Watching my parents getting ripped off left and right in Ecuador drove me mad. Its the first time I participate in any really touristy activity in an organized way since I live here and I was gutted by how abused the tourist is in this country. My mon, dad and sister came to see me and this beautiful country for a bit over a week so I wanted to take advantage to discover new parts of Ecuador. Although I had already been to the Oriente on a previous tech trip with Dorothée, I had the opportunity to go to a lodge next to the Napo river in the Orellana province, just a bit west of Coca. The four of us spent 5 days there and we all had a good time. It was pretty pricey but we had naturalist and native guides to help us spot animals and plants of interests. It was really a bird-watcher’s paradise, I don’t think I have ever seen so many of them. I finally got to see tucans, several kinds of them actually, in the wild. They are truly stunning birds and despite the fact that neither I nor my folks care particularly about them, the sight of so much diversity in sound, size and color pattern fascinated us all.
We also got to see quite a few monkeys jumping from one tree to the next in search for food and shelter. It was a very relaxing time with fairly easy hikes. Though it was partly muddy, the trails were completely flat and well maintained. Many parts were wooden paths installed above the massive swamp the lodge was built on. We all loved those canoe rides through the lake and the canals, sitting quietly, doing nothing but spotting birds and listening to the tranquility of the forest surrounding us. Of course, once the night fell, the volume of the rainforest rose as my dad noticed, but it is a very soothing sound. Once in our hut though, this magical sound was spoiled by the diesel fueled generators that ran 24/7. That was the lodge’s biggest flaw and I certainly gave them my opinion about it. The food was good and varied and we were fortunate to share our group with a Danish mom and son who were fun, interesting and not obnoxious as other American guests. We got to learn quite a lot about Denmark and the Danish culture in general and we were all amazed at what great shape the 75 year old mom was. Our guide were very knowledgable and spoke very good english. The Quiteño one took himself quite seriously and was not much of a joker but the Kishwa partner made up for that. My sister was more entertained scheming her next joke on the native guide than about her surroundings. I am never sure if she’s bored, tired or actually enjoying herself, all I know is that she complained much less than I did.
As soon as we got back to Coca to catch a flight to Quito I got a few stessful phone call from the Peace Corps office about my whereabouts. It turns out that they never received my fax with my vacation request form so my travels had never been officially approved. They asked me to come in the office that same day to clear things out. I immediately panicked and already imagined getting kicked out. What a horror being sent home for such a stupid misunderstaning however I believe some fellow volunteers got fired for less in the past. The plane was naturally delayed to add to my anxiety but finally made it to the Quito office early afternoon where my supervisors wanted to talk things over. Although I had nothing to hide and was fully transparent during this entire ordeal I felt pretty nervous. I had sent a fax with my vacation solicitation form over a month ago but somehow it was never recovered in the PC office. I felt responsible for not following up but ultimately I did my part and the administration messed up on their end. Anyways next time I visit the office for my medical mid-service check-up I will have the pleasure to meet the new PC diretor of Ecuador to review this entire affair. Still I think it’s a shame to have had to come in the PC ofice in the middle of my vacations and miss a good part of my sister’s last afternoon in Ecuador dealing with this.
Quito itself was somewhat of a frustration for me, not just for the lousy weather. That damn Compania de Jesus church which is certainly the city’s jewel never lets me in. Apparently they close public visits a 4:30 pm! Total nonsense. The hotel my parents chose had probably the worst service in town which confirmed my theory of “the more expensive it gets, the worts the service gets” at least the price/quality ratio really begins to suck and you start wondering where all that money went. That’s particularly nerve racking when you know $6 hostels that have everything one needs, from clean bedroom, TV, private bathroom and hot water in the capital.
As my sister headed back to LA, my parents stuck around for another round of outrageous rip offs. We headed south of Quito to the Cotopaxi National Park and stayed in a nice hacienda. Unfortunately for us we had the worst room in the lot and had to deal with many discomforts one would not expect coming to a place like this. The park itself is nice but right after spending close to a week in el Oriente with such amazing biodiversity, the paramo suddenly looked quite bland with about 3 or 4 kinds of plants and about the same number of animals. The volcano is stuning and the air is as fresh as it gets. Me and my mom made the climb up to the refuge at 4.800 meters above sea level. The highest either of us ever have been and about the height of the highest peak in Europe. Before heading up we had some delicious coca tea which helped us deal with the altitude. That was definitely the highlight of our stay there. I don’t have much good to say about the rest and feel bad about the foul mood this situation put me in. By that time all I wanted was to get back to my normal, simple life working with the Awá in Lita or Ibarra.
I left my parents in front of the Compania church that was finally open for business and headed directly to the bus terminal to fix things up with my work and all this PC miscomunication. I got back to Lita on Tuesday. The weather in the area has been horrible during my entire time on the road which caused landslides all over the road between Ibarra and Lita. Buses come through now but not without difficulty. Lita had about 4 days without electricity and are going over 10 days without water. I stayed only one full day there cleaning up my place and leaving this ghost town once again to resume my work at the Awá Federation’s office. I hope that things will come back to normal when I head back to Lita this weekend.
