Peace Corps??

More like Posh Corps! They say every Peace Corps experience is different, and my case is certainly not an exception. I came to Ecuador expecting to live in a bamboo hut in the jungle and carry my water from the river each morning, and now I’m living in what seems like Beverly Hills. The “barrio” I’m living in (called Zamora Huayco) is pretty high-end and instead of the broken glass on top of the walls like in Cayambe, many of the folks here have electric fences! My host mom’s house is pretty nice, complete with marble and parquet floors, a gas water heater, great shower pressure, washing machine, etc. (Other volunteers reading this, please don’t kill me! :) ) Some of the other houses in the neighborhood are ridiculous as far as Ecuadorian standards go (check out the pictures). The climate here is beautiful too. We’re at about 6900 feet above sea level and the weather has been about 75 degrees and sunny virtually everyday. There are two rivers that run through the city, a bunch of parks, a supermarket, movie theater, several really nice squares, and to top it off they even sell my favorite cookies and cream ice cream at several scoop shops around the city (a cone is 80 cents!). The city is surrounded by lush green mountains, and there was even an article in a local magazine today titled, “Loja casi un paraíso,” (Loja, Almost a Paradise). As far as Ecuadorian cities go, this place is definitely nice. All in all, I can’t say I’m having too tough of a time living here!

The organization I’m working with (www.natureandculture.org) has kept me busy over the past two weeks or so, and some of the projects they’re involved with are pretty interesting. Unlike national parks in the States where the mindset is to keep people and development activities out, my organization is trying to preserve both the amazing natural resources found in the region and the culture of the numerous indigenous peoples that live within the reserves through sustainable small business activities. The thought is that if the people living in and around these areas can sustain themselves through environmentally friendly, yet profitable, practices they’ll be more prone to protect and defend these areas while preserving their own centuries old cultures at the same time.

One of the first events I went to was a meeting at the Banco del Estado. This bank invests in many of the activities of the local governments in the region, and my organization was giving some presentations stressing the importance of investing in land preservation for watershed protection, erosion control, etc. The next day, we went to a huge event within the El Carmen watershed, which was attended by the mayor, close to 1000 school kids and university students, and a slew of other important folks. Nature and Culture Int’l (NCI), using money primarily from donors in the States, purchased all the land that encompasses this watershed to ensure that it’s preserved in its natural state hence helping to protect the city’s water supply. At this event, NCI was signing the land over to the city to manage and protect, since NCI likes to empower local people and governments. It was quite the event (complete with marching band), and was followed by a huge tree-planting campaign by the school kids. Unfortunately, the tree planting ended pretty abruptly when some kids knocked over a giant wasp nest and the thousands of swarming wasps sent the kids screaming and running down the road! The other big event these past two weeks was a trip down to Zapotillo in the southwest corner of the country. The scenery along the way was amazing, and it was super neat how much the climate and vegetation changed as we headed from 6900 feet down to about 500 feet in Zapotillo. This area is super hot, and for a good part of the year pretty dry. The notable feature here is something called a Tumbesian Dry Forest that extends from southern Ecuador into northern Peru. There are only four of these types of forests in the world, and NCI has purchased large areas to protect. Many of the trees here actually lose their leaves during the hot, dry summer to preserve water, and some, like the extremely weird looking Ceiba tree, have green, photosynthetic bark. NCI will be helping to strengthen local capacity and manage the use of natural resources to benefit about 30 rural communities. Some of the projects currently underway are the commercialization of the fruits of the Palo Santo tree (whose essence is now being used in a new perfume - "Amor America"), and the production of a bunch of goat’s milk products, like cheese and yogurt. (There are probably more goats than people in this region!)

There are two other volunteers working with NCI in Zapotillo from my group (Levi and Mandy) so it was good to see them. Zapotillo is a pretty small town (about 1500 people), so it was a big change from Loja! The city is located on the banks of a river, and on the other side of the river is Peru. There’s a bunch of illegal smuggling that goes on between countries here, especially when it comes to gas. The Ecuadorian government highly subsidizes gas here and the cost of a gallon is fixed at $1.48 for regular. On the other side of the river, however, Peruvians are paying $5 to $6 for a gallon. You can see why the Peruvians are always trying to sneak gas across the border from Ecuador to sell at home! Besides gas smuggling, they have some really good ceviche (fish “cooked” in lime juice and cilantro) in Zapotillo, and it was also nice to just sit and sip some coconut milk from coconuts freshly opened with a machete. Levi and Mandy ended up coming back to Loja with me (Levi and I got to ride in the back of the pickup truck with a beer for the 5 hour trip back, which was pretty nice) since there are no ATMs in Zapotillo and they needed $. They also have to travel all the way to Loja to pick up their mail!

Other than work, the weekends have been a blast spending time with the other volunteers and their Ecuadorian friends. Last weekend, a few of us headed down to Vilcabamba for a few hours (40 min south of Loja), which is the massage and facial capital of Ecuador. The place is very tranquilo, as the locals would say, with some awesome scenery. A 75-minute full body massage can be had for $18! We also went to a salsa/reggaeton club in Loja to dance and sip some Espiritu Lojana, a really strong, hot, yellow, spiced drink made with sugar cane liquor (I think). It’s pretty gross, but it’s only a dollar so people drink it! And to finish off the past weekend, we went to a U2 cover band concert (how Ecuadorian!).

Enjoy the pics below and as usual click a few times to enlarge...