I would like to give an update on my next adventure which I will be undertaking this summer. From May 20th to July 1st I will be working in and around Macas, Ecuador as part of a required international internship for my Global Resource Systems degree. When I return home I hope to do some landscaping work in Minnesota before I return to Ames for my final year of college.
Ecuador is located on the Northwest coast of South America between Peru and Colombia right on the Ecuator. Ecuador is one hour ahead of CST, and the average temperatures where I will be staying range from 50-60 degrees F due to altitude and the mountains. It rains 21-23 days per month in Macas with an average daily precipitation of 1/3 of an inch.
I will be working in a small native village about 1 hours drive away from the city of Macas. It is located on the Amazonian side of the Andes mountains along the Upano River and has a population of 19,000 people and has the nickname "Emerald of the East". To get to Macas I will fly into Quito, the capital of Ecuador, and take a bus across the Andes. The bus ride will be about 10 hours.
The village I will be working with is inhabited by a group of Shuar, who are one of the indigenous groups in the Andean region. I will be working on a project to improve water quality and sanitation in the village. Where I will be living there is no running water, no electricity, and the closest cellphone tower is a 45 minute hike up a mountain. The site is run by the Yanapuma Foundation and focuses on improving the two native villages in the vicinity with ecologically friendly, sustainable resources.
English is not very prevalent in rural Ecuador so I will be speaking
mostly Spanish, and hopefully I can learn a little bit of the native
language as well.
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| The hut in which I will be staying |
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| Macas as seen from the mountains |
