Email from Galapagos

I finally managed to get the Park's handymen to install a water tank and supply running water, only to see it literally drain away before my eyes. Then I lost my job teaching English in the evenings, only to be offered two better-paid jobs a few days later (although both have since fallen through). Plus, my bike was stolen one weekend, luckily to be returned to me the next. At least I finished the month on the way up.

The recycling centre I'm now supposedly supervising hasn't had running water in the four years since it was built. I thought we were there two months ago when I'd harangued half a dozen people and managed to get the parts we'd need: a water tank, taps for the sink, hoses and connections.

I should have known better. The Park's handymen said they could put the bits together without difficulty, so I let them. They balanced the new $250 tank on some plastic crates so there would be enough water pressure. (Yes, that was intended as a long-term solution.) Predictably, the crates broke as soon as the tank was filled with water.

The tank crashed to the ground and bent up inside. It couldn't be straightened simply without damaging it, and I had to find someone with experience in straightening out bent tanks. (Over here, this isn't as difficult as you'd think).

Naturally, I had to push the tank-straightener hard before he'd do anything, and this all added up to another month's delay in getting water to the recycling centre. I wasted ages sorting out this problem that should never have happened, but this wasn't my only frustration this month.

As elsewhere in the world, tourism here's really been hit by the US attacks and the war. There have been lots of cancellations and most businesses on the island are suffering. The jewellery shop that employed me to give English lessons in the evening barely sold a thing in three weeks. They laid off half the staff and put my lessons on hold. There went my beer money, and – for a while I feared – maybe my trip to Peru too.

However, no sooner had this work evaporated than I was offered two other jobs teaching English in the evening, both paying twice what I was getting at the jewellers. Sorted, I thought. But both jobs fell through at the last minute, and I've ended up giving a couple of private classes at home to make ends meet.

My third short-lived stroke of bad luck was getting my bike pinched. I'd cycled up to the highlands with a couple of friends and all three of us had our bikes taken. It turned out a landowner up there had hacked through the lock with a machete, moving them to his property for 'safe keeping' while we'd been walking.

Luckily, he answered the radio advert we put out and agreed to give us the bikes back. He probably did me a favour long-term, forcing me to revise my naively trusting attitude towards the locals.

I've been through my bird photos at last. I'm moderately pleased with them as about 80 of the 300 I took are good enough to use. I don't have decent shots of every bird I saw on Isabella, but certainly enough to go ahead with the guide.

Plus the Park's brought over two Italian artists to illustrate the guide. They too are volunteers, but have an unmatchable talent for drawing birds, and will fill the gaps in my photo record.

All thoughts of the war, and everything else on the island, disappeared when Ecuador's 11-strong army met Bolivia on the football pitch this month. Bolivia were unbeaten in this round of World Cup qualifiers, and their home ground in La Paz is one of the highest in the world – a lung-stopping 3·6 km. This didn't stop Ecuador, however, from trouncing them 5:1, making qualification into next year's World Cup almost certain.

This will be Ecuador's first ever qualification into the World Cup, so predictably people went wild. In my normally subdued town, Puerto Ayora, every car was loaded with screaming people wearing Ecuador's war colours on their faces. A long procession of honkers formed, doing repeated celebratory loops of the town's road system. To say they were overjoyed doesn't do the emotion justice. It was a great time to be here.

And on this happy note I'll sign off. I only hope you have enjoyed reading my e-mails as much as I have enjoyed writing them, and that I've managed to provide you with an insight into the ways, if sometimes a little unorthodox, of this incredible country.

I plan to stay on at the Park for a while longer. If I have any money left then I hope to travel a little, probably to Southern Ecuador and Northern Peru (Machu Picchu). This will bring me back to Britain at the beginning of April 2002. Until then.