In celebration of Santo Antonio we headed to Bunche for the evening to witness a ceremony and party. We went with Freddy and his family to someone´s house around 930 (when the electricity came back on) and sat in plastic chairs infront of a big drum and a collection of decorations and candles. They passd out drinks (sugar cane alcohol), candies, plates full of food, coke, cigarettes, and more drinks and candy to half the town. We had close seats and I was surprised that we, and the rest of Freddy´s family, were served first. Others were seated in the back of a truck, some lined the alley´s bamboo walls, and an elderly couple sat on theihr porch over the scene. There was a lot of drumming and singing for 5 or more hours while others played cuarenta, a card game, or laughed and talked. They even set off a few fireworks. We left around 1230, 3 people to a motorcycle down the dirt road back to the station. They said the party lasted until 6am.
Ive realized that the food we eat on the reserve is typical Ecuadorian food, at least on the coast. Breakfast is usually fried dough with cheese or bananas inside. Occasionally there is fruit, white bread, or eggs. Lunch and dinner always have white rice. Usually we also have beans, a salad (more like cole slaw, rarely with lettuce, and extremely salty and lemony), and sometimes fish, shrimp, or even chicken. My favorite are the fried banana chips. Often the food you see at a small family restaurant is the same was what we eat at the station. In Atacames we had a lunch with soup and a full plate of food and pineapple juice for about 1.50 each.
The volunteer house where I stay has 4 bedrooms with bunkbeds in each one. The porch area is open to the weather and has 5 hammocks, books people have left, a table, bamboo and plastic chairs, and lots of old medicine and first aid kits. Downstairs is a floor with bamboo mats and lines to hang clothes on, as well as the bathrooms. It is a quick walk from the actual station but is secluded enough that we can play music in the evenings until bedtime at 930ish.
Work for the past few days has been-
Collecting coco Visiting a waterfall where you have to swim through a gap in the rocks to get to it Reinforcing a fence on a steep hill (I saw a Conga ant) Planting sugar cane Clearing weeds around banana plants and lime tres with a machete Herding cows Assisting in the kitchen in the mornings making fried dough things Making a roof out of tagua leaves Collecting tagua nuts and seeds
Today we went to Freddy´s to watch the football game against Argentina. We won, despite what most people predicted. Cuco, the dog, got so excited when everyone was jumping up and down for the first ¨gol¨ that he started jumping and barking as well.
Today we did Mangrove reforestation and seaturtle monitoring. We went across the river in a canoe to the mangroves at low tide and collected the few healthy sedes we could find out of the hundreds on the beach. Mangrove sedes are longer tan an extended hand and are green with a brown bottom. We then canoed to another spot as the tide was rapidly coming in and started planting the seeds. All you have to do is stick them in the mud but to get to the mud you have to walk in it while you sink up to mid-thigh, above your boots. We canoed back through the mangroves and saw two pelicans and many bright red crabs.
In the afternoon we did sea turtle monitoring on the beach. Muisne beach has fine sand and cooler water, but we didn´t see any turtles. A few days later I saw a turtle at a different beach. It was about 4 feet long but had died.
