I volunteered with a Condor conservation project in Ecuador. The project was located a couple hours drive north of Quito, near the town of Ibarra.

The work involved daily observation of the behaviour of captive condors, as well as the behaviour of wild condors which came to visit.

As well as learing all about condors, I also got to learn alot about the local culture. The highlight was when we went to a 'fiesta' in the nearby town. It turned out to be a beauty paegent put in my the local school. After sitting around for a while wondering what was happening, we were asked to be judges.

The paegent turned out to be a bit different from a western beauty paegent, with the girls dancing in traditional costumes instead of parading in bikinis. To show their skills they demonstrated in dance form how to make various traditional dishes including Guinea Pig.