An unusual Thanksgiving

Mom and Dad,

This year may be the very strangest yet, Thanksgiving-wise. Even all the Las Vegas buffet dinners for turkey day shootouts were more normal than this. The original plan was to go down to El Tesoro, outside of Macas and spend the weekend at Mike's house. We were going to have a good ol' potluck, American-style Thanksgiving dinner, slightly modified to accommodate slightly different weather and resources. Mike is even planning to slaughter a turkey or two to serve as the main course. However, the Parque Nacional Sumaco is taking a trip to the coast for an exchange with a national park out there that will include a visit to the Isla de la Plata (aka the poor man's Galapagos). It is a chance we simply can't pass up. So instead of stuffing our faces with familiar food with our closest American friends in Ecuador, we'll be with a bus full of Ecuadorian park guards learning about ecotourism and tasting the food of the Ecuadorian coast. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't disappointed about missing the familiar parts of my favorite holiday, but I am excited about the chance to see more of the country and participate in a one of a kind trip.

This year I'm thankful for new friends (Ecuadorian, German, and Peace Corps alike), unique opportunities, and the support of my family from afar. I'll miss being with the family this year, but I want you to know that we are thinking about you and grateful for all the amazing things in our lives.

Love you!
Laurel + Daniel

-Email sent to Laurel's parents Thanksgiving week

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

To kick off our crazy Thanksgiving weekend we attended a CD release party for Sonidos del Sumaco at the dance club in town with live performances by the artists featured on the album. Sonidos is a collection of songs written about the park, the environment, environmental conservation, and cultural values of the region produced by the park and a German development organization. While I only played a small part in the project (translating the songs into English), friends of ours had lots of influence over the project and it was very rewarding to see all of their hard work come to fruition in such a well made product and successful release party. One of the most popular songs on the album is "Guardaparques del Sumaco", a song about the work of the park rangers which mentions each of them by name. Needless to say, they got a big kick out of that one.

As the party wound down and people started to disperse, Daniel and I joined the park rangers and other Parque Nacional Sumaco personnel on a bus heading for the coast.

Thursday, November 26, 2009 – Thanksgiving day

Our bus finally pulled out of Tena around 2am. Happy Thanksgiving! Our 15 hour bus ride took us through the cloud forest and the park, into the páramo, up over the Andes mountains, past Quito, down again into the cloud forest and then the flatlands, along the dry tropical forest, and finally to the coast. We arrived in Puerto Lopez around 5pm and went directly to the Machalilla (mah-cha-LEE-ya) National Park's offices downtown. We were greeted by friendly park rangers who showed us to a nearby hostel and gave us dinner recommendations. Exhausted and stiff from a long day on the bus, we all headed down to the beach for a walk in the sand before dinner.
For me, it was the first time seeing the ocean for the longest stretch of my life – nearly 9 months. For some of the veteran park rangers, it had been 4 years since their last trip to the coast. But for a few, it was their first ever trip to the Pacific. Seeing the beach and the kids playing volleyball and soccer in the sand, drinking a cold beer with friends – the whole experience made me feel like I was back at home. For Thanksgiving dinner, Daniel and I ate shrimp and calamari. Not quite turkey and stuffing, but delicious nonetheless.

Friday, November 27, 2009 – Isla de la Plata

After breakfast, Daniel and I, along with the park personnel, made our way down to the water (between the fishermen hauling in the morning's catch) to meet the park rangers from Machalilla who would be taking us out to the Isla de la Plata. The island is just over an hour's boat ride from Puerto Lopez and is commonly referred to as the "poor man's Galapagos" here in Ecuador. After getting to meet the park rangers and a brief introduction, we split into two groups to explore the two main trails on the island. Not ten minutes into our hike, we came across our first pair of blue-footed boobies! The outgoing birds danced and whistled, and squawked when we got too close.

Further along the trail we came across the magnificent frigate birds. When they are in mating season, the male frigates have a very large, red balloon of skin below their beaks which they use to lure in females. Not being mating season, we were unable to see the balloons, but they were beautiful nevertheless.

Not too far from the frigate nests there was a tree full of red-footed boobies. Nesting in trees rather than the ground makes them more difficult to see, but fortunately we had an opportunity to get fairly close to a few nests. Strangely enough, the red-footed boobies are much more vulnerable than the blue-footed boobies on the island. During the last El Niño year, nearly all the nesting pairs lost their nests and eggs in the storms. Currently, there are approximately 20 nesting pairs of red-footed boobies on the island.

Finally we found the masked boobies. Not as entertaining as the blue-footed, but much more beautiful than the red-footed, the masked boobies were elegant and aggressive.

After a few hours of hiking and taking pictures, we looped back around to the ranger station and our boats to go to a different part of the island for lunch and a little swim. The park rangers were skeptical of snorkeling, but eventually a few jumped in to swim with the clown fish. On our way back to the mainland, I met a returned PCV on the boat who was planning on living in Ecuador for a few months starting in January for a fellows program through the Federal Highway Administration's watershed health department. As a former forestry volunteer, he was interested to hear about our work with the park in the rainforest.

Back in Puerto Lopez we had another delicious seafood dinner and enjoyed the cool evening on the beach.

To be continued…

Here are some more pictures of Puerto Lopez and the Isla de la Plata.