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Day 1: "Did You Bring Boots?"
"Did you bring boots?" asks Gordon Molitor, CARE director in Ecuador, when we arrive in the capital city of Quito. "It's the rainy season. You'll definitely need boots."
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Day 2: San Miguel: A Home of Richness and Resource
Bathed in sweat, we awaken to the sound of dogs barking and roosters crowing as the sun hits the horizon at 6 a.m. Down by the riverfront, fishermen already are paddling around in small, dugout wooden canoes, hoping to catch a few large colorado fish. Women line the shore knee-deep in water, beating the dirt and soap out of laundry with wooden sticks called macetas.
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Day 3: Profits without Plunder
Through the screened window at the side of my bed I can see the morning mist and orange glow of the sun on the forest canopy across the Cayapas River. After dressing and eating a couple of hard-boiled eggs and some banana chips, I make my way to the river's edge and carefully balance onto the narrow canoe. Today we are journeying into the rainforest to visit the Afro-Ecuadorian community of Chispero.
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Day 4: Improved Land Use Bears Fruit
The next morning, we pull on our field clothes, still damp and caked with mud, and go down to the dock overlooking the Cayapas River. Packing up the canoe, we shove off for a 40-minute trip through light rapids to the community of Calle Mansa.
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Day 5: The River Market
At 8 a.m. we push off to visit a handful of communities working with handicrafts and raising small animals, which serve as both an alternate source of income and protein for families.
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DAY 6: A Dialogue with the SUBIR Director
On our final night in Quito, before heading back to CARE headquarters in Atlanta, we talked with Jody Stallings, CARE SUBIR director. He spoke to us about the SUBIR Project, its staff and future plans.
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Epilogue
We walked away from our trip malaria-free, canoe-friendly and feeling more connected and excited about the SUBIR Project.
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