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Chris Fukushima writes

...about his experiences while volunteering in the Ecuador volunteer program.

Diary Entries:

· ¡Hola mis amigos!
· Trees and Rain
· Decisions

¡Hola mis amigos! (22 March 2008)

It´s hard to believe I´ve only barely been here one week. La Hesperia is very, very beautiful, nestled in the cloud forest ... very green, lush, deep, airy. I've quickly become accustomed to moving with the rhythm of the sun; early to bed, early to rise - and usually in time to catch the sun peaking shyly over the mountains, lighting the wooden porch outside our little room...You can understand why life flourishes here.

Life here so far is idyllic. Everyone here is very agreeable and extraordinary in many different ways. This week there were two Englishmen, two German students, two American travelers, an Ontarian and a Newfie here with me, and everyone with a story to tell about how they came to be here. I've spent most evenings eating great food and chatting over the guitar ...

The work has been varied - I´ve done trail maintenance, forest research, house construction, and reforestation. I even had a little excitement on the trail, and had to put my first aid kit to use as one of the volunteers got a little over-zealous with the machete. There are many projects on the go here, but I´ve latched on to a few that are more conservation-oriented, and I am really looking forward to seeing them through, and hopefully seeing some progress before I leave. But the biggest value, I think, will come from the experience of exactly how a reserve like this functions and makes a difference systemically, which is certainly the most important aspect of the reserve; removing the need for conservation would be ideal, after all, rather than continually patching wounds.

Today we´ve come up to Otavalo to see the famous Saturday market (wow - rows on rows of stalls set up to sell sweaters, hammocks, tuques, etc, with food and art markets to boot. Very colourful, very impressive) and get a better peak at the indigenous culture here. It might be a bit of a fix trying to make our way back on Easter Sunday ... but who can turn down the chance at more adventures on the Ecuadorian bus system??

Trees and Rain (28 March 2008)

I had a great week of work, made a lot of progress planting areas vulnerable to landslides and organizing/mapping/caring for the reforestation area, which I've taken on as a personal project. It needs a lot of work, but we're slowly making it into the place it was envisioned to be. Working with the earth is extremely rewarding. I've also taken on the phenology trail (a trail around different areas of the reserve for education and research of various trees) and the compost in the organic garden as personal missions. I'm learning that if you want to get something done here, you need to be the one to take the reins and make it happen, as there are only so many volunteers here to keep up all the jobs that need doing in such a large reserve with such wide-ranging goals. Long (and often wet) days working in the forests, great company, great food, and I am learning a heck of a lot about ... well about everything. People, places, myself. The earth, what it takes to manage what it provides us with properly, and how that process interacts with the vast social needs of the area.

Decisions (11 April 2008)

Hey to all from Ecuador ... it's been an eventful two weeks since I wrote here last. I've been granted a fair bit of autonomy in recreating the vision that is the reforestation area at La Hesperia, and I'm making the most of it. We've made so much progress organizing, clearing, marking, planting, planning, constructing, and I now believe that the area is well on it's way to becoming (once again, after a period of relative neglect due to a lack of volunteers) a model of reforestation. Another Canadian volunteer and I have just finished building a bench and a lookout yesterday (and were, for a period of about 20 minutes, surrounded by monkeys come to check us out - luckily they didn't throw anything at us, as they did at my Irish friends last week). One of the things I've certainly learned is that if you want a place to be protected, you need to provide motivation outside the realm of charity ... hence creating walking trails, lookouts, stairs, areas of interest etc to attract visitors and necessitate maintenance. So, the reserve gains the money it needs to survive and the young trees are no longer in danger of being overlooked. That has been my major project, but I'm still involved in several other efforts around the reserve.

In the last week or so I've also cemented my decision to remain here in the cloud forest for the remainder of my time here, instead of transferring to the Amazon reserve for 5 weeks. My initial choice was based on the desire to be exposed to different conservation projects in different ecosystems ... but the situation here has made me decide to try to be a structural asset to this reserve instead of just a visitor helping out. I've agreed to stay on at La Hesperia as the interim volunteer coordinator for my last 5 weeks, since most of the experienced volunteers and the current coordinator are leaving at the same time (next week, when I was scheduled to leave). So I'm staying on, since I think this will be an extraordinary opportunity to work closely with the owner of the reserve and truly learn the ins and outs of managing a program of this magnitude. I've been working here for four weeks now, and it is not nearly enough. I want to see my projects through, and remain here to ensure that they are properly set up to succeed when I leave. There is only so much that the staff here can do, and they rely on volunteers for many of the projects that I believe are essential to the maintenance of the reserve as it is now and to the expansion of its influence in the surrounding areas and communities. It's nice to see that the work I do makes an impact on the station.

I've been enjoying my travels around the country on the weekends (Baños last weekend for thermal pools under a volcano, biking, rafting, relaxing, exploring the entrance to the Amazon basin; Mindo this weekend for ziplines, butterflies, tubing, seeing other conservation areas), but it's the work and the people I'm here for, and I'm extremely excited to become more heavily involved in the process here. More to follow! Hope all's well back home!