Archive for 2007

After a very lame night at a shitty hotel in Miami (thanks American Airlines!), Doe and I finally landed in Calgary at around 2:00pm Sunday afternoon. We were greeted by hugs from Mom, Dad and Martine, and the COLD Canadian winter.
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So I have been back in Canada for nearly a week now. It is strange to think that exactly 8 days ago I stood on the equator.
Coming home was both good and difficult.
Seeing my family and friends was wonderful. Many happy hugs and feelings of closeness. But the adjustment back to this North-American way of life was…bizarre.
Things like hot showers, [...]

The last week… and now it´s all over… adios Honduras.
The working week was fantastic – the foreman was there everyday so we managed to progress the toilet block quite a bit. Also the weather was brilliant bar Friday, so made for a good time up in the mountains. Three days of the week I had help from some of the other volunteers who work usually at the daycare centre, but who came up to see what construction was about and for a bit of a change from the kids. I think I wore them out though… both said they felt [...]

Well, guess I won`t be sleeping my my own bed tonight.
At around 5:30 this morning, Carlos (our taxi driver friend) dropped Doe and I off at the Quito airport. After an hour of waiting in line (and talking to the tallest archeologist I have ever seen), we found out that our flight had been delayed by 5 hours. I speculated that perhaps the plane had gone missing or the pilot was dead (come on…5 hours? That´s not a delay, that`s completely missing the boat!!)
Turns out there are no more connecting flights to Calgary so Doe and I will be spending [...]

How fitting that today, my final day in Ecuador, all of my experiences culminate in an incredible celebration of symmetry and synchronicity. I have come full circle…the beginning has become the end, which is to become another beginning.
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Last night, we went for dinner with Carlos and Roddy (from the Galapagos gang) at a lovely authentic cuban restaurant. The grafitti in the bathroom said ¨La comida de esta lugar es muy rico¨ and the author definitely knew what he was talking about! After that, we moved over the Irish pub (where we got a little silly a few nights ago) and [...]

Today is our last day in Ecuador.
I can´t believe how fast two months can go by. At the same time, it was so full and rich with experiences that it feels like I´ve been here much longer.
Enough about that…I want to go back to writing about my adventures at the Congal station.
*********** Friday, Nov. 23, 2007 *************************
Unfortunately, it rained like mad all morning during the ¨Dia de la no-violencia¨. But that didn´t stop us and many of the local people from marching down the main streets of Muisne, shouting ¨No a la violencia!¨ and waving palm leaves in the air [...]

Ok, here goes yet another attempt to blog!
I have exactly 45 minutes before I have to meet Doe and Nico at the tattoo shop across the street, but I plan to continue blogging after that.
hahaha, my plans to blog never work out so why do I even bother?? meh, here I go anyway:
******** Going back to December 5th, 2007 ************
The Congal crew decided to take the night bus to Quito, which seemed like a good idea at the time but turned out to suck royally for me because I couldn´t seem to fall asleep for the life of [...]

Well… only one week left after this one!! Week 11 went very well, albeit I have started becoming super busy leading up to my departure from Honduras…
Work has been excellent, ever since the coordinator had a couple of words to the workers, I have always had work at Chiligatoro! And it´s been satisfying work, so very enjoyable. Not to mention the tough job it is to work beside a lake out in the country, where it´s very peaceful, where the sun has been shining almost every day and the only sounds are cows chewing the leaves of the trees next [...]

Ok, so I have over 20 days of adventures, experiences and insights to share. I intend to sit here until I’ve purged my memory of everything worth remembering. I think they need to create a word for the unpleasant tingly/numb feeling that travelers get on their ass when they spend too much time sitting in internet cafe! I see it everywhere I go. Someone goes to stand up after internet-ing for god knows how long (perhaps they got stuck in the Facebook black hole?) and suddenly they are desperately trying to rub life back into their butt while attempting to [...]

Certainly time is flying! All of a sudden I have loads to do and realise only 2 weeks to do it in… needless to say the word stress does not feature in this country for me, which is a great thing!
This week was definately the most varied in terms of work… I spent the first three days up at Santa Cruz at the kinder, because no workers were turning up to Chiligatoro! Quite frustrating as I would turn up at 8am, then leave at 9am for the half hour hike up the road to Santa Cruz and work there for [...]

Wow, feels like I haven´t been on the internet (or been remotely close to a computer) in ages…luckily I still remember my GVN password. Maybe it´s just my imagination, but I also feel like my typing is slower…
Well, this is going to be the shortest blog entry yet. Just wanted to say that the past week (or two?) have been fantastic, and I have SOOOOO much to write. But unfortunately I have neither the time, the patience or the desire to write it all now.
The whole Congal crew (8 of us) are heading to Quito for the festival from the [...]

Well another week gone, and now already 3/4 of my time in Honduras is over… At least I still have 3 weeks left to enjoy!
Workwise at Chiligatoro, it was a bit disappointing again. Although Monday was good, the weather dawned fantastic that morning and I took myself out on the truck and helped build the fogon (wood fired stove top that they use here), the adobe was already up for the base, but I put dirt that I dug up from the site, and compacted it into the base. Then I helped the carpenter while he installed one of the [...]

Ugh…I haven´t blogged in nearly a week, and I have sooooo much to say. I don´t have much time and the internet connection here is sporadic at the best of times, but I guess I´d better start writing because time´s a wastin´! Plus, I left my beautiful little journal (the one Doe bought me from Nepal) on the Galapagos so I´ve had to resort to scribbling down random little thoughts on a scrap of paper. I apologize if this entry is incoherent, boring/factual and totally all over the place.
Ok, *sigh*…here goes.
Friday (yup, that´s LAST friday):
My first word day! Took a [...]

Well, the end of week 8 means I´ve been here 2 months already, with only one month left to go… time has flown!
Due to bad weather again in the mountains, we did not get any work done on site at Chiligatoro, but we finished the classroom painting on Tuesday for the daycare centre, so it looks all good with a fresh coat of paint on the walls and the ceiling…
The second half of the week I spent my mornings at the hospital garden, creating a drainage ditch, removing the top layer of weeds and roots, and then hoeing the soil. [...]

I got up at 5:30 on Thursday morning, quickly got my things ready, gave my dear sister a quick hug and some heartfelt well-wishes, then into a cab to the Trans Esmeraldas bus terminal.
The ride to Muisne was supposed to be an 8-hour journey…but lo and behold I did not arrive into Muise town until after 5pm. That´s Ecuadorian time for you!
The bus ride was fascinating, as far as bus rides go. First, we had to go through Quito…and I got a good sense of how incredibly large it really is. A sprawling city, busy, and much like other South [...]

Going down the only road I´ve every known
Like a drifter I was born to walk alone
But I´ve made up my mind
And I ain´t wasting no more time
So here I go again!
Today was one of those soundtrack days, you know, where you seem to have a song in your head that exactly suits the situation you are currently in. This morning it was ¨Don´t pay the Ferryman¨ (Chris De Burgh) as we took the 2-hr boat ride to the Baltra airport (and indeed we didn´t pay him until he ¨got us to the other side¨), then the Top Gun theme song [...]

Ok, so Im picking up where I left off on my last entry…
Yes, many great nights were spent at the local Jatun Sacha ¨establishment¨. Typically, the group heads to the bar every Monday and Wednesday night, because that´s when new volunteers arrive (which is always a big deal involving lots of speculation about where they might be from or what they might look like. Unfortunately for the guys, the rumours of 3 ¨hot Russian chicks never materialized).
We play some pool (and here I have to thank my many male friends who have helped me hone my table skills over the [...]

Well this week the weather had the upper hand which meant we didn´t get to work at Chiligatoro at all, which is a bit of a shame because I´m loving the building site! Never mind, we managed to keep ourselves busy none the less…
We chanced it on the ute on Monday morning, which was a mistake… even with fleeces, jackets and beanies, the wind whipped around us on the back of the truck, freezing us to the bone, so when we got to site we were icicles… We waited around in the fog and drizzle for all of about 15 [...]

What a day!
GLORIOUS it was, and for no particular reason (but really, who needs a reason to be blissfully happy?). At this very moment I have that feeling you get when it seems that nothing can go wrong. You know, when you feel so incredibly light, free and open to whatever experiences unfold before you.
In one word, the feeling is ¨YES¨.
No, I am not on drugs (actually, that is not entirely true. But don´t get excited, because the truth isn´t very scandalous. I have recently started taking Avloclor/Paludrine in preparation for my move to the Coastal Station of Congal, which [...]

I´m back from a 4-day tour of the Galapagos Islands, and slipping in this quick blog entry before heading back to the Station, and back to chopping the dreaded Mora.
The tour amazing!
There were 6 of us from the station, and we were joined by a Kiwi couple, and America, two Scottish ladies, and an oler couple from the south of France (so nice to speak Francais with someone other than my sister!). We went to the Galapagos islands of Floreana, Isabella, Santa Cruz and Santa Fe. Did so much snorkelling…I am sooooo comfortable with breathing underwater, I swear I must [...]

Another week has passed… not a lot of progress out on site, in part due to weather and just the general slowness of some of the tasks. However it’s definately taking shape and it’s still great fun (as long as it’s not raining and warmer than 5 degrees).
We started the week adding extra adobe to the outhouse toilets, which have had about 8 courses of blocks so far, and we added another full course and the corners, just in time before it started raining. The next day we worked beneath the roof in the covered cafe area, putting up timber [...]

I had an epiphany the other day and realized that my trip so far here in Ecuador can be fairly well summarized simply by describing the state of my arms:
- sore wrist (repetitive machete swinging)
- multitude of random scratches (chopping ¨La Mora¨ and climbing lemon trees)
- bazillions of red spots of various size (bug bites)
- dark purple bruise on my upper arm (surfing collision)
- yellowish bruises on my inner arms (playing volleyball with a hard-as-hell soccer ball)
- cuts on my inner wrist (halloween night gong show injury)
- supa-dark tan (woohoo)¨
And really, that about sums up my adventures here so far.
At [...]

Well I will remember this week as, among others, The Week of Best Breakfasts. Hopefully you weren’t expecting anything more deep and meaningful, and the other volunteers here do say I think about food too much, but I’ve figured out that the breakfasts are due to The Week of the Cold Chill, and hence my host mum figured cold milk on cornflakes is not good enough, I twice got pancakes with honey, once atol (which is like a very very milky sweet porridge), and toasted real bread for the first time… mmmmm bring it on!
Yes winter is setting in here, [...]

Surf camp was great,
sunburns are not.
When sleep-deprived,
even German sounds hot.
(ugh, now I remember why I was never into writing poetry. But for some odd reason, that is the first thing that came to mind as I sat down to write this entry)
I have come to the conclusion that I almost, but not quite, entirely suck at surfing* That´s not to say it isnt great fun. It is! As long as you keep your expectations below sea level, which is where my head was most of my time. Cough, choke, spit…now I understand why sealions always make that awful retching noise. [...]

(Public service announcement:
I would like to offer my sincerest apologies for the excessive length of my last journal entry. I assumed that most of you have absolutely nothing to do all day but read my blog. Apparently, some of you also have to eat, sleep and go the the washroom every now and then. My bad! From now on, I promise to keep them ¨reasonable¨. And by all means, if you need to go to the washroom, GO!)
Quick update:
A whole bunch of us volunteers are back in town for a few hours, waiting to go to an overnight Surf Camp. [...]

Well it’s been a good week of sun and little rain, which has been fantastic. What did we get up to with the project…. we started making concrete for the first time (up until now we’ve been using the mud for mortar as it’s cheaper). The concrete was a mixture of cement and sand and water, and we used this around the base of the window sills for the cafe eating area which looks out onto the lake. This involved spending an hour moving the sand from the heavy bags in one location to another location close to the cafe. [...]

Water, water, everywhere!
From being abandoned in the middle of a torrential downpour in Quito, to slicing our way through 4-5 swells on the Pacific ocean, to basically living among the clouds, I have accepted the fact that being dry is a rare and temporary state. I´m happy to report that at this very moment, as I sit in this ocean-front internet cafe in the town of Baquerizo Moreno, I am completely, totally and blissfully dry. I can see why the volunteers all come into town on the weekends…
Good thing I have this online blog to write down my thoughts and [...]