Using your car horn in Ecuador

One of the favourite past-times of the Ecuadorians is to hoot there horn. So far we have seen the following reasons for this:

1) Someone has pulled out in front of you (seems reasonable)
2) I am driving fast at a blind crossroads with no intention of stopping
3) Hello mate (this is possibly the most common reason in the Galapagos)
4) Do you want a lift? (taxis with an amazing regularity)
5) Do you want to get on this bus? (this is accompanied by a man shouting loudly out the door - more on local buses to follow)
6) I am rounding a blind corner on the wrong side of the road
7) The traffic lights have been green for at least of half a second, get moving!! (the most common reason in Quito)
8) The best of the lot: there are finches in the road and the sign told me to slow down and hoot at them rather than run them over

There are possibly more reasons but so far these are all we have observed.

Hair Cuts in the Galapagos

Decided that after 4 weeks I was starting to look like a hippie so time for a hair cut!

First challenge was trying to find an open hairdressers on a Sunday morning (in fact anything open on a Sunday would be nice). Eventually found one and convinced the lady that I really did want my hair cut - "isn´t it short enough already?" seemed to be the message (a women after your own heart Mum). She then shaved a little bit on a number 1 before checking again that she hadn´t misunderstood. The rest was cut much to the interest of the other locals in the shop, must of whom were chuckling by this stage.

Post hair cut she brought out the cut throat razor and my knuckles went white as I gripped the chair tightly - it was now Petra who was chuckling. I was certain she was about to shave my face but just tidied up around the back of my neck. Then apparently it is the done thing to brush the hair off with a brush covered in some sort of fragrant talcum powder. This was followed by a generous splashing of Brut aftershave on my neck. I left with a smart haircut and stinking to the extent that the local dogs were backing away from me and Petra would only stand upwind!

Bring on the shower!

A Day in the Life at Jatun Sacha

We're now 2 weeks in to our stint at the Jatun Sacha Reserve, on San Cristobal, so here's what we've been up to...

The working week at the station is Monday to Friday, with weekends off for a well-earned dose of civilisation. The reserve is situated a 45 min drive on a gravel road up into the highlands, so the week starts on Sunday evening with a bone-shaking ride on the back of a pick-up to take us to the station. Work starts at 8am after breakfast (all meals are prepared by a live-in cook, who does an amazing job to produce edible food for 20-30 volunteers and staff with no electicity and a pretty primitive kitchen). Work generally consists of a combination of reforesting tasks (scrub clearance, planting, collecting seeds, watering) interspersed with site infrastructure maintenance, and occasionally more fun activities, such as making coffee from the plants on the reserve. There is also a kitchen rota to help with each meal. We work 8-10am, then 10.30am-12pm. After lunch a siesta is required to escape from the midday sun, and there are ugly scenes while everyone fights for a space in a hammock! We then work again from 2 till 4pm in the afternoon.

With no electricity, you really do have to provide your own entertainment in the evenings, and we usually end up playing cards (in particular an Ecuadorian game called Cuarenta, which we've all become experts at) and chatting with other volunteers and staff.

On Fridays the staff from the reserve lead hikes around the local area to see places of interest. Most of them have grown up in the islands and know the place inside out, so they can tell you anything and everything about the plants and animals along the way.

The accomodation is fairly basic, rooms with a bed and mossie net, (usually shared with local wildlife, including spiders the size of your palm) and cold showers. But it doesn't really feel like you need much more, and everyone just gets on with it.

Being there really makes you appreciate the technology we take so much for granted, and certainly reminds you where your food actually comes from. Its great to eat so much produce which is locally grown on the reserve. For example when you're asked to get orange juice for lunch, that doesn'mean opening a carton from the fridge, it means climbing a tree, collecting fruit, carrying them back to the kitchen and squeezing enough fresh juice by hand for 25 volunteers!

Life in the Galapagos 1

So here we are in the Galapagos, a small volcanic archipelago about 1000km off the coast of Ecuador, made famous amongst others by Charles Darwin in his studies of evolution. The islands have a unique collection of flora and fauna, much of which is not found anywhere else in world, due to the location of the islands, and the way in which they formed.

Before I go any further, apologies for the lack of photos with this entry - there are no shortage of fantastic shots (naturally!) but we will wait to upload them till we can find a pc not powered by a hamster on a wheel!

So, instead of taking the conventional approach of a 7 day tour to the islands, James and I have instead opted to volunteer for 4 weeks with an environmental project located on San Cristobal Island (bottom right on the map). In all the wildlife programmes about the Galapagos, they tend to major on the amazing abundnace of animals and plants here. What they generally don't talk about is how much the islands have suffered in recent years, not only from the massive influx of visitors and irresponsible tour comapnies, but also from the introduction of non-native species, which are gradually destroying the natural biodiversity of the islands and their very fragile eco-system. The aim of the project we doing is to eradicate these invasive species from an area of >200 hectares, to reforest the area with native plants, and also to educate the locals on how to treat their environment responsibly.

They also farm a small amount of fruit and vegetables to feed the volunteers and staff at the project. This is to avoid the need to buy imported produce, one of the main sources of harmful bugs and parasites from the mainland.