Gonna catch me a Bear

Why, you might ask, would I give up nearly half my summer break to volunteer in the wet and chilly Andean Cloud Forest? The answer is quite simple, if it's not too much to ask, I wanted to catch me a bear!

Last July Eric and I volunteered to work with the Andean Bear Conservation project near Pucara, Ecuador. The goal of the organization is to save the Andean Bear, Tremarctos ornatus, from extinction. The Andean Bear (or spectacled bear) is the only bear found in South America and numbers are dwindling. They conduct in-field scientific studies and rehabilitate and release captive bears. (Like Bubu Bear! Raise awareness by being his friend on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1315247822#!/bubu.bear.ecuador?v=info&ref=ts).
Since I'm interested in going back to school in the next 5 years and eventually working in the field, I thought this would be a great opportunity. The work we did was basically a ridiculous amount of hiking up mountain ridges (lost 5-10 pounds while eating my weight in food every day!) to different lookout points, trying to locate bears using radio telemetry. (Interesting, I'm sure you agree. If you are curious, it's pretty basic. check out: http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,1607,7-153-10370_12143-70426--,00.html). Then we spent a week trying to capture a bear for tagging and future research. Regrettably, after many, MANY false alarms, I didn't actual get to see a spectacled bear. Disappointing, right? Surprisingly not. The experience was absolutely fabulous regardless. Some of the highlights:

1. Bootlegged liquor and cards. One day we hiked literally 2 hours uphill to buy a local favorite alcoholic drink; aguardiente. On the way back we got awfully thirsty and I'm sure you can guess how this ended up! (Thank you, Samuel [our guide]) When we got back we were embarrassingly tipsy, but luckily our host family welcomed us with open arms. Well, maybe a little too open. Five hours, two bottles and many card games later I was pretty proud of myself and relatively fluent in Spanish (or so I thought). It wasn't until the morning that I realized just how badly high altitude and drinking go together (and how off my translation was!)

2. Camioneta rides in the rain. Gotta love public transportation that is consistently 2-4 hours late and lacking any sort of resemblance of safety. The adventure of climbing over 10 feet and jumping back down into the bed of a truck you have know idea where it is going, or how many dogs, chickens, and stinky old women you might encounter, is just priceless. And the thrill of taking windy, mountain side curves at max speed... well that just adds to the intensity of life-risking experience. I recommend it to all!

3. Moving 300 kilo bear trap horizontally across and 45 degree incline mountain face. Yep, that's right. Samuel wakes us up and the crack of dawn one morning, points up the mountain side to a speck of silver, and then points to a location 200 yards over and exclaims, "Tenemos que mover esa." Seemed simple enough, but after literally crawling up to it (too steep to walk!), we finally reach the bear trap - which in shear size seems to be able to fit half the village's population inside. Our moving tools? sticks (that broke) and ropes (that had no grip). As it turns out, Samuel can translate swear words and screeches of pain. Guess those are a universal language :). Many hours later, as the bear trap sat comfortably in it's new location, we finally began to appreciate the humor :)

4. Holding down a stray dog and carefully pulling out the porcupine needles from his face and mouth. It appears that I may have encountered the dumbest dog in the world. We were witness to his (not first, not second, but) third attempt to eat a porcupine. It was quite a scene. The dog sat outside our door completely upright, almost afraid to move. He had porcupine needles in his paws, his face, his mouth, through his cheek, his tongue. You could tell he had definitely tried to paw at these for a while, driving them further into his skin. Quite possibly also the saddest looking dog I've ever seen. Plan 'save the dog' quickly unfolded. Three of the volunteers held him down. Two tried to hold his head in place. And two went to town trying to remove the needles as quickly as possible (yes, that would be me). By the end, we had removed literally hundreds of needles, were covered in dog blood, and had put that dog through hell. Antiseptic? Well, aguardiente of course. All in all, we were pretty proud of ourselves, but definitely felt the moral obligation to actually feed this dog in the future. Quite the experience.

5. The fantastic company. Nothing makes a trip more than the quality of people you are with. And for the most part I hit the jackpot. I need to first thank Eric for changing plans at the last minute and making the trek with me. We had such a blast together! The rest of the volunteers came from various locations throughout Europe and America and each had a certain 'flavor' that they all brought to the table. Matt from Texas quickly became my favorite. He has hair halfway down his back, a cowboy hat always on his head, shark tooth and headlamp around his neck, and a consistent bout of chatter coming from his mouth. There's never a dull (or quiet) moment with this kid around. A well-versed nature traveler, he knew a lot about the local environment and entertained us all with stories of his past experiences. His free spirit and adventerous nature were inspiring!

6. Altitude sickness just when you thought civilization wanted you back. Our last weekend in Ecuador we said goodbye to our new friends at "La Casa de Los Osos" and took 5 hours worth of bus rides, landing ourselves back in the wonderful city of Quito (elevation 2850 m/9350 ft). A little too excited to wine, dine and enjoy civilization again, Eric and I did about the worst two possible things at high altitude: consume alcohol and caffeine. I was the first to go down, complaining of stomach cramps and being lightheaded, but Eric followed shortly behind. We spent the rest of the weekend groaning in pain and hoping for a quick and painless death (or at least the fastest flight out of there). It wasn't until days after landing back on midwest soil that we began to feel somewhat normal again. I guess I can cross mountain climber off my list...

7. And by far the best part of the trip; The dream-like beauty that is the Andean Cloud Forest. Existing every day among clouds, mountains, and volcano peaks was a surreal and breathtaking feeling. Some of the best views and most peaceful moments of my life...