So it's been awhile. The weekend before last I went to the Tiputini Biodiversity Station in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The station is located in Yasuni National Park. The trip consisted of all day hiking, swimming in the Tiputini River, and various other activities. I got to see Caiman, Pink River Dolphins, and birds, lots of birds. No anacondas, unfortunately, though I looked. It was the only place I've been besides my two homes where I really wanted to cry when I left. I could have stayed in the jungle forever. Oh well, perhaps in the future. The conservation issues surrounding the park are pretty immense. The main issue at stake is going on between the oil company Petroecuador and an Amazonian tribe, the Huaorani. Fifty years ago oil was discovered in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Huaorani are the only tribe that has successfully protected their land from the oil companies; until now. The nomadic tribe had always defended themselves from outsiders, usually violently. But around the time that oil was discovered in their region of the Amazon, Protestant missionaries began to contact them successfully, and many converted. This allowed the oil company Shell to form an alliance with the missionaries, who helped them negotiate with the Huaorani for drilling on their territory. Many Huaorani tribes were bribed into negotiating with the companies, who promised education, health care, and money. Shell kept some promises, but eventually sold the sites to Petroecuador, who promptly ignored any promises Shell had made to the Huaorani. On top of this, Petroecuadors lax environmental policies have had horrible consequences on the land and health of the Huaorani. There is currently a pending lawsuit between the company and the tribe, who have had to deal with oil spills, water and air contamination, and increases in cancer, among other problems. This is just one of the issues the park is faced with today. Ok, so back to the non-depressing stuff. After the Amazon I had one day in Quito and then I left to hike Cotopaxi. Vulcan Cotopaxi is the highest active volcano in the world. It is also way overdue, so our leaders decided that hiking it would be a smart idea. The hike was at probably 800 vert. feet and we were at about 15,000 ft. I didn't die from an eruption, obviously, but I did almost have a heart attack. But I was pretty proud that I made it to the top being that I've been eating non stop and not exercising since I've been here. After the hike we all went horse back riding (chaps, poncho and all). My horse ate a lot and I could never get it to go because it was always insisting on eating. A fitting horse for me. The next day I went to Machalilla National Park where we spent the entire weekend. The park is the only in coastal Ecuador. It was good to see the Pacific again, although it made me miss Hawaii and Luke even more. But then I realized that I will be seeing it every day in the Galapagos so I better get used to the feeling. Machalilla involved even more hiking mostly on Isla de la Plata or Island of Silver, located off the coast named such because when the Spaniards first came to the island they saw the sun reflecting off the bird crap that covers the island, and thought it was made of silver. The Ecuadorians call it "Poor Man's Galapagos" because it contains many of the same species but is much cheaper to get to. I dubbed it "Isla de la Caca. On the island we saw lots of Blue Footed Boobies, Masked Boobies, and Frigate birds. We also saw some Red Footed Boobies, which are very rare there. Afterwards we snorkeled around the island. Nice, but nothing impressive. Saturday night was a blur for most of the students as the bar there made some wicked mixed drinks. I refrained, but I did dance a lot of salsa, however. I'm getting slightly better. Well now I'm back in Quito for the last week of my first class module. Then I'm leaving for Galapagos, yay!! I'm excited, but I will miss Quito. Ciao, Hasta luego! P.s. Check out my new albums.