"The Problem is the Corn"

A few months ago, a couple of US board members from my organization were visiting Ecuador with a video camera. While in a remote village in southern Ecuador, an old woman suddenly approached them in distress. At one point she was frozen in tears and couldn't speak. This is one of the poorest areas of Ecuador with an average income of under $50 per month. There are no social services available of any kind. No one was able to help her, not even the local priest.

So they decided her story must be told.

Yours truly, along with the help of another volunteer, translated pages and pages of country Spanish to potentially use in the video.

The old womans name is Lastenia Correa Aponte. This video is HER STORY.

• This video shows a tropical forest in Ecuador with the highest biodiversity in the world with over 800 bird species. Unfortunately it could be gone in a few years.
  
  
• The video wasn't intended to be focused so much on corn ethanol, biofuel, renewable energy, E85, or congress' energy policy but thats where the story led us. It seems that when we burn food to run our cars it affects the whole world! (for more info see Energy Policy Act 2005, HR6 Energy Independence Security Act 2007)

Here's a link to the video: http://ethanol-lie.com/

It's a Bird, It's a Plane...

But it's not Superman.

It's Jason flying off his bike at 20 miles per hour...  Unfortunately gravity took hold of me and I made a crash landing on the dirt trail.  But I'm ok (mas o menos).  Scraped up forearms, scraped up and bruised knees, and a scraped up stomach. (All good excuses to stay home yesterday and watch movies all day.)

This past weekend about 10 other bikers and I headed to Zapotillo in the far southwestern corner of Ecuador for a mountain bike trip from the town of Pindal to Zapotillo, which unbeknownst to me until about 30 minutes before the start was actually a race.  The map said that the route was 50 km, but using my GPS it actually turned out to be closer to 70 km!  I flew off the bike after hitting a patch of sand on a downhill about 10 km into the journey, and then after walking it off I was able to go about another 30 km before having to be carried to the end in a van.  I wasn't alone though... three others shared the van with me, one of which was a marathon runner that told me he's never had to quit a race before in his life and this was the first one.  It was super tough and the initial ascent of over 1000 ft really tires you out for the rest of the route which consists of lots of little uphill portions which wear you out over and over again as time goes on.  Over the course of the route, the total climb is about 4300 feet! Below is an elevation profile of the route.

The route passes through several tiny towns where kids and parents were out sitting on fences, cheering people on and handing out bananas to passing cyclists.  I have to say, I was definitely the oddball in the group, since as Mr. Fluorescent would pass little kids would be like, "Look mommy, a gringo!".  When I stopped for the medic to wash out my wounds, 'tween' girls were standing around taking pictures of me with their cell phone cameras like I was from another planet!  It was quite the experience, since in the city of Loja there are plenty of other gringos so I'm not that much of a novelty. :)

The race was part of Zapotillo's fiestas (every town in Ecuador has fiestas for between a week and month every year to celebrate the town's foundation) and it's purpose was to raise awareness of the Bosque Seco (Dry Forest) ecosystem that exists in the area and the importance of protecting it.  (There are only two or three other dry forests like this in the world.) There was a big trophy and medal ceremony at the end.  I got third place in the "Master's" Category (even though only 1 of the 4 people in the Master's group actually finished the race), and then the mayor treated us all to a traditional meal of Chivo al Hueco, which was delicious.  Chivos, or goats, are about the only animal that can survive in this super dry region so it's about the only meat that people eat here.  The chivo is seasoned and then placed in a hole in the ground with hot coals, buried and left to sit for a few hours.  Then it's dug out and served.  Super tender and delicious.

The worse part of the whole adventure was not the accident, but the 7 hour midnight to 7am bus ride back to Loja from Zapotillo.  I was still covered in dirt from the race, my leg and arm was throbbing, and the whole bus smelled like rotten feet!  Needless to say, my own shower and bed felt really good after the whole journey.  Hopefully I'll be back on the bike in another week or two.