Puyo and the Amazon Jungle

In and Around Puyo
Here it is, my 4th week in Ecuador and it's coming to a close. It seems like I have been here for eons! Since my arrival in Puyo, I have been pretty busy still every day and every weekend. After my first meal in Puyo of congrejo, I head off to check out my new home away from home for 7 weeks. The house is duplex type house with a concrete slab roof. This roof is really nice to sit on in the evenings as the sun sets. I just wish there was a spot up there to hang a hammock, then it would be perfect. The view is pretty unique. I look out over the otherwise small, but modern little city of Puyo and out into the Amazon jungle to the East. Directly behind me is the West with the mountainous Andes rising up to the sky.


Since being here, I certainly haven't had to worry about not getting enough to eat, which is the opposite of what I thought. I always feel like I am full here, which is almost as bad as feeling hungry all the time. However, I am not trying to complain. I am thankful for what I have. One thing however that I will point out, since being here, I am pretty sure I have had rice at least twice a day every day during the week.....BIG portions of rice. I like rice, but plain white rice gets really old fast. I am pretty confident that tonight I will have yet another huge helping of rice with dinner....YAY!


     During the days in the week, I have been going to various clinics and hospitals here. I have learned a lot about the healthcare system in Ecuador because of that. I am actually quite surprised at how well organized the health system is. There are two branches of governmental run program from what I can tell. There is a public health system that offers free healthcare to remote communities for basic care. From what I can gather too, this is pretty quality healthcare for having limited resources. There is also a branch basically called the social security sector of Ecuador. This branch provides access to healthcare to remote families via small clinics and hospitals. This branch offers healthcare at a very low cost of around $16 a year. This is paid by the "jefe" or head of the family usually and the healthcare access extends to all members of the family. This is pretty amazing! Hospitals always cost more, but still for routine check-ups and small procedures, the healthcare system here seems quite impressive. I would maybe even go so far as to say that this country may lack in the area of funds and beautification of the cities, but the people are well taken care of. The government run healthcare system and education system really seem to be on top of things. The picture that comes to mind with the phrase, "third-world country" doesn't seem to fit what I have seen here. I have certainly learned a lot thus far.

     On the weekends, we have had off. So we have gotten to travel to many places in the area that have been quite fun. Also these places tend to be a little touristy, so I get to enjoy various foods other than rice for at least a few days. One place in particular was a quaint little town called Baños. This place has everything almost. It is very colorful and full of life and music. It was so interesting we went there twice. The town was only about a 90 min bus ride from Puyo. While there we went Canyoning. It was quite fantastic! Check out the link. Basically it is repelling down waterfalls. Also in Baños, are some famous hot spring baths that are heated by the active volcanoe Tungurahua. The hottest bath gets up to 118 F. It was very hot. After careful maneuvering and delicate timing I finally managed to get all the way in. It is amazing that the pool is naturally heated. Overall this town was just a great place to relax and hang out. I would certainly like to go back there someday. If you get a chance to visit Ecuador, certainly check out Baños. Just East of Baños, was a little tiny town called Rio Verde. There we found an impressive waterfall called Pailon del Diablo. It certainly was a hellacious waterfall. 

The people here a very friendly for the most part and very helpful. I think that even though living conditions are different here than in America, the people and culture are basically the same.....well maybe soccer is a little more celebrated here. Speaking of which, I have really been getting into the FIFA World Cup here. It is really awesome to watch soccer games here in a country where people really get into it. So sad to USA drop out, but it was bound to happen. I think I might pull for Uruguay at this point. We shall see!

The next 3 weeks I am going to be working more closely with the Servicios de Control de Malaria here in Puyo. I will be working more on public health issues in particular with controlling mosquitoes that transmit malaria and dengue here in and around Puyo. I am excited to put into practice what I have learned in school. The only problem is, what I learned in school was in English.....and this will be in Spanish. If learning science wasn't hard enough in English, now I almost have to learn it all over again in Spanish. Thankfully a lot of the words in English for vector control are the same in Spanish. Still, I wish I could ask more detailed questions and be able to understand more detailed responses to this public health focus. I will just have to make the most of it that I can.

The Jungle
Earlier this week I went out into the Amazon jungle. Two other students, a guide, and I left a small town called Pitirishca and hiked about 4-5 hours out into the expansive jungle. Our destination was a small indigenous community called the Shuar. Since it rains here and in the jungle almost everyday during this time of year, all the trails were completely covered with mud. Thankfully my "botas" or boots were these marsh/muck boots. These boots were imperative. Without them, I am sure my clothes and my feet would have been in an unrecognizable state of funk....and I don't mean groovy. To make things worse, it started raining a little over halfway in. AND on top of that, there was a river we had to cross at the end to get to the village. Due to all the rain, we had to basically ford the river as it rushed by. We all inevitably got soaked as we crossed the thigh deep river. Finally after arriving at the community of the Shuar, tired, soaked, hungry, and sore, we trudged into the little community with everyone staring at us like we were ghosts. I guess we were very white compared to them. I would like to think that I have gotten a good tan here. Anyways we made our way to our thatch-roofed hut which would be our home away from home away from home for the next 2 nights. The hut was up on top of a muddy hill. After we set down our things, we headed down the steep muddy bank to another house where we were served a late lunch. There are no roads there, so most of the paths are also mud-ridden. I felt like a little kid all over again trudging through the swamps in my muck boots. At the house, which seemed to be the center of the small 5 housed/family village, we were warmly greeted. We were served a delicious hot meal. Afterwards we were treated to a tribal dance presentation that we observed and also took part in. I think I made a good indigenous tribe member that night. Afterwards were served dinner. Much to all of our surprise, our time there in the jungle was also not filled with hunger, but rather the opposite. We were fed almost too well. Many times we almost didn't even want the food.....but not because it was bad, but because we were so full. The food was actually quite good. That night I slept in my sleeping bag on the hard wood floor with my mosquito net draped over me. Two thing I found that make sleeping on the hard wood floor difficult: being skinny and having hips that aren't well padded and being a side-sleeper. I like to sleep on my side rather than on my back or stomach. After a somewhat restful nights sleep, the next day greeted us early and we spent the day learning about medical plants and natural remedies to health issues. It was interesting to see probably a lot of plants that our modern medicine is derived from. We also went through this ceremony where we were each given some pretty cool face paint and taken to a "sacred" waterfall. The night was culminated with more tribal dancing and food. What a unique experience! The next morning I awoke to sore hips again, but was looking forward to returning to "civilization". We all said goodbye to this isolated group of people that I am quite sure God cares about deeply as well. We forded the river again and head back into the jungle to begin our grueling hike back through the mud-laden trails(this time without rain). With much exasperation, we traversed the green leafy barrier between societies and arrived to the modern world completely disgusting(being that we hadn't showered for 2 days in the humid, muddy jungle environment). We were quite a gross group of people that day. Thankfully, the bus that took us back to Puyo didn't discriminate.  The first thing I did when I returned was take a shower and boy was that the best shower I had ever had!