Sorry about the delay! Continued from last month…
Saturday, November 28, 2009 – Agua Blanca and Los Frailes
In the morning we met with the director of the biodiversity monitoring project at the offices of Parque Nacional Machalilla (PNM) in downtown Puerto Lopez. They are currently monitoring several different species (including giant sea turtles!) within the park with the help of various local agencies and funding from a foundation. Sumaco is in the early stages of starting a biodiversity monitoring project within the park (our office just finished writing the management plan) and it was an interesting and informative chance to ask questions about another park's work.
After an extensive Q&A, we headed out to Agua Blanca, a community tourism site located in dry tropical forest (one of the rarest and oldest equatorial forest areas in South America). Rich with archeological artifacts and interesting vegetation, the entire community is simultaneously lived in and preserved for anthropological and environmental conservation. The community members work at the museum, lead tours around the community, and sell traditional handicrafts, as well as participate in subsistence farming. The most recent of their ancient ancestors are believed to be the Manteña people whose middens and burial sites are located throughout the area. Many of these artifacts are concentrated in the community of Agua Blanca, a pre-Incan settlement.
Once we had completed the museum tour, we started a hike to see the community and the natural springs. After 6 months in the Amazon, walking through the dry tropical forest and coastal scrub felt almost like our dry, southern California home. I felt like I was in Jamul (Four Corners area, to be exact) along the dusty trails of the community, with its horses and goats and… marine iguanas? Ok, so it wasn't exactly like SoCal, but a friend remarked that it reminded him of West Africa. One way or another, it was decidedly different than what we've grown accustomed to. We made it to the natural springs where young Ecuadorian girls and old European men bathed in the sulfur-smelling water and mud. Only Juan Pablo was brave enough to go in while the rest of us took a break in the shade. On the way back to the main part of the village, we climbed a lookout tower where we could plainly see the stark differences between the dry tropical forest and the coastal desert scrub, then headed back for lunch.
Finally, we left Agua Blanca and headed to Los Frailes, an untouched beach protected by PNM. It was absolutely beautiful. White sand, warm, clear water, and trash-free – it was basically paradise. Every one of us – bosses, park guards, and all – jumped in the ocean and played in the water, splashing and diving and flipping in the waves like a bunch of little kids. I could have spent all day there, and the water was even more appreciated after a few hours of hiking along dusty trails. Unfortunately, our afternoon of beach time had to come to an end, so we all piled back into the bus, but not before Daniel bought himself a genuine "Panama" hat. ("Panama hat" is actually a misnomer, which originated from the introduction of Ecuadorian woven straw hats to the world market through trading in Panama. For a really interesting look at the history of these hats, see Tom Miller's The Panama Hat Trail.)
One lovely dinner and a good nights' sleep later, we headed back to the rainforest. The trip was fantastic and time spent with our counterparts and the park guards was invaluable. It was perhaps not the most conventional of Thanksgivings, but a happy one.
For more pictures from our trip, check out our Picasa site: Agua Blanca + Los Frailes
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The rest of December was a whirlwind of celebrations and visitors. A good friend at work was thoroughly stunned when the office threw her a surprise birthday party. Daniel's 31st birthday lasted for three days and included shish kabob, a beautiful hike, getting caught in the rain, steak dinner, and lots of time with friends. Christmas Eve was spent at a community in the jungle with our friend Mary where we were not only witnesses to but participants in their pageant (as jurors of the beauty queen portion) and did the Kichwa shuffle with older women and the less reluctant little boys.
This, of course, was followed by karaoke and Chinese food back in Tena. Christmas day was a bit more traditional. Ben and John spent the night and we had pancakes and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation for breakfast, and then sweated profusely through the preparation of Christmas dinner at Mary's house – turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and all! (I finally got my Thanksgiving meal!) Sarah's family came to visit and we got to share with them all the fun that Tena has to offer.
We rang in the New Year with many different friends at a town center rooftop party, until we all moved to the street and eventually to the dance club. It was a cheerful evening (and early morning) that mixed American tradition (countdown, midnight kisses) with Ecuadorian tradition (burning effigies, jumping over bonfires) and shared traditions (champagne, firecrackers) all concluding in a lot of dancing. It was an exceptional end to what had been an amazing year.
On January 2, my parents came down for a quick visit, which was packed with friends, adventure, and many great meals. We took trips to see the villages of neighboring Peace Corps Volunteers, watched Mary interviewed on the local news station promoting her foundation (Amazon Partnerships Foundation) and her film on climate change in the Ecuadorian Amazon, and spent the night in the jungle at a beautiful resort. It was a truly extraordinary trip.
Now that we've come to the end of the crazy holiday season, I'm grateful things have finally started to get back to normal. The coming year promises to be filled with more adventure, interesting work, and continued escapades with great friends and colleagues.
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