You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May, 2006.
I have so much to update everyone about but little time to do so…sorry I’ll just have to run through some of the things.
So this picture here is me at a Tortoise birthing station on San Cristobal. It’s pretty amazing all the things that I learned there (through some amazing translations from Martin –thanks for that brotha). Regardless, they have this station because the species on this island is threatened by introduced cats and dogs on the island (pirates and Spanish originally). It was really frickin crazy to see how old some of the tortoises were (this guy being 80 years old), and another was 50 years old. We also got to see some magical breeding taking place in teh bushes far from the foot path that we walked.
Did you know that Tortoises don’t actually determine there sex until the age of 20 years old. It’s also around that age that they are safe to be freed to the wild as they are no longer going to be attacked. 20 YEARS people…that’s a long time … just made me realize how precision everything really is…(and not like Gallum precious either)
The next day (on our weekend off) a few of us headed out to do some snorkling and other things. It was really REALLY awesome! Holy shit I saw sharks live in teh water below me and a school of stingrays. I came close to shitting my pants honestly, but thankfully nothing happened (haa haa).
The rest of the week has been amazing working at hte biological station. I spent one day hauling bambo (80 lbs plus) out of a ravine to be used on some of the buildings we are creating. I’m also slowly improving on my Spanish, and meeting some really great peeps out here.
Last night for the eve of my birthday (today a few of us are taking a couple days off to head to Isobele Island to do more snorkling, etc) they baked a bunch of massive cakes for me. Then told me the Equador tradition was for me to take a bite out of the cake. Upon doing that my face was smashed into the cake. Yes I had a feeling something was going to happen. Heh. At least I didn’t fall for the other tradition of being tied up and let everyone take a belt to your butt. Geez…
Any way, I hope all is well with you guys out there!
Much love and peace,
- Shane
PS - Yesterday was also Equador’s birthday too….
Hey everybody I finally made it to Quito, Ecuador. Wow what an amazing place it is here. The streets are lined with really cool shops and some pretty funky colours (bright reds, yellows, greens, etc.). I´m still struggling with the fact that my Spanish sucks pretty bad but that´s alright I´ll pick it up at some point. So from all streets you can see a massive mountain (will include a picture later).. So far the altitude isn´t hard for me to get adjusted to although I am feeling a tad bit dizzy this morning. I am finding that I´m really thirsty all the time, which is something that I read about. Apparently, that´s something that is a result of the altitude out here.
Anyway, my roomates are Ester and Caroline and are super cool. I met them last night after I had arrived at El Cafecito Hostel at like midnight. Being in Houston airport for 4 hours was a bit trying mainly cause I couldn´t just go outside to chill out (well I could but I didn´t want to go through security again…so I stayed ). On the flight out I met this pretty two people that were pretty interesting. One guy who lived on Dalhousie drive a block from my house while he was going to school. Turns out that he moved to Ecuador quite some time ago and has been here for many years. Another guy who was working with some indegenous people to help them document their language. It was refreshing to hear that this culture are making every effort (he works in the jungle) to teach their children the native language primarily and then Spanish even though the school curriculum stipulates Spanish as the primary language.
Today the Ester, Caroline, and myself are heading to the Equator (yes lattitude 0) to check it out. It´s like an hour bus ride and should be a pretty cool thing to do. There´s a museum and some others to check out while there.
I´m getting really stoked about San Cristobal Island and meeting the people out there. It´s going to be a really interesting experience and I think I´ll learn a lot through all of it. Ultimately, so far (besides this not knowing Spanish) I´m loving the freedom to just go and do whatever.
You know you want to read more…
It's pretty funny cause I never really spent much time before I leaft thinking about how many of those little decisions had to be made before I left. You know like finding the "right" backpack, camera, etc. I'm just ubber thankful that I did take a week off before I left so that I could run around. Phewfff after today it should be all over, and tomorrow will be spent packing the heck out of my room and bag. [ Oh and thanks for you help with bags Corey -- I ended up with an MEC one that seemed to suit all my needs 
]
Any way, I think the moral of the story is that don't forget about all those major decisions you have to make before you leave. If you're like me you want the right thing and so you'll shop things around a bit (or at least take your time). But I can't say enough about the love and support I've had from friends and family. Thanks for that it means a lot.
It's kinda weird I'm now going from working a full time job that I was at for 5 years to obtaining a million things for my trip. I'm still super excited regardless of the crazy running around I need to do. 
Any way, I'm not sure who knows what at this point but here's a low-down of what I'll be doing in Ecuador. I head to Ecuador on May 15th (stop in Houston — ugg) for 5 hours and then arrive really late that night. I have a few days to hang out in Quito (capital of Ecuador) before I head to the Galapagos Islands on May 18th to the San Cristibol Biological Station. There I will be doing sustainable agriculture, tree planting, and working in a tree nursery. I can't wait! It's just so different from my daily work of programming that it's going to provide me wiht a different perspective on a new culture, life, and give me time just to think about my life too.
It was hard to leave SMART on Friday though. Over the years working there I made some really awesome friendships! So with that I'll miss you guys definitely.
Hey,
So thanks for coming to check out my blog! I'm hoping to keep this up-to-date while I'm travelling in Ecuador so keep checkin back to see what's new. Oh and don't forget to leave your comments!
Peace & bike grease,
Shane
