trip to atacames 12/9-15/9

quick observation: wow, today marks one month of my being here. im already 1/4 done! time flies...

also: new photos can be found here.

to celebrate the end of orientation and enjoy the last week before classes begin, the whole orientation group went to the beach at atacames, near esmereldas, on the northwest coast of ecuador, a 6 hour bus trip away.

seeing rural houses on stilts among jungle-like vegetation, afroecuadorians shooting the breeze with friends on stools and in hammocks in front of fruterias made me realize there is so much more to ecuador (perhaps a more real ecuador than the daily life i am currently experiencing…made me really wish i would have requested some other form of living experience? or in a city in a more rural area? but everything for a reason…) i am excited to get to know more of this beautiful country.

the beach was beautiful and peaceful; it was soooo nice to get out of the dirty, crowded city. we had a presentation on the preservation of mangroves by a group called FUNDECOL. mangroves are a type of ecosystem on the coast of ecuador. for many years, thousands of families were able to live in the mangroves as squatters and practice shrimp and oyster harvesting sustainably while making a living at it. then during the 1980s, shrimp companies came in, paid small sums to the squatters living there, cut down all the mangroves, and made shrimp farm pools. this has eliminated 80% of the mangroves in ecuador and severely reduced the populations of many plant and animal species in the area. and now the people have no work…they can be employed by the shrimp farms for a few months out of the year, for long days with little pay, but they are no longer able to subsist on this. the chemicals in the shrimp farm waters are also causing reproductive problems in women, who wade through them to find the shrimp. and when the pools become unproductive, the shrimp companies just abandon them, without replanting mangroves.

FUNDECOL is hosting a mangrove reforestation event next weekend in muisne in an abandoned shrimp farm, and i really want to go…i hope it works out.


we also went to the beach in muisne and it was covered in sandollars. we picked up tons! and we also rode in little ecological taxis (tricycle style). later went out to atacames for pizza and a night at the bar. the bar was right on the beach and had swings and hammocks! sitting in a hammock with a pina colada watching the ocean and listening to salsa was almost surreal and tons of fun.

on thursday i experienced my first ecuadorian bout with sickness (along with about 85% of the rest of our group). puking and fever while i could have been napping in the sand or swimming with the huge waves was not fun, but i’m sure it could have been worse…

we also had a conference with a group of afro-ecuadorian musicians who talked about their instruments, their history, their culture, and their current struggle for rights, basic things like a better education system in the area and running water in all homes, and representation in the government. it appears that this area of the country has really been abandoned by the government, and its really frustrating. most walls and poles here are covered with the colors and slogans of the fifteen different political parties with candidates in the elections that will take place on my birthday, but all of this is mostly meaningless in the lives of the people here. during the FUNDECOL presentation, someone asked if the group had shared their views with political candidates that had come to the area, and they were like, “well, no one has come here yet…”

a mural in musine promoting preservation of the environment.

this area, like so many others in the world, needs change, through hope and energy and hard work. Lord, help us.