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Map of Eastern Ecuador
Wednesday, October 1, 1997
At 5:30 in the evening I went to Cienega. After setting up the slide projector and the VCR, I started the conference with a medium-sized audience of 40-45 people. Afterward, the people thanked me. I returned to Baņos at about 10:30 at night.

Thursday, October 2, 1997
Previous calls and the help of Radio Baņos FM put me in contact with the director of Triunfo [a town at the entrance to Llanganates National Park]. He invited me to a conference on Friday the 3rd, but he wanted me to go on the 2nd to invite people, talk with them and walk around. So, on Thursday I set forth to Triunfo, however, because I had no vehicle, I had to walk a lot. The director was waiting for me when I arrived at Triunfo. Together we visited locals on Thursday and Friday, inviting them to the conference. His actions showed me that he's doing everything he can to stop the destruction of forests, the stealing of orchids and indiscriminate fishing. I learned that he caught a man fishing and fined him $50,000. (This is a man who can help immensely.)

Friday night's conference attracted people from various areas around Triunfo. The attendance was phenomenal. Over 200 people attended. Those who couldn't fit in the school hall stood outside watching through the windows. It was a success.

When I talked about tourism, I suggested that they would be ideal candidates to be tour guides because they were familiar with the area. They were happy to hear this and asked me to make a tourism video about Llanganates that included the tapir. I agreed, and we planned to go to the park on October 23 with the director and ten other people from the area. (I'll keep you updated on this in my upcoming reports.)

Monday, October 6, 1997
We carried out an interesting activity with the Ecology Club. Being that we had no money, the 16 of us left Baņos at six in the morning on bikes toward Puyo. We arrived at about 11 in the morning. Out of tiredness we took a dip in the river and then set forth to the park, Etno Botanico Omaere. When the park rangers realized we were a club that protected the tapir, they let us in for free. We formed two groups, each with a guide. The guides identified all the most important plants of the East. They also talked about the houses, customs, Eastern Tribes and their way of life.

Helping the youth see the benefits of preserving wealth of the forests and understand how to manage them:

After breakfast we rented a van to go to Fatima, a preserve for wild animals from the East. The youth took a lot of pictures of the animals and were able to feel an appreciation for them. They decided that we don't really want to have animals in cages. They want to care and look out for the animals. (I'm sending a photo of the Park and Fatima that includes the kids from Ecology Club.) We returned at night.

October 8, 9 and 10, 1997
I had conferences at the local police stations in Tungurahua. Three hundred police participated each day. The subject for day one was laws about flora and fauna (Forestry Law). Day two's subject was the Andean tapir; day three was the destruction of the environment, ecology and tourism. I was given an impressive welcome. The conference made an impression on the police. They said they would make a point of identifying animals loose in the streets and in houses, and turn them in to INEFAN for transit.

Two police officers will also accompany me in the next few days (I hope) to Triunfo to talk with people and put posters on doors that say hunting, fishing and deforestation are prohibited.

Monday, October 13, 1997
I went to Penipe to talk with the police about setting a date for a conference for the police officers about the law. They agreed and told me they'd give me a date.

October 14, 1997
I went to Quito to talk with INEFAN to discuss with them the annual reports they need of my activities. They also said I need to renew my pass for the park.

Wednesday, October 15 and Thursday, October 16, 1997
I organized a hike/outing with a group of children to the border of Sangay National Park - climbing the various levels of La Virgen and La Zona de Ventanas ["The Virgin" and the "Zone of Windows"]. (We made this hike with some girls from England.) On the paths we could identify various plants that are food for the tapirs. Upon arriving at the area of Runtún [a village at the entrance to Sangay National Park - a critical location for conservation of the park] with the children, we all played ecology games. Then we went by way of the Ulba Highway to the river, where the youngsters took a refreshing bath. On Thursday the 16th we arrived home very late at each of their respective houses.

Friday, October 17, 1997
I gave a lecture to the police of the province of Tungurahua about the laws for the protection of flora and fauna. We met an officer of the department that seizes plants & animals in the city of Baños. He'd just seized some orchids from the Rio Negro area - some of them were rare species that were brown colored with points of white. For this I had to bring the paper on the meeting with INEFAN and the Forest law. This made the man who sold the orchids very upset, as the police quickly pulled up his plants by their roots and took them in a truck to the police station. According to the law, I had to communicate all that had happened to INEFAN so they could take appropriate measures. They told me I had to turn over the orchids to the Zoo of Baños, but I gave them to the police department, planting them in the garden there to be a lesson to many people about the laws of trafficking illegal plants and animals.

Monday, October 20, 1997
I went to the province of Bilbao and met with the political lieutenant [mayor?] of the area and discussed the same information about the protection of the tapir and its forests. This area includes Sangay National Park through Riobamba at 45 kilometers from Baños. The people there plant tomato trees for a living. I returned by midday to Baños, and in the afternoon I gave an interview to a radio station about the orchids that had been seized. On the radio I explained the various laws relating to this incident.

Tuesday, October 21, 1997
I returned to Bilbao and secured the location for the lecture on Wednesday the 22nd in the Casa Comunal. I took the opportunity to visit various families and farmers, I gave out invitations, and helped them with their crops. At night I invited the manager of the radio station to come to the Bilbao lecture.

Wednesday, October 22, 1997
We went by taxi from Baños to Bilbao (the radio station manager paid). There were many people - 150 - meeting together in the Casa Comunal. After the lecture, the radio station manager interviewed the farmers and agriculture experts. Thursday the 23rd he broadcast those interviews on the morning news. And they broadcast about the great work of the Tapir Preservation Fund and expressed great appreciation for this institution. I also traveled to the city of Ambato to try to make contact with the following institutions: School of Dr. Julio Enrique Paredes, School of Carmen Barona, and School of Mexico.

Friday, October 24, 1997
I went to Ulba and gave a lecture at the little school there where about 70 students remained afterward and were quite happy and had many questions for me and asked me to return to speak on other topics.

Monday, October 27, 1997
I went to the city of Ambato and gave three lectures at the school of Dr. Julio Enrique Paredes (there wasn't any bigger place in the city where we could fit more people to attend each lecture). More or less all 400 students who attend that school came to my lectures.

Tuesday, October 28, 1997
I returned to the city of Ambato to the school of Carmen Barona, where I gave two lectures to children in grades three through six - where more or less 300 students participated enthusiastically.

Wednesday, October 29, 1997
I gave another lecture at the School of Mexico and received a great response from students in two classes. Regrettably the principal of the school gave me only half an hour to speak. The number of students there was 60. Later I went to make contacts for other lectures at the college and the school of Liceo Cerallos. I spoke with the principal and the professors of the Biology department who asked me to give a class to the students at a later time about the production of algae - Spirulina [this is a possible sustainable and ecologically sound alternative for people in this area to make money; current methods of farming and cattle culture are major destroyers of habitat]. I stayed to give a lecture on Wednesday November 4th in the theater to all the students of the school of Liceo Cerrallos.

Later I visited a school that is located in La Playa Urbina, where the woman director told me she was too busy to meet with me.

Then I visited the school UNE, where the principal told me he couldn't meet with me because he didn't have time, but I could call him to set up a date for a meeting later.

Thursday, October 30, 1997
I visited the school of Juan Montalbo where I gave a lecture to 70 students. It was very interesting because it's a very poor school with students on the first grade level through sixth grade level all in the same class. They seemed very happy, as they'd never had the opportunity to have a guest lecturer. They are poor, and I told them I will visit them more often.

Friday, October 31, 1997
I gave a lecture for M.A.G. (Ministers of Agriculture and Livestock) about cultivation in greenhouses, as it is very useful to teach these mountain communities about alternative ways of life. [Farmers in mountain communities are often so poor they cannot make a living. More productive and ecololgically sound alternatives help them create a better lifestyle as well as making it possible to exist without turning to the use of endangered species - within or outside park boundaries. At this time, poaching of numerous species is a way of life.]

Monday, November 3, 1997
There were no classes or workers at public or private businesses or schools.

Tuesday, November 4, 1997
I went to the college and school of Liceo Cerallos and gave lectures in the theater to 1800 people. They were very enthusiastic and gave me great encouragement to continue the project. The students asked to organize an Ecology Club, so I did.

Wednesday, November 5, 1997
I visited the community of Cusua and I spoke with the leader of the water department about giving a conference on Friday night the 7th at a school in the area. This place is on the outskirts of Sangay National Park. The people here make a living in agriculture and occasional hunting. I visited some families and personally invited them to my lecture.

Thursday, November 6, 1997
I went to Afiches and Puncartas and broadcast a radio invitation to the community to attend my lecture.

Friday, November 7, 1997
I went early into the community to deliver personal invitations for a number of people to attend the lecture. At night I gave my lecture to a good turnout of about 70 people.

Monday, November 10, 1997
I organized my backpack and got myself ready for the expedition with Adrian Trujillo [a student from Pomona College in California who is interested in studying mountain tapirs], and the political lieutenant of Triunfo, and I was ready to travel.

I'll send info about the trip and photos in my report next month about November 11 through the 14th of December.

Sincerely,

Rubén Núñez

• Go to November, 1997