— Travel and Trekking Jots & Shots
Small But Big on Biodiversity
Parque Nacional Podocarpus, Loja
Journeying through Ecuador over five weeks had a profound impact on me. It’s truly amazing to see how quickly the landscape changes from Pacific Coast beaches to snowy mountains to lush jungle heat. Even more impressive is the stunning variety of Ecuador’s endemic species populations.
Browse the selection of articles below about travel and trekking in Ecuador.
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After our morning canyoning adventure, Brandon and I had lunch, then we went hiking in Baños‘s surrounding hills. The first part of the journey was the most difficult, almost straight up the whole time. We reached Bellavista, a white cross overlooking the town, and rested. We continued on the paved road to Runtún, a small village high up […]
I’ve found myself a travelling companion for the next few days. I met Brandon, from San Francisco, shortly after arriving in Baños on Tuesday. We were sharing a dorm room and realized we had similar short-term travel plans, so once we decided on the same activities yesterday, the rest just fell into place. And that turned out to […]
Work’s been pretty relaxed this week during my last work days at Merazonia, so I really can’t understand why I’ve got this blasted cold. Well, in any case, I now know that I’d rather paint three coats in a whole room with drywall than paint one coat on a small cement holding tank. For toilets, no less! I […]
This week, we continued with some more Merazonia projects. Jen and I built some drawers to put beneath the future volunteers’ beds. I measured, sawed, planed, and sanded the wood, nailed it all together to make a box, screwed some wheels into the bottom, and voilà! Drawers! I also hauled rocks in a neat contraption we put on […]
Thursday evening, David and I decided to stay at the refuge overnight instead of returning to Mera. We had discussed it with Jen and Frank ahead of time, and together we planned some “camping” and jungle hiking at Merazonia (smiley face). We hiked out to the road with Frank, Jen, and Guido because to the right of the […]
After only a few days here, volunteering at Merazonia Animal Reserve, I now have grease monkey fingernails! Wednesday, which was Day Two for me volunteering at Merazonia, was spent building scaffolding for the construction of the aviary. More sawing, searching for wood, planting poles into the mud to brace our scaffold, climbing the scaffolding to secure the braces, […]
Imagine zooming along winding mountain roads in a rickety old bus, listening to Bedouin Soundclash, chilling, feasting your eyes, insatiable. Imagine chatting away with an amicable Ecuadorian who points out sights: a famous waterfall, a deep ravine, a bridge off which to bungee jump, a good discoteca, his own restaurant… Imagine being dropped off the bus in an […]
This is the end of Quito for me. Today I’m moving on to Mera. I can’t wait to get out of the city and into the rainforest, but at the same time, I’m very sad to so soon be leaving all the wonderful friends I’ve made in Quito. Three hours on the internet yesterday. Shitty buzz. But afterwards, […]
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