EcuadorSabbatical

Maya and I are still catching up on sleep after a very intense three weeks. After sending her off on the bus, I crawled into bed (very uncharacteristic of me) and woke up almost too late to catch my bus to Cumbaya to meet 'Las Damas Canadienses'. It feels good to see the group of women I have met here and catch up with their lives. There is much uncertainty about the new airport ( where many of the Canadians work) and whether or not it will be shut down, which would be unfortunate for both Ecuadorians and the Canadian investors and employees. My impression is that the business climate in Quito is uncertain and anxious. The focus of the group is to pursue several of charitable activities. I will be translating for some orthopedic surgeons from Edmonton, Canada, who travel to Quito yearly to perform operations. I will have to brush up on my medical Spanish (I know absolutely NO medical Spanish) and help both patients and doctors communicate. I wonder if I will know any of the phy...

I sat quietly this morning, watching the clouds lift over Pichincha, and tried to feel comfortable not moving and not having any plans. Maya and I woke up at 6, fell easily into the rhythm of a school morning, and waited only a few minutes for the bus, which did not forget to pick her up (which was my fear). The day spread before me with all sorts of possibilities until 3:30, when I had to pick Maya up and escort her to her various Monday evening activities. I have a little less that six more months in Ecuador. Our half year in Quito has passed quickly, and somehow it feels that we have little time left, and so much more to see and experience. Eric will be in the jungle for much of the next several months, so I will have space and time to explore on my own. I have friends visiting over the next months, and am starting to think of places to show them. I have yet to visit Baños or Mindo, which are close by; it is Carnaval the second week of February, and I am told that Ambato is the plac...

It feels good to be home, and Maya would have been happy to stay inside all day and read, but the sun was shining and by noon, I needed a coffee, so we ventured out to Quicentro and then to Carolina Park. Quiteños were enjoying another beautiful Sunday, playing 'Equavolley' (the net is higher, a soccer ball used and the ball is handled differently from usual volleyball), soccer, basketball, or just strolling. There were booths set up throughout the park, selling ice-cream, fritada (traditional dish of pork and corn), cotton candy, foam for spraying on passerbys, soccer and basketballs, bikes to rent and toys. Maya had never seen the botanical garden, so we spent hours examining the plants and taking photos and learning about the various types of vegetation in the Andes, the rainforest and the coast. Now that I know more about the country, the descriptions had more resonance for me, and I found that my Spanish had improved significantly from the last time I visited and I found ...

How unusual it is to be home, sleeping in my own bed, cooking in my miniature kitchen, familiarizing myself with Quito again. Eric left for the airport before 8, but called me frantically a little before 9, having forgotten a crucial electronic item, so Maya and I raced to the airport to deliver it before he got on the plane right back to Coca. This time he is going to the Yasuni Research Station, deep in the forest across the river from Sacha. He is traveling with Erika and her boyfriend Victor, who have been preparing equipment for the research planned for the next week in Yasuni. Kathy, another professor who was on the course with us, stayed behind at Sacha to meet two of her students who had been working at Yasuni the whole time we were on the trip with the students. She will be returning to Yasuni with Scott and Peter to work on her research project involving soil. Maya and I were invited to a tenth birthday party in Tumbaco, which is in the valley next to Quito and a little past ...

We slept in today until 6:30, but were pushed out of Sacha without much ado. The lodge works efficiently and effectively. The two and a half days feels too short but also feels so full of activity, one senses that we have been here much longer. I am not sure that we sense time accurately; we have been with the students in Ecuador for much longer than two weeks, or perhaps no time at all. I wanted to take my time on the walk out, and see the night monkeys on the way if possible, but we were on a schedule and were told to speed up, which we did. The three hour ride to Coca was uneventful, many of the students catching up on sleep. Maya had her nose in her book the whole time. Home sweet home; we can finally unpack, wash all our clothes (five loads done), have a warm shower, get into clean clothes, look out at Pichincha and pop some popcorn! Eric took the students to the Banco Central museum and the Artisanal Market to do last minute shopping. We met at the Plaza Grande Hotel for dinner a...

It rains in the rainforest even if it is the dry season, although it is particularly dry this year and there is far less water than usual. When we landed at the Sacha lodge dock on the Napo, we had a beach to walk on, which is not usually the case ( usually water goes right to the dock). The rain pounded down furiously for a half hour before we left his morning, and there were few animals about when we took the canoe across Pilchicocha Lake and entered Anaconda Creek. We saw flowers, a few orchids, a 'guan' and a 'hoatzin', but few other mammals. Instead, Bengy, our native guide explained the use of the rumipanga, a leaf that is used to cook food over the fire, and the use of the cheese grater palm that locals use to grate plantains and other vegetables, and another palm that is low to the ground and is used to make a game with a centre section that works as a boomerang if thrown correctly. He cut heliconia flowers to turn Maya and Doug into forest sprites, and Francis...