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Rachel in Ecuador
Hello all. Sorry it's been a while. Had some problems with the internet and electricity. Anyways. On Friday I had the fun task of cleaning out the chickens. We had to get them all out of the coop and then some of them decided they wanted to have an adventure by going into the forest so we had to chase them back! After that we had to clean them all out and put fresh sawdust down and feed and water them then try and get them back in. Once they saw the food though they were happy to go back home! Anyway, I found out yesterday that they killed 20 of them so it seems a bit wasted!!!!
On Saturday I went with 4 other volunteers to a community called Cotundo about 2 hours from the centre. One of the workers, Angel from the botanical garden grew up there. We were helping in a "green area", which is going to be a public garden and will also have medicinal plants and other plants that can be used for artesania and so on. It's a project run by many local women and it should be lovely when it's finished but it's in the very early stages at the moment so there's a lot of work to be done still. We had to clear an area of loads of branches and rubbish that had just been dumped here and I forgot my work gloves so I got very dirty hands! When we had almost finished they brought us a drink called "Chicha" that is made out of the yuca plant - one of the few foodstuffs that can grow in this area. It's considered very rude not to drink it or to refuse it but it tastes like sour milk and cheese! It's vile. We all stood around smiling but saying how awful it was. After that the ladies cooked our lunch on an open fire - we had fish and rice - I got the fish head!!! But it tasted good. And of course more Chicha! There was also a tarantula crawling about! After lunch Angel took us on a tour around the village and he explained that they are doing a lot of reforestation there and that Jatun Sacha is donating a lot of plants to it. All the nursery work we do in the botanical garden is for this community but they need a couple of thousand plants so it's going to be a long, slow process. We also went around to look at rocks with 3000 year old drawings on them. There are loads around the area although no one really knows the significance of them but they are really beautiful. Got some photos to upload when I have the time. All in all it was a really lovely day and I'm so glad I had the opportunity to go and see how the locals live.
That night we went to the bar and had a few Cuba Libres!!! The next day I attempted the artesania but it wasn't making any sense to me so I think I'll just buy some of the jewellery. I'm obviously not cut out for such things! In the afternoon I went to Tena to do some washing and ended up bringing three other people's too! Then I missed the bus and had to get a taxi!!!
Yesterday was white water rafting. It was awesome! I had so much fun. Got really really wet and the guide kept pushing us in! We had a couple of stops along the way to look at the scenery. In the afternoon they also stopped to take us down to a crack in the rocks where they painted us with clay! The lunch was lovely. So different from what we get at the station. We had burritos with loads of fresh onions, guacamole, chicken, cheese etc. and real coke plus tons of fruit! The scenery is incredible. This is such a beautiful country. The rapids were soooo good. Got loads of photos. On the down side, I got bitten to death by sandflies and also got very sunburnt. The bites have made my legs look like I have some sort of skin disease. I'm very itchy and in pain but still, it was worth it!
The general elections are coming up here so everywhere feels very political. There are posters up for all the different candidates - something like 60 different ones! - also, there are all these trucks that go down the road with big mics telling everyone about whichever candidate they want to win! Anyways, thats all for now. Love, Rachel xxx
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