Hello Everyone!
We hope that our words find each of you in excellent health and spirits!
So, there has been a slight change in our plans... Due to weather restrictions we were grounded in the Shell airport station for three days. The airport is located in Shell Mera, a small town in the eastern foothills of the Ecuadorian Andes, about 94 miles from Quito [the capital of Ecuador]. As you may have already guessed, its name can be traced back to the Royal Dutch Shell Company, who established an oil base in the area in 1937. After a number of violent clashes between company workers and Indigenous communities in the area, the company decided to leave. Although Shell abandoned the base in 1948 the name still remains, as do many rustic-looking, yellow shell logos; a repetitive makeup style for the faces of many buildings. The name and the symbol-- familiar leftovers of a globally familiar pattern; of an ever pervasive colonial presence.
During those first few days of wetness, the 3 seater plane station became a temporary home for us. We made new friends with sky hungry pilots and other patient passengers. We got to practice our Spanish skills by having a number of good conversations and we even temporarily adopted a baby bird!
Click on the following link to see a short video clip of the station! This footage was shot on a ipod camera.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHaOyG_SxxE
On the fourth day, we finally caught a glimpse of blue sky. But right as we were about to load our things onto the airplane, we received word from Eriberto.
It turns out that there will be an Amazonian dance/music festival here in Puyo this Saturday and Eriberto's music group, Ikara, will be performing. So for the rest of the week we decided it would be best for us to stay with him in Puyo. We will be spending the week working on various film projects and further strengthening our language abilities. The office we will work in is Sarayacu's official office in Puyo and is located next to a gym that plays loud workout music all day.
After being shown some more photos of life in Sarayacu, we are more excited to go than ever-- that said, we are making the best of things here in Puyo and plan to explore all that this beautiful town of 25,000 people has to offer! So far, we have taken a hike along the local river that runs through the jungle and are also planning to go to the botanical garden and the zoo sometime this week!
Not to mention, being here has definately been an incredible opportunity to expand our knowledge of Español before diving headfirst into guiding 5 young students through the journey of learning film.
We are very grateful to find that food here is wonderful and affordable, people are very nice and hospitable.
Finally, we have been very lucky that our new home, the grand Hostal Colibri, is not a very busy place because we moved in and out three times in three days. We weren't expecting to be paying for a hostal this number of days, but we are blessed because it is a nice place to stay and is affordable.
Thank you all for your support and we will be checking in again sometime soon!
With care,
Chaz and Mahaliyah
ps-- On the airplane ride from Miami to Puyo, we sat next to a woman who is an executive of an oil company.. she had a few drinks and told us some pretty interesting stories! But, more on that later :]
You are troopers! I can't wait to hear the oil executive's stories. :^) All the best to you, Yury, Eriberto, and all our wonderful friends down there. I didn't know Eriberto had a band--that should be fun! --Nuriya
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