Morning hikes rife with adventure!

Thursday began with a sunrise hike with Savannah. It was her last day and she wanted to catch the sunrise. We woke up at the crack of dawn, 5:15 to be exact and left the cabin at 5:30. Was cursing the time, but loving the sense of adventure.

Night hikes=not my idea of a good time. I was totally scared during the walk up to the viewpoint that SOMETHING was going to jump out of the foliage and get me! We hiked for about 15 minutes before we came to a viewpoint that overlooked the surrounding mountains. While we waited for the sun we admired the waning crescent moon and whether or not we were crazy.

Sun=never came. I am in a cloud forest after all. It was all clouds; by 6:30 we were feeling rather like a balloon that had been burst unexpectedly. It was still beautiful up there despite the lack of sun and I used my new gorilla pod to take a couple of self pics of us. (:

I spent the morning working in the garden, Luis is back. How did he greet me? Well I was walking to the garden after breakfast & let myself in through the gate to see him relieving himself in plain sight. Right next to the building where the bathrooms are. Awkward! I don't think he saw me though, whew. In Ecuador it is common practice for men to relieve themselves in public places. Not a fan of that cultural custom.

I planted 3 beds of vegetables in the morning and was feeling quite proud of myself. Luis came over, corrected my hoeing technique and helped to rake the soil so it was flat. We had a difference of opinion on a couple of things but I stood my barely speaking Spanish ground. For example he was staking squash, I informed him that squash can grow on the ground. He steadfastly disagreed. I kept trying to impress on him that with this, I knew what I was talking about, he grumbled and walked away. To note- Luis does love plants but has limited garden knowledge as this is very new to the reserve.

It felt really good to plant spinach, arugula, and mixed greens that future volunteers will hopefully help cultivate and eat. It was like I was planting for the future, putting my hopes and wishes into the ground alongside the seeds.

In the afternoon it was POURING rain. Not just a light shower, literally buckets for hours. Savannah and I began watching "Into The Wild" but had to pause it due to inventory arriving. Once per week inventory arrives from Quito and it all has to be inputted into a log sheet before being put away. I am amazed how much food that it takes to feed visitors at the reserve.

Side note: I am so happy I did not go with the other volunteers for the day. Michael went along - their activity was catching tilapia, de-scaling them whilst they were still alive, then killing & cleaning them. I would have had a heart attack. He was a trooper about it, but it broke my heart a bit to hear that they put the fish through pain before they die to keep the meat in good condition. Sometimes especially in this case, ignorance really is bliss.

After inventory it was happy hour time! One of the co-managers family came for a visit and what a nice family it was. We all sat around before & after dinner playing "Phase 10," telling jokes, and sharing ghost stories.

En route back to the cabin for bed the stars were very present, but none of us knew what we were looking at! We threw out some theories, this is something I should have researched before coming. I think we saw the milky way, but not so sure if it was just a cloud? We then all retired to our rooms as we had a 6:30 meeting time for bird watching the following morning.

Upon putting my pajamas on a knock sounded at the door and I was invited to go star gazing! Threw my clothes back, even thought I was SO tired, but hey you only live once right? We all traipsed out to the main road, with thoughts of adventure, smelling the night air rich with the scent of lush forest life, and kindred spirits creating memories. The night was ours!

The stars were completely covered by clouds. So much for that. Back to bed it was.

Yesterday morning the 6:00 wake up time was rough. I had around 5 hours of sleep and was tired once again, but hoping to spot my first toucan. First animal spotting? A wild squirrel! I asked our guide Arsenio (who is the local manager and very friendly) if people ate squirrel. It was an affirmative, but I am happy to report that he stated is was "no muy rico."

We also saw an agouti which is a large rat like animal- apparently it is muy rico. Yum-not! A lot of birds presented themselves to us, woodpeckers, swallows and brilliantly colored birds each with their own distinctive call. Arsenio- now dubbed "The bird whisperer" can mimic a large number of bird calls. It was fantastic, walking down this lush green trail in the early morning, Arsenio whistling with the birds responding to his whistles. He brought along a telescope & had quite the knack for locating birds with it, this was quite powerful, it was like they were right in front of your face even thought in reality they were 100-500 feet away. Also, I saw my first toucan! Way different that the fruit loops package. It was thrilling.

A really interesting bird hopping from tree to tree that we saw was a crested guan, it rather looks like a big turkey. Time for Thanksgiving? Tofurkey please!

Armadillos do live on the reserve, but they are strangely elusive to my eyes as of yet. They do tear up the greenery on the path of the trail in search for grubs- I hope to see one before I leave. Apparently I missed seeing the armadillo guitars at the market in Otavalo last week. No thanks!

The hike to find the birds was quite picturesque, clouds literally sitting atop and rolling over tree filled mountains. From the big picture is was breathtaking, to the minute details of white flowers with yellow centers softening our footsteps.

What was thrilling in an "wow, there is something that could kill me" kind of way occurred about 2 hours into our hike. We literally stumbled upon a fer de lance! It was sleeping next to a trail, when one of the co-managers stepped quite near it & the snake retreated into the brush. Arsenio called a few of the local workers in Spanish & I heard him yell out MACHETE! Up the trail comes the arsenal ready to kill this snake. Thank goodness the co-managers did not feel that the snake should have been killed. I know the locals thought we were crazy for not killing it as it could easily kill someone, but it just didn't feel right. We are the ones in its territory, shouldn't it have the right to live?

After that we all felt strangely pensive, lost in our own thoughts with the sounds of birds singing and our rubber boots crunching along the path.

After breakfast I spent the morning painting signs for the garden. I was in
a rush to paint them as once a sign is put up indicating something is planted there, Luis will not plant more cabbage in that spot. I have come to the realization that Luis loves cabbage. It is easy to plant, takes care of itself, and looks pretty. At the current moment there are 8 beds of cabbage! I am trying to introduce a bit more diversity in the garden.

As for the signs, for those that know me they know that I am in no way an artist. I tried my best but I think they look like a kindergartener painted them. (:

In the afternoon Michael & I were off to Mindo. My guidebook describes Mindo as "An Alpine village transplanted to the tropics, with steep roofed chalet-like farmhouses punctuating its lush and beautiful landscape."

To get to Mindo we received a ride from one of the employees to the nearest town of Nanegalito. Nanegalito is not a pretty town. It feels gritty, with trash and stray dogs lining the streets, and non-stop cars rolling through spewing exhaust fumes. Once we located the bus stop, which of course doesn't have a sign we waited. Many buses drove by and on one the corn on the cob seller tried to convince us to get on and catch a camioneta from the town it was headed, I emphatically replied no thanks.

While waiting at the bus stop a man in a wheelchair rolled up with his 8 year old son. He was destined for a different town. The first bus for his destination rolled by and the young man in charge of tickets told him no, the bus was full. I saw empty seats. The second bus rolled by and he received the same answer. Between that and the mournful old female dog looking like she had borne way too many puppies, my heart was breaking. I know these buses are not equipped for the disabled, but I hoped for a little bit more love and empathy towards their fellow countryman. The look on the man's face was one of resignation, I am sure he gets this everyday. It made me have an "appreciate America" moment where we have the ASPCA and ADA laws to try to prevent these injustices from occurring.

The bus to Mindo arrived and was very full. It was also approximately 100 degrees and very humid. The smell of sweaty bodies, bad breath, and old upholstery punctuated the air. We had to stand and I thought I was going to throw up. Thank goodness it was a 40 minute ride.

Upon arrival to Mindo we both went our separate ways to try to find our hotels. Originally I was booked at his, alas there were no single rooms so the co-managers of the reserve graciously called & made another reservation at a different hostal for me. What will $6 buy you in Mindo? Well your own room, but wow I feel like Alice in Wonderland. I am in the attic and the door to enter my room is approximately 3.5 feet tall. To enter you ascend very steep stairs and crawl through a door. The room is gorgeous, with windows all around, but man oh man that door trips me out. Never had to climb into a hotel room before. (:

Laundry here is cheap, $3! As of yet I have not had to hand wash my clothes, woo hoo!

On track for today is zip lining, a butterfly garden, and touring a chocolate factory. Tomorrow we are going horseback riding for only $12! Yes I am amazed and so looking forward to it.

PS- I have 27+ chigger bites on my trunk. Yes I counted.

Machete wielding madness...

Tuesday was quite the day. It began with the co-managers offering Michael and I the opportunity to go with the other group of volunteers to search for orchids in the forest. I was so excited to search for orchids in the forest, I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Began with a very bumpy ride in the back of a pickup truck to the nearest town. Note: everyone here hops into the back of pickups, from adults & children to livestock. Was able to get to know a few of the other volunteers during that pickup ride and found out that they will be here for 2 weeks! Hooray for more company! They are a group of young adults from the San Francisco Bay Area. We had some Bay Area chat, in fact one of their brothers went to my high school.

We arrived in town and met up with Blanca a local woman approx. 28-ish who owns a tilapia farm and is helping to restart the orchid lab for the foundation. This lab was originally started to help decrease illegal trafficking of orchids from the forest but was closed 2 years ago due to a lack of funds and has just been recently re-opened. She and other women in the town are going to obtain a wide sample of orchids from the forest, propagate the seeds , replant them in the forest, and sell as a source of income.

First we fed the tilapia. A couple of local dogs joined us for this and I was enjoying petting one until I noticed the small flea colony residing on it. At Blanca's tialpia farm she has 4 large cement pools with the fish in them and she has to feed them twice per day. Also there has to be barbed wire around the property as she has caught people stealing her fish. I inquired about whether she has to give the fish medication (which then goes right into the river) and unfortunately found out the they have to be given penicillin prophylactic in addition to various other supplements to keep them from getting ill. During this discussion she was cleaning out the filters (there is a constant stream of water that goes into all of the pools from a local stream nearby) and she found a dead fish. Blanca promptly tossed it to the dogs and I felt like I was watching National Geographic.

Post tilapia feeding we headed into town with her son Luis (approximately 12 years old), sister Anita and three month old baby. We met up with her friend Esmerelda in town & her son who was 10 years old. To begin the hike we start heading up this creek that was quite beautiful. We all had rubber boots on, mine were provided by the lodge, thank goodness as last year I schlepped some to Ireland, man they were heavy! We were climbing over rocks and Esmerelda pointed out wild boar tracks! I asked if they were nice, apparently they are. I also inquired as to whether people eat them here and how they hunt them (bow & arrow? gun?). They are part of the cuisine here and apparently they are so agreeable that one just goes up to them and slits their throat. Really? I can hardly believe that the wild boar will let you just approach it, but okay....

I also was the lucky recipient of bird poop soon into the hike, that is a sign of good luck right?

Picture this group of 6 volunteers and 5 locals traipsing up this creek, water is rushing by us, birds are chirping and the sun was blazing. The trees were at lease 50 feet tall but the sun was shining right through them. The phrase of the moment was "Hace calor." We came to a huge rock boulder that the men quickly scrambled up and the women , i.e. me were scared to their wits end to scramble up. Climb up I did, it was straight up and 7 feet tall. Up came Anita with baby too!

Prior to beginning this hike I had not idea what our goal was. As we got to the top of the creek where it poured out of a waterfall I thought for sure it was time to turn around. HAH! Blanca just starts hacking at the trees to clear a path with her machete. Luis grabs a piece of wood and starts using it as a machete too! Up, up, up we went up the side of this mountain. Scrambling over fallen trees, ducking under shrubs, spiders and bugs everywhere. It was extremely steep and the dirt was a soft clay that I repeatedly slipped on.

Interesting side note: the clay that is found there is used to make pottery that is sold in Otavalo!

The orchid collection would occur when one of the women or kids would spot one in a tree and Esmerelda's son who is nicknamed "El mono- The monkey" would shimmy up the tree to procure it. The orchids were all sizes, even I spotted one! Some had flowers and some didn't. Blanca can really wield a machete, thus we went straight up for 3 hours. All of the volunteers were starving at this point but no one wanted to speak up and acknowledge it until Luis asked when we could eat, his mother replied "Much farther." It felt endless, crossing ravines balancing on logs, sheer drops on one side and huge spiders on another. I kept looking for a sloth but none were to be found. Also by our side was Blanca's dog, Coronel, man this dog was a trooper! Over and under the brush he went, taking little breaks whenever we were waiting for an orchid to be obtained.

At one point we were all looking a bit peaked; thus Blanca took out her cell phone and took a picture of us all heavily sweating climbing up the mountain. Maybe it was a facebook instant upload?

The name of the mountain is Campana which is bell in Spanish . The local manager at the reserve told us the story this morning. Apparently his grandparents & other people in the town used to hear bells on the mountain at 2:00 in the morning. They suspect that possibly there could have been an Incan church on this mountain and it was haunted. Apparently the bells have stopped now.

As we were hiking I asked Luis if snakes were to be found up in the area. His reply? "Si, anaconda." Okay yeah right!

The entire way up I was stressing about the way down. I was worried about how we were going to get myself and that baby back down that large rock face. During the hike if the baby started fussing Anita would just start nursing as she was hiking! Scrambling over and under while holding onto this baby that was a large 3 months.
Finally we broke through the brush to find a trail. I had never been so happy to say "Sendero!" in my life. We all had lunch (pb& j!) there and then took the trail down. En route down I brought up the rear with Anita & Blanca who asked all about my life, if I had kids, novio, etc. THey also asked if I could take a plant home. I explained in broken Spanish that is is not allowed. They were amazed, I kept trying to figure out how to convey the concept of invasive species and thus why one cannot bring plants from another country. Talk about lost in translation!

That evening I had a happy hour with a couple of volunteers followed by spaghetti with vegetables. The pasta was so good that I had a second bowl with just butter. It was heaven and I was starving!

We had a Dutch tour group visiting and the tour guide offered to lead a salsa & merengue class, it was a ton of fun! Savannah and I were partners though neither one of us is meant for a career in latin dance.

The next morning was spent with Savannah at the garden. She is leaving on Friday, thus we discussed what was the best plan for it & what I should work on for the rest of my time here. really looking forward to getting in a lot of planting.

Post garden we went on a little hike on the reserve, and I saw my first REAL wildlife, an agouti- a huge rat/guinea pig creature. It moved really quickly so couldn't capture it on film. This afternoon began with work on the garden manual followed by helping 11 teenagers from the UK make empanadas. During the empanada making we discussed which were "the best" American & British television shows.

After empanadas Savannah wanted to make donuts as a thank you for the kitchen staff, so it was back to the kitchen. We used empanada dough, rolled it out & fried it. It was quite good, but whoa could only eat a couple.

Dinner tonight was beets (from the garden!) and a vegetable casserole with mashed potatoes on top. It was really good but I ruined my appetite with the donuts. (:
Change of subject- am moving up my ticket to come home by a week. I do not feel extremely comfortable traveling alone here and would have no idea what to do by myself for two weeks. Thus after I volunteer with the monkeys I will have one week of traveling (going to a UNESCO world heritage city) and then onto return to home. Feel like this is a good decision, I guess I was just being hopeful when I booked my ticket that I would love it as much as Ireland and wish I had more time.

Off to bed now, early morning tomorrow, watching the sunrise at 5:30 with Savannah from one of the bird watching points.

Domingo y Lunes

Sunday began with a hike around Cuicocha, known as the guinea pig lake. Michael and I got a late start due to a delay in being served breakfast at the restaurant at our hotel. Breakfast was not so exciting, eggs with tomatoes and toast. Thus when it was time to head out we asked the proprietor to call us a cab. She asked which hike we wanted to go on; the shorter (3.5 hours) or longer (6+) and we opted for the shorter one as there were still 4 hours of bus travel ahead of us. She and another gentleman at the hotel informed the cab driver of where to go although he had no idea despite the use of a map. Off we went after 15 minutes of discussion with the cab driver.

As previously mentioned, he had no idea where he was going.Heslowed down at every driveway/road/building. He dropped us off at the first road that he thought looked promising place followed by promptly retrieving us and telling us that the road we were on was not correct. After taking us WAY up the road he dropped us off at another road. We walked up it for 20 minutes and I was convinced that it was the wrong way. We turned around, made our way back to the main road and found a very nice van driver who showed us the correct way! FINALLY! The hike was quite arduous, the first 1.5 hours were uphill. The sun was blazing but there was a fierce wind so it wasn't too hot.
A volcano in the distance with clouds atop it was the frame for the hike with sweeping views of the two islands in the middle of the crater lake being the picture in the frame. All the words i use to describe how beautiful it was just do not do it justice. When I am removed from the grittiness of the poverty in th etowns, the scenery here is breathtaking. I would estimate that the hike was about 5 miles long; yet it took us 4 hours due to all of the uphill. Many rest breaks were to be found!

Post hike it was back to the hotel for a quick lunch, french fries and vegetable soup, YUM! I had a nice chat with the proprietor while paying the bill ($15 for one night, what a deal!) She is Dutch and has been living in Ecuador for 26 years. I am continuously intrigued by people who leave their homeland to live in another country and assimilate themselves to it. She expressed interest in having volunteers come stay at her hotel and work for her so I offered her suggestions for websites to post on.
I really enjoy seeing the Quecha women in Ecuador dressed in their traditional dress. This was quite prevalant in Otavalo. The women wear gold necklaces of many strands encompassing their entire neck. Their traditional clothing is embroidered blouses with long blue skirts. Many women of all ages wear this dress as everyday clothes, I admire their sense of culture and limited Western influence. During pensive moments I cogitate on what the traditional dress of the American woman is nowadays???? Yikes.

It was then off to the buses. The first ride into Quito had the lovely treat of playing a dubbed Jackie Chan movie. Yowza! The film quality was no muy bueno but it was overall entertaining. I also bought some sugar cane from a bus vendor to chow on during the ride. Not a classy look I have deccided, chewing on sugar cane followed by spitting it out. But oh my goodness it is delicioso.

Second bus only had 10 people on it so I had my whole two seats to myself, what a luxury! The views were gorgeous, huge verdant mountains with sweeping ravines right next to the bus. The only downside was that people seem to think the ravines were trash bins. As in bags of household trash piled aside and going into the ravines.
We were graciously picked up at the random bus stop in the middle of nowhere by two of the volunteers, thank goodness for Michael's cell phone.
Dinner was carrott souffle; may be my favorite meal yet. Six volunteers arrived from San Francisco as well. They are with a volunteer group and will be volunteering in the local town for a week with an organic farm & a tilapia farm. Side note: the tilapia farm is right next to the river- I wonder what the environmental impact of having the farm drain into the river is?

Woke up this morning feeling really conflicted about this volunteer placement. I emailed the monkey reserve to ask them if there was space a week earlier yesterday.Yet they are full. All weekend the placement had been riding on my mind; that it wasn't what I expected and that I still had no idea how much I was paying for it.

After breakfast I sat down and tearfully discussed how I was feeling with the co-managers. They were really understanding and totally supportive. They also informed me that the owners agreed to only charge me the quoted price on the website. HOORAY! I informed them that I wanted to leave a week early which they were also supportive of. We had a great discussion and I left feeling a lot better.

I spent the such a peaceful morning, the smell of tomato plants in the air, sun was shining with a few white puffy clouds making their way across the sky and the river rushing by in the backround. I chatted with one of the employees Jorge who told me that the gardener Luis is in the hospital. Not good. Jorge (OF COURSE) asked if Michael and I are a couple, do I have a boyfriend in the States, do I like boys? After we moved on past the important stuff he saw that I was listening to my Ipod and asked how much it cost. Apparently here in Ecuador electronics are incredibly expensive compared to the US. It is such a strange feeling coming from a country where one really can have anything they want and be anything they want (within reason) to a country where a persons weekly wages are less than I spend at the grocery store in a week. Also, all of the conversations are in Spanish! He was very patient. After looking up the word for song in Spanish (cancion) I asked if he wanted to have a listen on my Ipod. He enjoyed my wide range of songs that shuffle randomly picked.
Lunch was plantain potato soup with rice & lentils on the side. After lunch I chatted with one of the co-managers about her experience here in this country and coming to this place for the past 11 months. It was one of those conversations where you see someone elses point of view, and how their life lessons can teach you your own.

Post chat I headed to the orchid garden feeling very pensive. I thought about what my goals and expectations were for here, and what are they now. My goal in coming here was to have an "amazing experience" and learn about plants while conquring my fears of travelling solo in a third world country. Through my previous conversation I had a shifting in my thoughts. Reflecting back on the book I read prior to coming "The Four Purposes of Life," one of the purposes is "learning life's lessons." Through this reflection I have decided to stay here at this reserve for the intended time, 3 more weeks. I have shifted my expectations to making an impact on whatever work I do here by doing my best work and working on myself in the process. If I really want to be able to be my best self then I should be able to do when my expectations aren't met as well as when they are, and maybe through this I will learn how to have less outward expectations. Thus learning from life and not trying to control how it teaches me. I am not going to think about what is going to happen here when I leave and if my work will be continued, but that I have left this reserve better than I found it. By cleaning every orchid leaf in sight and therefore helping the flowers to bloom, to planting and caring for vegetables in the garden to provided sustenance for future volunteers and guests.

I feel good about this decision and that it is the right thing for me. Checking my email this evening I received several emails from family members expressing concern and support. This brought tears to my eyes and made me once again thankful for being so lucky to have family members support me in all my crazy endeavors.
Thank YOU my readers for going on this journey with me too, wow I can't believe it has only been a week!

After orchid cleaning I was really warm and convinced two of the volunteers to walk down to the river with me so I could go for a dip, it was FREEZING! After 5 minutes of watching me swim, they both jumped in with their clothes on! It was so refreshing, the rivier is SO clean and had quite the current. We climbed up on rocks & jumped in, and had a swimming against the current contest. For those that know me, they know I will not win any swimming contest. It was a lot of fun and such a beatiful setting, huge rock walls covered in greenery, water rushing over rockes on either side of us, and birds chirping overhead.
Tonight at dinner we had vegetables with rice (sensing a rice theme yet?) and I had one of my favorite comfort foods, rice with butter. YUM! The other volunteers especially Michael thought I was strange when I explained that this and pasta with butter are among my favortie foods. (:

Going to bed now, on a top bunk tonight, hoping no millipedes and/or bats will drop from the ceiling.

Otavalo es muchas bonita

Typing this Saturday evening in Otavalo in my hotel room. Locals are playing music in the restaurant across the street, I would have stayed there except women are not looked on well here out at night alone. Took notes on the bus ride today so I wouldn’t forget the minutae of yesterday, here goes:

Woke up once again with stomach issues, not sure if it is stress from the week and the current volunteer placement or something else but have started Cipro as of this evening. Really sucks on that front so far.

Had oatmeal and toast for breakfast as we didn’t have any tourists at the lodge, thus we get to make our own meals; I preferred it especially for breakfast.

Spent the morning in the garden. Another volunteer has been working on it and tried to get it under control, but she has been up against Luis, the cantankerous elderly gardener that has his own ideas. For example: why give tomatoes support? They can just grow all over the ground, oh and forget pruning. (:

He is actually quite a character and I would imagine is quite lonely as he is in the garden every day by himself, stays during the week in the house out there and only goes home on the weekends. I would talk to myself too if that were the case! I began by weeding and enlisted his help in building a support for two tomato plants that are in a whole bed of cabbage. Luis just likes to throw random plants together. He was quite chatty during this and asked a lot of questions about me. Once he found out how old I was and that I am single he then told me I am old. I didn’t know what word he was saying but then he pointed to himself while saying “like me.” Nice. He is 68.

I pruned what I thought needed pruning, but I am a beginner gardener so I hope I didn’t kill anything! I wish I would have asked more questions in Ireland or read up on gardening as I feel a bit out of my element. With only having limited internet Googling everything is not really an option either.

Lunch was leftovers followed by more orchid cleaning. I am really trying to be positive about this volunteer placement but am having a bit of a hard time. I expected a really eco-friendly lodge with in house researchers, a lot of volunteers, and more structure. It would seem that the lodge is constantly battling with nature and nature is winning. They do have researchers visit occasionally for a weekend or so at a time. Volunteers are very sporadic and the learning is very self directed, i.e. from books. There are more volunteers that are coming this week, but the following two weeks it will be just Michael and I with the local manager who is Spanish speaking only. I think it all comes down to the fact that I am paying for this too, and I am not finding meaning in the work. It seems very overwhelming, and when I leave, there will be no one to continue it. Both of the co-managers are leaving next Friday for ten days, then leaving for good on Sept 1 and as of now there are no replacements.

I do want to be the kind of person who can make the best of anything and try to leave this world better than I found it but this current situation is quite frustrating. I have been chastising myself for not doing more research but after speaking with my Dad today who reminded me that I am in a third world country and I never know what I am going to get, it did make me feel better.
Enough about that, it is what it is for now but I am exploring my options.

Speaking of exploring, I explored the market in Otavalo today, wow was that sensory overload! I bargained with the best of them and came away with a lot of fantastic Christmas presents. There was food on one side and I was brave enough to try rice with potatoes, which seems safe right? At the market everything was being sold, from fresh fruit to pig heads, textiles, dolls, scarves made in China (???), and beautiful jewelry. I felt guilty bargaining but in my guide book it says it is expected, with some of the things I just couldn’t do it. I felt like I was bargaining with people’s livelihoods. As soon as I came back to the hotel I already wished I had bought a couple more items so I may make a day trip up here at the end of my journey.

The bus ride up certainly was interesting we passed miles upon miles of rose farms, all secured with 20 foot tall fences and under plastic polytunnels. Reminded me of this short film I saw on PBS:


Tomorrow I am hiking around the Laguna Cuicocha “Guinea Pig Lake” north of here. It is a crater lake that is gorgeous in pictures with two islands in the middle; apparently those are the guinea pigs. This hike should be interesting as I pulled a classy moment this morning when leaving the lodge at 6 a.m. in the dark and fell down the stairs landing on the head of my right fibula. What did Michael say? “Do you want a picture?”

It is interesting traveling with Michael as all of the shop owners ask if we are married or boyfriend/girlfriend. Apparently it is not typical to travel with the opposite sex as friends here. He and I discuss frequently how traveling with people is enjoyable; and that we wish our friends from home would have come along. It makes me miss the ladies I met in Ireland (Erin & Allison!) such kindred spirits. To be contrary though, I do love the sense of independence that traveling solo brings, but on the other side is the loneliness that creeps in like spiders in the bathroom.

Dinner tonight was rice with veggies, I felt bad but couldn’t but eat half of it. A girl can only eat so much rice! They did have salad on the menu, but I am wary as a friend got sick off salad in Peru and it still trying to ditch the unwanted friend that came along with it. Enjoyed. the local cocktail with dinner it is sugar cane alcohol with a berry juice served warm. It was INCREDIBLY strong and I could only sip it. Being a bit chilly in the evening I am sure it is nice in the winters here.

Buenas Noches, thanks for reading.

PS During the typing of this local children started banging on all the hotel doors and running up and down the halls screaming. I yelled out in Spanish to stop which was a mistake as they stood outside my door whistling and yelling in Spanish outside my door. Not sure if they were looking for money to stop or just to aggravate but they left after 15 minutes. It's 10:30!

Day 4-Mosquitos, Mosquitos, oh my!

I slept well last night and felt back to 85% this morning. Breakfast was quimboletos (pic to follow)which is maize with raisins steamed in banana leaves- it was quite good with jam on top. We also had fruit salad, but here they put sugar on the fruit salad so it is quite sweet.
Post breakfast it was off to the orchid garden for me and I had the tedious task of dipping the plants in water then scrubbing each leaf with a toothbrush. Most of you are probably imagining the orchids that you purchase at Trader Joes, not the same orchids here! Here they have leaves as big as my face to small leaves, like 50 per plant. My Ipod was helping matters and then the mosquito’s descended. They are quite annoying and by lunch I had accumulated 6 bites even though I was constantly applying repellant. They are sneaky buggers. One of the employees here who is a very nice man named Carlos approached me and asked to use my repellant; we chatted while he applied. He asked if Michael was my novio- I said no, amigo! I then explained how old we are and that we are new friends. Everyone here asks how old you are and if you have children. When I told him my age and that I didn’t have kids he kept saying a word and gesturing to my cheeks. Not sure what that meant.
Carlos only has one arm, but man he can kick major behind with the machete. It is so interesting that all the local employees here know their way around machetes. During orchid cleaning (video to be uploaded soon) a female employee approached with a machete in one hand and bananas in the other. Mid morning banana snack time. (: Interesting facts about bananas: they are Ecuador’s primary export and each tree only produces one fruiting. And then it dies.
Lunch was more gluten- which is actually soy, with mashed potatoes and a cabbage salad. The others had chicken instead of gluten. Apparently the chicken that is served here is quite bony- um pass on that!
After lunch it was back to the orchid garden where Michael joined me. We had an entertaining time comparing American English vs. British English, a few laughs were definitely to be had. It was raining all afternoon but I sat on a bench that was covered while I cleaned the orchids. Carlos approached me and exclaimed that it will take me a year to clean them all and that it is a lot of work. (:
Despite the rain the damn mosquito’s were out IN FORCE, so much so that I had to rock my new head mosquito net. I informed Michael it is the latest fashion rage, he replied “One step Ecuador, next step Milan.”
Post cleaning it was off to the shower again and time to pack for this weekend. I am headed to Otavalo as it is the largest market in Ecuador and something that all the tourists see. Who am I to say no to being a tourist? I am quite excited about free wifi at the hotel as I will be able to upload pictures. The hotel also has live music which should be quite entertaining.
Off to dinner now, pizzas are on the menu! There are no tourists here at the moment so we have to cook for ourselves, which I must admit I am looking forward to.
Ciao!
(Note: everyone says ciao here instead of adios… interesting isn’t it?)

Day 3- Well that was a doozy.

Day 3 started off rough. Warning: not pleasant reading ahead. Originally when I informed the cooks about my dietary needs one of them asked me if I could have soup with milk in it. Now normally at home I would say no, but here I didn’t want to be the pain in the ass American so I said a little. Should have said no! Yesterday the soup I mentioned for lunch was quinoa soup with chunks of potatoes, it was amazing. At the time I ate it.
That afternoon I was picking coffee then had a bit of a rest before dinner. During the rest I did feel a bit off, but started to feel quite ill at dinner. Dinner was good; beets and a vegetable casserole with mashed potatoes on top. I ate the beets then had 3 bites of the casserole and felt awful. I retired back to the cabin and began complaining of stomach upset to my co-volunteers, but this happens often with me so I thought it would be fine. As I went to bed the pain started. OH THE PAIN. I will not give you a play by play of the rest, but suffice it to say I was vomiting out of both ends all night and could not sleep because I was in the worst pain of my life. Legs were cramping kind of pain. I took 3 different stomach medications, but my body had its own plan. By morning I had slept approximately one hour-ish and felt awful; dizzy with major leg pains- akin to when one has the flu.
All during this time I had this fear in the back of my head that it wasn’t due to lactose and it was a parasite eating up my insides. Oh and I forgot to mention my companions in the bathroom… a tarantula and cockroaches. This morning a cockroach was on my bedroom floor, gross! They can fly too! (Found out later one of the volunteers found one under her pillow one day… umm didn’t need to know that.)
At breakfast which was rolls and eggs with ham (I had one roll)the co-managers were very sympathetic and very concerned. They had to drive to the nearest town for a building part and offered to take myself and the English chap to town so we could call home. I called my Dad and only spoke to him for ten minutes, but it was so nice hearing a voice from home. It was also a strange feeling, standing in this phone booth, a local woman yelling in Spanish behind me and chatting with my Dad as if I was calling from Santa Monica. Oh and he told me to take a taxi next time I am in Quito. (:
I have had this discussion with the other volunteers, about how strange it is to think of things routine as usual at home while here we are on another part of the world. I am sure this feeling will be ever present on my trip next year as well. I can understand why people do not travel if they had the choice, coming to a place like this puts you out of your comfort zone and really challenges you to make the best out of any situation. More on that later.
I was let me off manual labor for the morning so I headed down to the garden with the female volunteer who has been here for two months and is leaving next week. She has primarily taken over the garden thus I gleaned her garden knowledge to put into the garden manual. The sun was blazing and the air was very still; it was about 75 but felt like 90. I was still nauseous with painful leg cramps so we sat in the shade while gathering info. We had a couple of friends join us in the shade, one of them being a poisonous caterpillar; they look so friendly and fuzzy but are lethal! Okay maybe I am being dramatic, but their spikes can infect your skin. Apparently they drop on you from trees. Eek!
We were also joined by the crotchety old gardener, who has his own ideas about gardening, for example tomatoes don’t need support, they can just grow on the ground. Also why put all of the same vegetables in one container? Let’s do a mish mash! Shall be interesting when it is just him and I out there, this may be one of those times that I am glad my Spanish is no muy bueno!
Post gardening I was able to start typing up the manual in an area of the lodge known as the “Living Room” It is an upstairs outdoor space, and so peaceful with birds flying around, the sound of the river rushing by in thebackround, it was hard to stay awake.
Lunch was soup-dairy free this time, hooray! I told the cook about my stomach this morning (no I didn’t share details, only YOU my readers are special enough for that! But I did look up vomit in the dictionary- vomito, well that seems simple!)The soup was perfect noodles and vegetables, kind of like chicken noodle soup. It was followed by a cucumber tomato salad and mixed rice. Had the cucumbers, skipped the rice as my stomach was still pretty iffy.
Post lunch I was able to go to the orchid garden and start cleaning up the plants. There are trees constantly dropping debris on the orchids thus there is a lot of cleaning to be done. Michael the English chap joined me up there and we discussed how living and working here could feel like a never ending battle with moisture and nature in which nature is clearly winning. Soon I will begin cleaning the leaves which have a bit of fungus on them with a lemon water solution. This evening I was informed I will be writing up a script for the orchid garden tour, that should be fun! When I originally read about the orchid garden I imagined flowers everywhere, well not to be had. Maybe one or two for about fifty plants! It is really interesting thought that here bromeliads grow on EVERYTHING, the sides of trees, orchids, and the ground.
In addition to the stomach issues I found out today that their website here has not been updated, and the price that is quoted for volunteers is actually about $200 less than the actual price. I was really disappointed to find this out as I have a pretty tight budget for this trip and this was quite unexpected. It already feels strange to pay as last year in Ireland my work paid for my room & board. In all honestly I am not surprised that more volunteers do not come, as the price is off-putting. Currently there are three “regular” volunteers (including me) not counting the co-managers and two of them are students who are 18 & 20. There is no way I could have afforded this when I was in school! I had a grumpy mood about it for a while but I have worked through it now and it is what it is. On a side note, the co-managers couldn’t be nicer, and were very apologetic and had no control over the whole thing.
I guess maybe this is life telling me once again to expect the unexpected, from money to cockroaches. Some of the volunteer opportunities I have looked at for next year in India I would have to pay for, but it is nominal, I guess such is life in third world countries?
I am still going to try to make the best of my time here and go with the flow. I do love structure, but life is not structured is it?
After work today which ends at 4:30 (work hours are 8-4:30) I took a serious nap. Dinner was spaghetti noodles with vegetables and gluten which is a meat substitute on top. It was quite good followed by banana bread. The portion sizes are huge here, I feel bad but I cannot finish what is on my plate. Maybe with more manual labor I will. (:
Going to bed now, hope to sleep all night long.

First day; Getting comfy with my peeps:BUGS.

Before I went to sleep last night I was asked how I felt about bugs. My reply was “Not a fan but that is why I picked this, to put myself out of my comfort zone.” Well today was certainly an adventure!
Went to bed last night by 9 pm, awoke by 6 to the symphony of birds and insects in the forest. It was quite lovely. I was thinking about one night I spent in Austria and the birds there awoke me at 5 a.m. sounding like they were screaming. I was cursing those birds. Whereas here I think it is just beautiful.
Breakfast consisted of granola with a fruit salad and pancakes. The pancakes were muy rico. There are two women who work in the kitchen that I introduced myself to right away and informed them of my dietary needs… all in Spanish! During breakfast hummingbirds were abound. After breakfast the co-managers allowed myself and the young chap who is also a new volunteer to go on a hike. I told them I could get to work if they needed me but they felt that we both should be able to take in a bit of the area before going straight to work.
The hike was approximately 5 kilometers, and it was just beautiful. We saw beautiful birds, soaring vistas, mountains full of green trees with clouds perched atop them. The hike met up with the river, which I will be swimming in soon! Not to worry, I already inquired if there are water snakes or leeches.. no. (:
Part of the hike consisted of a Culunco- pre-incan trail. For me this part consisted of severe claustrophobia as it has very narrow walls. We saw small brown frogs and tons of knats and flying type bugs. It is extremely warm and humid here and I was downing water like it was going out of style. After the hike I rushed right to the shower as yesterday I was informed about chiggers. Creepy! Apparently chiggers are a type of mite that burrow on your skin and leave mosquito type bites that don’t show up for a day or so. So during the hike I could have been bitten and wouldn’t know until tomorrow. Preventative measures are showering and using lots of bug spray.
Lunch consisted of quinoa soup, rice with lentils, and a cabbage type salad. The soup was by far my favorite. During lunch I asked a bit of questions to the co-managers, why they came, what they did before, etc. It was very interesting to hear a story of a couple that are near my age that just up and quit their jobs to spend one year volunteering at a place they had never been. Very inspiring. They are leaving in 45 days and are looking for people to replace them, so if you know of anyone who would be up for it, email me.
After lunch it was coffee picking time. I have now picked coffee in the Andes! Pretty cool. En route to the picking we came across some cows in the road. Just hanging out, not sure who they belong to but it gave me a flash back to Ireland. Ahh Ireland.
Coffee picking=bush whacking. The coffee beans are covered in ants, like swarms of them that crawl all over your fingers and arms,head, etc. You have to pick the rotten ones as well as those may have worms in them which could cause the tree to rot. I was pouring sweat in my long sleeves but didn’t want to roll them up for fear of the chiggers! The coffee that we picked is shade grown and is sold to benefit this ecological reserve.
Post coffee adventure it was time for another shower and in front of the volunteer cabin there seemed to be a bit of a butterfly convention. There are HUGE butterflies here and they are in a full range of colors. If they would only stay still so I could photograph them!
There are banana plants all around the reserve, today I picked a banana and ate it, it was pretty cool. There is also a garden , tomorrow morning I will be going down there with a female volunteer who has been here two months and is leaving in a week. She is going to tell me all of the things they have been doing to improve it as the reserve has a goal of being self sustaining and I will write them up in a manual. The things I will be responsible for here are creating the gardening manual, cleaning up the orchid garden, and assisting with trail maintenance and building projects. It is very interesting here that because of the humidity nothing seems to last. Moisture and plants grow on everything so things constantly need to be repaired. We have to keep our electronics in “dry boxes” which are essentially boxes with a lightbulb on the dry them out. I was a bit disappointed to hear that they are connected to the grid, as the river runs right through the property and would be a great source of hydro-electric power. Alas it comes down to money and there is no money. They have barely received hardly any volunteers in the year that they have been here as well. I think it is due to the increase of places to volunteer in South America as there are so many options. Not many people want to pay either, but it is so nominal for an organization that is doing so much. They are employing local workers and teaching sustainable livelihoods to the women in the surrounding towns.
There is one computer with the internet here so my communication will be few and far between but I will be typing it out on my netbook and uploading it when I can.
Thanks for reading this novel, I appreciate all who come on this journey with me.
PS Yes Dad the toilets do flow counter clockwise. (:

I made it!

I made it! Here I sit, in the cloud forest of the Andes completely exhausted but in paradise. My trip to Ecuador started with a bit of a bump. I flew from JFK to Miami and was greeted with an extreme thunder and lightning storm. Upon arrival I was informed that my flight was delayed, and it kept getting delayed. It was supposed to depart at 6:50 but ended up departing at midnight, arriving in Quito at 3:30.
I made friends in the airport during the delay, 3 females; a nurse, engineer, and a teenager all en route to Quito for various reasons. The nurse was a kindred spirit and suggested we get a beer during the delay. Well 3 beers later we finally got on the plane. 3 beers before a plane is not a good idea! I was so swollen and dehydrated by the time we landed I felt like I had elephantitis and had difficulty getting my shoes on. (:
After arriving the airport had just opened (it closes for two hours each night) and there were 2 customs agents for the 150 people on the plane. I was very nervous that my hotel would not be waiting for me as planned as I was so delayed, but lo and behold they were! My new nurse friend who works in Quito finagled with the driver and arranged for 3 of us to ride together.
Original price of my ride that the hotel quoted me: $10 usd
Price post finagling: $5
Not too bad! Arrived at the hotel at 4:30 in the morning, had to wake the proprietor up, she was amazed that I showed up and went promptly to my room. My room was really nice, but I was so paranoid about bed bugs! Maybe it was because I spent last week in NYC or because this was my first hotel in a third world country. Woke in the a.m. after 3 hours of sleep and no bug bites. (Yes I did check the sheets prior to retiring!) Had a lovely breakfast. Was scared to drink juice and tea but did it anyway. Met a young man from England at breakfast who was here to volunteer as well. He couldn’t recall the name of the place he was volunteering as it was through a service but he described it and it sounded similar to mine. We wished each other well and I headed out to tackle the bus system in Quito.
When I checked out of my room the proprietor offered to call me a taxi to take me to the bus station, but I wanted to be independent and save money, so off I went. I had reviewed the directions I received from my first place with my new friend the night before and she suggested a different route. Wow, I should have stuck with the original directions. First there are three different bus companies in Quito. All of them have different “North Stations.” I made my way to the first bus, which was crammed full of people and an American gentleman after admiring my mesh wire locking system for my backpack told me to shove on in. Well shove I did! I rode it to the end of the line and prepared to walk to the “North station.” After walking about two miles I asked a wizened gentleman how to get there. He instructed me to go back to the one I just left. He kept saying things in Spanish that I had no idea what he meant and I kept consulting my map in my Rough Guide guidebook (which by the way was not accurate at all. I am now a die hard Lonely Planet fan.) Eventually an American gentleman approached and told me to continue on four blocks and it would be on my right. He was wrong. I made a right, walked about four blocks and was lost again. Asked more locals, eventually discovered that I had to take another local bus to a different station. I did eventually make it to the correct station, but I was seriously frustrated en route and cursing myself for not taking a taxi.
During my walk I observed all sorts of things. It was like I Spy: Ecuador version. Mormons, people selling fanny packs, street vendors making amazing looking food, and men selling back scratchers to cars at red lights. Back scratchers? I really wanted to buy roasted bananas from the street vendor but the words of the nurse at the travel clinic kept echoing in my head: “Do NOT buy street food.” We shall see how long that lasts.
Once I made it to the correct train station I had about an hour to wait for my bus so it was people watching time. They were selling food there, but I couldn’t figure out what any of it was even with the use of my dictionary so I resisted.
Once I got on the bus, WHOA the bus. Hmm how to describe, tasseled curtains all around, picture of a white woman in a bikini drinking a daiquiri, Donald Duck hanging from the rear view mirror, and a statue of Jesus carrying the cross. Beautiful mountains flanked our drive, and sellers of various food items would get on and off in a matter of five minutes. Some of the items being sold were roasted corn complete with pats of butter, sorbet in cones, dvds and cd’s, chocolate, and fruit. The views of the towns were of a lot of graffiti and cinder block homes with bars on the windows. A couple of very elderly indigenous people got on midway through and the only reason I didn’t take their pictures were that I forgot how to ask in Spanish.
I had asked the bus driver to let me off where the directions indicated and promptly I was let off in the middle of nowhere. No town in sight, just an abandoned looking building next to a shack/rain shelter of sorts. A distinguished gentleman and I got off, as I was getting off in the middle of nowhere I inquired as to whether the camioneta would be coming by, the bus driver nodded yes and shut the door! Here I am on the side of the road in the Andes with a gentleman trying to chat with me in Spanish and I kept saying “No comprendo.” Finally lo and behold a camioneta did come by and the driver and I had a lovely conversation over the rockiest road I have ever ridden on. I found out he has two children and has never been to the US and lives in the local town. All in Spanish! He even told me my Spanish was muy bien! I think he was just being nice. (:
Upon arrival at the eco-resort I was greeted by an American couple who are volunteer co-managers. They signed on for a year and have 1.5 months left. They had no idea that I was coming. Apparently the woman I had been corresponding with quit in June, thus why my emails weren’t replied to. They took it all in stride and said I was quite welcome there though. Whew! Also quell surprise the chap who I chatted with at breakfast was there too! We were shown to the volunteer lodging, which makes me feel like I am at camp. It is a rustic cabin, with the comforts of electricity and hot water. The views are amazing and there are hammocks abound. Many birds were seen during the day and at night I got rushed by a bat. There are huge butterflies here and apparently fer de lance. There is one in a jar outside of my cabin! Yowza!
I asked if either of the co-managers had seen a sloth as I saw it on a picture online and they said that they are in the area but no one ever spots them as they are quite elusive. Who would have thought. New goal: see a sloth. At dinner I found out that there are 19 kinds of bats here. I informed my hosts that I can be the bat whisperer as I am rabies vaccinated.
Dinner was really good, fresh green salad with avocado and mixed rice with raisins and veggies. YUM! Dessert was some sort of fruit that was AMAZING with cinnamon and brown sugar.
Tomorrow it is up early for a hike to be followed by receiving our schedules, I am excited to know what I will be assigned to do.

The Adventure Begins!

Well here I am. Waiting for my plane to Miami where I will hop on a plane to Quito. If people do this every day then why am I so nervous? Is it because of the family and friends that have repeatedly said “You are brave, or crazy.” Or because I am wondering how far one community ed class & 3 cd's of Spanish will get me? Or because of reading about taxi cab kidnappings?

Many people over the last week have asked why Ecuador? My answer may seem frivolous, but isn’t that the very essence of adventure? I was watching a film series at my local outdoor adventure store and saw an 8 minute film clip on an amazing eco-lodge and research center in the cloud forest of the Andes. This area is one of the most bio diverse places on earth and has more species of orchids than anywhere else. The lodge sits on 50,000 acres which include an organic farm and shade grown coffee plantation. They work to educate the indigenous peoples in the area about sustainable livelihoods and ways to protect the forest from degradation. After watching this film I knew that I wanted to volunteer there. And so my adventure begins. I seek to explore life in as many corners of the earth as possible and after Ireland last year the door has been opened, I have to walk through it to see what is on the other side.

Following one month at the eco-lodge I will be volunteering at an animal rescue center. This center receives animals that have been illegally trafficked and rehabilitates them for return to the wild. They are able to take in a wide range of animals but primarily there are monkeys and birds. SO looking forward to hangin’ with monkeys.

Currently the airport soundtrack is playing “Walking on broken glass” by Annie Lennox. That song fits my feelings at this very moment. I am so nervous. SO NERVOUS. When I gave my Dad a hug goodbye my parting words were “People do this every day right?”

CAMP!!!!

As I write this I am in a plane above Arizona heading towards NYC, and camp seems so far away. I am imagining the kids playing there now, a week of their lives spent carefree just being kids.



I volunteered last week at a camp for medically fragile children in the mountains north of Los Angeles. It is difficult to put into words how special that place is, but I will try!

The week I volunteered for was for children with a range of diagnoses, from needing complete care and wheelchair dependent, to being ambulatory with high medical needs that require a visit to the nurses office several times per day. This camp is staffed during the summer with counselors from all over the US and the world. It was fantastic to arrive and discover 6 counselors from Ireland. There is a full medical staff there including, doctors, nurses, a respiratory therapist, and physical therapists. For many kids this was their first time at camp and for many of them they never thought there was a place like this that they could go due to their medical needs.

It was so wonderful to watch these kids go from shy and unsure evolve into energetic, and outgoing kiddos as their confidence grew and they became more comfortable with camp. For some of our campers they couldn’t remember the last time they went swimming, we even had one that hadn’t been in a pool in 3 years, she spent 3 hours one day in the pool, and did not want to leave! Apparently there are not a lot of wheelchair accessible pools in Southern California for these kiddos to access. The range of activities were astounding; woodshop, arts & crafts, ropes course, horseback riding, and drama to name a few. We went to the orchard one day and picked vegetables that were in the salad bar at lunch, some of these kids have little to no experience with growing their own vegetables. During our meal we do songs and chants, and at the end of the meal we end with songs and dances as well. I may try this next Thanksgiving… (:

We had a carnival, stage night, and this crazy thing called silly Olympics. This consists of the campers pouring all manner of gross things on their counselors, and then we do it to them! I never thought I would experience the feeling of having maple syrup, lemonade, worsteshire sauce with pineapple bits, paint, shaving cream, and hair mousse poured on me. It was so gross and so silly. The kids had a ball and I must say that I highly enjoyed reconnecting with my inner child.

Every evening when the campers were in their beds we would turn off all the lights and do a “cabin chat.” This is a time when the campers can talk about their day and hopes for the future. One of the counselors posited the question “What is your favorite part about camp?” A 16 year old female camper responded “I love that here at camp we can be ourselves; act silly and goofy. In the real world we have to act cool and try to be cool, and here it is just about being ourselves. I am not looking forward to having to act cool again.” As she spoke I was transported back to high school, when I was self conscious of my moles and glasses, and generally overall uncomfortable in my skin trying to figure out my place in the world. I cannot imagine what that is like for a child who before she opens her mouth has people judging her due to her medical condition. My heart broke a little bit when she said that and it just solidified within me how special places like this are. And through me spending my time there all the little things in life that drive me bananas, like LA traffic, are really not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things. We are helping these kids to have amazing memories of a place where they can come as they are, where they are accepted and supported as they are. Wouldn’t it be nice if the world was like this?

What if we looked at people and instead of focusing on how much they weigh, what they look like, or what they are saying, we choose instead to recognize their inner humanity and that we are all connected. Think of the change that could make.