Volunteer Comments

Volunteering for this project was a truly rewarding experience for me. It was a chance to make an important contribution to the study of these little-known animals, to hike through gorgeous cloud-forested mountains, to experience a beautiful, simple place in a way that a tourist cannot, to experience living close to the earth, and to look at life through the lens of an Ecuadorian subsistence farmer. Above all else though, the greatest joy of my time in Pucara came from getting to know the people. The great strength of this volunteer project is that the volunteers live amongst, and are accepted by, the local community. This not only lends credit to project initiatives, but gives volunteers the chance to learn some important lessons. I think of my volunteer experience whenever I need to be reminded of what makes me truly happy: Having a loving family, a close community of friends & neighbours, and work that exercises the body, interests the mind, and feeds the spirit.

I have spent 4 weeks at "the bear house" in November 2004 and that was one of the best experiences of my life! Being a zoologist, the volunteering work was valuable from a scientific point of view but also from a human prospective. It is amazing to realize the magnitude of the land area these animals are capable of covering in a few days! And trying to track them using a combination of local buses and your own feet is an extraordinary experience. If you are not that much into the scientific side of things, there are great opportunities to experience the local life, with its music, food, vivid colours and, of course, beer. Accomodation is very basic, but comfortable enough and the view over the mountains as you wake up is just just wonderful!

I thought writing about the bear project, sharing with others how much the four weeks living in Pucara continue to mean to me, would be easy, a free flow of insightful thoughts and endearing, if not smile-provoking, memories, so I enthusiastically accepted Colleen’s request. But now, weeks later, when “home” in the United States does not seem to be the home that I left behind as I journeyed off to Ecuador months ago, I still struggle to find the proper words to give meaning to the experiences that so changed my perspective. So instead of witty, coherent tales of adventure, (what I have come to call) the “Pucara Family,” and, yes of course, Andean bears, I give you this: my own request…challenge…ploy.

In the words of a fellow bear tracker, though she did not mean it in the context of humans, “Pull a Pancho.” (Pancho is a young, male, Andean bear that roams far, free and fast in the cloud forested mountains of Intag). Give yourself over to a wildlife that is (and with the work of biologists like Armando hopefully will forever remain) truly wild. See where they take you; patiently await their gifts. Trust yourself enough to succumb to the fresh mountain air, kind –hearted, generous company and the continual presence of the Espirítu del Bosque; what kind of “knowledge” can this unique combination lead to? The bear project is indeed scientific research, it depends on the volunteer trackers for data collection and funds; but it is also an opportunity to experience the Ecuadorian wild simply for what it is, to become part of a rural community on which the Andean bears descend come corn season, and to lead a life that is as full of as many simple pleasures as you are willing to accept..