Spanish and they understood.   Just took a little getting over the langauge barrier and the nerves about not knowing the right thing to say or how to say it..  Takes some work to figure that out but once I relaxed about not knowing a lot I started to figure it out.  Go Figure.   You spend a whole lot of time figuring out what you think yo need to say and then right when your not looking I’m speaking in conversational spanish.  Just don’t know how to ask the bus driver anything.  But pretty much understood every word he said.

It is possible for life to go the right way I’m thinking.  What stops me when I’m thinking that I have starting to break through.  Just the tough part doesn’t begin to descibe the enjoyment of the journey.  Live to live.  Give some people some time.  Have some fun.  Be passionate.  Use your head.. Know really use your head.  Doesn’t make sense when the dead don’t interfere with the living.  Why not hit each day as if it were new and had something for you to do, experience, enjoy, and inhabit more fully?  These are not tragic circumstances that We are in living our own lives.. Why not use the days making progress and having fun things happen?

It’s always been maisons and caviar for the peeps I grew up with.. Good lord what in the hell are they all thinking about?  Nice to look at but not at the top of my list right now.

Luck of the Irish to Ya!

So today I am going to hop on a bus and find some sunshine. Just need a little time out of the city and in the mountains, on the coast, and without a grammer lesson.

Spanish school has been good and it’s been fun trying to get my head around the language. Femine, masculine.. wha? But it’s a good place to learn and the people at The Yanapuma School are really good people.

My teacher was from the coast origionally and moved to Quito when She was eighteen. She worked for a while and then went to school for English. She has a great skill when it comes to figuring out what I am trying to say and steering me past all the typical blunders. She also has a great head when it comes to understanding my reasons for coming to Quito in the first place.

La Marascal is always hopping and it’s been fun to meet people who are doing fun things in Ecuador. Most recently I learned that the guy who is in charge of the apartment where I am staying went to Reed College in Portland! He is about to head back there so he can train to be the coordinator of their exchange program in Quito.

I’ve been thinking about finding a job here and know people who teach english here without a who of a lot of experience. I’m not so sure about trading in English for Spanish but I am definately going to look into it.

Other than that I got out of town yesterday and remebered just how beautiful Quito is. Lots of hills, beautiful people, and many smiling faces. I am starting to recognize spanish words more and it’s a bit of fun to understand what people are saying with the exception of the bus drivers who talk at an incredible rate.

I’m trying to use this time well and gearing up each day to throw myself into the language.. It’s a bit intimidating but well worth it.