Ecuador Week 2

Seven days in and we are now comfortable with the city and possibly a little too comfortable with each other. The highlight of this week was climbing the live volcano Cotapaxi. Several hours and numerous falls later, particularly by Jess, and we reach the peak flanked by Germans, Belgians and every other nationality imaginable. The cycle ride down was exhilarating and this being Quito the day certainly did not end there. Only 2 of us came out completely unscathed and thus decided to go for a swift drink. In Quito the party rarely ends quietly and we proceeded to return at 7 in the morning.

The next day we go to watch the famous Liga De Quito at the estadio Olympico, home of National football club. South American football is renowned for its exciting and free flowing approach, and this match did not disappoint with 5 goals and a win for top of the table Liga. As the week went on we were able to further practice our newly acquired Spanish with trips to Quito Market and were introduced to our ‘crazy’ team leader Frankie, and our group is finally complete. Quito and a fear of heights are not a great mix as I was to find out, but this did not spoil my trip up the Teleferiqo cable car which offers spectacular views and a concentrated hit of oxygen if one is interested. The week is rounded off with a trip to the beautiful cloud forest Mindo. You are surrounded by natural beauty including humming birds and endless waterfalls. Despite this the best thing about Mindo is the extreme zip lining which seems more like bungee jumping. It’s a great rush and it also offers the best view of the forest. Come night and we had, according to Katie, the ‘greatest pizza in the world’ and of course we partied (again) until the early hours.

Ecuador Week 1

It’s almost 3am and everyone has finally arrived and extremely tired, 3 hours of sleep later and we commence a city tour. Welcome to Ecuador. After a lovely Ecuadorian breakfast we take a very crowded bus to the old town of Quito. We begin by looking at some Churches and learn the odd fact that by being too ‘delicioso’ you are likely to go to hell. Little did we know it would get a lot stranger than this. Throughout our first week in Quito we discover that the nightlife is not something to miss, however on day 2 we realise that singing is not one its stronger points after visiting a local karaoke bar. We round off week one by visiting the Equator line. A few interesting facts about this place are that you cannot walk along the equator line properly and it is strangely easy to balance an egg on a nail.

FIji Update Weeks 7-8

Fiji:

Two weeks on in camp, that’s 14 more days of porridge and island life is in full swing. We were saddened to see the departure of three volunteers but our tears were soon dispelled by the return of our Mighty medics Bex and Joe. After this joyous reunion, we were then invited to the annual rugby sevens tournament in Nawara to support our village of Navatu. Nawara is a bustling metropolis (by Fijian

standards) that is supposedly a mere thirty minutes away by boat....Thirty minutes if your steering doesn't break causing volunteers to need to dunk whole limbs in the water to create enough drag to turn us around the river bends! After finally finding a place to moor the boat we decided to walk to the rugby which was now only fifteen minutes away but once again..."supposedly" (The Fijians have a very queer concept of distance versus time!) Half an hour later we were fortunate enough to be picked up by a local bus and on climbing aboard we recognised many a face from the surrounding villages. Upon finally arriving at the rugby, a great day was had by all, and though Navatu didn't win the volunteers got fresh beef which was a greatly received treat.

The week got better from there as our mighty medics brought us back a rare and delightful treasure from their travels, CHEESE!!!! We used this valuable commodity to make ourselves pizzas in the make shift pizza oven (an oil drum covered in cement).

Diving has been top notch over the last few days and one dive we saw seven sharks, two Bumphead Parrotfish and an intimidating large shoal of Great Barracuda. Not only is the aquatic life thriving but terrestrial animals are doing well to! Buru, our camps puppy, has started walking and after a de-flea by means of a tea-tree oil bath is now ridiculously cuddle able!

See you in 14 days! Lucy xxx

Fiji Update: Phase 22 Weeks 4 to 6 Blog update By Lizzie Wedderburn

Unfortunately the compressor broke last week, but our expedition leader Steve went to the capital, Suva, to get it fixed. It did mean that we couldn’t dive for a week which meant we had to come up with different ways to entertain ourselves. These included taking a walk up the hill to see the most amazing view ever, an inter Bure volleyball tournament and snorkelling trips. The less adventurous of us spent long afternoons at the sand spit, which is about a half hour walk from camp but well worth the journey.

As well as relaxing we caught up with our science training by going on many an educational snorkel. As soon as we were diving again we did our in water fish tests and cracked on with our size estimation skills. On Sunday the 15^th we went to our local village Navatu where we spent a beautiful sunny day with our adoptive families. After lunch everyone headed up to the hammock to soak up the view and then dispersed again to have multiple plates of cake and cups tea and not forgetting the kava!

We have started spotting whales out in the passage but unfortunately none of them have been close enough to identify them but apparently its humpback season. As well as whales we have seen a lot of White Bellied Long Nosed Spinner Dolphins which love to play in front of our boat, Up and Under. We saw a pod of about thirty of them including a few babies which were SOOOO cute!!! They’re not the only babies on camp though as one of the camp dogs, Alice, has given birth to an adorable puppy which we have named Beru.

It has been very hot recently which is great for the sunbathers amongst us but not so good for our fresh water supply so we are al hoping for rain some time soon, which makes a change from being home in the UK! It’s got to the stage in the phase were people go a bit nuts and in keeping with this a number of people on camp have shaved their heads to varying degrees, including me... This Thursday A level results came out so we all waited nervously whilst people got their results but thankfully everyone got into Uni. Some of the staff went on a ration run on Thursday as well so we all got our post and packages which made us a bit homesick but also brought us good things such as BBQ sauce, Milka chocolate and Sudokus!

This Sunday we went to another local village, Raviravi. This was awesome as the village is lovely, plus they had FLUSHING TOILETS!!!!! This was a very welcome change from carrying buckets of water up the hill to the toilet :D The food was amazing and the villagers were really welcoming and we all had a really nice day and were very sad to leave.

Today, Monday 23^rd August, was a sad day as three of our number left. We had a group photo on the beach and then waved them off with a few tears. None of us can quite believe that we have spent six weeks here already, it feels like just yesterday that we met each other at the airport looking very pale and quite tired as opposed to now when we are all very brown but still quite tired!

Anyways I’m off to be social so it’s goodnight from Nukubulavu camp!

Tanzania - End of Programme Update

So in the first three weeks we stayed and worked in Uchira, which was great fun! We taught English twice a week in a school, which was really rewarding, painted a hospital ward (which we offered to do, and pay for the paint, because they couldn't afford it), planted trees, and our overall project for the three weeks was an agricultural project, which we then had to present to the village council in Swahili! A bit of a scary experience, but really good!

When we went into the bush with Dom, we stayed with the Maasai, in a real boma, because there was only two of us, which was in incredible experience! The children are so friendly, and though you can't understand a word they say, or vice versa, they have so much energy and just play with them all the time! Then during the day we went on research transects, driving through the bush and noting down everything we saw. Over the course of the four days, we saw so many giraffe, impala, gazelle, dik dik, and even a serval, which are pretty elusive! Also, just driving over from Arusha, a herd of 22 elephant just casually crossed the road! One of the most incredible things i've ever witnessed!

Overall the trip was incredible, and I was just upset I wasn't staying for longer! The friendships you make with the other volunteers is brilliant as well, and Dom was incredible! Not sure what else I can say really, but definitely go there, you will definitely not regret it!

Tanzania Update

"The first there weeks in Moshi were great, to say the least. It was the perfect introduction to life in Africa. Everyone we met, including both the villagers and the staff, was welcoming and helpful. The work was hard but rewarding. At first I was hesitant because it seemed like our individual projects weren’t going to be relevant to the village council, but after giving the final presentation—in Swahili—and hearing feedback I realized how much they appreciated our work.

Three weeks was just the right amount of time in Uchira. Leaving was sad, but that is proof of how much fun we had. The three day safari felt like a little reward for all the work we did in Uchira; I had a blast and it got me really excited to live in the bush.

So far, the bush has exceeded my expectations. The Masai are very welcoming, the camp is comfortable, and the scenery is breathtaking. I can’t wait to live there for the next five weeks!"

Julia Longo (USA)

FIJI: First four weeks

Well that’s week four over and it only seems like one weeks gone by! After arriving in Savusavu we picked up all our rations and made our way to our new home for the next 10 weeks, Nukubulavu Camp Greenforce. The whole group got stuck in right away and got the whole place up and running and it wasn’t too long before we were all in the water to start our dive training.

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever done any diving but sticking your head underwater and breathing in air is a really weird experience at first. Once you’re over the whole alien aspect of it though it all just feels right and seeing the fish and learning the skills soon came naturally to the whole group, most of who are now qualified Advanced Open Water Divers!

Now that we can all dive we’ve started our science training and just this weekend we had our first fish tests. It is slightly harder than we all expected but the satisfaction of being able to know what we are seeing and that the data we will soon collect will be of use in protecting Fijis marine heritage is totally awesome. My favourite fish that we could see out here is the Spotted Eagle Ray which can grow to three and a half metres across and is often seen at our best dive site, Namena. Namena is our local MPA (Marine Protected Area) where no fishing is allowed and as such the fish get really big and really plentiful....there are also rumours of Hammerhead Sharks out there to, which I can’t wait to see!

Every Sunday we go to a local village for church. We alternate between our nearest village Navatu and the other villages in our local district, Kubulau. In Navatu we spend the day with our adopted families but during visits to the other villages we stay in a large group and get involved in the community en masse. This last Sunday we went to Kiobo which is home to the chief of Kubulau, Tui Kubulau. What made this so special is that Tui is an epic guitar player and he had the whole Greenforce team singing along to classics like Hey Jude, Hotel California and Sweet Home Alabama. Sitting under a tree and drinking Kava with our friends and singing tunes really brought it all home about how special and lasting the memories from here will be.

So anyways I’m off to eat a hearty home cooked meal cooked by my fellow volunteers so its moce (goodbye :D) for now!

Harry Henley