some wild life in ecuador

This installment of the blog has random pictures from around the local area. Below is a shot taken by daniel at Punta Gorda. very nice selection of Sea shells that were just too big to take home with us.













The Passion fruit Flower ( Flor de maracuja ) one of the most intricate flowers. I was very excited to take this photo.

Here everyone is covered in sulfuric mineral mud that is supposed to be great for the skin. Smells like rotting eggs. This is in Aguas Blancas near Puerta Lopez.

Goats

Foosball en la playa in Puerta Lopez after a long day of Checking out the Isla de la Plata

Shortly before foosball we had dinner where a musical duo gave a little preformance.

Here is a Blue Footed Boobie family.

the chicks are white and fluffy, feet not so Blue

And a solo Boobie on the cliff of Isla de la plata. those are some Blue feet!

Turtle rides anyone?

After a few banana´s Miguelito is all smiles

There he is doing a little dance for us

here is Ashley trying to get her hand bit off, just kidding Miguelito wouldn´t hurt a fly. he is a vegetarian terrestrial tortuga. He is well over a hundred years old and has only lived about half
of the average life of turtles like him. We were privalaged to visit him at a near by elementary school where he serves as a great learing tool for the natural world and a mascot for nature!

seed saving

Seed saveing and collecting is one of the more enjoyable things that we do here. On this day we walked around looking for seeds to collect and found much adventure along the way.

Including and man and his chickens

a lady and her vicious gaurd dog

And Trespassing. There was a gap in the fence just big enough for us to squeeze through. Here we gathered about 8 pounds of Pachiche beneath a gigantic tree. This was on some property only a few blocks from the apartment.

They kind of look like black cherries but taste way different.

We had a short Break but I was feeling extra motivated so i put in a few reps.

Here we have 1 of two very large bags of Jaboncilla pods. The tree produces a very waxy seed pod that contains a perfect sphere of a seed. The pods can be used to clean clothing.

The process took a while and our knives and fingers got very sticky.

I struggled to remove the shells getting very discouraged at times.

while Orlando and ashley became expert seed removers in no time flat.

After a short time of painstaking labor we were left with a giant bag of black marble like seeds ready for sowing.

These tricyles are a major part of commerce in the city of bahia. There are everywhere and used for all types of functions. If only they had a derailer and a few gears life would be so much easier.

While searching for more seeds to harvest this guy on his tricycle attracted our attention with a great catch. We couldnt help but to grab a few fish for the grill later on.

Damn, dropped a quarter in the gutter again. luckily I found it and we could buy our dinner.

And here we have just one more of the many uses for a tricycle. Transporting two 10 meter bamboo poles down the avenue.
























Wow!. well that it for this Edition. All is well in Ecuador. We are planting like crazy and having all sorts of fun.

Punta Gorda and Planetdrum land

Ramon is a fellow planet drummer and teacher in bahia. On two different weekends we went to his cabin on the beach. We drove down the beach for about 20 minutes untill the point which was just passable by foot at low tide.

the cabin is a bit of a climb up the hill but worth it.

Below is a picture of portion of a reef that is exposed during very low tides that occur about once a month. At this point we were able to harvest about 40 fairly large Oysters fresh off the rocks. Yum!

A splash of lime is all you need!

Bag -o- Oysters

We removed the rest of the oysters from their shells and made a Cevieche with avacado, tomato and onions. Along with bag of chifle ( Fried green plantian chips ) it was a delightful sunday lunch.

On one of the weekends I brought a surf board that I rented and everyone got to give it a shot. Surfing is not as easy as they make it look on TV.

Closer view of the cabin made from wood beams with bamboo and plaster walls

here is the grill beneath the cabin. we got lucky one morning and wistled some fisherman into shore. They were able to sell us 3 lobsters and a few small fish.. ! Awesome

A snail

Bird colony

Clam colony

Feet

the walk back
One time we were able to catch a passing truck for a ride which was great. the other time we had to walk the whole way. with the tide rising rapidly it was a bit of a race to make it home.

Here is another bit of the day to day at work here with Planet Drum.

We are packing up some gear and materielas to make a water catchment for the covered sistern out on some property owned by the organization. The property is about 25 minutes out of town then about an hour walk down a muddy two track. it was nice to get out and see some new things.

On our way to the land we passed by this lady who look as though she has somthing very important to do.

mango tree

gutter

Ashley was volunteered to crawl in to the water tank to help install a valve

It was a bit of a struggle to get out but it all worked out in the end.