The Journey of a Friendly Giant

Ecuador is not a perfect country, I’m not even such a thing exists. Each country has mastered a few things that have made them stand out from the rest. The more I learn about Ecuador, the luckier I feel being here. Though they have yet to develop and improve in many ways, Canada, and the rest of the world for that matter, can still learn a lot from Ecuador as far as the environment is concerned. Frankly, today’s environmental laws are failing. Though Canada's environmental laws were adopted in the 70s, the environment is in worse shape then ever before. The Canadian environmental law has gone through very little changes since its creation over 30 years ago. “Canadian Environmental law lacks in policy innovation and environmental performance.” – Dr David Suzuki, The Sacred Balance  However, since then, countries around the world have sought to replicate these same laws.  Yet, species worldwide are steadily declining, global warming is far more accelerated than predic...

“Time is free, but it's priceless. You can't own it, but you can use it. You can't keep it, but you can spend it. Once you've lost it you can never get it back.” - Harvey Mackay When one of my mentors let me know that I was already at the halfway point, I thought I was having a mild stroke. I cannot believe how quickly time is slipping through my fingers! Time goes by so very quickly! Especially when you're having fun... and also when you have to build trust before any real progression occurs. I felt that gaining the trust of the community was truly the most difficult task of them all. I planned, and re-planned and am currently working on a new plan once again. Why do I keep re-planning? Without any trust, a plan is just a piece of paper in my hand. I needed people to listen to my plan, to trust me, and to let me in their homes, workplaces, and minds. The Puerto Hondo community have met many people, who gave them hope by beginning projects and initiatives, all to...

After settling in, and making some friends, we had already made plans to explore Ecuador. Time seems to have flown by, and next thing you know I found myself on a bus. Luckily enough, the first two seats on the bus don´t have any seats in front of them. This meant . . . you guessed it, endless leg room for the  giant lady . The city to city travel busses are coach style busses, much like Canada, with comfortable seats that lean back, and movie entertainment provided. We were going to Rio Bamba Ecuador, which was 4 hours away from Guayaquil.  Another CIDA intern from the College of the Rockies, British Columbia program, had a Lonely Planet travel guide for Ecuador. Our plan was to, relax, and settle in to the hostels we were staying at in the first day, in preparation for our big train ride the next morning on’ The Devil´s Nose train line.´´ Rio Bamba was a nice town, with many boutiques and very kind people.   Unfortunately for us, the Lonely Planet book had mislead ...