1/2/01

Hola amigos and mi familia,

Been a bit slack with my bulk emails but have finally
found time to sit down and type a decent letter.

Well, I have booked my ticket home and will be winging
my way into the great land of OZ on the 6th March.
Have finished up on the project which was quite hectic
and it was sad to say goodbye to all at San Lorenzo.

Shine and I had a farewell party, which was lots of
fun and involved eating yummy food, drinking lots of
rum, and dancing until 4am in the morning. Needless to
say i suffered slight chucaqui (hangover) in the
morning.

The last few weeks at Madre Selva were busy, fun and
the energy was high. With the fresh input of money
with help from RIC and a grant from an American group,
meant work could start on the road into MS, so no more
slushing through mud, and means easier access for
things for the nursery. A tricyclo was purchased too,
which makes transporting things easier too. Frisman
and Adelmo are working full time and thier energy
makes a huge difference to Madre Selva.

The change of season brought more rain during the day
as well as at night. This also brought an onslaught of
mosquitos and people were getting malaria in the town.
So we popped our homeopathics with determination, and
covered up well, however the little buggers bite
through socks and clothes, so not much respite unless
you were under the mossie net. The heat intensified and I was                permanently in a lather of sweat and looked forward to my                       siesta everyday after lunch.

Did lots of work in the nursery, planting out seeds,
transplanting seedlings and organising stuff in the
seedbank. So good to see it all working well after all
our planning and setting up.

Paperwork kept us busy and I never quite anticipàted
the amount of writing we would be doing. Spent quite a
bit of time in Esmeraldas emailing and looking for
more funds for Madre Selva and writing reports. There
are plans for digital phone lines to go into San
Lorenzo, bit late for us though!!!!

Holly is staying on until April and will be joined by
another vol from OZ, a friend of hers.
Christmas and New Year were great fun. Holly, Shine
and I had Navidad in SL and spent the day with friends
and ate so much, not the traditional turkey and
pudding, mind you, but good all the same!!!

I then journeyed virtually to the other end of the
country, Machala, and passed Año Nuevo with a group of
friends and their family. It is a family time and
celebrated with burning paper mache dolls at midnight,
to farewell the old year and welcome the new one.
Drank lots of beer, danced all night and didn't get to
bed until 10am in the morning. Boy, these Ecuadorians
really know how to party!! I havent had so many late
nights in my life I think, yes, I can remember my
youth and I am sure I was much more sedate. All ages
dance and they love fiestas. So I have been wrapped up
with people who totally love life and celebrate it
whenever they can.

Now I am in Quito where I changed my ticket. Planned
to do shopping in Otovalo but could get there as the
buses were out because of protests. The people are
very active politically and are protesting over the
economic state of the country. Corruption is rife and
as usual, the people on the ground working the land
and keeping everyday things going suffer the most. The
extremes of wealth and poverty here is huge, and so as
usual, if you are poor, you have no power and the rich
tread all over them. However it is so heartening to see
them protest and to see their strength, and hopefully
it will make  a difference. The people certainly are
not apathetic.

Anyway, I couldn't get to Otovalo, but I could get to
Baños where i passed a beautiful 3 days, taking lots
of long walks, soaking up the warmth of the water in
the natural springs, watching lots of cable t.v. with
movies in English, and sleeping like a baby. Must be
all that mountain air. It is a stunning place, totally
surrounded by mountains and the views are spectacular.
Now I plan to head down to the coast, chill out on the
beach, maybe visit a couple of other places and spend
Carnaval in Atacames. It is a fiesta celebrated all
through Latin America and I cant wait to experience it.

I was tossing up whether to visit my friend Stu in
England, but decided it was just too bloody cold.
Another time, I am sure!!!  So am having the extra
couple of weeks here instead because who knows if I
will ever make it back to Ecuador!!!
So there you have it, an edited version of my life
since the last time I wrote.

My Español has improved out of sight, but still only
communicate like a 6 year old, and still have trouble
understanding everything.
I am flying back into Melbourne, where Ed is working
and am not sure how long I will be there.
It will be a whole new beginning, I think and who
knows what the future holds!! That's a very exciting
thought for me! I will be in email contact for the next month,                     so write to me.

Take care out there and I send you all my love,
Chao, con much amor,

Helen