A Long Drive

Santa Cruz

Visiting Galapagos - Isabela - Penguins and Marine turtles - Puerto Ayora (Map this!)

When we realized how expensive Galapagos was going to be we made a crucial decision to stay in Galapagos as long as possible, since it is unlikely we will be able to return. So we booked ourselves on a short 5 day cruise to the farthest islands and decided to explore the closer ones ourselves. This is how we found ourselves in Isabela.

Grasshopper	Marine iguanas

Isabela looks like what Puerto Ayora (a rather ugly little town) might have been a few years ago. Spread out over a small area, it has with no paved roads and a dusty little town plaza surrounded by local restaurants serving good food. In the plaza, you will probably find the captain of the boat you just arrived in chatting with some friends. You meet your travel agent bicycling to work; she stops to chat with you for a few minutes about Fabricio, who just took you on a spectacular tour where you snorkelled with a swarm of penguins and saw a white tipped reef shark lazily swim by.

Galapagos Penguin	Sea Lion

What a beautiful place Isabela is. Our hotel was right on the beach, with a balcony from where you could watch the soaring frigate birds who stay up in the air with hardly a flap of their wings, flocks of blue footed boobies looking for sardines, shore birds whee-wheeing and pecking for food on the beach. And yes, of course, hundreds of marine iguanas. Fabricio, the afore-mentioned boatman, took us to a magical place called Los Tunneles. Here we saw lava tunnels in the sea where white tipped reef sharks come to rest and marine turtles swim majestically by. One day we took a peaceful walk to the Charles Darwin research center where Shreesh got to assist the scientist retrieve a giant tortiose egg from its nest in the ground for incubation.

Los Tunneles	Wading Bird

I have a theory that tourism at Galapagos started with the capital at San Cristobal until people realized that Santa Cruz island was more centrally located to the other islands. And so the little town of Puerto Ayora grew to the eyesore it is today. (The wild Santa Cruz, however, with its Tortuga Bay beach, its volcanic highlands area and the dry Baltra area up north is beautiful). Maybe one day Isabela will be spoilt too. I am only glad that we visited before that could happen.

Santa Cruz

Just a theory - Amazing beasts - No fear - Moving eggs

One cannot think about the Galapagos without thinking about science and the name Charles Darwin. It was the unusual life forms found here that proved critical to the formulation of the Theory of Evolution. The Theory of Evolution is just that, a theory that explains observed phenomena, just like the Theory of Gravity, or the Theory of Relativity. All share the same factual plane in the eyes of science and as far as we know all hold true, until some undiscovered data cause us to revise one or all of them. All scientific facts have to be predicated by “As far as we know…” or “Evidence indicates…”, which makes science very exasperating for some.

Black finch

The Theory of Evolution has itself evolved and today it has splintered into subgroups like gradualists who believe that evolution was a slow gradual process and puncuated gradualists that believe that the gradual process at times had sudden rapid spurts. This is only one example, and there are many other groups and subgroups that make it seem as if evolutionary biologists are in violent disagreement about the whole thing. But such is science - for simple black and white answers better to look else where.

Giant Tortoise

The most amazing beasts we have seen so far have been the Giant Tortoises. To this day we do not know how they got to the Galapagos - the only conjecture is that they floated here from South America, but that seems like a ludicrously long distance for a Proto-Giant Tortoise to float. But here they are nonetheless, evolving into twelve species here on the Galapagos. These plodding, slow creatures can live to be over 150 years old and are strict vegetarians.

Blue footed booby

Another very cool thing about the wildlife here in the Galapagos is that it does not have any innate fear of humans! On a trip to Seymour Island we strolled by nesting Frigate birds and Blue Footed Boobies close enough to touch then. We are so used to animals fleeing upon approach that it is quite an experience to see them up close. Even the tiny birds known as Darwin’s Finches seem quite unpreturbed as we walk by. Very strange indeed!

Lava Lizard

Today 97% of the Galapagos are under the National Park system and the visits are strictly regulated. Despite severe threats from introduced plants and animals the islands ecosystem remains largely intact and the Ecuadorean government is working hard to preserve it. We did our little bit today by helping to move some Giant Tortoise eggs from a nest to a controlled incubator for hand-rearing. With luck, the Galapagos will be there to be enjoyed by many future generations!

Tortuga Bay	Frigate bird	Marine iguanas	Isabella

Beef

Foreign markets - The need to buy. (Map this!)

There’s something about markets that is appealing. Visiting the colorful village markets of foreign lands give us a whiff of a foreign life with unfamiliar customs and exotic goods. The sights and smells overwhelm the senses. But for me the most powerful stimulant is the acquisition of the wares on display.

We often bemoan the “materialistic” nature of the U.S., specially the acquisitive greed which burdens people under mountains of debt. Yet, the need to buy is something rooted deep within us. I often find myself at the farmer’s market with way more succulent vegetables and fresh fish than I need and then planning the next meal with a gleam in my eye. Artesan markets are so much more fun when I can actually buy some of those wonderful crafts on display.

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For a higher resolution video click here.
To see more pictures of the Otavalo market, click here.

This trip has been difficult for me as I cannot even indulge myself in one of the most permissible acts of acquisition in my eye - collecting books. With our limited space and no permanent dwelling, we stop ourselves from buying anything which is unnecessary to the trip itself. So we try to capture the exotic local color of the markets in photos and video and be satisfied. But sometimes, in spite of the best intentions, we do end up buying some small things….

Happy in Quito

Mi Encanta - Colonial Mansions - A performance of Carmen - Cotopaxi (Map this!)

“Mi encanta Quito” is my standard response to anyone who asks me how I feel about Quito. A sprawling metropolis of almost two million people, Quito has a spectacular setting in a bowl in the Andes. Around every corner there is a new vista of the mountains - Pichincha Volcano here, Cotopaxi there, unknown spiky jagged crags, and multicolored farms hugging the mountainsides. Every day here is a delight and every morning is pregnant with wonders yet to be discovered. So what is it that I like about this place?

Street where we live.

First and foremost Quito is beautiful. Graceful and ornate colonial architecture complements the beauty of the natural setting. Our hotel is in one of those colonial buildings and has ornate twenty foot ceilings with floor to ceiling double doors that open out onto a balcony. In the evenings we fling open the doors and take in the view of towering Pichincha, if only for an instant. Then there is the mountain climate at the altitude of over nine thousand feet, where the mornings are crisp and chilly and the days are pleasantly warm and dry. The climate alone makes the spirit soar and induces a near constant state of euphoria. Then there are the kind and generous people, like Marcos Lema of the Casa del Sol, who stepped in and allowed us to park our car at his house when all the parking garages were full.

A night at the opera.

The other night we went to see a performance of Carmen, staged a few blocks away at the Teatro Sucre. The quality of the mostly young singers was very good - the American mezzo cast as Carmen had a sultry amber voice that captivated me and the Ecuadorean tenor who played Don Jose had great projection and voice acting. The only exception was chap who sang Escamillo and muddled through the “Torreador” aria. The special evening was topped off with an act of kindness as a fellow opera goer took pity on us as we desperately tried to find a post-performance taxi and called us a cab.

Just outside the city Andean challenges await, such as the cone of strato volcano Cotopaxi, which is visible from the southern parts of Quito.

Cotopaxi.

Its summit rises over 19,000 feet and the glaciated flanks endow it with majestic beauty. The countryside around it had magnificent pastoral beauty and high altitude Paramo but the hike up to the refugio was rather ugly! The trail took us through a fold in the mountain with mostly views of scree and talus fields and located at 15,800 feet was the refugio where we enjoyed a hot coco as we gasped for breath in the thin air. That night our elegant hotel room seemed more cozy and welcoming than ever.

For more pictures of Quito click here

Turbulence within

Brief history - Drug running - New markets- Neo-prohibition - A modest proposal

No discussion of Colombia can be complete without touching on the topic of the FARC or Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia. Founded during the turbulent period in Colombian history known as “La Violencia“, FARC reached its zenith in the late 1990’s with an estimated 15,000 members and free reign over 40-50% of Colombian territory. Despite its now reduced strength, estimated at 7,500 combatants, it still remains one the most powerful illegitimate army organizations.

Last stronghold of the FARC

During the 1980’s the organization made a critical decision in the method it used to fund its war against the Colombian Government - it decided to traffic illegal drugs in exchange for arms. In one of the worse examples of sliding down the slippery slope, the FARC added kidnapping, extortion, and robbery to its methods of raising money for its revolution. At this point it lost popular support and had to turn to forced conscription of young boys and girls to keep its ranks full. Campesinos from around the country fled to Bogotá to escape these policies, swelling its population to the current eight million.

Bogotá: Safe haven?

Now that the FARC are on the run the areas where their presence was the strongest are getting used to a post-FARC environment. The town of Neiva, the former financial center for FARC, now struggles to reinvent itself as an adventure tourism destination. The proprietor of our hotel spent an evening with us showing all the tourist infrastructure and discussing Neiva’s plans for development. A local priest talked to us about how farmers with fourteen year old boys fled his parish to avoid forced conscription into the guerrilla army. Few have returned, still fearful of reprisals. At the end of the evening he treated us to dinner and thanked us for listening.

On Volcán Puracé

The FARC are weakened but definitely still alive and able to conduct operations. It is time to deal them a death blow from where they least expect it: legalization of drugs. This change in US policy will remove their most significant source of funding and cripple their source of arms. Throughout Central America I was struck time and time again at how much pain this ludicrous drug policy has caused but the Colombians have paid the heaviest price by far. If the prohibition of alcohol has taught us anything it is that humans love mind altering substances and will do anything to obtain them, filling the coffers of Al Capone or Pablo Escobar notwithstanding.

Leave this alone!

And now a modest proposal for all you cocaine and crack users out there… Have you considered a switch to crystal meth? Crank is an artisan all-organic substance, locally produced, right here in the US of A! Why see your dollars fly overseas into the coffers of corporate drug cartels when you can support you local mom and pop meth-lab? Make that yucky back of the mouth taste a thing of the past - methamphetamine is best enjoyed mainlined in a clean no-fuss no-muss way! If you want to ruin your life go right ahead, but leave Colombia the f— alone.