Six weeks in Santa Lucia

Since I've been about five years old, the tropics of South America have lured me. With both parents having studied Biology, a great interest in the living world came naturally. In particular, it's birds all the way for me. And what better place on earth to indulge oneself in the splendour of colourful feathers and deep vibrant sounds that emerge from somewhere in a rainforest than the cloud forests of Ecuador! Many parts of South America can be called a heaven on earth for enthusiastic naturalists, and the Santa Lucía region surely is one of them.

Somehow traveling didn't seem to be the right inclination to get to explore some of the regions natural resources. Having completed an eight month stay in England, and a few months away from starting a PhD position in Amsterdam, I wanted to do two things: go very far away, and make myself useful. After writing to several volunteer opportunities all over the world, I actually got only one quick and nice reply, that really made me enthusiastic and gave me the impression I was nearly there already. Getting to Santa Lucía was easy. All I had to do was pack my bags and jump on a plane to be met at Quito airport. That's easier done than said. So with only about three weeks to settle things in Holland from my English excursion I had left for Ecuador.

My job at Santa Lucía was to study bird life, not per se, but to construct an accurate list of the birds occurring in the region. This list could then be offered or sold to future bird watchers and other visitors interested in the local avifauna. The regions had been explored by other ornithologists as well, and the completion of a list seemed to be a good project for my six weeks stay. After my arrival, I went up to the lodge with the father and mother of one of the two families that own the land, and a local guy from the village nearby. I didn't speak any Spanish at this time, nor did they speak English (let alone Dutch) so things were kind of quiet at first. But with their willfulness to explain things slowly and my eagerness to get to know the language, we solved that problem in about two weeks time.

My first priority was to get to know the birds. I have to admit I was rather disappointed at first. But that was completely due to my incompetence to spot birds in a cloud forest. Having seen many kinds of birds in the gardens in the village, and having heard there had to be many more up at Santa Lucía, I became a bit over-expectant. After hiking for a full day through the interior of the forests, crossing little rushing streams, slipping away in the moist leaves and dead branches that cover the steep slopes, I had seen one hummingbird which was too fast to be identified. One bird in seven hours... Where was the rest of them, all the 350 other species known from this region? I quickly learned that the jungle reveals itself bit by bit. Every time you go into the forest, you see a few things, but more often than not they will be different every time. So the final collection of life forms at the end of my stay did contain an amazing number of things, from tarantulas to snakes, some 180 different kinds of birds, funny insects like spiny grasshoppers, army ants, colourful dung beetles and huge butterflies. And moreover, I came to the conclusion that one had to be a botanist in this region. Although I have a father with an interest in plants, I have never been particularly charmed by them. But all my apprehension towards plants was taken away by the extraordinary array I found in the Santa Lucía cloud forests. There were just too many of them, especially all the epifythes like orchids and bromeliads. All too often I couldn't find out which leaves belonged to a 30 meter high tree among all the other things growing on it, such as tree ferns, lianas, or lichens.

One of the greatest treasures for anyone volunteering for this cooperative is the people you're working with. Since the community is very small you get to know everyone well. Everyone's musical, and although I left my own guitar at home, I think I've played on maybe six different ones here. Everyone was able to play a bit and when a song was started the whole crowd joined in the singing. I had also never seen someone playing a full melody on a simple leaf, pressed against the lips. We all tried to do the same but failed miserably in our feeble attempts. Then the locally brewed concoctions were found and the dancing started...

Looking back at these six weeks, a few general images come to mind. Most importantly, I have made some great friends there, warm and gentle people with perhaps few possessions but a tremendous energy for life. They have been working hard for all their life, but with a smile. I will never forget when we were hauling up some wood for the construction of the lodge from somewhere down the hill. With blocks of wood on our shoulders, while I was sweating away just getting to the top they were singing and whistling tunes. They are brave people as well. The easier road to follow is to turn the forest into pasture and have some cattle. To try to set up a reserve you know you will have to live without income for maybe more than a year, without any insurance that things might work out. Only when the Santa Lucía region is ready for ecotourism can they hope to start earn some money, without having to exploit the forest in a damaging way.

The money I put in as a volunteer directly benefited these families. I knew before hand that I would be investing in the local people, financially and practically, but not this local. In effect, without volunteers, the families can't come up to the lodge to realize their plans but have to stay at home farming cattle.

I can sincerely say that being a volunteer for the Santa Lucía cooperation has been one of the most profound experiences in my life. I will try to go back as soon as possible, so if you've become interested to join as a volunteer yourself we might meet each other in the cloud forests of Ecuador!