Ecuador volunteering 2012

A bit about where I'll be.

jessicadale — Sat, 4 Feb 2012 06:29:00 GMT

Ecuador is the second smallest country in South America. Though it may be modest in size, Ecuador is one of the most species rich countries in the world and is deemed a 'megadiversity hotspot'. The secret to Ecuadors diversity lies in its unique geography comprised of the low lying west coast, the Andes mountain range and part of the amazon rainforest to the east.

Ecuador is a developing nation with over 70% of the population living below the poverty line (although this figure is much higher within indigenous communities).
Distinct problems in remote communities include education, malnutrition, sanitation and disease.
Despite this, the country still manages to be one of the friendliest and safest countries in South America. In 2007 Ecuador was listed as a safer place to live than the USA!

The small town of Misahualli will serve as base camp for much of my time in the rainforest, whilst every day I will take a canoe to much smaller remote communities where I will carry out the volunteering.
Misahualli is situated along the Napo river and is surrounded by dense jungle inhabited by indigenous local tribes.
The local monkeys (or monos as they are locally known) are a very popular attraction and have grown accustomed to the attention ecotourists shower on them.

After the rainforest I'll be off to Banos, a town in the andes situated between lush green peaks and a volcano. This blesses Banos with it's thermal springs - a welcome notion for a days relaxation after the toils of the jungle. After spending a single night in Banos I'll be off home again.

The volunteering program.

jessicadale — Sat, 4 Feb 2012 05:45:00 GMT

The volunteering program I'll be taking part in this summer is called Amazonas Explored and is run by the volunteering organisation Volunteer Eco Students Abroad.

VESA works hand in hand with the indigenous village communities to create real and lasting change using a combination of volunteering and adventure.

This year in the Amazon, we'll help to provide remote villages with fresh water, restore local primary schools, teach English and basic hygiene/sanitation to school children, and build bathrooms for those without access to safe sanitation. These basic neccessities are crucial in an area of the world where water born diseases are a major cause of death.

On the adventure side of the trip, we'll learn the importance of ecotourism and education in this fragile environment, which is dissappearing at an alarming rate due to logging and other man made threats. We'll embark on a jungle trek; hiking, tubing and canoeing our way through the rainforest. Along the way, we'll visit a rainforest animal sanctuary and a family cocoa plantation.
Finally, we'll hop on a bus up into the high Andes for a bit of relaxation after all that exertion.

Phew, that exhausted me just typing it....

A new day, a new blog.

jessicadale — Sat, 4 Feb 2012 05:03:00 GMT

Welcome to my journal!

This blog will chart my volunteering journey. From fundraising to departure, labour intensive volunteering to rainforest trek, I'm recording all the highlights and pains here for the world to see.

From July 7th - 21st I shall be volunteering and travelling through the Ecuadorian Amazon, a region of lush rainforest remarkable for it's biodiversity and indeginous communities.

The total cost of the trip including the cost of accomodation, flights and insurance is approximately £3000. I have already scraped together £1000 to pay for the flights but that leaves £2000 to fundraise in a short amount of time!

The next few months shall be challenging before I even reach the Amazon but they say nothing that comes easy is worth having.