I’m still in Ecuador, but for all intents and purposes my thesis research is over.  Upon coming back from Yasuní, my dad and I returned to Quito, where we immediately were picked up to go to Maquipucuna Lodge, in the liminal zone between the Andes and the Coast.

Decades ago, my dad helped some young and idealistic Ecuadorians buy a nature preserve, which has now turned into a swanky eco-tourism lodge.  My dad called in a favor, in a sense, and now we are relaxing for the next two nights in a cloud-forest paradise.  To offer but one example: we spent the morning trailing the elusive spectacled bear—we heard it and saw scat, but couldn’t catch a glimpse—and returned to a three course vegan lunch!

In one sense, it’s nice to make Maquipucuna my last stop in Ecuador, because it means I will leave on a note of optimism.  As eco-tourist projects go, I couldn’t imagine one more successful.  The preserve protects a fantastic biodiversity hot-spot—6,000 hectares with 10% of Ecuador’s bird species—and is actively reforesting the surrounding areas.  The whole operation is carbon neutral and sustainably built (almost too sustainably built, given how many bugs made it into my cabaña last night).  A few interpreters are employed from the surrounding community, but—probably more importantly—the lodge owners are working with the entire population of the region to develop fair trade and environmentally friendly agriculture.  Maybe this whole tourism thing really will work out for Ecuador, and they will look back on oil as a forty year long mistake.  Ojala que si.

From the perspective of getting anything done, though, Maquipucuna is something of a dead zone, as it is a few hundred miles from Yasuní.  As is always the case with my academic work, I peaked a few weeks before the actual “end”, and I feel like I have coasted to the finish.  At a certain point, I realized that I had a thesis’ worth of data, and stopped constantly begging everyone I met for interviews.  Trips to Yasuní and the Huaorani territory spawned some interesting stories, but my guides never delivered the “dusk till midnight” interviewees they promised.  I’d feel like I had earned a rest upon my return home if the last few days hadn’t also felt an awful lot like I’m already on vacation.

I leave happy, though, not because I’m particularly impressed with what I’ve accomplished, but because I have hope for what I’m going to do in the future.  Tomorrow I’m meeting with the director of a very interesting group of social scientists that work with local governments and civil society organizations—to talk about working there after I graduate.  At the moment, I think it will be hard to pull myself away from more research: my mind is already full of ideas for extensive surveys and comparative studies and behavioral games.  It’s almost de rigeur to tell people when you’re traveling that you can’t wait to come back, but in my case, it’s definitely true.