Ran into the bus station which to note was quite nice, clean, and clear signage to see a row full of windows with women behind the glass banging on their counters to get you to take their bus service. I bought my ticket, to which I think that the woman behind the glass is making a profit. Price that is printed on the ticket=$5.00, I paid $5.25. Oh well, hope it is going to a worthy cause!
Following my donation I headed out to the buses, with minutes to spare. Once on the bus a range of seats was open and since I had a five hour journey ahead of me I ignored the seat printed on my receipt and chose one by the window. Then stretched out, got comfortable with all my crap, started snacking on mayonnaise flavored potato chips (quite good!) and gatorade. (Drank too much tea last night, had to rehydrate. )
Of course as soon as we start heading out of town the bus fills up and there went my empty seat. The ticket man tried to get me to move back to my aisle seat but I told him I would throw up if I wasn't near a window.Yes I was the difficult American, now that I have a general idea of how things go here, watch out Ecuador!
The bus was sadly without tasseled curtains but does have the lovely background noise of "The Professional" which has been dubbed and the volume is all the way up.
Following that movie the bus showed the same movie (a different one) over and over again. It was extremely violent and I tried to ignore it as best I could.
Halfway through the bus ride a local woman sat next to me whilst chewing her sugar cane. When she was finished chewing she promptly asked me to open the window so that she could chuck her trash out the window. Really? This woman had no idea who she sat next to!
My imaginary conversation went as follows:
Woman: Can I toss this trash out your window?
Me: Actually no, I am vehemently opposed to littering. This is your country, don't you want to keep it beautiful? We are all connected and we have a responsibility to take care of the earth!
Woman: Well I never thought about it that way, thank you for sharing your wisdom/common sense.
What actually happened was that I told her no, then emptied my ziploc full of food into my backpack while giving her the ziploc to put her trash in.
Upon arrival at the bus station in Puyo which was my final destination it was off to the bano stat as I had been on the bus for 5 hours. The little boy in the bathroom tried to charge me 20 cents, I know that bathrooms here cost 15 cents, I told him no way, and I was only paying 15 cents, he agreed.
Speaking of children, all over Quito and other cities I have noticed small boys shoe shining. They carry around kits, yesterday in Quito I saw them shining two tourists shoes.
There just seemed to be something inherently wrong with that. I think that they are probably homeless, and it just breaks my heart.
Arrived at the animal sanctuary and was once again met with expectations vs. reality. I had to ponder though, how does one really lose their expectations?
For example, I read that this center rehabilitates animals, well apparently they only do that with animals that have been out of the wild for a day or two. Past that they are kept at the center in cages. When I inquired as to whether they were going to release some of their birds in the wild the answer I was met with was that it is too expensive. One of the volunteers told me she thinks it is because they are interested in making money. I don't know. I am paying $150 a week along with 9 other volunteers, and they have tourists visit every day, I can't believe that it is that impossible to rehabilitate some of these animals.
Even the agouti, which some of you will remember are a large wild guinea pig that were at the reserve, all you have to do with them is release them in the forest, these were not pets.
What will $150 a week buy you? Cold showers, intermittent water (as in the water hasn't been running since dinner and it is 7:00 the next day), and a dinner of a very small salad and a hot dog bun, or a hot dog if you eat meat. Still hungry? Eat another bun.
Oh you need to use the bathroom?
Hope you brought your own toilet paper as they don't provide it. (Seriously???? $150 a week and no tp????)Thanks Grammy for the TP! Also glad I brought my towel and sleeping bag, one small thin fleece blanket isn't going to cut it and towels are (of course) not provided. Breakfast is toast. I think I will be returning super svelte.
Another positive thing is they have dogs, as in 5! Which one is my favorite? The golden retriever of course! His name is Benji and he is just about the cutest thing ever. Besides Whiskey, Sally, Hannah, and Greta of course.
He likes to chase the spider monkeys that are roaming around the cabins. There is one that is super friendly but we are not supposed to touch it, it is sooooo cute. Except when all of the volunteers were sitting on the porch chatting last night, and it kept peeing and pooping from the rafters. Speak of the devil, it just peed from the rafter one foot from me. Monkeys climb/run/jump on the tin roofs at night too, about gave me a heart attack.
There are a bunch of volunteers, 4 from Canada, 1 from Australia, 1 from the UK, 1 from Hong Kong, and 1 from Scotland. Most of them are scared of spiders, they could not have handled it at the reserve! I now feel like I am the spider whisperer.
The work hours are not too bad, which is good. (Look for the positive right?)
8:00-breakfast
8:30-12 work (get our assignments every morning)
12-2:30 off & lunch (wifi time!)
2:30-5 work
8:00 dinner
I do know that they are doing good here, as they take in exotic animals that people have had as pets or that are found stranded. But I can't help but have a little heartbreak when I see an oceleot that has just had a baby and know that this baby will live it's entire life in a cage. There is something wrong with that.
It is like the argument that people give for going to Sea World, "They rehabilitate injured animals" if that is the case, then let the ones that can go, go! Don't keep them in these cages forever meant to wander in a circle unless there is a reason they cannot be let go. Too expensive is BS in my opinion. There is a vet on site here, but if they were really interested in rehabilitation, they would have ann animal specialist, be blending species, and be focused on not keeping the animals that make a lot of money. We almost got a puma last week, but it went to another sanctuary, and I have to say I am glad, as I know it was destined for a cage forever.
So basically I am volunteering at a zoo. Oh life you funny funny character.
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