Plans for April and Friends for Now: A Few Weeks in Cuenca

Captain´s Log, Day 151: So comes to an end my second stay in Cuenca. Not to fret: I already have my flight to get back to Ecuador in April. Between all the email correspondence with USA zoo professionals and the National Aviary about pregnant Spectacled Bears, four-day-old Humboldt Penguins, ailing Galapagos Tortoises, and funds for building Andean Condor breeding enclosures, I squeezed in some fun with friends...and some Crossfit at The Zone, their local gym of choice. It's hard to leave again, but it looks like they won´t be rid of me for long ever again...

Ohhhhhhh, Cuenca. How I adore thee. 

Here's a quick recap of the moments between the federal funding and visa applications; the animal rescues and the project planning. Enjoy.

Tungurahua decided to explode early last Sunday morning, sending fallout over the southern half of the country. 

It was all over the city (read:our shoes, entryways, clothing on clotheslines) when we woke up. 

I am staying in the house of my friend Andres and his family. On Volcanic-ash Sunday, we decided to bathe their two cats. 

Tigrecita is the absolute calmest about these kinds of things. 

Cat debugging was only the first of two pet-med related events this week. 

I also got the chance to visit the clinic of one of my friends, Fernando Siguenza, who sometimes works with Bioparque Amaru...and also dabbles in Acoustic-electric guitar/music writing. 

He's in the process of building up his own private clinic, Monte Sion! 

Best of luck to you and your dog-buddies, Fernando. 

Ernesto and I hung out and talked about our plans for my work in April, and I had to give him back all the awesome bird books he lent me for bedtime reading. 

We revised some of the camera trap footage of Coya, our female Spectacled Bear, in her protected (and newly constructed, we might add) den at Amaru! Super cool to see her lining the nest.

The view from the balcony outside my room. I´m going to miss all the fun at the Urdiales house! 

Got to have lunch with Ernesto, Vicky, and Amanda in the zoo, too. Baby Ernesto was there, surrounded by his animal-themed toys. Brainwashing him into biology early...

The motion cameras we used for Coya. I'm planning to buy a few more of these to bring back to Ernesto in April! 

We're also making big plans with the National Aviary to move a young male Andean Condor to Amaru in April...more details to come in the following post! 

(And telenovela watching before dinner). 

Me, Andres, and Gaby---an exchange student from CEDEI also staying in the Urdiales house. 

We're all going to miss him. 

Cousins, sisters, family everywhere. 

Walking home. Going to miss these moments...

Packing for THREE YEARS is a crazy thing. 

Better to play Mortal Kombat instead of think about it. Sitting around with my two best friends from Cuenca, I realized the three of us will shortly be on three different continents. Just another trio of twenty-somethings with wandering jobs. Wild. 

I'm off to spend my last night with my Cuencan family and friends before I head off to Quito tomorrow morning. Hoping to post more about our Andean Condor plans soon!

Thanks again, Urdialeses, for your hospitality and for tolerating my barefooted, guitar-playing, bird-raving company for these three weeks! Love you guys.

More soon.