i think i can, i think i can...

First thing tomorrow morning, I'll get up, have a huge breakfast and hop on a bus to this volcano, Cotopaxi. It's the world's tallest, snow-capped, active volcano, and we'll be heading for the summit. We've tried on all our gear, bought gatorade, apples and chocolate, batteries for the headlamps and made sure our phones and cameras are all charged (these are all supposed to work at the summit).

The deal is we drive up, have lunch and practice braking and climbing all afternoon, have a big dinner and hit the hay. We get up at midnight and start climbing, aiming to reach the top between 6 & 8 am - just in time for sunrise. Apparently, any later than that and the snow starts to melt in the sunlight making it a much tougher and less-pleasant hike.

Wish me luck!

I wanted to sleep

Yesterday I went out to visit Stuart at the funcacion and had a really great time. We went out to Otovalo to drop off some volunteers that were going to their host families for the first time, and got to shop around a bit. That night we cooked up a big curry with fresh bread and the Ecuadorian staple - pilsner. After eating, drinking and talking for hours we hit the hay, only to be stirred from sleep with haunting noises coming from the ceiling.

The fundacion hosts volunteers, but it's got a pretty big campus so they host groups too. This week it's an Ecuadorian brand of Buddhists on a retreat from the outside world. At 4 they ring a bell and walk silently to a roped off area where they spend all day looking at the ground. This goes until nightfall when they file back in to the dorms which are located directly above Stuart's spare bed - where I was sleeping. So when 4 came around this morning, they decided that it was critical to get a real jump start on the day with some heavy furniture moving, ram horn blowing and dropping of large objects. I mean, who can blame them, buddha said lots of wise stuff so who's to say he can't be credited with "nothing says good morning like a toot of the ol horn?" I had just gotten back to sleep when it was time for round two at 7. Rinse and repeat?

volunteering is costly

So, the internet is apparently not the way to find hospitals or doctors to volunteer with. It develops that nearly every program costs several thousand dollars in good ol' administrative costs. In the mean time though, i've met a lot of dissatisfied volunteers who recommended some hospitals that I could approach in person and sidestep the man. I've also met some cool kids who just got out of university here with degrees in ecotourism that need a roommate... looking good so far! It develops that laundries are fantastic places for finding apartments, at least in the Mariscal, (which locals call gringolandia).

The good news is that there doesn´t seem to be any shortage of hospitals. And from what i hear from volunteers, for many of them, volunteering comes down to shadowing physicians every day - experience that is equally invaluable and tough to come by in the states. Luckily, one of the ladies that works at my hostel is a physiotherapist and it sounds like she might be of some help finding contacts. All this work makes me want to write a guide on how to do this and get around all of these ridiculously costly organizations. The model that most of them use is a major diversion of funds away from hospitals and the local economy.

After I check out a couple of places today, I'm gonna head out to the boonies tomorrow and see my buddies out there, hopefully get the skinny on these fiestas coming up in September...

I ate this animal

I just got back from visiting Chris, one of my best buddies from college and I had an amazing time. Talk about one of the best ways to get ready to head out of the states - see more than just my hometown bars i mean - i had a full-on introduction to life on the Chassahowitzka river.

We went out fishing, didn't catch much so we took a break to snorkel a bit around the reef, and Chris's buddy ross found a scallop. From then on out, it was on. We grabbed our masks and dive bags and floated for some 4 hours picking of les fruits de la mer. I had no idea what they look like, but they've got the most incredible blue eyes that watch you from the bottom of the flats. All told, we must have nabbed some 100+ scallops, cleaned 'em on the boat ride back and cooked 'em that night. Nothing better in this world than knowing your food.

Other than diving for scallops, we made it out to the chilly spring-fed underwater caves and dove through tunnels that have been carved out of limestone by years of natural flow from aquifer to ocean. Not to mention meeting some of the coolest characters I've ever talked to in person (including Chris's dad... did he have to spit on that teenager?). It was like some sort of Louisiana bayou charicature that you know had to be real because it didn't have the same level of awareness of self that can be found in the big easy.

We spent last night at Chris's new place cooking up all those scallops and some spanish mackarel a neighbor had caught some time before. We were up until 4 in the morning eating, talking and cajoling what sounds we could from Chris's dad's amazing gibson 45.

And here I write from home, packing and preparing to fly out at 5 tomorrow after a great sendoff from Raymond, Julia and all the Woodworth generation prime - ben, andy + anjie. Wish me luck, it's my currency of choice these days.