Some details

You have seen the picture of the volunteer house. On the right is the window to the room I am staying in. There are two bunk beds. I am staying on the top bunk of the bed closest to the window, and Brita (from New Jersey) is on the bottom bunk of the other bed. There is a line between the two beds to hang our dirty and wet clothes on (clothes are always dirty and wet).

The front door opens to the dining area, and to the left is the kitchen. There is electricity, although it goes off after there has been a big storm. Directly oppostite the front door on the other side is the back door, which opens onto a cobbled dirt path to the toilet and shower. The shower is a large bucket bin with a smaller tub for rinsing. The water comes from the river up in the forest, and has to be boiled before drinking.

At night the crickets chip, the frogs court each other and the dogs come out to bark. The moths are large and sometimes there are bats in the air, like the night in the picture below. The cockrels begin to crow at 4am, and soon after the reggaeton music starts to play (which is the one benefit of losing the power after a storm).


There are three of us volunteers. Me, Brita, and Uly from Salzwedel. We all agree that the food is boring and not very nutritious. White rice, beans, pasta, potatoes, sometimes soup but very rarely fresh vegetables. Today we have come to Puyo, the nearest town (an hour and a half bus ride away) to use the internet, have a hot shower and sleep on a real mattress, and (which I am looking forward to the most) eat in a restaraunt. Tonight I am going to try ceviche, an Ecuadorian delicacy which is basically raw seafood marinaded in citrus juices. We have been recommended a place that does excellent ceviche by a girl we met from the Peace Corps. If my stomach can cope with watusi (I´ll explain that later), it can cope with anything!

I am still getting my head around the work that we are doing, so I will write about that another time I think.