Volunteer Living

This section provides some general information to help people decide on whether to volunteer or not. If you are ready to be a part of the team working to save these bears from extinction, please see our volunteer packet for more detailed information.

Welcome to Intag

Our primary study site is in Intag, a rural, farming region in the Northern Andean Mountains of Ecuador. The area is on the edge of the Cotacachi-Cayambi reserve and is surrounded by lush cloud forests, rugged mountains and shadowy valleys.

Volunteers stay in a simple but comfortable house in a small farming community near the village of Santa Rosa. We have a great relationship with the local farmers and volunteers are generally overwhelmed by the friendliness and warm hospitality of these people. Many a night is spent sharing a drink with the locals and volunteers have plenty of opportunities to practice their Spanish and get a taste of genuine, rural Ecuadorian culture.

The people of Intag are generally very poor. Most are simple farmers with crops such as corn, sugar cane and tree tomatoes. Most of the farming is done by hand, using traditional tools and techniques and you will often pass elderly women and young children on the roads lugging baskets of crops up from the fields (and you thought bear tracking was hard work!). Despite this poverty, the people are a happy bunch and are extremely welcoming to strangers.

Accommodation

We have a traditional Andean house near the community of Pucara. At present, we can sleep up to 8 people. The house has electricity, running water (with a slightly warm shower) and an outdoor toilet. Volunteers sleep in a large dormitory room. The house also has a veranda with hammocks and a fabulous view across to the nearby cloud forest! The accommodation is basic, but clean and comfortable.

As the bears move, we find different accommodations in the areas where the bears are, so we cannot guarantee the exact type of accommodations and facilities. However, the accommodation is generally simple, usually with beds or mattresses, hot or cold showers and toilet. There will always be cooking facilities available, and you can boil water. You may need to sleep in tents for a few nights at a time. It is essential to bring warm sleeping bags, as nights get cold.

Food

We provide three meals a day. The food is largely vegetarian. It is typical Ecuadorian food, but with more fruit and vegetables! All the basics are provided, however, if you prefer to eat higher quality or more Western style (basically more expensive) foodstuffs, then this is funded personally by yourselves.

The meals are prepared by our extremely friendly Ecuadorian cook, Celia. She is always very busy so don't be afraid to help in the kitchen! Helping is also a great way to practice your Spanish, and an opportunity to make a very good friend.

Since volunteers are out in the field all day, they usually eat a big breakfast and pack snacks or sandwiches for the long walk and have their main meal upon return to the camp. If volunteers want to eat one or more meals with a local family, we can help arrange that in most cases.

Fitness

Volunteers should have a reasonable level of fitness as the majority of the work involves hiking at high altitudes. You don’t need to be Superman and generally most of our volunteers are fine after a few days of acclimatisation. If you are seriously unfit or overweight however, you may find some of the tasks too demanding.

It is up to you to judge your own fitness level, and while we can answer any questions you may have and provide you with advice, we take no responsibility for this. Due to the organisational hassles and time spent training, we are unable to offer refunds if you change your mind or are unable to carry out the volunteer work.

Climate and Altitude

The study area includes altitudes from 2000 to 4500 meters and temperatures vary from 9 to 23º centigrade. Ecuador has only two seasons each year, the dry and the wet seasons. The dry season is from May until September and the wet season is from October to April.

In the dry season the days are quite warm and it will often go months without rain. Roads can become quite dry and dusty and many rivers and streams shrink in size. Despite the warm days the nights can still get extremely cold and you will need warm sleeping bags and good thermal clothes.

In the wet season the mornings can be quite sunny however there is rarely a dry afternoon to be seen. Roads are perpetually muddy, forest trails become wet and slippery and river crossings are generally avoided unless there is a suitable bridge. The weather changes rapidly in this season, one minute it can be a warm, sunny day the next minute black clouds cover the sky and cold rain lashes down.

The Volunteer house is situated at around 2,100 meters above sea level (700 meters lower than Quito!). Most new volunteers experience some minor altitude related symptoms, such as a shortness of breath, when they first arrive but this generally passes within a few days. It is very rare for volunteers to experience any serious altitude sickness at this height and we give volunteers plenty of time to adjust before taking them on any of the higher altitude hikes.

Entertainment

Those nights not spent in tents around camp fires (while on the trail of an elusive bear) are spent in the Volunteer House. Generally volunteers interact with each other and make their own fun, swapping stories, listening to music and playing cards.

The house has electricity and often nights are spent in the hammocks on the front veranda with a cold beer (or Cuba Libra!) in hand while admiring the endless array of stars. For those feeling warn out by the work or who prefer a little solitude, we have a small but reasonable collection of books that are available for loan.

At various times throughout the year, the small towns dotted around the country-side take turns hosting small fiestas. People gather from far and wide to join in with the dancing, drinking and various traditional events (such as the ever-present Beauty Queen contests). Volunteers are able to join in whenever these are on and locals are always welcoming when we do, sharing their culture, their music and their puro (a potent local "moonshine" made from distilled sugar cane) with us.

When volunteers are interested we have movie nights. On these nights we all gather on the couch around a beat-up, old laptop with a bowl of popcorn. We have a somewhat odd collection of movies (some films are harder to find than others in Ecuador!). Most are in English but for those wanting to practice their Spanish, we have a few classics (such as Dave's favourite, the Jungle Book!) in Spanish as well.

A short bus ride from the Volunteer House are some hot baths (basically large swimming pools filled with hot water from a natural spring). We head down to these on the occasional Friday and boot-sore feet in the warm waters. In the past volunteers have chipped in a few dollars to take groups of local children down with us and a lot of fun has been had by all!

Volunteers do not need to work on Sundays, and Saturdays are generally optional. Volunteers who want to, can take the bus into Otavalo to check out the famous markets there. Volunteers can make it back in the same day if they want, however a lot of volunteers spend the occasional night there, catching up on emails, western food and steaming hot showers.

Communication

The rural farmers of Intag rarely have a need to log onto the Internet and check their emails. As a result there are very few communication resources near the Volunteer House. There is a phone in Pucara (a fifteen minute walk away), however this can only be used for making local calls.

The closest place for Internet and International calls is Otavalo, a two-hour bus journey away. While you could travel in every week if you wanted to, most volunteers do this trip once every fortnight or so. There are many Internet cafes in Otavalo and the quality is generally quite good at a reasonable price (roughly around $1 to $1.50 an hour).

Health

Most volunteers experience few health problems while on the project. Unlike the lower regions of Ecuador, there is, at the current time, no problem with Malaria or any other disease requiring vaccination or preventive medication in Intag. However, you should contact your local health authorities or personal doctor at least six weeks before departure on health precautions that are officially recommended for a stay in Ecuador and any other areas you intend visit.

There are no poisonous snakes in the area and generally the local wildlife is quite harmless. Some small sand flies and mosquitoes can be a nuisance (though they never cause more than an annoying itch) and we recommend volunteers wear long clothes at all times and sleep in a mosquito net.

As for the bear work itself, you will be glad to know that the Andean bears are very shy and are only aggressive if threatened. There has never been a reported, unprovoked attack on a human by a wild bear. There's little chance that you will face any danger from these gentle creatures.