When I first received my Peace Corps invitation in the mail and read the country assignment, I tried to recall anything I knew or had heard about Ecuador. That took about 2.5 seconds.. “Well, it’s located in South America, so I’m pretty sure they speak Spanish.. and they have lot of plants and animals and stuff.” Well, after doing a little Google searching and guide book reading, I learned that “lots of plants and animals and stuff” could be more eloquently stated as “biodiversity hotspot”. For a country of its size, Ecuador has a ridiculous number of plant, animal, bird, and fish species; due in large part to its wide range of habitats in the coastal, highland, and jungle regions (and the Galapagos, of course!). So of course I immediately envisioned myself in a Fern Gully-esque landscape, surrounded by monkeys and diving with hammerhead sharks and befriending a colony of blue-footed boobys. Turns out, like so many other things I had envisioned about life in Ecuador, this wasn’t so accurate. Of course, these things do exist, but not in Galera. So I’m dedicating a blog to educate people who, like myself, have over-romanticized the wildlife. **Note to those who do not love ALL of God’s creatures.. stop reading after the chickens.
What we do have (in great abundance) are street dogs and roosters. Our dog, Lukey (sp??), is actually pretty awesome. He has mastered how to jump in the front window when the door is closed, and loves to escort the family (now including me) around town. He has on several occasions walked me up the hill to the bus stop, and that hill is no joke! I think he likes me because I save him plenty of scraps and distribute them into his bowl (made of half a coconut) outside after every meal. Apparently there used to be a cat also, but Lukey never let it eat so it moved across town. I’m fine with this arrangement, as long as we don’t have mice. We also have a ton of chickens/roosters, including a bunch of baby chicks (one likes to ride on mama-hen’s back.. so cute!) and ducks, but I’m not sure which actually belong to the family since everybody’s chickens tend to wander around town. Nobody is concerned about losing them, so I will not concern myself either.
Those are the more “domesticated” pets. There is a fleet of about 10-15 spiders living in the bathroom, but I can never keep track of them all. Mostly because I don’t want to think about it. They are of the daddy-long-leg-type, some more long-legged than others, but they tend to hang out in the corners so we just peacefully coexist. There are, of course, mosquitoes. These are some super-sneaky little bastards, and they especially love my feet! I get new bites every day it seems, but I never see them coming! My feet currently look like a mine field of bumps and scabs, but hey- at least it’s not my face. One of my favorite insect stories involves a rather large beetle, who flew in the upstairs window while I was reading one evening in the hammock. He was headed for my door, so I declared battle with this hand-sized bugger and eventually got him away from my room. He then took up residence under the couch for minimum of several hours, for all I know he might still be there. Just one of the reasons I only sit in the hammock. And then there are the ants.. The cursed ants! These guys are super determined. They really like my toothbrush, I guess because it has the sweet scent of minty toothpaste lingering on it?? They have found it multiple times, no matter where I put it. It is currently in a ziplock bag, with a cover on the head, in the front pocket of my backpack, suspended from a clothespin on a line in my room. And they still found it. They also chew through plastic.. They got through 2 layers of ziplock bags and into my closed jar of peanut butter. What a delight to open it up and find several sticky carcasses on the lid! Apparently they also like the sticky-sweetness of tape. The volunteer who is leaving soon showed me where ants had eaten through a map she had taped to the wall to get to the tape. And obviously, Ecuador doesn’t sell ant traps (care package anyone??).
Moving through the animal kingdom.. There are plenty of frogs around here, which I don’t mind too much, except for the one that startled me in the bathroom one morning. I should say we startled each other.. He was so surprised he tried to hop away, but just ended up hopping repeatedly into the trash can which was what caught me off guard. This is the same day that a scarier looking spider what also spotted in the bathroom.. I kept an eye on him the entire time I was in the shower.
I’ve struck a deal with the lizards, I think. I leave my light on for awhile each night and there was a lizard who would come and feast on the bugs that are attracted to the light. In exchange, I asked that he not poop on my anymore. I probably should have asked him in Spanish, but I think we understand each other. Last night, there were two lizards by the light, and tonight I’ve seen four. He must be spreading the word to his lizard friends. I hope they can share! Lastly, there are the birds. Galera, along with most of the beaches with lots of fishies around here, have tons of these nasty black buzzards. These guys are dumb. They are continually crash landing on our roof, which is made of tin. Fine by me, unless I’m trying to sleep (stick some earplugs in that care package too!!). A few days ago, this really pretty black and yellow bird flew in my window (we don’t have screens, can you tell??) and hung out in the living room for awhile. Maybe it heard about the beetle in the couch..
Well, those are the animals that live in the house. At least the ones that I’ve experienced. I’ve heard there are also bats, so looking forward to meeting some of those at some point… I like to tell some of my friends who are living a more “posh-corps” lifestyle about some of my wildlife interactions to get a good cringe. Hopefully this won't deter any visitors!!
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