Inca 24
Ecuador / Peru / Chile / Bolivia
Jez and his Magnificent Seven are in Peru, Kitty has written in with an update of how they fared at our Project Sangay Project in Ecuador's Amazon region
The Team:
Amy Ellie
Charlie
Kitty
Pip Dib
Vix
Jez (Leader)
Extracts from our Diaries
For 3 weeks in Quito we survived four hours of Spanish lessons a day with 'unique' teachers, intermingled with 'educational' trips to the Santa Clara Market . Weekends were occupied with wierd and wonderful excursions. The artisanal market town of Otavalo (which caused a huge dent in our wallets); Mindo, in the cloudforest, where we stayed in a treehouse of sorts and embarked on a local bar crawl - a grand total of two bars (and a dodgy discotheque)! On the Sunday we floated down the river in huge rubber rings an activity known as tubing. The final weekend was spent hurtling DOWN Cotopaxi (the highest active volcano in the world) on mountain bikes with Charlie modelling the stylish knee and arm pads!
Afternoons were spent on visits or in Papaya.net, the infamous internet cafe: we went to the ´Mitel del Mundo´(Middle of the World. ie. the equator) and balanced eggs of nails (who knows!?), we were also taken to the soon-to-be-fascinating Botanical Gardens with a couple of flowers, loads of bottle tops and a suggestive log.
Having signed our disclaimer forms five of us jumped off a bridge with oversized elastic bands attached to our feet and all us of us later ventured onto the Chiva Bus (a party bus with all the guests and a live band on the roof!).
Our hostel had huge amounts of character: the 'Rat' and 'Harry the Hamster' being mainly responsible. The 'Rat' was a Mini Dobberman puppy and measured a maximum of six inches high; Harry was one fo the two Guinea Pigs provided for the live-in constrictors but was not eaten and was subsequently rescued by the group and put out to pasture in the garden! However, he was eaten the day after we left for the jungle despite our valiant attempts!
Being in Salsa country, lessons featured regularly: our teacher insisted all moves were 'faciiiiile' but we managed to prove him wrong! Other afternoons were spent searching for DVD´s for our DVD and Pizza nights on Tuesdays: this activity could consume an entire afternoon due to group indecisiveness. Though DVD choices were minor in comparison to group t-shirt choices - after much passionate discussion Jez fought his way out of wearing baby pink and the t-shirts became blue: a couple of late nights supplied the nicknames.
Only four nights were spent in the hostel during our three week stay: Monday nights were spent in Patatu´s - the Gringo bar, where we all took advantage of Alfonso's hospitality and avoided watching the Quest members stripping to Tom Jones while sipping on two for one cocktails. Having decided that two for ones were a rather good idea Zahsa´s became our favourite wateringhole. A karoke bar was a necessary stop with our very own (slightly tipsy) Julie Andrews look-alike (Amy) who kept the whole bar entertained with numerous pieces. The South American Mongolian restaurant was deemed worth visiting and became our favourite treat: a welcome respite from fried chicken and rice, being all you can eat (stirfry) and drink for $10!
A non-surprising discovery was the popularity of football: we not only played (and drew!!) against our Spanish teachers but also went ot see Nacional, the worst Quito team, play Ciencian, a Cusco team. The fans, though few in number, made up for it in enthusiasm, vodka and fireworks and proved more amusing than the game itself!
At the end of the day (a group phrase) we've clearly (another group phrase) had an amazing time, are still having an amazing time and plan to continue having an amazing time.
Watch this space . . . . .
From: "Kitty "
Subject: Jungle report, to be forwarded
Date: Thu, 06 May 2004 21:08:39 +0000
After a month in the jungle, the girls (and Jez) are back on the road. We had a fantastic time living in Wapu, a jungle community near Macas in the Oriente part of Ecuador. We were there to finish building a small community centre which had been started 6 weeks before our arrival by Inca 21. The foundations had been completed and the lower part of the walls had been constructed from breeze blocks leaving us with a challenge to complete! The following weeks consisted of carrying big rocks, small rocks, pebbles and yes you´ve guessed it, yet again more rocks! We were under the supervision of Vidal, a really cute Ecuadorian guy with an Elvis Presley hairdo and who looked suspiciously like Tommy Lee-Jones! He ate all his meals with us and soon became "our man".
Building took place at an Ecuadorian pace of life, leaving plenty of time for additional activities. People branched out into practising carpentry and encouraged by Jez's enthusiasm created a full garden furniture set, a boot-rack and boot scraper/ taker-offer. Our hut also received a loo-roll holder adding to the homely feel exaggerated by the leaky roof. After being rudely awoken on the first night with the top bunk inhabitants having untimely showers, we set about stringing up huge sheets of plastic the next day which resulted in a slightly nautical theme. The local women taught us how to make their artisan jewellery- well we broke the needles and the young girls threaded most of the beads for us (it was harder than it looked!).We helped with the guatusas (a cross between a squirrel and a large rat) and lived in the hope of getting to eat one! We had the chance to see their micro-enterprise business in practice where they made yucca flour to export to the local towns which was interesting. A couple of times, we had the opportunity of cooking with the community over an open fire. This included our last lunch where we received the group favourite (Jez excluded!) of chicken and yucca (a dodgey version of potato) in banana leaves and in return we gave a proper English feast of scrambled eggs!
Food was the focal point of our days in the jungle- not really a surprise being a group of girls! Successful experiments included caramelized carrots, flapjack, eggy bread, chocolate krispies and numerous tuna meals! But nothing could beat the Noggy eating competition on Easter Day and Amy's rice pudding marathon ..mmm!!! Dib and Kitty's cooking abilities were pushed to the limit for Pip's surprise party (our one big night of the month, we made it to 11pm!). Freddie, Vidal's son and local heart-throb, brought along his loud speakers and Amy and Dib provided the entertainment with their Thriller Dance (perhaps aided by the petrol that we were given to drink!).
Despite having a break from the building site at the weekends, Sarurdays did not permit a lie-in. We had to be ready to leave for Macas (the local town) at 8.30am, having piled into the back of one of the local's trucks and slotted ourselves inbetween the other locals hitching a ride, bunches of bananas, deadly sharp machetes, crates of beer and bicycles. A seriously tight squeeze! The day was then divided into shopping for supplies (and going over budget most weeks!), hours in the internet (Pip) and eating numerous Oreo ice-creams!
Sundays were hardly more relaxed as we were woken at 8 by the booming techno mucis in preparation for the day's football. We were out in force to watch our resident star, Jez, run around for half an hour and touch the ball once! Walking past the chicha tent (the local brew) was dangerous as entering was a point of no return! Sunday night often brought drunken moans from Jaeger (a man with very colourful jumpers) on the netball pitch and heartflet chats with Vidal! Sunday's were also spent either reading novels from our extensive collection, writing letters about camels and cactuses (?!) and admiring the fantastic view of snow-capped Sangay. Unfortunately our hut's veranda's view was obscured by a large bush though the netball pitch offered a good photo opportunity.
Entertainment within the group consisted of Guess The Theme Tune, Who Wants To Be A Millionnaire and not forgetting the group sing-song of the Grandstand theme tune (?!). Fear was brought to the hut as we started the Murder Game. Murders included Pip killing Charlie in the kitchen toilet with a loaf of bread and a group stakeout watching the stars to kill Dib with a football under the lamp-post! This murder was particularly eventful as Charlie and Ellie hid in the dark by a suspicious "stick" that later turned out to be a snake!
The community were so friendly to us and Vidal did everything to make our stay as good as possible. It took him some time to let us handle a saw and a drill but with some help from the community, we "mas o menos" finished the building! After consuming all our food and making Vidal cry with his present, we left at 3am in the back of a truck singing Abba songs under Julie Andrew's lead!