LiveGreenNOW

One dreary January evening, in my Irish city home, I realised how inexcusable it was that I had been harbouring a dream for four years, without giving much thought to fulfilling it. The object of my dream was The Galapagos Archipelago. Having studied conservation management, The Islands held a special, almost mythical, appeal for me. So, I packed my camera, along with my courage, and set off alone for the adventure of a lifetime.

The Mora grows at greater than 6x the rate of other plantlife, covering and strangling whatever is within reach, and with the aid of endemic birds who eat the seeds, thus is distributed throughout the island. The Mora also creates a barrier that prohibits these same endemic birds from returning to their nests. Mora has no natural enemies, either. It is the perfect storm.

We each took our turn trying to stand an egg on a nail, walking the equator line in a DUI-type test, muscle strength, and watched the water empty straight down versus clock-or-counter-clockwise. The guide also gave us a tour of the indiginous cutlures that inhabit Ecuador. In particular, she enjoyed showing us their shrunken head from one of the tribes in the Amazon. It was about 150 years old. Make a fist with your hand–that would be the size of your shrunken head.

Upon arriving in Quito, we were greeted by our in-country coordinator, Gaby Cadena, and whisked off to our family homestays followed by a quick orientation. There are 8 of us in all. Four volunteers at the Animal Care & Park Maintenance in the Amazon; one at the Jambeli Animal Rehabilitation Project near Guayaquil; one doing Cloud Forest Conservation; and two of us heading over to the Galapagos. On Tuesday, we will arrive on the Reserve, after a quick trip to the Mitad del Mundo (Equator line). Greetings from the center of the planet!