Ecuador and Peru

Susan as Superman on zipline

Sea Turtle








Susan on Zipline


















Galapagos Beach





Giant Tortoise












Galapagos Penguin






Frigate Bird mating Display






Cowboy dressed for mountain weather







Clive on Zipline












Oct 13 - Nov. 22 2011 Ecuador and Peru

Soooooo……excited about this trip especially the Galapagos cruise. I am expecting it to be the highlight though
I am sure that it will all be very interesting. I have perused information for quite a long time to come up with this itinerary and then squashed it somewhat so that we would both be happy with the outcome, hopefully - and no major bus rides (local) that Clive has to now endure….me, I still enjoy the movie screen of relaxing on a bus for some time… so only 2 bus rides of about 4 hours that will be quite interesting and then a few of less than 2 hours around Quito.

So how is it working out so far - we have been in and around Quito for a week and then the Galapagos cruise aboard the Endeavour with Quasar Expeditions and now a relaxing week in San Cristobal one of the Galapagos Islands.
The first week was exciting - for both of us and of course I liked all of the activity - as did Clive. We spent one day in Quito wandering the Old Town and that was about right. We took a taxi to the outskirts and found ourselves at the bus depot for Otavalo, the most famous market in Latin America. I guess that it was ok - not very interested in the stuff but enjoyed seeing the dress of the indigenous population - wool hats looking quite Austrian, long skirts of blue or black wool fabric wrapped around the waist and colourful very white blouses with lots of embroidery and a scooped round neck. We enjoyed the small town and the music….and then catching a bus to another cute town 20 minutes away. Of course, we found an interesting and delightful place to ear in the inner courtyard of some hotel that used to be a convent. Also managed local foods like the potato soup that is always - never too salty and often topped with avacado slices and insipid cheese. Also had amazing berry pie (and I don’t usually like pie), great fruit drinks, great ceviche (fish or seafood marinated in lemon or other acidic juices and spices instead of cooking it - it is like room temperature or cooler broth and seemingly cooked fish - definitely a speciality of some Latin countries). The beef is pretty iffy to choose - often like shoe leather. Fish is great and rice or fresh big fresh fries and a small salad of cucumber, lettuce and tomato. The food has been a pleasant surprise though Clive is always searching and testing coffee to his if it meets his standards. I think that we hit that today where organic freshly made coffee happened. I actually bought a leather coat as we wandered the shops in a town. It seems that Belgians or Dutch have established schools to teach leather making as a viable livlihood - much better than trinkets that are so often sold.
I really have been impressed with Ecuador - the friendly people, the large middle class so that we are consuming the stuff as well as the local population. It looks like a lot of aid projects seem to have been successful here - or at least I am appreciating this large middle class. They seem to have established co-operatives for the taxis and I see credit co-operatives so those kinds of things help the locals help themselves. The streets have been clean and in old town Quito there has been a large police presence so that you do feel safe wandering the streets. Transportation has been great and easy to do - getting to the right bus station. The trolley is easy to use - it has a turnstile process to get on so pretty organized and then they have a dedicated lane with large curbs so cars can not enter even if they wanted to.

Then we bussed back to Quito, changed bus stations and straight to Mindo. Found a great little hotel run by an American/Ecuadorean couple and Clive found some more organic coffee beans! We had two wonderful days with a bird watcher - breakfast at 5am and then out for the biggest part of the day. We saw so many birds and he showed us constantly on his tripod with a magnification of 20x. The colourful beaks of the toucans, tangers and then of course the humming birds. It was really a wonderful experience - and I gained some appreciation of finding birds. We also saw numerous cock of the rock - leks the ones with red crowns that dance make noises to woo the female - and they are reputed to be difficult to find but of course the birding guys know exactly where to go - and the birds are pretty much reliably there. Our birding guide ended up as a guide because of a gov’t program that trained him in his town - after his potential soccer career ended due to a broken foot in a game. Must mention that we went zip lining and Clive was amazing - he went across one of the lines as Superman, that is face and chest downwards and his legs wrapped around the guide - I don`t think he realized until they got him going what was going on and then he said - oh well. After all, I had the opportunity to do each zipline in a different position - upside down, face up, face down, sometimes tandem.

The next highlight was El Porvenir which we ended up at quite by chance as we got no response from our email. We were the only guests in this hacienda place just outside of Cotopaxi Park. It was marvellous…the whole experience. I went walking in the hills and loved every minute of that - a rather barren countryside these Andes are. Then we had a half day of horse back riding wearing heavy wool ponchos and chaps with sheepskin exteriors. We never saw Cotopaxi but enjoyed riding and seeing the mist in the distance ever changing but not elevating to expose the peak. Clive was able to walk with the horse and I managed to trot and canter around the fields - so we were both satisfied. The lodge had a fire and fresh roses everywhere, wood floors, old Persian type carpets and so many things to look at. Dinner was an amazing experience as we were led into the dining room where there was a wood fire burning, a candle burning on every table and roses everywhere - and we were the only 2 guests!. I soaked it all in and enjoyed every moment. The food was good with soup, main course and a choice of desserts. We did have a steak before we left and certainly awful. But the whole experience was wonderful - indoors, outdoors, walking, riding (I managed to enjoy a little old lady that spent the day picking something like saskatoons in the highlands - she graciously posed for a picture for me) and the ambience and wonderful staff. …and this was a cheap hacienda!

Then the Galapagos - everything went perfectly. We enjoyed every moment of that as well though I expected it to be a highlight - I mean how can you go wrong when everything is laid on and all you have to do is indulge. It was relaxing and so busy. Every day included at least one snorkel experience and one or two walks and there were a couple of dinghy excursions. The guides were enthusiastic and fluent in English. They keep a real handle on managing the environment and the tourists - you can only land at these places if you have a guide and you must stay with the guide at all times. Of course, they give explanations and share their enthusiasm as well as a real slant on environmental protection and little human interference. You get very close to the birds, sea lions, and iguanas. We saw an egg in a nest, young birds in their nests, male frigate birds blowing up their big red throats to attract the female, a newly arrived sea lion (saw the placenta), tortoises, albatrosses and various boobies (red footed, blue footed and nazca). We saw turtles and sharks - attracted the sharks by the lights at night at the back of the boat. The other people (32 total) on the boat were a mixture of European, American and Canadian and a surprising number of young people - nearly half. The boat was roomy, the food excellent with lots of salads and fresh fruits. A buffet with interesting stuff including lots of local stuff and always fresh juices after the excursions. The snorkelling was excellent and the wetsuit pretty much necessary - saw lots of big fish including white tipped sharks, turtles, a couple of smaller rays and the regular stuff. Also nice to look up at the rock walls with birds so close while snorkelling along the walls. The walks were so close to the birds and tortoises. I tried stepping a little closer to the tortoises and watched them draw their heads and front feet inwards and a hiss to start off before the retraction. We learned that the alpha male sea lion is to be given a wide berth however it was fun on occasions to swim with the sea lions as they went around and around in the water. Sea lions everywhere, every island unlike many other species which are prolific on one island and possibly not on any others - or in a very small number elsewhere.

One thing that I am reminded of everyday as we practice here is listening and looking for any movement. It takes patience and observation - so you have to slow down to appreciate being in nature. It is a quiet pursuit - almost meditatitative in nature thoug here everything is often only a few feet away.

We are relaxing in San Cristobal at a cute little hotel overlooking the harbour. There are lots of beaches with sea lions, some good snorkelling and yesterday we biked up into the highlands - good for Clive to have achieved that plus a little hike upwards! - his least favorite direction. Today it is back to the beach. Restaurants do not have the variety of the mainland but we are finding pretty good stuff. Electricity sometimes goes out here - so no toast yesterday, no internet on many days. The island does have 3 wind towers and so they are reducing reliance on diesel.

Staying here for a week is possibly a bit too long - but I am interested to feel the difference between and cruise and staying on an island. The cruise puts you in a bubble and this does not. We are at the edge of tourist season so many hotels and cafes have very few customers. The sales job for the Galalpagos has been very successful. Many tourists are bringing in lots of currency and all of the boat staff is supposed to be from the Galapagos so the people are managing a reasonably good livelihood and learning about the environment and taking pride. They are trying to let the endemic species thrive and not introduce others. On one of the islands they got rid of the feral goats by having the female with extra hormones to attract the males - they then got rid of the males and the population. Feral cats and dogs are not so easy to manipulate the numbers though the vets are spaying some of the animals at no cost to the locals. So if all goes according to plan the Galapagos will be a wonderful place to get close to various birds and sea lions and so on and the local population will also thrive. It sounds win-win to me.

Well, so many words - partly because I have the time now to do this and read and yoga and stuff. No tv or internet or telephone to distract me. Blah, blah, blah…its great. ...posting this 2 days later as there has been no internet for the past couple of days and even the electricity can go out for hours at a time. Still pretty civilized!