I spent 8 weeks with the Andean or Spectacled Bear Project in Northern Ecuador. Initially, it was hard to settle as I was bored and unsure if I fitted in but ended up having a great time and did not want to leave. I became very fit again and liked having no paperwork and as time went on, got a better understanding of the Project. The Big Boss invited me back as a future Volunteer Co-ordinator which was an unexpected endorsement of my input and food for thought if I didn’t return to the UK as planned.
MAIN WORK
Our main role was to radio track 3 bears with simple radio collars or possibly pick up a GPS signal from another 3 bears, but these had not worked for 18 months probably due to the terrain causing problems in tramsmission. Adjustment of the volume and signal provided an approximate distance for the bear´s location and whether inactive or active. The signal could be lost, echoed or faint due to a bear moving behind a rock etc. The home ranges were very large for males at 20km2 with females seemingly remaining more or less in a valley and the bears were active night and day.
The number of volunteers averaged about 8 ranging from early 20´s to mid 40´s. Unfortunately, it seemed for several folk there was sufficient or useful ecological work for all of us and a suspicion our main role was to bring in much needed dollars. There were also questions about the tracking work as well as the rehabilitation and reintroduction of bears back to the wild as many are still illegally taken for use as pets etc. In the last week particularly, I managed to engage with the main person and gained more insight to the Project and aims / findings to date, the difficulties encountered and dedication of the staff.
LANDSCAPE
The Andean foothills and mountains were very scenic with small villages and scattered farmsteads. It seems the area has only been recently settled such as Cazarpamba and Pucara villages from just 50 or so years ago with a population explosion in the 1960´s and a heavy demand for land. The bamboo -cloud forest was still being cut down for the growing of crops such as maize, beans and cabuya or cattle grazing. This occurred not just on the occasional valley floors but also on very steep ground. Another main land use and threat was mining and quarrying.
It seemed almost all the farm labour was non mechanical with men and women often in traditional dress, hand hoeing, walking behind a simple wooden plough drawn by two bullocks or collecting crops from the ground and threshing by hand. In the autumn it was a common practice to burn off the maize and bean stems and combined with the on going deforestation, there were a lot of fires across the landscape.
OTOVALO AND THE BEAR HOUSE IN PUCARA
The Bear Project was based in the small village of Pucara in the Intag Region, about 150km North of Quito with a 2 hour bus ride along a dirt road NW from Otovalo which is famous for its textiles and Saturday market. There was a fabulous mix of animal and food produce with brightly coloured stacks of vegetables and fruit, open sacks of maize and various beans, flour, sugar etc, pig and chicken carcases attracting the flies, chatty cheerful people, stray, scavenging dogs and wizzened beggars. I bought lunch of maize, beans and meat from a stall where the woman was washing her hands under running water and so thought it would be OK, but it was either this or the triple whammy of icecream from a western type parlour that sent R & my our stomachs churning. The clothing stalls had many artisans selling a fabulous array of brightly coloured alpaca and sheep wool scarves, ponchos, jumpers and jewellery.
I recall some great weekends in Otovalo where I usually stayed in a nice hostel with good views from the flat roof ‘balcony’ with other volunteers, partying, internet cafes, strolling around market stalls, chilling out on park benches in the plazas, flamboyant, happy fiestas of dancing and caballeros riding the streets with their horses prancing and bucking. One sunday, there was church procession of the virgin mary being carried in a post chaise accompanied by a bevy of elderly ladies and men as well as babies wrapped in a poncho, all serenaded by a brass band.
Pucara had a small shop selling food such a tins of tuna and biscuits, toilet roll, beer, peach wine and rum, a small school and church. The Bear House was rented and like many houses was built of brick – concrete blocks with wooden shuttering and red pantile roof on timbers and weather warped, red painted timber framed windows with cob webbed glass which sort of sit in the window opening. Other houses were built of timber boarding and dried earth like wattle and daub with tin roofs.
The Bear House had 2 wooden balconies with 3 old hammocks, 2 very dusty dormitories of 4-5 bunkbeds, lounge type room, stand alone kitchen, toilet and shower and outside concrete sink for washing dishes and ablutions etc. The house rattled loudly whenever a truck went past on the road and the beds lurched like at sea when someone walked across the bouncy wooden floorboards. I liked the garden with some crops and fruit trees, grazing tethered cows, horses and a pig with chickens and dogs all passing through. I spent several happy hours under lemon or advocado trees reading novels, doing spanish or chilling out in the long, hot sunny days in mid-high 20´s under blue skies. I recall pinching myself at times to think I really was in S America and not in a UK office in probably a lot of grey weather!
It seems someone had a vendetta about the number of dogs from other villages hanging around believing we were feeding them and so two dogs died next to the verandah vomiting and shitting from eating poisoined meat left under the local bus stop. The pig was slaughtered almost on the verandah, screaming horribly, as it took 15 minutes to be stabbed. Fortunately, I was away on both occasions. The dogs were buried in the garden but got dug up pretty quick by yet more dogs so the black vultures started circling in the skies above.
The garden was also used as our toilet as the water supplies started running out. We waited for the rains to come and maintenance to be undertaken for 2 days, whereby we only had water for say 2 hours every 24-48 hours. Thus, the bushes came in useful. The rainy season had still not arrived when I left which was worrying for our guides, cook and other locals who rely heavily on farming / allotments.
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