Condors!

Took the Bus from Quito to Gullyabamba (Quito Zoo) on Monday morning. Got to meet Sarah (Canada), Erin (Canada) and Yann (France) my fellow volunteers and Sarah and Fernanda, the project coordinators. Together we were taken to "Hacienda Zuleta", the project site.
It's a beautiful place, a top hotel & a dairy farm with lots of cows, horses, a cheese factory, freeranging donkeys, a bunch of lovely dogs, fantastic gardens with hummingbirds and trails in the cuntryside.
We're the first bunch of volunters staying in our own house and kind of guinea pigs to get everything sorted, which is kind of fun.
The volunteer house is very nice, we've even got a fireplace. In the first week we got to know the place, were tought about condors and bears and moved the rabbit cages. The rabbits and guinea pigs are used as food for the 7 captive condors that live on a site close to the hacienda. One of our tasks will be to take care of them and to do behavioral observations. We'll also be wandering around the area, looking for other widlife, esp. signs of andean bears and mountain tapirs.
On Saturday we went to Otavalo, a two hour bus trip to an amazing market with all kinds of beautiful textiles. A really touristy place but still nice, and a fun day off and out. Being the only Gringos on a bus full of locals always is an experience in itself...

We already saw some wild condors, impressive animals.
The only thing that's been not so nice is the weather - it's been raining every day, but we've also had sunny spells. Today it was dry till 5 o clock pm and we were walking around in Tshirts all day ! :) Well, apart from the time we spent at the condors cages, were I were longsleeves to avoid being eaten alive by the mosquitoes...

Gotta go to dinner now (yes, we get it done for us :P).