Hi folks. It's been awhile hasn't it? Memorable events here for me have been: 1)moving into another house which has running water (usually) and more room for visitors to sleep, 2) a fantastic 2 day bike trip of more than 100 kilometers with our son Louis thru Sangay National Park, and 3) the arrival of a yet un labelled animal caught by a member of our community.
Life here is like life everywhere I suppose in that it (if you are truly alive and somewhat awake)often feels like you are standing under a shower with two simultaneous streams, of joy and sadness. The genuiness and resilience of the people here are a constant source of joy for me. At the same time there is sometimes and ignorance and even cruelty sometimes exhibited towards nature and things wild. One example of this was the capture of the yet un-named animal in the photo. When I came across it, it was hanging on exhibit in a tiny cage on the grounds of the foundation we work at. It was suffering greatly from thirst and fear, nearly dead. I naturally took it and put it in a bigger more comfortable container and tried to get it to drink. It drank a little and revived a little. I noticed a lot of blood in the water and found out later that those who had captured it had beat it with sticks, struck it with stones, and cut part of its tongue off. For this reason, by the next morning its tongue was so swollen it could hardly breath or drink and died a few hours later.
Somehow the death of this little (but feisty) animal became symbolic of all that humanity is doing to our planet. the sadness for me was all encompassing and I could hardly sleep. I told community members that only humans are truly capable of killing for diversion, to see another being suffer. Somehow this combination of ignorance and agression is killing us all. I still cry to think of how that little animal suffered. May we all cry for the thousands of beings that suffer in the same way each day.
In the photos you will see a couple of the bike trip. The "animalito" in the photo is now dead and stuffed. Carmen along side accompanied me in caring for the animal before it died and along with a number of other village members, was quite saddened on hearing it had died.
The last photos are of orchids in an orchidea garden we visited in Puyo (near the fast disappearing rain forest). We were honored to meet the man who started this wonder of nature. 30 years ago he bought desnuded and compacted cow pasture and started planting native trees and plants of all kinds. Now the beauty and biodiversity of this refuge is indescribable. Nature is totally in balance in his refuge and was an inspiration as to what one person can do to reverse the process of specie destruction and monoculture humans are inflicting on our sacred planet. May the Great Eastern Sun be victorious!
