Being Hopeful

I am over 3,000 KM from Canada.  From here in Guatemala I am very hopeful for what the new government is doing.

There is a lot going on back home that I am proud of. 

Many Canadians are standing up to help the refugees from Syria.

We are re-entering the global scene on dealing with climate change.

We have unmuzzled our government funded scientists.

We have re-instituted the long form census.

We seem to be on the road toward making things better for our aboriginal people.

We have a federal government which appears to be willing to listen to our diverse population and try to move us into a more open and progressive society by consensus.

But from down here in Central America, I am hopeful for a few other things as well.

I am hoping that we return to being the world's leader in peacekeeping forces.

That we return to being one of the best places in the world to raise children.

That we stop allowing Canadian companies to despoil other nations for the sake of profit.

That we strive to remove corruption from all our international dealings, NGOs, grants, aid and corporate.

We cannot fix everything at once, and even the items on this list will be only a start, but we do need to start.

The cynic in me says that soon we will go back to politics as usual, and there will be little substantive change.

But somewhere down deep inside, I am so very very hopeful.

A view from the top

Three photos that together make about a 190 degree view of Lake Atitlan taken from the roof of Hostel Pinocchio.

The weather here has been odd, a little wetter than usual for this time of year, but it has made for wonderfully languid afternoons, and the rain has made time for great conversations.

The photos start from the right with the San Pedro Volcano's peak hidden by cloud and show a hint of the expanse of the lake and the shore line.  Most of the area around the lake is too steep for anything, though there are a lot of places where there are fields on very steep slopes.

My struggle.

There are times I really struggle with communication.

How do you talk to people who think that the only way to communicate to the world is through terrorism?

That violence shows you are right?

That might is right?

There is such a disconnect in my mind about this.

I do remember being a teenage kid, wanting to use force to get my way and knowing that I would be beaten up for my trouble.  We rage against the walls that law, church and family put around us to want the world to just be the way that we believe it should be.  That point when the world needs to revolve around our own wants only.  And I also knew deep down that I was being unfair to the rest of the world.

It has been a long time since I talked directly with anyone who felt that using violence strengthened their political/religious place in the world.

I would love to be able to hold a mirror up to them, and ask what it is that they see?

If you would rather die than change, and would rather kill than lead, what are you trying to do?

If no force in the world can change your mind and attitude, why do you think that others should join your side?

My attitude is this, if your way is truly superior, if your way leads to a better life and prosperity, then all you have to do is live it and you will win.  Forcing anyone to your way shows that it is inferior.  Showing them how happy you and your friends and family are, how grand life can be, is the ultimate way to 'win'.

I have long held the personal belief that in politics, religion, and lifestyle, whoever initiates violence has lost, no matter the words spoken or who is left standing.

There are many other thoughts tangled up in my mind, wanting to shout and yell and scream.  And cry.  We can be better.

We desperately need to be better.

Not News

I am getting tired of the non-news that is filling up the world.

Starbucks can put whatever they want on the cups.  Get over it.  If it really does offend you take your $ elsewhere.

If a store starts to decorate for a season too soon for you, take your $ elsewhere.

People say things that offend you?  If it does not threaten your life and livelihood, take your indignation into private and just get over it.

If you do not like some one's opinion, use polite discourse to change their mind.  And if nothing in the world can make you change your own mind...... you are the problem, not the people you are hurling vitriol at.

Anonymity is the mask of a coward.  If you hurl insults and threats from shadows you are lower than a bully and the only thing you deserve is to fade from life and be alone in your anger.  If you want to join the human race and have your opinion heard, stand in the light and speak up.

Be pleasant to the police.  It does not always mean they will be pleasant to you, but the odds are much higher if you start with a smile than if your first response is anger. 

Don't want your children to be vaccinated?  No problem.  If they have horrible medical problems because of your decision, you get to pay the full cost.  If they die, you get charged with premeditated murder.

If you truly want to be free, and be able to do what you want, give others that very same freedom.

I guess somehow this post morphed from petty to serious issues.  Mostly what I am wanting to say is that there are more than enough truly serious issues in the world that need solving and for the truly trivial things that crop up, get over it or get counseling.

And most of all, please keep your indignation over the trivial from my news feed.

Antigua, 2015

Once again I have found myself in Antigua Guatemala.  This time around, I did a walk through the local market, avoiding most of the tourist stalls and winding my way through the small stalls and glancing at what the local had for sale.

If I even slowed down in my walk, the vendor I was in front of immediately started to talk in Spanish about what they had and hoe great their prices were, and as I moved along, this chant was passed from place to place.  The thing that always hits me in looking at these many small stores is the dichotomy between both how similar they all are and at the same time how different they are.  There are stalls that virtually the same, the same brands and articles and colours that can make you think there is no difference between them, and a slow blending as you move and the next few stalls carry more and more different things so that by the time you have passed fifteen places, the stall has totally different stock, but the echoes of the first one remain, and it all somehow blends.

For some reason, I was reluctant to haul out my camera, and this time I settled for watching the people and things around me with trying to capture it to share the visuals.  The whole place was busier than I have seen before, with a lot of foot traffic during the day and a steady stream of vehicles in the late afternoon.  There was a celebration issuing from a large church, I am unsure as to what was going on, but it was less of a religious feel than a celebration, and a local said it was about the founding of the church.  It made for crowded roads and hordes of people in a good mood.

Earlier I had parked my butt on a park bench, enjoying the day and reading a book.  A local came to share the bench, and we began to talk.

Two hours later we switched to a bench in the shade and continued.

He was only five years younger than me, and curious about Canada, the differences between canada and the USA, and in how I saw Guatemala.  He seemed to be quite interested in the world at large even if he had never traveled outside of Guatemala, and was just beginning to learning about Canada.  That is not all that we talked about, and the whole range included human rights, gay marriage, violence, the military and veterans, children and family, religion and our over all view of the world.

As my way was blocked by the stream of people heading to the church, I started to ask three other tourists what they were doing.  A long conversation evolved out of that as they were on a missionary journey that would take them to at least two more continents, and they were curious about my view on god and religion, so for the second time that afternoon, I ended up in a talk about what I believe and a bit of it was how my belief has changed.  I will not go into the discussion at this time, but it was both pleasant and not heated. 

All in all an interesting day in Antigua, and although I am heading on to San Pedro, I will be looking forward to returning here again.

Refugees

As difficult as it is for refugees, as heart rending as it must be to change countries, to move away from all you know to escape either conflict or persecution, the world at large is a scary place, and the leaders of our countries are not making things any easier.

Governments are caught in a vice, between the will of the people and the limits of law and policy, but there are times when the will of the people needs to win out over the law and policy.

Yes we need to ensure that the people who enter our countries as refugees are indeed the persecuted and not the persecutors or fleeing from legitimate justice.

But.

We also need to open our doors to our new neighbours.

When the government of Iceland set the number of refugees at 50, which considering the size of the country is small, but not outlandish, the people expressed their will, and 5,000 stood up to welcome new neighbours.

That means to me, that the people of Iceland is shouting their collective choice at their government, and those citizens have just shown the rest of the world what it means to be a compassionate human.

Now it is our turn.

Nakusp and AT War

Arrived Friday 24th of July to a dry (as in dusty) town on the Arrow Lakes in BC.  The weather was cool and rainy, and a full day of on and off again showers cut the dust, but was not enough to drop the campfire ban.

Although the town is smallish, pop. 1,500, it seems to have a nice mix of shops and services, and there were posters all over the place advertising the mideaval demo we were doing as part of the SCA event. 

The event itself went well, and the stroll through town in costume helped to build a positive buzz.

The event went smooth, very smooth considering that it was the first time at that site, as well as having a portion of the event open to the public.


The weather was hot, the shade was minimal and the people took it well, and had fun anyway.

New camera

So I have finally gotten a nice camera to replace the one stolen in Peru.
It is a Pentax K-50, and it will be a very long time before I figure out all the bells and whistles on it.

But, here is a picture of my dad and a neighbour at a backyard BBQ.  I do love how a cloudy day softens shadows and lends itself to informal portraiture.

More pics later this summer as I get used to the camera.

Why travel?

I recently read a post on Traveling.

The person writing it was much younger than me, and their outlook on life was very different because of it.  traveling gave him/her a different perspective and linked him/her into the traveling community.  Going back to mainstream after one year of travel would be as major a change for a lot of people as one year of military service or another life changing event.

As an older person, traveling did not affect me as deeply.  More, core values have not changed, and the way I look at others is still the same, albeit from a slightly different angle.  If anything traveling re-affirmed that underneath all the differences of language, culture and clothing, all of us in the Americas are far more alike than we are different.

Being poor sucks.  Being wanted lifts you up.  Needing ask for help when you are used to fending for yourself is a mix of humiliating, humbling, frustrating and depressing things.  Helping a friend when they are stuck down a hole is beyond rewarding, it is life affirming.  Helping a stranger, even with something trivial connects and lifts all.  Being needlessly mean sucks the life out of you and those around you.

All of that and more is brought home into your heart when you travel, and whether you assimilate this on the road or after does not matter.

Whether you travel across the globe or across the street does not matter.

It is the mind set you travel with, and the new angle of looking at the same places and people when you return that matters.

If you fail to see others living, and how they can be happy while having very little and empty inside while having plenty, you have failed in Traveling and just might be failing at Life.

I gave up a lot of material things to travel, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

What I am is not what I own or what I can buy.

It is who I connect with and who I love that define me more than anything else.

The hardest part of Traveling is letting go of connections, never knowing if they will be re-newed, and always being willing to make new ones, knowing how fragile they can be.

Back in Canada

Last time I returned, I wrote about the things I had missed, and the little things that returning meant to me.

This year, those things applied, but perhaps not with quite as much force.  I spent a fair amount of time at the end of my trip in Cusco Peru, not doing much, just hanging out, keeping spending low and waiting for my flight home to roll around.

I tried to spend some time walking around in the city away from the tourist zones, but ended up with a mild head cold and so did very little.  When you are not really used to the elevation, 7,200 feet does take a lot of stamina out of you.  On the other hand, even though I had a cold, when I got to Vancouver, I had a surprising amount of stamina.

The number 1 thing I brought away in the difference between Canada and Peru was what you do not see from the front.

In Peru, for the majority of the buildings, if you could not see it from the front, the walls were not finished or painted.  To my eyes, it gave a lot of the city a half-finished look.  Add in how much was brick and adobe, it left the overwhelming colour of the cities as being red-brown.  Add in the lack of green in terms of front yards and easements, it turns everything into industrial harsh.  Viewed from above, there are quite a few trees and green spots hidden away in courtyards and walled off areas which make for pleasant breaks when you find them, but from the outside reduce the atmosphere of the cities.

And as in most of the other countries, trash was very much a not-in-my-yard affair.  The empty lot next door could be knee deep in trash, but as long as your own yard was clean, that was all that counted.  This seemed to extend to roads and railways as well, in that within towns, the ditches were kept clean, but as soon as the town limit was reached, it was crystal clear because of the amount of trash that piled up on the edges.

In the coastal areas of Peru, they do make large efforts to green up parks and other areas.  All the settlements I noticed were there because of ease of access to water.  The entire coast has so little rain fall that if there is no river, there is no way to live, and they really appreciate the green of grass and trees.  Walking across lawn gets you dirty looks, sitting on the small patches of grass in a public park will soon have a peace officer making you move off it.  But due to the lack of rain, the overall feel of the coast was for light blowing sand and a lack of green.  Very much not my cup of tea.

Canada is the same as ever, and the West Coast will always have views to lift my spirit.  Time to visit friends, make some food, and tell some stories.  I will not blog much during the coming months, but they should be busy ones, and so the time will fly by.

Comments on where to go next are welcome this time, I am contemplating a run to Spain, Morocco and Crete.  Opinions?

Maras Moray

It was a interesting trip.  It started fine, I went to the tour agency and was met by a guide for the two block walk to the roundezvous spot.
After joining the 10 or so milling tourists, most of whom appeared fluent in Spanish, I was placed beside two Latino women who were going on the same tour.
Another guide came along and lead is off to a small bus.  On board and off we went.  Five minutes into the ride I found out I was on the wrong bus.  The guide on the bus made a quick call and informed me I would be let off at a turn out, and a taxi would be along soon to take me to my real shuttle.
Ten minutes or so later a taxi with one of the tour people with less English than I have Spanish picked me up, and off we went following the bus I just got off of.
I had wondered while waiting if the two Latin ladies were also on the wrong bus, and yes they were.  We were at least another ten minutes driving to get to the spot they were dropped off at, then we turned around to catch up with the shuttle we were supposed to be on.
There were five of us in a taxi designed for five.  Crowded but not bad.
Then we got joined by another guide who ended up sitting in a lap.
Fifteen minutes riding in a taxi, listening to three people talking rapid fire Spanish into cell phones, we pulled over to a stop, one of the tour agents got out and paid the taxi driver, and we were off to catch the shuttle with only five in the taxi.
We got to the town where the shuttle was supposed to be waiting for us, and there was no shuttle.
Two more phone calls and we got accurate directions to the shuttle.
Try to load everyone on the shuttle, and lo and behold there are now three too many people to fit on the shuttle.
One who had been picked up on route got let off twenty miles early, and a late joiner ended up in the aisle along with the actual tour guide.
So, with an hour delay, we were off to the town of Maras and the nearby Incan site called Moray.

I could not find a reference for when the site for started.  It is Incan, without doubt in style of stone work and irrigation.  There is a lot of speculation on the actual use of the site, but the majority of people think it is the world's oldest agricultural research station.

Between the location, microclimate and stone work, there is a fifteen degree difference in temperature between the topmost, coldest terrace and the bottom one.

The stones in the lower terraces act as heat sinks and although the temperatures are fairly even from top to bottom during the day, at night, the difference appears.  The narrower the terrace, the more the stone influences the temperature.

There has been much speculation on how the Incas managed to create the vast diversity  of crops, with over 3,000 varieties of potato alone, but it must be rooted in research such as would be possible at Moray.

There was an extremely wet year, and extensive damage was done to the east terracing, with wooden shoring being put in place until funds are available for reconstruction.

The site goes a long way towards showing the strength of the Incas.  They were masters at using natural features for building and agriculture, including irrigation.  One of their greatest influences on modern times though was their dedication to agriculture and the diversity of crops this has brought us.  They experimented to find the best fertilizers, and used a variety depending on both crop and climate.

All in all, a fascinating look into how, in part, they achieved greatness.

Machu Picchu

This is going to be a little more whimsical than usual.

There are many things about the ancient site which are amazing, and the most amazing is the fact that it was built at all.  It is a four day trek from the nearest settlement and is perched on a mountaintop.

Humans are a curious bunch, and I can easily see a hunter or explorer finding the place.  But then whatever possessed them to actually build a city there.  Was it something along the of 'Cousin Bob is always asking to borrow my mattock.  If I move here, the lazy bastard will not come this far to borrow it.'. Or was it more for the view?

Anyway I see the place slowly grow into a hamlet or small town.  Then one day the king says 'I need to get away for a little bit.'

And Cousin Bob then says 'Hey, my cousin Tom has a place Nobody else goes near'

And the next thing Tom knows his hideaway is now a Royal Getaway.

Damn Royals.

Cousin Bob

And wouldn't you love to be the guy putting in the lowest level of terracing while Cousin Bob held the rope?

Lipon Peru

Just down the valley from Cusco, Lipon is a small town with an agricultural base.  The archeologists have dated the settelments in the area as far back as 750AD, with continous habitation from 1100AD, making the Cusco Vally the longest continually inhabited place in the Americas.

The area of Lipon has an elevation of 3,200m, and for the most part is fairly dry.  All of the settlements in the area have some sort of irrigation, the creeks draining the mountains surrounding the valley and the Cusco river running down the middle supply a fair amopunt of water, but going by the efforts of early people, irrigation was the only way to get a decent crop from off of the land.  No pumps were used of course, so it was all done by rock lined channels carefully using the contours and natural features of the land to give terraced fields trickles of water for feeding the crops.




The amount of rock used in this terracing is immense, the channels for the water mostly run on the right side of the image.





The volume of water is not immense, but it is used multiple times, flowing from one terrace down to the next.



There are two areas bracketing the mouth of the valley with remains of habitation.



The fact that the irrigation system still functions quite well after over 1,000 years is amazing.  To my eyes there are traces of how water was diverted at the top of the slope to cover yet another field, one above and to the right of the top image.  The broken area with no terracing could have been left to allow the water to drain into the lower terracing.

No one has done an estimate of the amount of hours of labour that went into creating this field system, but it speaks to me of an area that valued its arable land to an extreme, that such a large amount of labour for a relatively small amount of land.  I did not have time to search the surrounding land, but even the valley way below has many fields which could have been irrigated at a much lower labour cost.

The in accesability of the valley may have an indication as to why it was used, the long winding road would discourage anyone from making their way up, and the valley itself is hidden except from the peaks, making it very hard to attack and easy to defend.

An interesting place, and truly lovely spot for a picnic.

Huacachina

The coast of Peru has a strrrrong contrast between the air and the land.  The land is dry, plants are rare outside of irrigated fields, and those few are hardy trees with whispy feather like leaves, and a rare lost looking palm tree.

The hills show their bones, rocks and sand piled up against a fuzzy horizon, but the air is rich with water causing the fuzziness, blurring the distance and intensifying the heat.

After hours of riding on the bus, it all blurs, and the little towns have very few differences, and to my eyes, far too many buildings are raw and unfinished, with a great many only finished on the front, a smooth well painted front with raw ugly brick around the sides and back.

Just outside the sandy city of Ica is an oasis surrounded by high sand dunes, isolated from the encompasing desert by the walls of sand.  A very small place, the pond in the middle easily walked around in under ten minutes.

I do not know how well the new camera will show, but look for the dots of people on the dunes.  And please ignore the date stamps.  I did not notice them until the upload.

Good news - Bad news

The Good news is my luggage is lighter.

The bad news is my laptop and camera were stolen.

I was riding the bus, it came to a stop and one guy blocked my view of the overhead, and a differnt person swiped my bag with camera and laptop.

The only okay part to this was I did not have my passport in the bag, but it was on my person.

The backup for my pictures was also in the stolen bag, so I am missing a lot of them.

Too irritated at myself to post more, but going into this trip, I told myself fairly frequently that I may either be mugged or robbed., and now that it has, I am not truly distraught, just kinda pissed.

All for now.

Ecuador part 2

Growing up, I learned a little about the nations of the world, mostly from school and a bit from other sources like the news.  Sometimes it would spark me into learning more, but it has always been just surface stuff.  Population size, economic base, trading partners, language(s) spoken, type of government and things like that.  But there are limits on what you find out, limits on where your mind takes you.  I had always thought of Ecuador as a tropical country, and gave little thought as to its climate.  Now that I am here, the place is a bit of a surprise.  Most of the people here live not on the coastal areas, but inland.  The places where the elevation makes for a cooler climate and there is little seasonal variation in temperature.

The cities  have visited, Quito, Lago Agrio, Banos and now Cuenca have all been nice in terms of climate, Lago Agrio was warm for me and fairly humid, but not to the point where air conditioning was a must, merely very nice.  Quito was too high, the 9,000+ feet made walking around a bit of a struggle.

Cuenca has been very nice and I quite enjoy getting lost in the local areas.  Standing in line at an icecream shop, the pleasant lady behind me asked me 'Are you lost?  Gringos never come to this area!'  Upon reflection, I realized I had not seen another obvious tourist in over three hours.  I had just been wandering through a section of town full of old architecture and fascinated by the number of truly small shops and how the were clustered.  Computer stores, women's clothing, men's clothing and tailors.  Auto parts made up about four blocks, shop after shop that had a specialty, all small, all seeming to be ten feet wide and disappearing back to stretch beyond what I could see in the limited light.  Shops that sold small motorized equipment, generators, lawn tractors and chainsaws were all clustered into one block.  A financial district, with small banks and large ones, government offices and lawyers offices with small hole in the wall snack shops and cafes wedged in between.

Even thinking back to how the shops were in the city I grew up in in the 70's, the shops here are tiny things, each surviving in its own niche in the economy of the city.  One of the major differences between Latin America and North America is the sheer number of tiendas here, the small places that sell drinks and snacks are everywhere.  In the older parts of town where foot traffic is heaviest the shops are mostly small ones and there is at least 2 tiendas per block.  Usually more.  It is rare that there is more than one large store per block, and for the most part malls are only on the outskirts of the cities and towns.

I am sure that no one in this town knows more than 10% of who sells what and where.  Yet everyone will know at least one place to get what they are looking for, be it a new belt, shoes or radiator, or at the very least the block where to find such shops.

And for all that there is a lot of vehicle traffic, there are far more who walk of take the bus.  The density of the shops and building lends itself well to ditching your car and walking, the narrowness of the streets and lack of parking also pressure you into avoiding taking your own car, and although there are more motorbikes than in Canada/US, there are not as many as in a lot of other places I have been.  Bicycles also seem few in number, even less than in Quito where the elevation is a drag on physical exertion.

Last up are two pictures, the first taken on the bus between Ambato and Cuenca showing a bit of how densely the country is populated, even in the more rugged rural areas, and one showing the new construction happening behind an old church.

Ecuador

There is a lot to say about this country.  It is poised on the edge of a lot of things, poverty, riches, emergence from the 3rd world, economic ruin and ecological disaster.

Very much a study in edges.  Texaco made a lot of the Amazon Basin in this country into a toxic waste dump.  Then walked away thumbing their nose at those left behind to live in poison.  Chevron bought Texaco and the lawsuit that went with the toxic mess.  Last I heard Chevron is being forced to face the problem, and hopefully in the case before the Canadian Supreme Court, Canada will do it's part to make them face the consequences.

The oil revenue generated does help to lift the country, and it is spending a lot on infrastructure and it's own people to lift them up.  I take this as a great sign and will stand by and applaud as they come to take their place among the good nations of the world.

Oil is not the answer to economic freedom, and I think Ecuador has grasped this concept.  They have seen their economy swing through ups and downs along with the world price of oil, and are choosing to invest in that which will make the most difference in the long run, the education of all.

With all of that though, there are still problems, and poverty and some things of concern to me.  I see the great slopes of the volcanoes and how much is being farmed and I wonder at the sustainability of the agriculture.  Like in Guatemala there are a lot of fields on very steep slopes, and I cannot help but think that a lot of the topsoil washes away with every rain.

Here in Baños, I see a weird mix of ruin and re-build.  It appears that many of the tourist spots have been abandoned, but at the same time others are being re-built.  It is obviously slow a season now, and the hostel I am in is less than 1/4 full.  The number of places actually in ruins is very few, and the over all shape of the town is good, to me it is several large steps above both Nicaragua and Guatemala, and even edging out Costa Rica, mostly because it is striving to find wealth from within and not looking to the 1st world to raise it up.

The youth and energy I saw out for a good time in Quito means to me that this country does not need to be on the world stage to know it is doing fine.  The people here know where they are and where they are going.  That is more than most of us can say.

As the old tree falls, it takes some others with it, but it also creates opportunity for some to reach for the sky.

Cuyabeno part 3.

The trip was as much and more than what I was expecting.  It was a time full of green fecund joy.  The diversity and depth of life in the Amazon needs to be experienced at least once.

At the lodge, the generator shut off between 9 and 10pm, and man made noise disappeared.  In it's place, the sounds from the surrounding jungle edged in louder.  The insects and animals that make their living in the night gave a background drone quite different from during the day.  Far more insect noise and far less from birds.  I drifted off to sleep, not bothered by the sounds, but lulled by them.

The weather during my stay was close to ideal, as I arrived at the entrance to the park, it was raining lightly, but by the time lunch was eaten and the boat was loaded the rain had stopped.  Several times during my stay it rained, but never during the excursions, and most heavily at night.  The temperature was not as warm as I had feared, and the light blankets in the lodge were needed at night.  During the day, sitting in the boat and looking for wildlife was a truly pleasant way to spend time.  The tromp through the jungle was very tiring though, the humidity real made itself known and I went back to the lodge tired and with a sweat soaked shirt.

Here are a few more pictures, A few from the Laguna Grande, which to my Canadian eyes, was a not particularly large lake, and one which was very shallow.  The place was well worth the visit however.

Toucans.  Easy to hear, hard to get a decent picture of.

 

Anaconda, about 20 feet long

The guide slowly teased this feller out of his tunnel and into his hand.

There are a few thousand frenetic ants in the pic.......

Poison Arrow Frog, the colours did not come out decent, he is a much more vibrant orange.

Cuyabeno part 2

The blog would not let me add more text after the pictures, so thus, part 2.

Squirrel Monkeys, birds and a glorious tropical sunset.

More pictures later, as the slow up load while hungry for supper makes for a grouchy Ken.

Cuyabeno National Park, Ecuador part 1.

When I found out that the bus ride from Quito to Lago Agrio was only $8.20, I had to make the trip.  The city is not that great a place, but it is the kick off point for adventure into Cuyabeno Park, and I booked a 4 day 3 night stay at Caiman Lodge.  The lodge itself was nice, rustic but clean and well maintained.  Very limited luxuries, no cell phone reception and the electricity was only on for about 3 hours a day.  The food was nice with a heavy local influence and like most Ecuadorian food, virtually no spices or herbs were used.

But on to the pictures of the river on the way to the lodge, the birds monkeys etc seen during the trip.

The first photo shows the river, and the second a few toucans perched on branches.  It was the only time I saw toucans not flying.  All the other times we could hear them but not see them as they hid behind foliage.

 

 

Two toed Sloth

Quito Ecuador, no photos

I finally got south of the equator.  Quito, the capital of Ecuador is about 16km south of the equator and at an elevation of over 9,000 feet, a temperate to cool place, rather than hot.

I thought I was mostly over a minor head cold when I flew out of Panama, but the elevation change sapped my energy and I am sure delayed my recovery.  I spent most of 5 days not doing much, walking a couple blocks, watching movies and reading.

Finally I felt like I was up to doing a little and went into the central bar and restaurant area, a very short walk from my hostel.

Man did I feel old.

Although the general population of Quito is a mix of old and young much like most other places, what I was wandering through was very much party central, and there were more bars than I have ever seen in that small an area ever before.  The vast majority of people there were under thirty.  Maybe even under twenty-five.  Mixed in with the bars were hostels, averaging over two per block, along with cafes and the odd high end restaurant.  During the day there were not that many people about, but when the sun went down, the locals came out to play, and they came out in large numbers.

The main district is about six blocks by four, but slowly blends into a commercial area to the south, full of shops hotels and professional services.

The evenings tended to be cool, and needed either a light jacket or sweater to be comfortable, but ti was well worth it to wander around and see everyone having a great time.

Quito itself is a modern city, stretched out roughly north - south in a valley.  At night the lights of the city are all but impossible to see from one spot, the valley rolls far too much and there are short ridges hiding some of the suburbs as well.  this means though that from the higher places, you can see a lot of the lights laid out below you, and if you go to a place in the lower levels where there are not many high buildings, you can see the lights spreading up the sides of the valley.

The number of truly tall buildings are few, most seem to top out in the fifteen floor range, but in a place prone to earthquakes, that makes total sense to me.

All in all it is a very nice place to visit, although I have heard it is not the safest place to walk around in after the bars close, the same can be said of a great many cities.

If the clouds clear off a bit tomorrow, I will take a tram ride to the top of a volcano that over looks the city and grab a few photos, but from what the weather forecast says, that is unlikely.

I am drawn to travel over the spine of the Andes next and into the Amazon Rainforest, a small town called Lago Agrio near a large national park.  I plan to spend a few days there, and then back to Quito to fly out for Peru.