Cuenca, Ecuador

Matthew's #5: The Camera

What’s the point of insurance if it might not work and you’re probably not going to use it anyway?

This is the question I asked myself as we prepared to leave for our trip and I attempted to navigate the endlessly complex and code like fine print of travel insurance. What I concluded was that, as far as I could understand purchasing insurance may or may not actually cover a stolen camera and either way it was going to be really expensive. So off I went, lovingly cradling the closest thing I had to a child (in terms size, monetary value and emotional attachment) in my arms, my Canon 50D, fingers twitching to take National Geographic quality pictures of foreign and mysterious lands and finally secure my place in the annals of history as a true photographic genius.

Fast forward 4 weeks to a bus from Banos Ecuador. Anna Lee innocently asks for some chap stick and as I go into the backpack to get it I pull out the camera case (the sanctuary of black foam and fabric security that has nurtured my magnesium alloy child throughout the rigors of third world travel) and realize that though it is closed it feels suspiciously light. As I opened the case my heart sank… empty. My first reaction was disbelief. Perhaps the camera had wandered out of its home to explore the rest of the backpack, maybe have a quick chat with the rain coats stuffed in the bottom and I only had to dig a little deeper to find it. This initial reaction was quickly replaced by a deep, guttural anger.  Someone on this bus has my camera and I want it back. Further inspection revealed that not only was my DSLR gone but also Anna Lees small digital camera and her brand new video camera (not to mention my sweet Target Aviator sunglasses). As I stood up and started furiously pacing up and down the bus searching for a target to incinerate with my anger it became obvious just how far from detachment and enlightenment I actually was. After I scared the stuffing out of the poor Ecuadorian farmer in the seat behind me half to death with my spanglish and horrific charades into him showing me the contents of his bag and coat, I was able to calm down a bit and we worked out that the theft had probably happened on the previous bus we had been on that day. Our best guess is that someone sitting behind us had reached under the seat where our backpack was, opened the bag, taken out the camera case and removed the camera, zipped the case back up and put it back into the bag and then refastened the straps and put it back under our seat. Ironically we had anticipated this to some extent and checked the ability to pull bags through the seat in front of us and satisfied ourselves that this was unlikely (obviously our thief was not so easily dissuaded). The rest of the bus ride was obviously not the most cheerful. When I informed the bus driver what had happened he laughed. Another stupid gringo can’t even hold on to his stuff, what else are you going to do but laugh. The eyes of our fellow passengers were sympathetic (a few even came up and as far as I could tell expressed their sympathy) but similarly helpless. We had become just another statistic and there was nothing we or anyone else could do.  

This experience, though relatively minor in the scheme of things (though it added over two grand to the price of our trip…) did unfortunately has cast a significant shadow over my experience on the trip.  I have realized that I am a relatively gullible person and to be honest, this is not something that I particularly want to change. I want to believe in the basic goodness of human beings, I want to go through life unguarded and open to those around me. This is undoubtedly a symptom of a sheltered and relatively privileged white middle class life and certainly not a luxury that much of our world can afford.  I have also realized (once again) that I am a fairly superficial and selfish person and this is something that I would like to change.  Eventually I have been able to see this experience as both an expensive lesson in travel protocol as well as a lesson in detachment (or some high minded mumbo-jumbo like that...). Despite these lessons it has been a major bummer to not be able to capture some of the amazing things we have seen since Banos. I am afraid that the replacement camera we purchased in Cuenca after the theft (a relatively cheap piece of junk in the US is a further slap in the face at twice the retail price) will not produce National Geographic quality photos, it will also reveal my truly mediocre photographic abilities.

Well, enough with the whiny rant, for those of you who have actually read this far, leaving the camera at home, in the case, or getting it pinched actually does have its merits. A week after the camera walked off I woke up in a green valley in the middle of the Cordillia Blanca. As I stepped out of my tent at 5:00AM I was greeted by 6000 meter glaciated peaks surrounding me on every side. With no camera to capture the moment I was forced to just take it in, with no thought of the future or the past, but only to revel in the precious present. And it was cold and it was beautiful.   

Baños, Ecuador

Our few days here was probably the most "fun" part of our trip.  We tore up a mountain on ATVs, went on a crazy horseback ride, bicycled through a beautiful valley with lots of cascades, Matt jumped off a bridge, we soaked in steaming hot and freezing cold baths, and had a great night with our friends Matt & Anna.

Our Balcony at Hostal Chimenea in Baños

Our ATV adventure up the mt. to la casa del árbol (tree house)  

The Town Square

View from our 25km bike ride down the valley

walking behind Pailón Del Diablo waterfall

Horseback riding (except this portion which was too steep/rocky  so we had to walk the horses)

Riobamba, Ecuador - Market Day

Matthew's #4: From the sea to the table

Forgotten post from Galapagos: random thoughts on food.

What a fabulous world we live in that contains beasts like swordfish.  What must all the other poor miserable fish think about the fact that God and evolution denied them such a perfect weapon leaving them virtually defenseless against the various perils of the open sea? And yet even with his mighty sword and cocky attitude by 3pm one such beast lay defeated on the wet and bloody concrete killing floor of our local fish market at Pelican bay, much to the delight of tourists armed with Canons and local children wide eyed and typically adorable.  By 4pm when I walked past the market again the fishes great deadly head had been chopped off and was planted like some gruesome war trophy on the floor while his flesh was being sold to any landlubber with a couple of dollars, once again man triumphs over even the most bizarre and fearsome creatures of the earth. So as a good adventurous omnivore on vacation with access to a kitchen and a couple of bucks I bravely saddled up to the counter to buy a kilo of this mighty beasts flesh and assert my dominion over the beasts of the sea once and for all (for the absurd price of 2 dollars per kilo!). As I walked back to the apartment swinging my plastic bag of wild caught fresh swordfish my chest swelled with pride at the small part that I had taken in not only the promotion of the local economy but in the promotion of a true and sanctified ethic of food.

Seriously though, misplaced snobbery aside, what a gift to be able to participate in some small way in a simpler and more natural process of eating. As a middle class American suburbanite so much of the food that I eat seems to be more “food like” than something that actually comes from a living, breathing creature.  I can’t help but think that part of living a more compassionate life must be connected with how we experience the food that sustains us and that though I am quite certain that one cannot experience spiritual enlightenment in the freezer section of wal-mart it just might be possible looking into the eyes of a beheaded swordfish and buying the meat for dinner from the man who harvested it from the sea. Yet as I set about preparing this piece of fresh flesh harvested from the sea I couldn’t help but feel a bit unsettled, maybe it was the fact that I had looked into the huge creatures eyes (both before and after his head found its new home upright on the floor) or perhaps it was the uneasy feeling that something that came straight from the sea could not be as clean and hygienic as something that was processed in a factory in Toledo.  Despite the uneasiness Anna Lee and I survived the meal (and actually loved it) and I am inspired once again to connect to the earth, God and my fellow man through what I stuff my face with.   

The Avenue of Volcanoes

Leaving stress of the capital - we drove south through the Avenue of the Volcanoes on a beautiful clear morning.  At Cotopaxi National Park we made it to the parking lot at 4500 meters then hiked near to 5000 meters to the refuge and almost to the glacier but it started to hail and lightening so we returned to the refuge for lunch.  After the storm passed we biked down 3,000 feet the mountain to a laguna at the base.

North and South Illinizas

Volcán Cotopaxi, 5897 meters/19,347 feet

Refuge on Cotopaxi

Escuela Español

First day of Spanish school our professor Cristobal was unable to refrain and took an hour our of lesson to process events in the newspaper indicating that Fidel Castro admitted that his form of socialist government did not work for Cuba.  Cristobal's excitement was hopeful of a domino effect changing popular opinion and eventually Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.  

Throughout our two weeks, our professor went on to discuss his views on the political system in Ecuador, his fear of Correa (emotional/angry machismo, fiscal irresponsibility by giving handouts to the poor, imprisoning dissenters, etc.) the constitution (20 different constitutions since 1830, with the newest constitution being in 2008), FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia w/ lots of activity on the Ecuadorian border and how he would prefer his daughter and son to be murdered rather than kidnapped by this group), taxation, importance of local markets, etc.   We welcomed the political and cultural discussion which was a highlight of our two weeks studying.   

We did also learn some Spanish. So far we've been able to get by in our travels with basic conversational travel Spanish. Through the exercises completed in class and our homework we have some great resources for us to continue to memorize vocab and the foundations for verbs and sentence structure.

As tends to be the case for me, a dear part of our Spanish school experience was the people we met and shared time with.  The first day there was confusion because there were two couples named "Matt & Anna" the other from England with whom we shared fun times and continued to travel south with crossing the Peruvian border, Phillip a great German, Natalie from UK without luggage for over a week and with whom we celebrated her 30th birthday, Nana from Denmark, Erin the Australian psychiatrist, Marcus & Marion from Germany, lively Morton and Anna Leica from Norway to name a few.

Police Riot - Kidnapping President Correa

Today was a bit unsettling in Quito - the police are protesting proposed salary cuts by the government. Matt and I actually went to the presidents house in the historical center of the city this morning where there were several protesters, who as far as we could tell, were peacefully showing there support for the president.  

A few minutes later we were at a museum next to the presidential palace and we were hurriedly asked to leave because the museum was shutting down. As we walked out of the Old City and back towards our school many shops and restaurants were shutting there doors. Finally we hailed a cab to go back to the school as the trollys were all shut down because of road blocks. On the ride back to the school our taxi was forced to turn around when we came to one of the road blocks, a line of burning rubber across the street. Eventually we had to get out and walk the rest of the way to school as the taxi could not get around yet another road block.  At school they requested we return back to our homes and we took a brisk 20 min walk back to our house.

The protesting group took control of the Quito airport by going on the runways and no flights were able to enter or leave.  All the main roads exiting the city were blocked too.  Peru and Colombia closed all border crossings with Ecuador. 

At night we watched the news and saw the military rescue the president from the hospital where the rebel police were keeping him hostage.  We heard the gunshots from our home.  It was pretty crazy, also on the live TV coverage we saw a military person get shot and die.  It was very sad and our host mother was beside herself at the senseless tragedy. 

Early Friday morning we took a taxi to our travel agent and went on a bus with 10 people to the volcano Chimborazzo - we were very pleased to get out of the city into the countryside.  There were no issues with travel except for two huge worn down blockades of dirt across the highway that the bus had to navigate. 

During the situation bbc.com had the best internet coverage as we couldn't totally understand the local TV news stations.  At this point things have somewhat settled but the unstable politics were very interesting to experience and being out the capital was quite the relief for us as will be getting into Peru.  Thanks to all family and friends for you thoughts and prayers during this event, it was much appreciated.

Iglesia de La Compania de Jesus - Quito, Ecuador

Some guidebooks call it the most beautiful church in Latin America - it is more stunning than the pictures can capture.  There are seven tons of gold leaf that cover every area of the main sanctuary and the designs and ornamentation are beautiful.  There is a dramatic painting in the rear of hell and the final judgement.  At the front are the remains of Saint Mariana de Jesus de Paredes, our guide told some very interesting stories about her life and in 1645 she sacrificed herself for the salvation of Quito.

Futbol - Quito vs. Guayaquil

Initially I had this theory that Guayaquil is to Quito, as LA is to New York.  The colorful warm brightness of the coast, was much a different vibe than with the business in black shoes crisp weather in the north.  Definitely a contrast between the two biggest cities in Ecuador and we got to see the rivalry play out in a futbol match.  Feeling loyal to the home team worked and Quito won 4-0.   

Espanol Escuela Amigos

Guayaquil "Barcelona"

Quito - "Deportiva"

Midad El Mundo - Middle of the World

French explorers identified a point as the middle of the world and created a giant monument. Just a few years ago, with GPS technology found out that the middle of the world is a few hundred meters from the originally identified spot.   Now at the "official middle of the world" there is an indigenous run tour that explains about indigeous life and quirky facts about the middle of the world.  I was able to balance and egg upright on a nail, they calimed that it was due to the gravitational forces but I’m not sure.  Either way it was a fun tourist excursion with our German and British friends. 

Mindo – Could Forest, Day 2

The next day we harnessed up and zipped on 10 lines across the top of the cloud forest.  We also did a "tubing" experience, which was several black tubes tied together, six people and two guides and barreling down some rapids.  

Mindo - Cloud Forest, Day 1

      

With 20 people from our Spanish school we traveled northwest from Quito for the weekend to Mindo.  The lower altitude made for a pleasantly warm climate.  We hiked up a hill for two hours then made it to a beautiful waterfall area.  It could be described as an eco park without the formalities necessitated by the American lawsuit system – no forms to sign, no liability waived.  It was implicitly understood that you are responsible for yourself, make appropriate risks as you are able to handle.    Matt braved a 35 feet cliff jump into the base of the waterfall, descended via rope the rocks next to the waterfall then jumped from a rock and I rode the concrete water chute.  A friendly young local made gestures of body posture, dropping rocks to indicate where to land in the water and other unknown comments in Spanish.  We learned later this was our guide.  We passed on the run off a cliff/free fall zip line that was facilitated with only one shady looking piece of dynamic rope, no back up and rusty carabierenrs.  The Norwegians went full force ahead and we were pleased to just record viedo footage of them being adventuresome.

We had the entire hotel to ourselves which allowed us to blare salsa music, take another instructional lesson and attempt the dance steps again. We went into town for a salmon and pork dinner and played volleyball in the streets with the locals.  Stayed up late at the hotel soclizaing and going for a late night empanada run.