The 2 day Machu Picchu trip started with a wobbly the evening before, when reception gave us a note from the tour organiser advising us to arrange a 3.30am wakeup for a 4.30 departure. After the Manu timetable we were weary and short on on sleep and clean clothing, so I dusted the reception desk with some anglo saxon expletives. To no good effect but we at least opted for a 4 am rise figuring 30 mins prep was enough. As with Manu there was a luggage limit, but for a different reason which we found out about later.
The streets were quiet at 4.30 am, why wouldnt they be, so the driver could give it a good boot along the cobbled lanes, climbing out of town and up a valley on the way to the train which would take us there. It turned out to be a 2 hr trip which shows how much studying and pre planning we had done. It was also cold probably near freezing so we huddled in the back seat. Leaving town we joined a queue for a police inspection of the drivers papers. Why do they bother I wondered. We had another real surprise further on when the driver turned off the road and drove up onto the rail track. The car straddled the tracks and was only wide enough for a single vehicle. I photographed it to prove it! We drove that way for about 20 minutes, bumpy because of the coarse metal on the track and not that kind on ther car I thought. By 6.45 am, fully light, we arrived at the village of Ollyanta, for the train connection. There was smoke everywhere but our train was a beautiful 2 carriage diesel, a touristo carriage with food and drinks service etc. Fine by us.
The trip through to the village at the foot of Machu Picchu, called Aguas Callientes was wonderful trip and it would have been worth it for that alone. It followed the gorge of the Urubamba river, which we had first met at higher elevations the day before, at the Pisac market. The terrain started steep, dry and mountainous and I couldnt get Queenstown out of my mind, but the terrain became progressively wetter and more forest covered while the rugged peaks changed in style to become steep sided, rounded, soaring hills like Milford sound. Later we found they were glacial granites, very much like Milford, or maybe Yosemite Valley. The train track was hard against the flank of the gorge, either on alluvial deposits or cut into the rock. The river was a steep, rough and intimidating water, doing its best to undercut the rail track We slowed to an absolute crawl on several occasions to negotiate less stable sections of track with the river undercutting the bank, and we saw teams of men working these areas it must be such a mission to keep the track open. The mountains were close and high, you needed to press against the window and look uo to see their tops, sometimes it felt like driving in the Homer tunnel area for the same reason. We just loved the trip it was wilderness travel from the comfort of a good train. 1hr 20 mns later we were at Agues Callientes, crammed on the riverbank and pushing a short distance uphill, where a tributary had opened some more building space. Otherwise the mountains climbed as very steep granite cliffs, around the town. The town had the reailway line through it which seemed to serve as the main street also, then several narrow steep streets running of it. A busy market, restaurants and hotels for the vistors as this was the Machu Picchu drop off point and a tourist town. No vehicles except for a fleet of mid sized buses moving visitors, 400 per day, up the mountain and back. We stayed in the town that night and trained out the following day. It was an interesting place to stay, quite remote and with fairly basic facilities. Now we found out about luggage. There are no taxis, streets are steep and they boot you of the bus at the end of the day to find your own way. Not a soul in town spoke english and for a while I wondered if our lodging existed. We trapsed around, pretty near the end of our tethers but found it. You wouldnt know from the outside it was a hotel. In our bedroom the toilet was leaking and floors were awash. Anyway we headed out for a beer and a bite, possibly responsible for a bout of tummy bug we have just recovered from, but thats another story.
Back to the present, we were soon on a bus and away, a 20 minute drive. Machu Picchu is surrounded by plummeting cliffs except for part of one flank, a 45 degree slope that a single lane gravel roadroad zig zags up, like a ski field road. We spilled out of the bus, were hooked up with a small group and a guide and were off, walking almost directly into the foot of the city.
Initial impresions were about the location. The city, as it is referred to, is on a ridge which extends at a right angle from a much higher ridge behind it. The Mach Picchu ridge swoops down to form a saddle on which most of the buildings sit, then climbs to a final dramatic point. Around this ridge, far below, is the river, making a U shape around the Machu Picchu ridge. On a glorious sunny day, with the hills cloaked in green, it was a scenic wonderland. Just the thought of building anything up there seemed extraordinary, let alone on the scale that was accomplished. The river was regarded by the Incas as a reflection of the milky way, a fabulous thought I think, and Machu Picchu and other sites are deliberately placed at various locations along it.
We walked into the city and explored the remains which are in excellent condition. The overwhelming impression is the beauty and perfection of the stonework, which formed the paths, walls, water channels and buildings. The stone blocks are not square they have non 90 degree angles, and often the walls curve or lean in very slightly. The blocks were individually ground along their various faces and edges, so they lock together perfectly. This gives a perfect surface and often gaps you could not slide a fine knidfe into, but also an interesting mosaic effect with the different shapes and sizes of the rocks, the largest weighing tons and baffling as to how they were moved into place. The Incas also used the existing rock features so that large stone faces and rock smoothly incorporate into the structures. We also enjoyed learning about the site, how the Inca culture was very preoccupied with their agrarian economy, tracking the seasons and the heavens, and of course offering a few sacrifices as payback to the forces around them. We loved the sun temple, with its perfectly positioned windows to admit the sun at solstice and equinox, and we also saw a carved stone set at a 13 degrees angle being the latitude of the site. So on the longest day the stone would throw no shadow.
We climbed to the back of the city for the famous view looking down on the buildings and up to the peak beyond them, with the ridge dropping away on both sides. A view that you could not get enough of but at the same time quite hard to capture in a photograph. The light was bit flat middle of the day it would be a good place to sleep over and see at sunrise or sun set.
After a bite of lunch we headed off for two walks, following the Inca trails they used to approach the city from the north and the south, in effect crossing the higher ridge behind to access the Manch Picchu ridge. The southern route was not open for a great distance. It was alarmingly exposed, then crossed a bridge that had been restored and headed across a fault line in a sheer cliff. I photograped it to show you but it would take guts to walk it, and it was closed off to keep the tourist attrition rate down. While there were a lot of peole in the city and it could be hard to get a photo of a detail without heads popping up, it didnt detract. We all just shrunk into the landscape and it was a respectful crowd. I think we all felt the same way about being there and somehow the people gave the place some life, as it would have had in its day.
The second walk we took was up to the Sun Gate, a stone gateway in a narrow notch in the ridge above us and to the north east. This is the point the principle Inca trail cut over the ridge and down to Machu Picchu. It is also a feature in the solar calendar, as the sun rises through the notch, as viewed from the city, but only at a specific point in the year. It was very hot in the sun and walking at altitude. Shanti has been a trooper doing all the walks and putting up with occasional discomfort, but this was her gutsiest moment as she had had it. We thought about flagging it but pushed on and reached the top, only an hours walk but a climb of 500 ft, in the sun and at the end of a long day. We sat happily leaning against the gateway sipping our last water, then we realised this was our last place of visit and the end of our travels. From there on we would be retracing our steps down the mountain, back to Cusco, Lima and out to Santiago Chile, for our connecting flight to NZ. The Sun Gate seemed the most perfect place to finally arrive at, to turn around from and to head home.
THE END.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Manu Forest, day 3 and attempted day 4 departure
The morning trip would have to be my Manu forest highlight. We travelled again for almost an hour, to an Oxbow lake off the main river, but this time a reasonable sized body of water. We were there by 6,30 am as the first sun was on the water, a very beautiful sight with mirror still water and the forest looming over it on all sides. We stepped onto a floating platform, secured on two canoes which two boatsmen paddled. On the platform were untethered chairs. Move around the platform but dont fall in we were advised, not that the many Piranahs in the lake are anything near as dangerous as popularly suggested.
We paddled out in silence into this breathtaking view, but it was anything but silent as the Red Howlers were in full voice. Their call is different from the Black Howlers further north, to me it lacked the gruff woof woof stage of the call, then it sounded more like steel being dragged over stone or cement. Maybe a cement mixer, maybe a grader or digger blade scrapping a cement pad, or maybe a steel drum being dragged on its edge across cement. The sound is long and sustained, powerful and eery, even though not high decibel unless close. It carries and penetrates - no wonder early explorers pushing into the Amazon river system thought the forest was haunted. If you dint know what it was the imagination would run riot and haunted by monsters is exactly what it sounds like. Today however, we just sat and listened to it echo and drift around us. We agreed later it was one of the most special experiences we have had.
We crossed the lake and drifted down the sunny margin. Several remarkable birds live there, the first we encountered being the Screecher. Like a turkey or a vulture with a ridiculous single feather spike on its head, it launches into occassional calls like a donkey (not a screech), but a demented donkey at that. Others join in and the lake is awash for a few moments with their noise. A call was also what led us to the next bird, the Hoatzin. This is a species that many visit the area to see, being unique to the Amazon. It is primitive in many respects, with for example the ability of unfledged yougsters to escape danger by descending under water, climbing back up into the trees with spurs on their wings. That behaviour,and the spurs, not being present in the adult. The birds have the strangest call. Image making a loud "Huff Huff", without the actual word but only the audible sound of your breath exhaling. Our guide could do it to perfection. It would be repeated by the many birds in the trees beside us who would then poke their heads out to see what we were on about, then fly off if we were too close. They have a corona of feather spikes on their undersized heads, like the statue of liberty except on the centreline of the head, apache style. Their obvious dimwittedness, odd proportions, comical peering through the trees and outbusts of strange huffing noises were pure Dr Zeuss. Meanwhile we drifted on a mirror lake, shaking our heads at the sight.
Further down the margin, finally we saw something both of us have always wanted to see, a Nightjar at close range. We saw two sunning themselves, very difficult to initially spot being just like dead wood. These are night insect hunters like the owl with the same silent flitting flight, which we saw when the bird responded to our being so close. Being lighter built birds than Owls their flight is even more floating, with quick wing flicks and rolling, floating periods of drift.
Out in the lake we could hear the chitter of an Otter, which we paddled out to. This was our prime target,the Giant Amazon Otter growing up to 2m fully extended. First we saw a lone male then a family group of five. Very active and engaging, particularly the three youngters who keep up a predictable chatter and popped their heads up occasionally to watch us. We moved out of the sunny side of the lake where the heat was getting intense, onto the shaded margin, again exploring the details of the lake edge. It was full of insects, frogs and their spawn, bird life including jacanas (that walk on lily pads on spread toes), and plant life. Pure luxury.
Regrettably we couldnt do it all day and returned to our mooring, beside a thatched roof with bats roosting under neath. They scattered like leaves as we approached, then resettled but watchfully, with their pinprick eyes watching us (from upside down).
We headed home for lunch, then devoted the afternoon to looking for monkeys, using a network of gridded tracks built in a section of forest so you could more easily move about and change direction. The monkeys are very wild and move away when they encounter you, often noisily and with the alpha male glaring at you from a height, chattering, baring his teeth and shaking the branch to remind you who is boss. The next morning we also saw the second smallest species, a 500gm Saddlebacked Tamarind These tinies can scamper around the fringes of the canopy and fling themselves metres between greenery. They are kitten size, with coresponding high pitched chittering calls. Another mammal we enjoyed seeing was the Giant Capybara, an almost pig sized guinea pig look alike. The word giant prefixes many species here, the Amazon specialises in the largest version of a wide range of animals and birds.
That evening we socialised with our new friends, reminiscing on a wonderful day and packing for an early start for the 2 hr canoe trip, this time up river against the current, to the airstrip called Bocca Manu. The rest of the day was a frustrating wait while the local operator battled on the crappy radio to establish where the plane was, the answer by nighfall being nowhere, it was grounded. We stayed in huts at the airport, ok but only just, with grotty bathrooms about a 40m walk from our room. We had only packed the most minimal amounts of clothing and had nothing left that was not filthy and wet, but a shower did bit appeal we looked cleaner than the water, so we stripped off and climbed into the silk sacks bought for such an emergency, under a mossie net. We emptied the remainder of a can of fly spray into the hut to slow the cockrach traffic down, then were up early the next morning in the hope of a plane. It didnt arrive but the tour company sent in a chopper, so although not feeling well slept and with an additional collection of mossie bites, we were pretty happy at the outcome. The flight was slower, at about 80 knots, noisy and rattling, but exciting too. We tracked no more than 1500 ft over the forest then climbed above the cloud forest cloud mass, then over Manchu Picchu which we were due to visit the next day. Regrettably we had msissed our connection in Cusco to drive into a high Andean market, at Pisac, but we were able to hire a cab and do a shorty version of the trip before heading back to out hote1. That drive gave us the first chance to see stand alone Inca ruins, at roadside, so we knew we were in for a big treat the next two days, in Manchu Picchu.
We absolutely loved Cusco and didnt get enough of it. It is great to be at almost 11,000ft, it feels exhileratings once acclimatised. The dry hill county around the city is very central otago like, except dotted with village activity. The glimpses of the high Andean mountains, are tantalising. The city itself is natural materials, tiled roofs, granite stone walss, brick and mud brick, plastered. Ornate colonial style doors, balconies and arches decorate buildings and centre city are the most magnificent stone buildfings you could imagine. The city is full of pagentry, Catholicism and local custom alike. Hill people with their black platted hair, trilby like hats and colourful woven clothes come to town to sell. The women carry children on their back, tied by a colouful shawl. The air is dry and cool at night, even cold (maybe 5 degrees this time of year?). Datytime its mid teens but the sun has a kick, at altitude. The city is quite clean, and we liked the pople even though they seemed indifferent to us! We felt safe and wanting to see a lot more - we agree this is the place we would most want to come back to. Manchu Picchu would only further confirm that, as we were about to find out.
sx
We paddled out in silence into this breathtaking view, but it was anything but silent as the Red Howlers were in full voice. Their call is different from the Black Howlers further north, to me it lacked the gruff woof woof stage of the call, then it sounded more like steel being dragged over stone or cement. Maybe a cement mixer, maybe a grader or digger blade scrapping a cement pad, or maybe a steel drum being dragged on its edge across cement. The sound is long and sustained, powerful and eery, even though not high decibel unless close. It carries and penetrates - no wonder early explorers pushing into the Amazon river system thought the forest was haunted. If you dint know what it was the imagination would run riot and haunted by monsters is exactly what it sounds like. Today however, we just sat and listened to it echo and drift around us. We agreed later it was one of the most special experiences we have had.
We crossed the lake and drifted down the sunny margin. Several remarkable birds live there, the first we encountered being the Screecher. Like a turkey or a vulture with a ridiculous single feather spike on its head, it launches into occassional calls like a donkey (not a screech), but a demented donkey at that. Others join in and the lake is awash for a few moments with their noise. A call was also what led us to the next bird, the Hoatzin. This is a species that many visit the area to see, being unique to the Amazon. It is primitive in many respects, with for example the ability of unfledged yougsters to escape danger by descending under water, climbing back up into the trees with spurs on their wings. That behaviour,and the spurs, not being present in the adult. The birds have the strangest call. Image making a loud "Huff Huff", without the actual word but only the audible sound of your breath exhaling. Our guide could do it to perfection. It would be repeated by the many birds in the trees beside us who would then poke their heads out to see what we were on about, then fly off if we were too close. They have a corona of feather spikes on their undersized heads, like the statue of liberty except on the centreline of the head, apache style. Their obvious dimwittedness, odd proportions, comical peering through the trees and outbusts of strange huffing noises were pure Dr Zeuss. Meanwhile we drifted on a mirror lake, shaking our heads at the sight.
Further down the margin, finally we saw something both of us have always wanted to see, a Nightjar at close range. We saw two sunning themselves, very difficult to initially spot being just like dead wood. These are night insect hunters like the owl with the same silent flitting flight, which we saw when the bird responded to our being so close. Being lighter built birds than Owls their flight is even more floating, with quick wing flicks and rolling, floating periods of drift.
Out in the lake we could hear the chitter of an Otter, which we paddled out to. This was our prime target,the Giant Amazon Otter growing up to 2m fully extended. First we saw a lone male then a family group of five. Very active and engaging, particularly the three youngters who keep up a predictable chatter and popped their heads up occasionally to watch us. We moved out of the sunny side of the lake where the heat was getting intense, onto the shaded margin, again exploring the details of the lake edge. It was full of insects, frogs and their spawn, bird life including jacanas (that walk on lily pads on spread toes), and plant life. Pure luxury.
Regrettably we couldnt do it all day and returned to our mooring, beside a thatched roof with bats roosting under neath. They scattered like leaves as we approached, then resettled but watchfully, with their pinprick eyes watching us (from upside down).
We headed home for lunch, then devoted the afternoon to looking for monkeys, using a network of gridded tracks built in a section of forest so you could more easily move about and change direction. The monkeys are very wild and move away when they encounter you, often noisily and with the alpha male glaring at you from a height, chattering, baring his teeth and shaking the branch to remind you who is boss. The next morning we also saw the second smallest species, a 500gm Saddlebacked Tamarind These tinies can scamper around the fringes of the canopy and fling themselves metres between greenery. They are kitten size, with coresponding high pitched chittering calls. Another mammal we enjoyed seeing was the Giant Capybara, an almost pig sized guinea pig look alike. The word giant prefixes many species here, the Amazon specialises in the largest version of a wide range of animals and birds.
That evening we socialised with our new friends, reminiscing on a wonderful day and packing for an early start for the 2 hr canoe trip, this time up river against the current, to the airstrip called Bocca Manu. The rest of the day was a frustrating wait while the local operator battled on the crappy radio to establish where the plane was, the answer by nighfall being nowhere, it was grounded. We stayed in huts at the airport, ok but only just, with grotty bathrooms about a 40m walk from our room. We had only packed the most minimal amounts of clothing and had nothing left that was not filthy and wet, but a shower did bit appeal we looked cleaner than the water, so we stripped off and climbed into the silk sacks bought for such an emergency, under a mossie net. We emptied the remainder of a can of fly spray into the hut to slow the cockrach traffic down, then were up early the next morning in the hope of a plane. It didnt arrive but the tour company sent in a chopper, so although not feeling well slept and with an additional collection of mossie bites, we were pretty happy at the outcome. The flight was slower, at about 80 knots, noisy and rattling, but exciting too. We tracked no more than 1500 ft over the forest then climbed above the cloud forest cloud mass, then over Manchu Picchu which we were due to visit the next day. Regrettably we had msissed our connection in Cusco to drive into a high Andean market, at Pisac, but we were able to hire a cab and do a shorty version of the trip before heading back to out hote1. That drive gave us the first chance to see stand alone Inca ruins, at roadside, so we knew we were in for a big treat the next two days, in Manchu Picchu.
We absolutely loved Cusco and didnt get enough of it. It is great to be at almost 11,000ft, it feels exhileratings once acclimatised. The dry hill county around the city is very central otago like, except dotted with village activity. The glimpses of the high Andean mountains, are tantalising. The city itself is natural materials, tiled roofs, granite stone walss, brick and mud brick, plastered. Ornate colonial style doors, balconies and arches decorate buildings and centre city are the most magnificent stone buildfings you could imagine. The city is full of pagentry, Catholicism and local custom alike. Hill people with their black platted hair, trilby like hats and colourful woven clothes come to town to sell. The women carry children on their back, tied by a colouful shawl. The air is dry and cool at night, even cold (maybe 5 degrees this time of year?). Datytime its mid teens but the sun has a kick, at altitude. The city is quite clean, and we liked the pople even though they seemed indifferent to us! We felt safe and wanting to see a lot more - we agree this is the place we would most want to come back to. Manchu Picchu would only further confirm that, as we were about to find out.
sx
Manu Forest, Amazon, day 2.
A long day!
By 6am, with just over an hours boat trip and walk behind us, we stepped onto a viewing platform overlooking a clay bank, at the back of a narrow waterway and the forest margin. It was early light and what a racket from the hundreds of parrots in the trees over the bank. This was a clay lick where they congregate on a daily basis. The clay bank is behind a small flood channel, separate from the river and with only a little water. Enough however for the two Caimen crocs we immediately spotted in it! The exposed clay bank has minerals the birds like to eat, but on a seasonal basis depending on their current diet. We knew this was a quiet period in their feeding at the lick but still hoped to see the main event, a visit by Macaw parrots.
It was to be a long wait but we were well entertained by the abundance of bird life, plus breakfast had been carried in so we had fruit salad, pancakes, maple syrup, and coffee to enjoy. A Caimen made a noisy lunge at some stage, maybe at a fish, hundreds of various parrots caroused in the tree tops, and we had regular visitations from a large forest hawk also contemplating breakfast but causing a commotion amongst the parrots.
We also had several views of the beautiful Sun Bittern, a bird we had both read about as youngsters in Gerald Durrells "Drunken Forest." It spread its wings occassionally to reveal a spectacular patterned display.
The parrots gather daily but dont necessarily decend onto the clay lick, including today. But over the morning Macaws had been gathering. They are large parrots, the Scarlets 75cm long, and colourful in flight as they open their wings and tails. They screech the whole time, earsplitting if it is near you or if there are a lot of them. They are wonderfukl aerialists´and spent their time either preening and chattering, or wheeling about to inspect the scene. Finally about 11 am it was time to visit the clay lick and down they came, lining up mostly on a horizontal fracture on the bank and knawing away at it. We were relieved as much as delighted to see it, having already thought of it as a key sight we wanted to see in the area. Its a very colorful and noisy spectacle which we could just sit back and enjoy at close range. Generally speaking, with the high canopy and flat terrain you dont get the close views of wildlife that we have had elsehere. Everything seems to be on a larger scale including viewing distances, reflected in a lot of my photos in the area.
We headed home very happily, for lunch and a brief siesta before the next event, a 1.5 hr walk into another clay lick, this time one that attracts mammals, the tapir specifically. Grazing mamals like the Tapir and even Monkeys also eat crtain clay deposits, as a dietary and digestive supplement. Their importance is that these sites can often be the only way to view the otherwise elusive animals that visit them. The walk in to the lick was timed to get us there late afternoon, and we would stay on to see a Tapir, being a nocturnal animal. The walk in was another enjoyable but sweaty walk through the primal forest, with plenty of stops to listen for and to see the sights. We met the Army ant, swarming in a line across the forest floor. They dont build nests but keep moving and devouring anything edible they can subdue on the the way. They are respected for their bite and we kept our distance. We also met another very large ant, a tree trunk dweller, reputed to have one of the three worst stings in the Jungle, the others belonging to the scorpion and the fresh water sting ray. These ones patrolled the tree trunk in which they lived, so casual leaning against tree trunks is not a local habit. We also met a third ant, the fire ant, which is also a hollow tree trunk dweller, in this case keeping the tree stripped perfectly clean of any foreign plants, so the trunk shines like a beacon compared to the bedecked trunks of everything else. The fire ant is so called for the effect of its bite, so again its to be watched out for and a further benefit of having a track to walk versus bush bashing.
We made the lick by late afternoion and climbed into the 4m high blind, complete with mattresses and mosquito nets. We had only settled in and sitting in silence for minutes when our guide alerted us - a Tapir was approaching, and it was not yet dark. We could hear the occassional snap of a twicg, then 10m into the forest could just make out its shape. The Tapir is a large, 300kg grazing animal, smooth skinned, with an extended nose which it uses to grip vegetation on which it feeds. Its a difficult animal to see and this one was showing its caution in waiting and watching before it came forward. Research showed that it has poor eyesight, average hearing and good sense of smell, but also that it was very concerned with ground level but indifferent to activity in the canopy. Therefore with reasonable quietness, it would not be concerned with us on a 4m high platform. Thats what happened and it came forward into the small muddy area at our feet and licked away at the mud. We could move about quietly, whisper and take photos without disturbing it. Perhaps for 20 minutes we obseved before it slipped away, then we lay down (and dozed) waiting for the next one. However time was passing and we were very happy with what we had seen anyway, so we commenced our walk home in the pitch black. This part of the trip was intended to look for night life and we found plenty. Bats flicked around us and the screech Owl called repeatedly. We saw numerous spiders on trackside vegetation, the best would have been shantis full hand size, with its legs spread. We found the black bush scorpion, a good size, and biggest find was to see two of the three poison arrow frogs that natives use to dress their arrow tips. They are small, colourful, and its surprising to think how toxic they are, easily fatal through mishandling.
A bronze coloured snake crossed our path and we also disturbed an Armadillo which crashed of into the forest. At times we passed close to Peccaries, the forest pig with a reputation for agression but that was an exageration, said our guide. They have a distinctive musky smell, when close, like for example our red deer. Finally we reached the bridge over the creek next to the lodge, and in the panel of clear sky saw it was blazing with stars, including the southern cross. We fell into bed whacked, but not without a new respect for the crawling night life and an interest in checking our cabin before we walked around its floors (even though the cabin was netted in). On our first night we had sprayed the room because we could hear mossies, and next morning there was a monster spider dead in our shower - i picked it up in the dim light before realising what it was. Im surprised the thud didnt wake us up in the night when it dropped!
sx
By 6am, with just over an hours boat trip and walk behind us, we stepped onto a viewing platform overlooking a clay bank, at the back of a narrow waterway and the forest margin. It was early light and what a racket from the hundreds of parrots in the trees over the bank. This was a clay lick where they congregate on a daily basis. The clay bank is behind a small flood channel, separate from the river and with only a little water. Enough however for the two Caimen crocs we immediately spotted in it! The exposed clay bank has minerals the birds like to eat, but on a seasonal basis depending on their current diet. We knew this was a quiet period in their feeding at the lick but still hoped to see the main event, a visit by Macaw parrots.
It was to be a long wait but we were well entertained by the abundance of bird life, plus breakfast had been carried in so we had fruit salad, pancakes, maple syrup, and coffee to enjoy. A Caimen made a noisy lunge at some stage, maybe at a fish, hundreds of various parrots caroused in the tree tops, and we had regular visitations from a large forest hawk also contemplating breakfast but causing a commotion amongst the parrots.
We also had several views of the beautiful Sun Bittern, a bird we had both read about as youngsters in Gerald Durrells "Drunken Forest." It spread its wings occassionally to reveal a spectacular patterned display.
The parrots gather daily but dont necessarily decend onto the clay lick, including today. But over the morning Macaws had been gathering. They are large parrots, the Scarlets 75cm long, and colourful in flight as they open their wings and tails. They screech the whole time, earsplitting if it is near you or if there are a lot of them. They are wonderfukl aerialists´and spent their time either preening and chattering, or wheeling about to inspect the scene. Finally about 11 am it was time to visit the clay lick and down they came, lining up mostly on a horizontal fracture on the bank and knawing away at it. We were relieved as much as delighted to see it, having already thought of it as a key sight we wanted to see in the area. Its a very colorful and noisy spectacle which we could just sit back and enjoy at close range. Generally speaking, with the high canopy and flat terrain you dont get the close views of wildlife that we have had elsehere. Everything seems to be on a larger scale including viewing distances, reflected in a lot of my photos in the area.
We headed home very happily, for lunch and a brief siesta before the next event, a 1.5 hr walk into another clay lick, this time one that attracts mammals, the tapir specifically. Grazing mamals like the Tapir and even Monkeys also eat crtain clay deposits, as a dietary and digestive supplement. Their importance is that these sites can often be the only way to view the otherwise elusive animals that visit them. The walk in to the lick was timed to get us there late afternoon, and we would stay on to see a Tapir, being a nocturnal animal. The walk in was another enjoyable but sweaty walk through the primal forest, with plenty of stops to listen for and to see the sights. We met the Army ant, swarming in a line across the forest floor. They dont build nests but keep moving and devouring anything edible they can subdue on the the way. They are respected for their bite and we kept our distance. We also met another very large ant, a tree trunk dweller, reputed to have one of the three worst stings in the Jungle, the others belonging to the scorpion and the fresh water sting ray. These ones patrolled the tree trunk in which they lived, so casual leaning against tree trunks is not a local habit. We also met a third ant, the fire ant, which is also a hollow tree trunk dweller, in this case keeping the tree stripped perfectly clean of any foreign plants, so the trunk shines like a beacon compared to the bedecked trunks of everything else. The fire ant is so called for the effect of its bite, so again its to be watched out for and a further benefit of having a track to walk versus bush bashing.
We made the lick by late afternoion and climbed into the 4m high blind, complete with mattresses and mosquito nets. We had only settled in and sitting in silence for minutes when our guide alerted us - a Tapir was approaching, and it was not yet dark. We could hear the occassional snap of a twicg, then 10m into the forest could just make out its shape. The Tapir is a large, 300kg grazing animal, smooth skinned, with an extended nose which it uses to grip vegetation on which it feeds. Its a difficult animal to see and this one was showing its caution in waiting and watching before it came forward. Research showed that it has poor eyesight, average hearing and good sense of smell, but also that it was very concerned with ground level but indifferent to activity in the canopy. Therefore with reasonable quietness, it would not be concerned with us on a 4m high platform. Thats what happened and it came forward into the small muddy area at our feet and licked away at the mud. We could move about quietly, whisper and take photos without disturbing it. Perhaps for 20 minutes we obseved before it slipped away, then we lay down (and dozed) waiting for the next one. However time was passing and we were very happy with what we had seen anyway, so we commenced our walk home in the pitch black. This part of the trip was intended to look for night life and we found plenty. Bats flicked around us and the screech Owl called repeatedly. We saw numerous spiders on trackside vegetation, the best would have been shantis full hand size, with its legs spread. We found the black bush scorpion, a good size, and biggest find was to see two of the three poison arrow frogs that natives use to dress their arrow tips. They are small, colourful, and its surprising to think how toxic they are, easily fatal through mishandling.
A bronze coloured snake crossed our path and we also disturbed an Armadillo which crashed of into the forest. At times we passed close to Peccaries, the forest pig with a reputation for agression but that was an exageration, said our guide. They have a distinctive musky smell, when close, like for example our red deer. Finally we reached the bridge over the creek next to the lodge, and in the panel of clear sky saw it was blazing with stars, including the southern cross. We fell into bed whacked, but not without a new respect for the crawling night life and an interest in checking our cabin before we walked around its floors (even though the cabin was netted in). On our first night we had sprayed the room because we could hear mossies, and next morning there was a monster spider dead in our shower - i picked it up in the dim light before realising what it was. Im surprised the thud didnt wake us up in the night when it dropped!
sx
Friday, June 11, 2010
manu forest, Amazon
8pm local time, Cusco.
We are back in Cusco tonight after 4 nights in the Amazon the last one umscheduled, as the aircraft had mechanical problems and stranded us at the remote airstrip we had spent 2 hrs getting to by motorised canoe. An uncomfotable night in poor facilities in sweaty clothes and a cockroach ruled room, until we hit them with half a can of Raid which did the trick provided you stayed in your mosquito net. No aircrafy again in the morning but follwed by a nice solution, a chopper trip across the Andes divide from Manu to Cusco. But it stuffed our itinary and now we are revelling (not) in th prospect of a 3.30 am wakeup to connect with the trip into Manchu Pichu in the morning.
The flight into Manu started early as everything seems to. We joined up with four others, all younger which was nice, a couple from
I clicked what the cloud band was, it was the foothill rain forest. The airflow was in towards the hills and the humid air was condensing on the slopes.
We spent about 30 minutes flying east over the forest, and marvelled at the sight of an ocean of trees to the horizon, front and side. We lost height and were flying only at 1500ft or so above ground level, enough to see canopy detail and also some vultures or eagles soaring above it. Regular streams and rivers meandered across the forest, some substantial. It is hard to imagine the amount of water that ultimately collects from these rivers into the main Amazon channel, but you could appreciate how that river could hold such a high proportion of the worls fresh water. We approached one of the larger water ways and landed on a grass strip near it. Our Guide, another young man, Jose, who like the others we have met was very knowledgeable and great company. We collected our 14 kg of gear (having been restricted in what we could take on the smaller plane) and were soon on a long motorised canoe for the trip down river to the lodge, taking 1.5 hrs with a current assisting us. The river was broad, meandering, with exposed mud banks and forest to the edge. The river was eroding the banks and there were tangles of logs down most of the margins. As expected there was birdlife around, so the binocs were out as we oohed and aahd at the exostic sights. Turtles stacked up on some logs, sunning, and at one stage we alrmed a flock of sand halks, night toime birds that roost on the shore line. They are a type of nightjar, and fluttered around us.
The accomodatuon was surprisingly good, 50 m from the river bank and in the forest. We settled in then went walking the local tracks to learn about the forest. The Manu area is a very extensive floodplane at the foot of the mountains, flat and subject to regular flooding during wet periods. The silt deposits keep the soils rich and it supports a very lush forest with high amounts of fruiting and flowering trees. Walking in it I had expected it to be mostly old, huge trees, but it was quite the reverse. These tropical trees dont have taproots because of the high water table. They have surface roots with buttresses, radiator like fins that assist with stability. Despite than and helped by the load of epiphytes, the average tree lives 86 to 150 years before falling. They rot quickly in this climate, a large specimen gone in 10 yrs. So the impression of the forsts was lush, large leaved trees, quite skinny but tall, with irregular forest giants dotted about. Massive climbers, thick as your leg climbed about, they are a sign of untouched forest as they often outlive the trees around them. The mid and lower storeys included many palms and lacked the ferns were are familiar with. Its reasonably open, enough to think you could walk through it with some light slashing, however we have already noticed in other places that when the ground gets rougher it becomes impassable, especially if there is water lying about. Not to mention the various creatures you do not want to encounter and can avoid doing so by walking in an open track. The forest is hot and humid, bathed in green light, mosquitoes are thick requiring a good covering of clothes and plent of repellant, including on thin fabrics which they bite through. The forest resounds with strange bird calls but they are harder to sight in the canopy. We heard about the animals present, including armidillos, anteaters, peccaries, large rodent species like Capibaras, monkeys of course, otters, caymem and so the list goes on. Crocodiles, snakes and massive spiders are there as expected.
We climbed to the observtion platform and stayed for an hour or more, watching toucans and other birds but particularly hearing the noises of the forest at that time of day. The platform was in a whopping tree, just where the limbs started spreading from the trunk. The perfect kids hut although the height might put some parents off! There was a slight breeze up there while down below it was getting very dark. We walked back in the last light and prepared for the mornings excursion to see one of the Amazon spectacle, Macaw parrots feeding on a riverside bank, a so called clay lick.
sx
We are back in Cusco tonight after 4 nights in the Amazon the last one umscheduled, as the aircraft had mechanical problems and stranded us at the remote airstrip we had spent 2 hrs getting to by motorised canoe. An uncomfotable night in poor facilities in sweaty clothes and a cockroach ruled room, until we hit them with half a can of Raid which did the trick provided you stayed in your mosquito net. No aircrafy again in the morning but follwed by a nice solution, a chopper trip across the Andes divide from Manu to Cusco. But it stuffed our itinary and now we are revelling (not) in th prospect of a 3.30 am wakeup to connect with the trip into Manchu Pichu in the morning.
The flight into Manu started early as everything seems to. We joined up with four others, all younger which was nice, a couple from
I clicked what the cloud band was, it was the foothill rain forest. The airflow was in towards the hills and the humid air was condensing on the slopes.
We spent about 30 minutes flying east over the forest, and marvelled at the sight of an ocean of trees to the horizon, front and side. We lost height and were flying only at 1500ft or so above ground level, enough to see canopy detail and also some vultures or eagles soaring above it. Regular streams and rivers meandered across the forest, some substantial. It is hard to imagine the amount of water that ultimately collects from these rivers into the main Amazon channel, but you could appreciate how that river could hold such a high proportion of the worls fresh water. We approached one of the larger water ways and landed on a grass strip near it. Our Guide, another young man, Jose, who like the others we have met was very knowledgeable and great company. We collected our 14 kg of gear (having been restricted in what we could take on the smaller plane) and were soon on a long motorised canoe for the trip down river to the lodge, taking 1.5 hrs with a current assisting us. The river was broad, meandering, with exposed mud banks and forest to the edge. The river was eroding the banks and there were tangles of logs down most of the margins. As expected there was birdlife around, so the binocs were out as we oohed and aahd at the exostic sights. Turtles stacked up on some logs, sunning, and at one stage we alrmed a flock of sand halks, night toime birds that roost on the shore line. They are a type of nightjar, and fluttered around us.
The accomodatuon was surprisingly good, 50 m from the river bank and in the forest. We settled in then went walking the local tracks to learn about the forest. The Manu area is a very extensive floodplane at the foot of the mountains, flat and subject to regular flooding during wet periods. The silt deposits keep the soils rich and it supports a very lush forest with high amounts of fruiting and flowering trees. Walking in it I had expected it to be mostly old, huge trees, but it was quite the reverse. These tropical trees dont have taproots because of the high water table. They have surface roots with buttresses, radiator like fins that assist with stability. Despite than and helped by the load of epiphytes, the average tree lives 86 to 150 years before falling. They rot quickly in this climate, a large specimen gone in 10 yrs. So the impression of the forsts was lush, large leaved trees, quite skinny but tall, with irregular forest giants dotted about. Massive climbers, thick as your leg climbed about, they are a sign of untouched forest as they often outlive the trees around them. The mid and lower storeys included many palms and lacked the ferns were are familiar with. Its reasonably open, enough to think you could walk through it with some light slashing, however we have already noticed in other places that when the ground gets rougher it becomes impassable, especially if there is water lying about. Not to mention the various creatures you do not want to encounter and can avoid doing so by walking in an open track. The forest is hot and humid, bathed in green light, mosquitoes are thick requiring a good covering of clothes and plent of repellant, including on thin fabrics which they bite through. The forest resounds with strange bird calls but they are harder to sight in the canopy. We heard about the animals present, including armidillos, anteaters, peccaries, large rodent species like Capibaras, monkeys of course, otters, caymem and so the list goes on. Crocodiles, snakes and massive spiders are there as expected.
We climbed to the observtion platform and stayed for an hour or more, watching toucans and other birds but particularly hearing the noises of the forest at that time of day. The platform was in a whopping tree, just where the limbs started spreading from the trunk. The perfect kids hut although the height might put some parents off! There was a slight breeze up there while down below it was getting very dark. We walked back in the last light and prepared for the mornings excursion to see one of the Amazon spectacle, Macaw parrots feeding on a riverside bank, a so called clay lick.
sx
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Ecuador finals
1pm cuzco, Peru.
Mistakes might be more frequent, the keybord is worn until most letters are only part visible, but at least its daytime and not dark!
The troops are a bit wery, shanti is in bed while i have just got up to catch up on various things such as the blog. Cusco is waiting outside so its not ideal to be sleeping but the actiovity has been busy plus low sleep hours.
we finished our last day at Bellevista with a 5 am start and off to visit some high country, driving and walking to 3,500 ft on the back of a volcano. Not blowing its lid, dammit. The drive was up a back road climbing through an absolutely pristine rain forest, with a fast stream at its base. We were driving initially in dark and stopped to listen to a large cock of thre rock lek, which was making enough noise to be heard from inside the vehicle. They were on the other side of the gully and totally unapproachable, but the eerie sound carried well like an amphitheatre and we enjoyed hearing it it in the pre dawn of the nmorning. The drive continued, we bumped and ground up this remote road seeing wonderful lush forest with not a hint of human activity until the valley became less steep and there was room for the occasional roadside dwelling and farmlet. One was a trout farm with a collection of cement ponds, others were small dairy farms meaning a handful of cows who seemed to mainly graze the roadside. Higher up ther was an artichoke farm!
The terrain opened up for us as we cloimbed, with beautiful steep sided, forest cloaked ridges, and icreasig views of the ash covered peak in front of us. The whole region is ash soils and pumices but here they were deep and obvious beds im the road cuttings. The area has built up over time with successive eruptios of dark and light ash, eruptive bands often metres thick, and with larva flows. The erosion of this has created the distinctive terrain now visible. The last eruption was 1999 amd a decent one, i will find an example of a photo of it from Quito but it was a massive sight from the city and dropped significant ash on it.
We didnt stop enough for me
Mistakes might be more frequent, the keybord is worn until most letters are only part visible, but at least its daytime and not dark!
The troops are a bit wery, shanti is in bed while i have just got up to catch up on various things such as the blog. Cusco is waiting outside so its not ideal to be sleeping but the actiovity has been busy plus low sleep hours.
we finished our last day at Bellevista with a 5 am start and off to visit some high country, driving and walking to 3,500 ft on the back of a volcano. Not blowing its lid, dammit. The drive was up a back road climbing through an absolutely pristine rain forest, with a fast stream at its base. We were driving initially in dark and stopped to listen to a large cock of thre rock lek, which was making enough noise to be heard from inside the vehicle. They were on the other side of the gully and totally unapproachable, but the eerie sound carried well like an amphitheatre and we enjoyed hearing it it in the pre dawn of the nmorning. The drive continued, we bumped and ground up this remote road seeing wonderful lush forest with not a hint of human activity until the valley became less steep and there was room for the occasional roadside dwelling and farmlet. One was a trout farm with a collection of cement ponds, others were small dairy farms meaning a handful of cows who seemed to mainly graze the roadside. Higher up ther was an artichoke farm!
The terrain opened up for us as we cloimbed, with beautiful steep sided, forest cloaked ridges, and icreasig views of the ash covered peak in front of us. The whole region is ash soils and pumices but here they were deep and obvious beds im the road cuttings. The area has built up over time with successive eruptios of dark and light ash, eruptive bands often metres thick, and with larva flows. The erosion of this has created the distinctive terrain now visible. The last eruption was 1999 amd a decent one, i will find an example of a photo of it from Quito but it was a massive sight from the city and dropped significant ash on it.
We didnt stop enough for me
Friday, June 4, 2010
Bellavista reserve, Ecuador.
We returned to Quito from the Galapos, finding the city easier the second time round. Did sone shopping, taxied around like old timers. Then tey another early morning pickup at 6 am, to drive to Bellavista reserve, a cloud forest location nw of Quito. We drove north, up the avenue of volcanoes as we heard the valley described, then turned west into the hills. The drive was windey and it wqas raining. Theterrain became precipitous with time and the corn plots gave up in favour of forest. Then we swung into a narrow unsealed road and began a climb upwards. The forest became wetter and lusher and soon we were in mist. The Bellavista lodge is at roadside, but its in the wop wops with nothing much near it. Its in cloud forest but much higher elevation than we saw at Monteverde, Costa Rica, so is much cooler even cold at night. The lodge is quite something its on a short ridge perhaps 75m long, narrow, dropping down steep slopes on both flanks. At the start of the ridge its wideenough for a car park and a few small buildings, but the final building a geodesic dome at the end of the ridge is approached by a narrow covered path with steep banks either side. So the buildings in effect dot along aridge top and are enclosed in forest. We have a 2nd storey room with windows that slide open to a view over the canopy. That view starts with blue sky in the morning but the mists soon roll in. They create a sense of being closed in, and a silence you get with snow. The canopy drips constantly in the wet with an audible patter. It sound wet and miserable but somehow its not. The buildings are timber and bamboo, with even some floors split sections of some huge bamboo stems. Facitities are fine for the location but fairly basic, and very poor computer facilities and reception hence the delay in getting this out.
What is special about the place is the wildlife, it is extravagent to say the least. There are hummingbirds everywhere, squeaking and tittering constantly like a mouse party. We can hardly get away from the feeders where they squabble and dash about in perpetual excitement and activity. A handsome squirrel is about. We cannot understand how they stay so fluffy in the damp environment, perhaps its because they sit with the tail fanned over them like an umbrella, then dash like a sprinter up or doen a vertical tree trunk. Other birdlife is everywhere, its almost impossible to stop looking or hearing a call and wondering whats that.
On arrival we took a familiarisation walk of maybe 3 hours, to learn about the forest. We had a terrific guide who knew his flora and fauna well. By midafternoon the energy reserves were low, its these early morning starts they never stop. Plus the news that the next morning we were for a 4 am wakeup call to drive 1.5 hrs to make a locatrion by 6 am, to view a very special bird the so called Cock of the Rock. Shanti went to bed about 4pm, decided against dinner and slept through to the 4am buzzer. We drove in the dark then walked iun the dark, down a greasy track in the forest biut at least not raining. By 6 am we were parked on the boarded hide deep in the forest a first light. The Cock of the Rock is a strange but beautiful creature, The males gather at a lek, a communual gathering point that doesnt change unless disturbed. They dance, or shuffle would be more accurate, and called in loud churring noises. The purpose is to attravct receptive females, which is not most days. Following about a 40min session the ,males disperse to feed for the day while any females in the population solo parent their nests. Every morning and evening, every day, this gathering is repeated. What tyhe birds look like is the main surprise. They have a bright tangerine red cape covering head and upper parts, which is shaped over the head to create a high, rounded narrow hood. Tiny eyes peer out but the beak is almost completely covered by the cape, giving the bird a most unusual look. The photographic conditions were poor but I got some fictures that give a rough idea. After they dispered we were met by the land owner, a man obsessed with the local birdlife, who has a reputation for his ability to call them in. Over the next 3 hours he called in three species of Pita, a secretive ground bird that treminded us in manner of our bush robin. Able to fly but preferring the ground, it bounds around then stops, frozen, with its head slightly turned so as to see you better. The birds were known by individual name, one being Maria. So we sit about and follow this fellow calling Maria, Maria, then finally she appears.
A very fascinating and absorbing experience, another world really. We finished by having lunch, cooked by the family, sitting on benches under a covered platform back up on the ridge top. In the afternoon we went hunting various other birds, animals, and viwing other aspects of the forest regions. We finished with afternoon tea although it was more substantial, in a guest house restaurant again in the middle of nowwhere, looking down a steep bank o n a river, perhaps 100m below. Again it was dripping with birds so we could hardly sit still. At tyhe end of the day we added them up and agreed we had seen over 50 new species in the day. Wonderful things like toucans, woodpeckers, eagles, many totally unfamiliar species and the list goes on. Thr one that had me shaking my head was the Manakin. Believe it or not thids small non ndescript bird vibrates its wings at 300 beats per second, yes per second, to produce a strange, penetrating noise. The noise is electronic sounding, treminding me most of one of the lower pitched beeps that a reversing truck makes. The beep is a bit longer and has a rough edge, like the squawk of blowing a grass blade. But its thge stragest sound, pepea6ted at 10 to 15 second intervals. We spent ages trying to track the little buggers down but in dense and mozzie ridden bush we only got the merest flicker of movement as they shifted away from us. Now I know how they invented the electronic beep they heard this bird.
Today, the following day, we slept in and messed around the lodge. There is so much here you cannot really ignore it. Beautiful toucans have been coming in all day to a tree in fruit beside us, I dont know how many frames I have blasted on them. Not to mention the hummingbirds. Apologies for all the hummingbird shots on flickr but they are a constant source of interest and a constant battle to get a good photo of these tint flickering creatures. They have wonderful names like Woodstars, Brilliants, Emeralds, Incas, Coronets and Sun Angels.
The mists drift through in wafts most of the day, sometimes clagging in o near zero visibility. It is a way to stay in that environment in reasonable comfort with the feeling that you are somewhere remote, evem tnough we are anly 2 hrs drive from Quito. It reminds me a little of being in a mountain or a forest hut, far from antwhere.
What is special about the place is the wildlife, it is extravagent to say the least. There are hummingbirds everywhere, squeaking and tittering constantly like a mouse party. We can hardly get away from the feeders where they squabble and dash about in perpetual excitement and activity. A handsome squirrel is about. We cannot understand how they stay so fluffy in the damp environment, perhaps its because they sit with the tail fanned over them like an umbrella, then dash like a sprinter up or doen a vertical tree trunk. Other birdlife is everywhere, its almost impossible to stop looking or hearing a call and wondering whats that.
On arrival we took a familiarisation walk of maybe 3 hours, to learn about the forest. We had a terrific guide who knew his flora and fauna well. By midafternoon the energy reserves were low, its these early morning starts they never stop. Plus the news that the next morning we were for a 4 am wakeup call to drive 1.5 hrs to make a locatrion by 6 am, to view a very special bird the so called Cock of the Rock. Shanti went to bed about 4pm, decided against dinner and slept through to the 4am buzzer. We drove in the dark then walked iun the dark, down a greasy track in the forest biut at least not raining. By 6 am we were parked on the boarded hide deep in the forest a first light. The Cock of the Rock is a strange but beautiful creature, The males gather at a lek, a communual gathering point that doesnt change unless disturbed. They dance, or shuffle would be more accurate, and called in loud churring noises. The purpose is to attravct receptive females, which is not most days. Following about a 40min session the ,males disperse to feed for the day while any females in the population solo parent their nests. Every morning and evening, every day, this gathering is repeated. What tyhe birds look like is the main surprise. They have a bright tangerine red cape covering head and upper parts, which is shaped over the head to create a high, rounded narrow hood. Tiny eyes peer out but the beak is almost completely covered by the cape, giving the bird a most unusual look. The photographic conditions were poor but I got some fictures that give a rough idea. After they dispered we were met by the land owner, a man obsessed with the local birdlife, who has a reputation for his ability to call them in. Over the next 3 hours he called in three species of Pita, a secretive ground bird that treminded us in manner of our bush robin. Able to fly but preferring the ground, it bounds around then stops, frozen, with its head slightly turned so as to see you better. The birds were known by individual name, one being Maria. So we sit about and follow this fellow calling Maria, Maria, then finally she appears.
A very fascinating and absorbing experience, another world really. We finished by having lunch, cooked by the family, sitting on benches under a covered platform back up on the ridge top. In the afternoon we went hunting various other birds, animals, and viwing other aspects of the forest regions. We finished with afternoon tea although it was more substantial, in a guest house restaurant again in the middle of nowwhere, looking down a steep bank o n a river, perhaps 100m below. Again it was dripping with birds so we could hardly sit still. At tyhe end of the day we added them up and agreed we had seen over 50 new species in the day. Wonderful things like toucans, woodpeckers, eagles, many totally unfamiliar species and the list goes on. Thr one that had me shaking my head was the Manakin. Believe it or not thids small non ndescript bird vibrates its wings at 300 beats per second, yes per second, to produce a strange, penetrating noise. The noise is electronic sounding, treminding me most of one of the lower pitched beeps that a reversing truck makes. The beep is a bit longer and has a rough edge, like the squawk of blowing a grass blade. But its thge stragest sound, pepea6ted at 10 to 15 second intervals. We spent ages trying to track the little buggers down but in dense and mozzie ridden bush we only got the merest flicker of movement as they shifted away from us. Now I know how they invented the electronic beep they heard this bird.
Today, the following day, we slept in and messed around the lodge. There is so much here you cannot really ignore it. Beautiful toucans have been coming in all day to a tree in fruit beside us, I dont know how many frames I have blasted on them. Not to mention the hummingbirds. Apologies for all the hummingbird shots on flickr but they are a constant source of interest and a constant battle to get a good photo of these tint flickering creatures. They have wonderful names like Woodstars, Brilliants, Emeralds, Incas, Coronets and Sun Angels.
The mists drift through in wafts most of the day, sometimes clagging in o near zero visibility. It is a way to stay in that environment in reasonable comfort with the feeling that you are somewhere remote, evem tnough we are anly 2 hrs drive from Quito. It reminds me a little of being in a mountain or a forest hut, far from antwhere.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Galapagos day 3
6pm local time.
We are back a bit weary after a long day outdoors, visiting one of the small islands called North Seymour. It is 45 m above sea level and smallenoughto walk around in an hour, and was formed by a seismic event uplifting a block of seabed. being national parrk as most of the place is you cannot vivit it by yourself but only with a guide, who registers the trip with park authoroties. Even when on the island you may only walk the prescibed pathways with no deviations. However the reasons are obvious when there its a breeding colony fior varous birds etc and this system keepsit in pristine condition. The wildlife is so unfazed by humans in any instance, that you almost have to clear them off the track in places.We went there by launch and diembarked by inmflatable, a group of 10 people all up. On the standard black basalt shore line 2-3 m high werelarge red crabs and some very indolent looking sealions including pups. Visible even from a distance were birds wheeling overhead and once on land their various (usually strange) calls were evident. The two bird species with heavy nesting activity were the magnificent Frigate bird and the Blue Footed Booby. The frigate bird is unique and has tio take the title as the worlds best gliding machine. They have a huige wingspan and can glide flawlessly. We see them around including from our hotel In particular we have noticed that they can turn direction without banking their wings, probably by ruddering their long forked tail. There is not a flicker of their wings as the wheel about, drifting on the slightest sea breeze. On the island the nesting males had the large inflated red throat sac that im sure you will have seen in photos. They nest closely to each other on low trees, puffing their pouches up and opening their wings in a dramtic sound accompanied display. Impressive rather than beautiful is the best description of being in close to them, they have something of that unsentimental, is it edible attitude about them that you see in gulls for example. There was however a very beautiful gull there, the swallow tailed gull -a stormy grey with red eye ring.By contrast the Blue Footed boobies were both beautiful and a comic entertainment. Thjey are a gannet species and look like one, but with an unmissable chalky blue foot. In the air they are like darts, scything about, intently examining the sea surface below, then diving in a flash to hit the surface with a puff of water. When nesting however, they pair up andconduct ongoing courtship rituals, involving an exagerated lifting of their lovely feet (if youve got it flaunt it type of thing), in a slow charlie chaplin like walk. As they walk around each other, their bodies sway a little and occasionally the male crouches forward but with bill pointing directly upwards, and half opens his wings and lifts his tail in a brif but dramatic display. All with the whistling calls of the female and the crooning honking notes of the male. The Boobies were nesting on the ground and while separated rather than packed in they were everywhere, so we were surounded by courting birds including some we had to step around. I had to remove my telephoto lens for a short lens as it was otherwise too close. You could sit down as close as you like and watch these beautiful things dance and burble away in front if you.
We also watched the overhead traffic as birds came and went, pasing at low level. In one area we met some land iguanas, much larger than the marine versions and the male with handsome yellow and orange markings on his head region. Again, completely approachable an not challenging photographic subjects, knowing exacly how to strike a fine pose.
The sun was intense and though you could do this forever we were pleased in fact to get back on the boat and under cover, for lunch. The afternoon was recreational we were dropped off at a white sand coral beach and snorkelled and generally messed around. We had a very successful snorkel out over some of the rocky sections of the bay, not coral gardens but with nice fish. Our favourite was a 30cm long dark blue fish with a bright yellow tail, called a yellow tail! They were in shoals of scores of them and would let you in close so you were surrounded. We also saw a manta ray below us then later saw one from the beach as it swam in the shallows against the shore line. I also had an all too brief visit from a white tipped reef shark, about 1.5m long, slender, graceful but not an agressive species so I wasnt bothered just wishing it would stay around not glide off.
We stopped off in town for refreshments and are now sitting about watching the light go. We have had a good taste of some of the specialties of the place but its hard to have to leave, tomorrow,
sx
We are back a bit weary after a long day outdoors, visiting one of the small islands called North Seymour. It is 45 m above sea level and smallenoughto walk around in an hour, and was formed by a seismic event uplifting a block of seabed. being national parrk as most of the place is you cannot vivit it by yourself but only with a guide, who registers the trip with park authoroties. Even when on the island you may only walk the prescibed pathways with no deviations. However the reasons are obvious when there its a breeding colony fior varous birds etc and this system keepsit in pristine condition. The wildlife is so unfazed by humans in any instance, that you almost have to clear them off the track in places.We went there by launch and diembarked by inmflatable, a group of 10 people all up. On the standard black basalt shore line 2-3 m high werelarge red crabs and some very indolent looking sealions including pups. Visible even from a distance were birds wheeling overhead and once on land their various (usually strange) calls were evident. The two bird species with heavy nesting activity were the magnificent Frigate bird and the Blue Footed Booby. The frigate bird is unique and has tio take the title as the worlds best gliding machine. They have a huige wingspan and can glide flawlessly. We see them around including from our hotel In particular we have noticed that they can turn direction without banking their wings, probably by ruddering their long forked tail. There is not a flicker of their wings as the wheel about, drifting on the slightest sea breeze. On the island the nesting males had the large inflated red throat sac that im sure you will have seen in photos. They nest closely to each other on low trees, puffing their pouches up and opening their wings in a dramtic sound accompanied display. Impressive rather than beautiful is the best description of being in close to them, they have something of that unsentimental, is it edible attitude about them that you see in gulls for example. There was however a very beautiful gull there, the swallow tailed gull -a stormy grey with red eye ring.By contrast the Blue Footed boobies were both beautiful and a comic entertainment. Thjey are a gannet species and look like one, but with an unmissable chalky blue foot. In the air they are like darts, scything about, intently examining the sea surface below, then diving in a flash to hit the surface with a puff of water. When nesting however, they pair up andconduct ongoing courtship rituals, involving an exagerated lifting of their lovely feet (if youve got it flaunt it type of thing), in a slow charlie chaplin like walk. As they walk around each other, their bodies sway a little and occasionally the male crouches forward but with bill pointing directly upwards, and half opens his wings and lifts his tail in a brif but dramatic display. All with the whistling calls of the female and the crooning honking notes of the male. The Boobies were nesting on the ground and while separated rather than packed in they were everywhere, so we were surounded by courting birds including some we had to step around. I had to remove my telephoto lens for a short lens as it was otherwise too close. You could sit down as close as you like and watch these beautiful things dance and burble away in front if you.
We also watched the overhead traffic as birds came and went, pasing at low level. In one area we met some land iguanas, much larger than the marine versions and the male with handsome yellow and orange markings on his head region. Again, completely approachable an not challenging photographic subjects, knowing exacly how to strike a fine pose.
The sun was intense and though you could do this forever we were pleased in fact to get back on the boat and under cover, for lunch. The afternoon was recreational we were dropped off at a white sand coral beach and snorkelled and generally messed around. We had a very successful snorkel out over some of the rocky sections of the bay, not coral gardens but with nice fish. Our favourite was a 30cm long dark blue fish with a bright yellow tail, called a yellow tail! They were in shoals of scores of them and would let you in close so you were surrounded. We also saw a manta ray below us then later saw one from the beach as it swam in the shallows against the shore line. I also had an all too brief visit from a white tipped reef shark, about 1.5m long, slender, graceful but not an agressive species so I wasnt bothered just wishing it would stay around not glide off.
We stopped off in town for refreshments and are now sitting about watching the light go. We have had a good taste of some of the specialties of the place but its hard to have to leave, tomorrow,
sx
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Galapagos day 2
8 pm local time.
Today we explored the so called highland of the highlands Santa Cruz.While only a few thousand feet high the vegetation changes markedly in short altitude steps, presumably reflecting rainfall. The island is a shield volcano, a gently sloped basalt volcano made from very fluid basalt. The archipelego is very young, no more than 5 M years so younger than the Dunedin volcanics. So the plant and animal communities all arrived here relatively recently, and being very isolated at over 1,000 km from the mainland they have not experienced any interbreeding with mainland populations and have developed their own unique local forms. So its a world unlike any other, in terms of what is here and how it has evolved since arrival.
We started at the top in lichen and moss covered trees, a stunted forest on virtually no soils just rock, the canopy being about 4-5 m high. In it are large sink holes, a couple of hundred metres wide and maybee 100 deep, where the roof has collapsed as larva drained below them, through larva tunnels. Now they are very rich in plants and bird life. We moved lower down the island and saw some of the known larva tunnels, some several kilometres long. They wind underground down towards the sea, from underground sources towards the cap of the mountain. We walked for a while in some, they are broad, smooth walled tunnels about 6m wide and high. As larva drained form thje molten areas under eruption, they gradually cooled until only a network of tunnels drained. They emptied, leaving the tunnels behind and only known where they break the surface and have been found.
We had a guide and went looking for giant tortoises in the wild, with great success finding 7. A memorable experience to come across these colossal animals in the wild. We were walking in dry forest of slender trees, reasonably open. Often you would hear the animals before seeing them, they move about with an audible thump not to mention the cracking of vegetation under their feet. On the first occasion I presumed there were people ahead of us but two male tortoises were pushing each other around in a slow motion shove contest, territorial apparently. We sat down and waited as they approached us, with their slow unsteady gait. They breath audibly, deeply and slowly not unlike our good friend Darth Vader in Star Wars. They were quite intimidating from a seated position and virtually were on top of us before they stopped, and looked. One had moved on but the other approached us and stayed. The beady eye of a giant tortoise on you is quite something, they definitely look at you. Seated it doesnt concern them but if we stood up or moved too much it would exhale in a loud breath, their version I suppose of a hiss. The guide had some passion fruit and dropped them in front. The tortoise ate them with relish and huffed passion fruit breath on us. Up close the animal seems to be from the dawn of time, with its deep laboured breath, dinosaur like head, watchful eyes and deliberate movement. We sat entranced but also considering what to do if it decided to tread onto us! But they are more observant than that and we saw a number more wandering, feeding and in one case wallowing in a mud pool. I have photographed them trying to catch the ridiculousness of a a huge tortoise living in a dry woodland. They summarise the place well its as if some kids designed it and made everything the wrong size and threw in a few oddities such as iguanas the same colour as the rocks, browsing on seaweed at the wave edges.
The highlands were full of interest but its the coastal margin that is most recognisable to us, having seen images of a barren land with its bird and reptile life. The huge cacti are another sight we cannot get over and this afternoon did a longish walk on a good pathway through one of these forests, a deep jumble of black larva boulders and a prickly scrub cover that you wouldnt want to venture into, punctuated by these surprising and dramatic prickly pear cacti,the size of a medium tree in some instances. We reached a beach and at its rocky corner it was dripping with marine iguanas enjoying the sun, climbing into heaps of several and spread legged in the heat. We didnt, but you could poke them before they would have shown any concern. We have found the same with the bird life being so curioous and unafraid. Today we had several instances of seeing a new bird, going all quite, getting the camera going click click, then the bird does the exact opposite expected and flies in and sits right in front of you, obviously curious. A very engaging and delightful experience to be treated so trustingly. More tomorrow we have a treat in store and are sailing to an small island clogged with sea bird life.
sx
Today we explored the so called highland of the highlands Santa Cruz.While only a few thousand feet high the vegetation changes markedly in short altitude steps, presumably reflecting rainfall. The island is a shield volcano, a gently sloped basalt volcano made from very fluid basalt. The archipelego is very young, no more than 5 M years so younger than the Dunedin volcanics. So the plant and animal communities all arrived here relatively recently, and being very isolated at over 1,000 km from the mainland they have not experienced any interbreeding with mainland populations and have developed their own unique local forms. So its a world unlike any other, in terms of what is here and how it has evolved since arrival.
We started at the top in lichen and moss covered trees, a stunted forest on virtually no soils just rock, the canopy being about 4-5 m high. In it are large sink holes, a couple of hundred metres wide and maybee 100 deep, where the roof has collapsed as larva drained below them, through larva tunnels. Now they are very rich in plants and bird life. We moved lower down the island and saw some of the known larva tunnels, some several kilometres long. They wind underground down towards the sea, from underground sources towards the cap of the mountain. We walked for a while in some, they are broad, smooth walled tunnels about 6m wide and high. As larva drained form thje molten areas under eruption, they gradually cooled until only a network of tunnels drained. They emptied, leaving the tunnels behind and only known where they break the surface and have been found.
We had a guide and went looking for giant tortoises in the wild, with great success finding 7. A memorable experience to come across these colossal animals in the wild. We were walking in dry forest of slender trees, reasonably open. Often you would hear the animals before seeing them, they move about with an audible thump not to mention the cracking of vegetation under their feet. On the first occasion I presumed there were people ahead of us but two male tortoises were pushing each other around in a slow motion shove contest, territorial apparently. We sat down and waited as they approached us, with their slow unsteady gait. They breath audibly, deeply and slowly not unlike our good friend Darth Vader in Star Wars. They were quite intimidating from a seated position and virtually were on top of us before they stopped, and looked. One had moved on but the other approached us and stayed. The beady eye of a giant tortoise on you is quite something, they definitely look at you. Seated it doesnt concern them but if we stood up or moved too much it would exhale in a loud breath, their version I suppose of a hiss. The guide had some passion fruit and dropped them in front. The tortoise ate them with relish and huffed passion fruit breath on us. Up close the animal seems to be from the dawn of time, with its deep laboured breath, dinosaur like head, watchful eyes and deliberate movement. We sat entranced but also considering what to do if it decided to tread onto us! But they are more observant than that and we saw a number more wandering, feeding and in one case wallowing in a mud pool. I have photographed them trying to catch the ridiculousness of a a huge tortoise living in a dry woodland. They summarise the place well its as if some kids designed it and made everything the wrong size and threw in a few oddities such as iguanas the same colour as the rocks, browsing on seaweed at the wave edges.
The highlands were full of interest but its the coastal margin that is most recognisable to us, having seen images of a barren land with its bird and reptile life. The huge cacti are another sight we cannot get over and this afternoon did a longish walk on a good pathway through one of these forests, a deep jumble of black larva boulders and a prickly scrub cover that you wouldnt want to venture into, punctuated by these surprising and dramatic prickly pear cacti,the size of a medium tree in some instances. We reached a beach and at its rocky corner it was dripping with marine iguanas enjoying the sun, climbing into heaps of several and spread legged in the heat. We didnt, but you could poke them before they would have shown any concern. We have found the same with the bird life being so curioous and unafraid. Today we had several instances of seeing a new bird, going all quite, getting the camera going click click, then the bird does the exact opposite expected and flies in and sits right in front of you, obviously curious. A very engaging and delightful experience to be treated so trustingly. More tomorrow we have a treat in store and are sailing to an small island clogged with sea bird life.
sx
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Galapagos day 1
Galapagos is instantly recognizable we have seen images of the strange landscape and creatures on it, but oh to be here!
There are a dozen or so larger and a dozen or so smaller islands, a volcanic archipelago in deep water. The island we are on is the one large one, Santa Cruz, low in profile, black basalt boulder fields with patchy dry scrub, like a desert. The rocks are so black and sharp they even hurt to sit on. The vegetation is punctuated with cactus trees, thick trunked and with flatted leaf blades, a surreal effect. The ocean starts abruptly with dark larva cliffs, not high, then a turquoise sea. We landed, in a half empty boeing, on an adjacent island, flat and no larger than required to land. The terminal was close to a wool shed in effect. We then ferried a narrow passage onto this island and drove to the opposite side via a road that went virtually straight through an alien looking terrain. On the other side was the principle township of the islands, a pretty fishing village now a tourist centre. However the vast majority of visitors stay on boats offshore, while we elected to stay on land where a much fewer visitors stay and certainly not the flashier ones.
The wildlife is everywhere and largely unconcerned with humans. Sea lions lounge in the harbour and haul themselves up onto boats where they can, boobies and pelicans are diving in the harbour, bright crabs and larva dark iguanas scuttle on the sea walls and we have particularly loved seeing some of the many finch species. They were the bird Darwin studied most closely here and referred to in his landmark publication The Origin of the Species. They are largely non descript but charming, and little afraid of being approached. Darwin posed the question how can you explain the range of different species on each of the islands, and along with evidence from many other locations he answered that question with an exceptional insight, particularly as he was not armed with knowledge of the mechanism of inherited traits, the gene. He made sense of the diversity of life and the changes visible in the fossil record, and galapagos is the location most associated with his work so it is a thrill to be here.
This afternoon we visited our first must see, a centre breeding and releasing the giant tortoise. You see the little ones and can walk in open compounds amongst the adults. Its a shock to see them, a male being as much as 300kg. A sight to behold as they walk, eat, and huff like something from a prehistoric epoch. All the way we were diverted by other wildlife sights but made it back home to a swim in the sea, and now dinner an early night and preparation for tomorrow, when we visit waht they call the highlands, the highest wild areas of this island.
lol
sx.
There are a dozen or so larger and a dozen or so smaller islands, a volcanic archipelago in deep water. The island we are on is the one large one, Santa Cruz, low in profile, black basalt boulder fields with patchy dry scrub, like a desert. The rocks are so black and sharp they even hurt to sit on. The vegetation is punctuated with cactus trees, thick trunked and with flatted leaf blades, a surreal effect. The ocean starts abruptly with dark larva cliffs, not high, then a turquoise sea. We landed, in a half empty boeing, on an adjacent island, flat and no larger than required to land. The terminal was close to a wool shed in effect. We then ferried a narrow passage onto this island and drove to the opposite side via a road that went virtually straight through an alien looking terrain. On the other side was the principle township of the islands, a pretty fishing village now a tourist centre. However the vast majority of visitors stay on boats offshore, while we elected to stay on land where a much fewer visitors stay and certainly not the flashier ones.
The wildlife is everywhere and largely unconcerned with humans. Sea lions lounge in the harbour and haul themselves up onto boats where they can, boobies and pelicans are diving in the harbour, bright crabs and larva dark iguanas scuttle on the sea walls and we have particularly loved seeing some of the many finch species. They were the bird Darwin studied most closely here and referred to in his landmark publication The Origin of the Species. They are largely non descript but charming, and little afraid of being approached. Darwin posed the question how can you explain the range of different species on each of the islands, and along with evidence from many other locations he answered that question with an exceptional insight, particularly as he was not armed with knowledge of the mechanism of inherited traits, the gene. He made sense of the diversity of life and the changes visible in the fossil record, and galapagos is the location most associated with his work so it is a thrill to be here.
This afternoon we visited our first must see, a centre breeding and releasing the giant tortoise. You see the little ones and can walk in open compounds amongst the adults. Its a shock to see them, a male being as much as 300kg. A sight to behold as they walk, eat, and huff like something from a prehistoric epoch. All the way we were diverted by other wildlife sights but made it back home to a swim in the sea, and now dinner an early night and preparation for tomorrow, when we visit waht they call the highlands, the highest wild areas of this island.
lol
sx.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Quito
pm local time.
Today we hired a guide to see the city, $US70 for an english speaking Quito guide including his vehicle - pretty good value I think. We discussed what to do then headed off. Being earlier ijn the morning we took a cable car to the top of the nearby ridge, to look at the city. It fills the valley for 40 km, being up in the andean highlands flat country is scarce. We had to walk a feww hundred metres up to the cablñe car and were surprised to feel breathless and heart racing. A few minutes later we were another thousand feet up at 4,000m, which didnt help. We walked quite clowly up up path to an observation point.
The city is a curious colour, whitish pink. The houses are so packed you dont see a lot of detail, just a strange wash of colour which reminds me, if I may say so, of what seagulls leave behind when the krill is running in the harbour. Apparently they use local pumice deposits to make their aggregate and thats the colour. We saw one of the high points briefly, a nearly 6,000m volcano with a snowy cap. The snow levels starts about 4,800 m or so, compared to our snow line of about 6 - 8,000 feet 2-2,700 m or thereabouts. Thats the tropics, pushing these altitude parameters well up from what we are used to.
The local volcanoes are active, and there was ash and pumice deposits where we were viewing.Our guide says he has experienced significant ash deposits twice, in the city. We learned that these mountains are the Andean chain, but rather than being aggessively uplifted by plate movement as they are further south, it is an area where one plate is subducting below the other with volcanism resulting, pretty much the ame as our south Island and north island situation.
Nexr we visited a famed landmark, a statue of the virgin mary with wings, on a hill over the city. Its a fact and a bizare commentary on humans that the walking paths up the hill to the stature involve a virtually guaranteed mugging experience. So we thought why not drive up, and did. On the way we stopped to view an old city cemetary, which to save space is a vertical wall where your remains are posted, in a slot.
We then moved into the old part of town to see the city section the spanish built in the 16th century and onwards. Fabulous moorish, gothic, baroque and spanish influenced churches and civic buildings. The most ornate was the interior of a church so ornate it looked frothy with detail, all covered in gold leaf. No photo permitted by we were hushed by the specatacle of it and walked round soaking it up. We visited the presedential palace in front of the main square, once an inca market then converted by the spanish to a central plaza. The armed guards at the gate are dressed in the uniform of Simone Bolivar, a political figure revered on many latin american counties including Cuba. We saw the changing of the guard as one shift replaced another, very comical like the marching soldier in Sebastians home in the movie bladerunner.
We loved our day here and feel a lot more comfortable with the place compared to initial impressions which probably reflected the location of our hotel and the streets we first wañked out into. The hotel is excellent very comfortable and home like, with charming english sounding owners, an older couple. We had a brilliant meal last night and even decided to test the advice for travellers at altitude, to eat lighly and refrain from drinking or smoking. We ate vigorously, consumed a bottle of wine then retired to the fire (it is cool enough to warrent one in the evening) and sipped a cognac. Sadly they have this attitude of not lighting cuban cigars otherwise that woul have been included. sp much for medical advice we slept well and woke up fine!
I have to get off this machine but have to comment on what fascinated me most, the mountain people, short stocky people with hats like trilbys and ponytails, brightly coloured hand woven clothes and a lkarge box on their bag secured with a sling across their chest. They are in town selling produce.
Above 10,000 feet all down the andes are villigers living in the alpine terrain, speaking in their old tongues and raising animals, growing produce and weaving. They cannot really be considered citizens of this country or that they are their own peoples of the Andes. We are looking forward to seeing and learning more.\sx
Today we hired a guide to see the city, $US70 for an english speaking Quito guide including his vehicle - pretty good value I think. We discussed what to do then headed off. Being earlier ijn the morning we took a cable car to the top of the nearby ridge, to look at the city. It fills the valley for 40 km, being up in the andean highlands flat country is scarce. We had to walk a feww hundred metres up to the cablñe car and were surprised to feel breathless and heart racing. A few minutes later we were another thousand feet up at 4,000m, which didnt help. We walked quite clowly up up path to an observation point.
The city is a curious colour, whitish pink. The houses are so packed you dont see a lot of detail, just a strange wash of colour which reminds me, if I may say so, of what seagulls leave behind when the krill is running in the harbour. Apparently they use local pumice deposits to make their aggregate and thats the colour. We saw one of the high points briefly, a nearly 6,000m volcano with a snowy cap. The snow levels starts about 4,800 m or so, compared to our snow line of about 6 - 8,000 feet 2-2,700 m or thereabouts. Thats the tropics, pushing these altitude parameters well up from what we are used to.
The local volcanoes are active, and there was ash and pumice deposits where we were viewing.Our guide says he has experienced significant ash deposits twice, in the city. We learned that these mountains are the Andean chain, but rather than being aggessively uplifted by plate movement as they are further south, it is an area where one plate is subducting below the other with volcanism resulting, pretty much the ame as our south Island and north island situation.
Nexr we visited a famed landmark, a statue of the virgin mary with wings, on a hill over the city. Its a fact and a bizare commentary on humans that the walking paths up the hill to the stature involve a virtually guaranteed mugging experience. So we thought why not drive up, and did. On the way we stopped to view an old city cemetary, which to save space is a vertical wall where your remains are posted, in a slot.
We then moved into the old part of town to see the city section the spanish built in the 16th century and onwards. Fabulous moorish, gothic, baroque and spanish influenced churches and civic buildings. The most ornate was the interior of a church so ornate it looked frothy with detail, all covered in gold leaf. No photo permitted by we were hushed by the specatacle of it and walked round soaking it up. We visited the presedential palace in front of the main square, once an inca market then converted by the spanish to a central plaza. The armed guards at the gate are dressed in the uniform of Simone Bolivar, a political figure revered on many latin american counties including Cuba. We saw the changing of the guard as one shift replaced another, very comical like the marching soldier in Sebastians home in the movie bladerunner.
We loved our day here and feel a lot more comfortable with the place compared to initial impressions which probably reflected the location of our hotel and the streets we first wañked out into. The hotel is excellent very comfortable and home like, with charming english sounding owners, an older couple. We had a brilliant meal last night and even decided to test the advice for travellers at altitude, to eat lighly and refrain from drinking or smoking. We ate vigorously, consumed a bottle of wine then retired to the fire (it is cool enough to warrent one in the evening) and sipped a cognac. Sadly they have this attitude of not lighting cuban cigars otherwise that woul have been included. sp much for medical advice we slept well and woke up fine!
I have to get off this machine but have to comment on what fascinated me most, the mountain people, short stocky people with hats like trilbys and ponytails, brightly coloured hand woven clothes and a lkarge box on their bag secured with a sling across their chest. They are in town selling produce.
Above 10,000 feet all down the andes are villigers living in the alpine terrain, speaking in their old tongues and raising animals, growing produce and weaving. They cannot really be considered citizens of this country or that they are their own peoples of the Andes. We are looking forward to seeing and learning more.\sx
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Quito Ecuador
5.30 pm local time.
Culture shock. It doesnt seem right to have such a comfortable tranfer from the San Jose hotel to airport, easy check in, nice Boeing flight and effortless disembarking and customs process, to walk ou into this place. The city is at 9,200 ft, and is the second highest we will be visiting. I definitely feel a bit tired several hours on, but shanti claims she does not. Quito is a connection point to the Galapagos, being Ecuador territory, but we are staying longer (2 nights) to acclimitise for our later visit to the Inca ruins at Machu Pichu, which will be through 12,000 ft.
The city occupies a valley between two volcanic mountain chains. From the air the city is a bleached colour with tiled roofs in orange. On the ground its cooler, dusty dirty versus wet dirty, and sprawling up and down the valley.
The area has hosted 4 cultures to date, the native south americans, the incas who moved in from the south and built a city here, the spanish conquistidores who obliterated the inca buildings and built a colonial city on the ruins (some of which are still here, dating from 16th century),and now the modern section of the city with some high rise buildings. We will see it tomorrow as we are hiring a guide to take us around.
The sight of the city running up the valley with high hills and mountains both sides is striking. The land is very dry and barren looking, covered in intermittant scrub but mostly rocks and rubble from the hills, it seems. The city has a daunting reputation for violent and armed muggings, so when we went out we carried almost nothing, including taking off my watch. We needed a new lock for shantis suitcase, which was smashed open somewhere in the baggage handling but nothing taken, as we had all valuables in hand luggage. Thank god not my bag as it has the cigars.
We found it immediatly a strange experience to walk in such unknown and different territory. The people are very unusual to us, we saw native indians in their heavy woven woollens and hats, but also every manner of other local of native, spanish and negro decent from suit wearing, to black american ghetto culture. Loads of people everywhere, considerably less english speaking and not many visitors. Trafic pouring through the often narrow and one way streets, street stalls and vendors of trinkets, fruit, and in one case toilet paper. A colourful, strange smelling place, mostly single storey. We found our lock, had an excellent cup of coffe in a not very savory smelling cafe which looked ok from the outside. The grimy half toothed proprietor offloaded all his useless Costa Rica coins on us for change, as we soon found out. Twice in quick sucession this happened with small purchases so now we know to examine the change.
We are in a small hotel which is a refurnished house, in the thick of it. The safe would hardly hold a mouse so I took our monstrous binocs to the desk for them to hopefully store. The place is quite cute or at least we think so at this stage before dinner, afterwards might change! They have even put on some tinkering piano music as we sit in a small lounge shanti reading in the dim light and myself typing. Tomorrow will be fascinating and all the time our excitment is building at the prospect of the Galapagos on the near horizon.
More pics on flickr but very rough labeling as yet.
sx
Culture shock. It doesnt seem right to have such a comfortable tranfer from the San Jose hotel to airport, easy check in, nice Boeing flight and effortless disembarking and customs process, to walk ou into this place. The city is at 9,200 ft, and is the second highest we will be visiting. I definitely feel a bit tired several hours on, but shanti claims she does not. Quito is a connection point to the Galapagos, being Ecuador territory, but we are staying longer (2 nights) to acclimitise for our later visit to the Inca ruins at Machu Pichu, which will be through 12,000 ft.
The city occupies a valley between two volcanic mountain chains. From the air the city is a bleached colour with tiled roofs in orange. On the ground its cooler, dusty dirty versus wet dirty, and sprawling up and down the valley.
The area has hosted 4 cultures to date, the native south americans, the incas who moved in from the south and built a city here, the spanish conquistidores who obliterated the inca buildings and built a colonial city on the ruins (some of which are still here, dating from 16th century),and now the modern section of the city with some high rise buildings. We will see it tomorrow as we are hiring a guide to take us around.
The sight of the city running up the valley with high hills and mountains both sides is striking. The land is very dry and barren looking, covered in intermittant scrub but mostly rocks and rubble from the hills, it seems. The city has a daunting reputation for violent and armed muggings, so when we went out we carried almost nothing, including taking off my watch. We needed a new lock for shantis suitcase, which was smashed open somewhere in the baggage handling but nothing taken, as we had all valuables in hand luggage. Thank god not my bag as it has the cigars.
We found it immediatly a strange experience to walk in such unknown and different territory. The people are very unusual to us, we saw native indians in their heavy woven woollens and hats, but also every manner of other local of native, spanish and negro decent from suit wearing, to black american ghetto culture. Loads of people everywhere, considerably less english speaking and not many visitors. Trafic pouring through the often narrow and one way streets, street stalls and vendors of trinkets, fruit, and in one case toilet paper. A colourful, strange smelling place, mostly single storey. We found our lock, had an excellent cup of coffe in a not very savory smelling cafe which looked ok from the outside. The grimy half toothed proprietor offloaded all his useless Costa Rica coins on us for change, as we soon found out. Twice in quick sucession this happened with small purchases so now we know to examine the change.
We are in a small hotel which is a refurnished house, in the thick of it. The safe would hardly hold a mouse so I took our monstrous binocs to the desk for them to hopefully store. The place is quite cute or at least we think so at this stage before dinner, afterwards might change! They have even put on some tinkering piano music as we sit in a small lounge shanti reading in the dim light and myself typing. Tomorrow will be fascinating and all the time our excitment is building at the prospect of the Galapagos on the near horizon.
More pics on flickr but very rough labeling as yet.
sx
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Antonio Manual, Costa Rica
5.45 pm local time
Having reported we were leaving Costa Rica we checked our itinary to confirm flights, and thats interesting, we have a stop over en route to San Jose, with two nights at Antonio Manuel National Park on the pacific coast directly opposite San Jose. We did remember planning it but somehow we had lost the timing plot.
We packed and left Monteverde in the rain, and took a different route to that we drive in on, heading towards the pacific coast. Not a main road, it decended very steeply from the hotel at 5,500 ft to near sea level (the coastal plain) in about an hour and a half. Early in the piece about a 1 km section was so steep it was concrete surfaced, like one of those driveways to a cliff edge home on Portobello read. In a fully loaded van of not new pedegree I wondered about the brakes and the drivers plan if they failed, but that was not required and we continued on down, down, down the steep windy road through beautiful forested ridges and spurs. Some of the hill sides the road crossed over were possibly as much as 60 degrees slope in places. There was plenty of evidence of digger activity,it would not be an easy road to maintain. In some ways it reminded me of fiordland except for the large leaved tropical vegetation. On the way we surprised an Agouti, a long snouted animal like a racoon. Earlier we had also seen grey squirels, quite large, and a huge guinea pig whose name we dont yet know. But all native mammals.
As we dropped down out of the cloud forest the mist shredded up and the coffee plantations appeared on the less steep and on the sunny slopes. Being so hand tended the plantations are immaculately groomed even the roadside hedges are trimmed.
Once on the coastal plains we drove south, towards the park. Its an area of coastal rainforest that includes its beaches. We stayed very nearby, and on the next morning took a guided walk into the park. They let visitors into a marked trail, in groups of 12 with a guide. There were so many groups you could see one or more both ahead and behind. But it turned out to be not an issue as the guide gave us a lesson in sharp eyes and the ability to locate wildlife in proximity.
The 2.5 hr walk followed a track parallel to the coast about 500m from the beaches, then dropped down to the waters edge and returned to the start point. We saw sloths, an owl, a forest kestrel, snakes, bats roosting under a tree limb, lizards and iguanas of various sizes and orchids and the usual range of facinating plants and insects. But the highlight and what the area is renowned for are its monkey troops, four species of treetop monkeys that live in extended family groups. They move quite swifly feeding in the canopy, but give you glimpses as the pass through. The cheekiest of them, the white faced (or Capichun)(sp?) monkey is a capable thief and we were advised not to let go of possesions if they came to ground level. They are also masters of the art of bombing, so when a few hefty fruits started to whack the ground in our vicinity we shifted our position and they moved on!
We saw the small and rapidly moving squirrel monkey and also another band of howlers. They have frustrated all my effors to photograph them so far, usually staying well hidded behind foliage, peering at you from a concealed position, or dropping out of sight. This group that crossed over us gave voice directly above us, no doubt in reponse to our presence, and we all froze in our tracks, pop eyed, as this intimidating challenge roared out.
We came away realising that there is a lot of detail we missed in the forest we have walked through, but is not that easy to spot. The snakes for example sat motionless and even when told where they were it took a while to see them. My eyes hurt and brain was wobbly with looking by the end of it, but the rain came in, hard, so we had no choice but to hole up inside with some reading and sleep.
As I write we are in San Jose, flying out in the morning. Its time to get everything clean and dry, and prep ourselves for a new place with a new currency.
Thinking and talking together about our impressions of Costa Rica, its very dominated by its geography with a high mountanous spine and broad foothills, and various widthed coastal plains. The hill country is heavily forested and sopping, the flat country largely farmed for fruits, which we thought were absolutely superb in their quality. Rivers and streams run out of the hills, everywhere, some filthy brown others pure, probably depending on the human activity in the catchment they are draining. Getting around is not easy, roads are narrow and windy and often congested with trucks, if its an arterial route. They are shifting fruit produce to the ports for export. The roads are not great because they are often wet, heavily lined with roadside growth and ususally clutterd with power lines. The dont run a couple of power lines there might be 20 of them crossing a pole, sometimes on both sides of the road and regularly crossing overhead. Apparently the country had a more developed railway system but lost it to earthquakes which are very frequent and sometimes very serious.
The place has cottoned on to its wonderful wildlife and are basing the tourist industry on it. We found the encounters with birds and animals to be something special in terms of their abundance and spectacular nature. Our optical gear has been wonderful, the rainproof nature of our binocs and camera being perfect in the changeable weather. And man it rains.
On the wildlife front the country is in love with everything eco, a word you see splashed absolutely everywhere. There will be eco undies for sale somewhere im sure. I dont think it requires them to actually do anything, but at least its a recognition of value in their natural heritage which should increase their chances of preserving it. There is development apace in the more desirable regions, much of it foreigners buying in, a gold coast in the making I hope not. For the moment its not 3rd world, but not first world it falls somewhere in between.
We are in getting organised mode. Talk again soon, sx
Having reported we were leaving Costa Rica we checked our itinary to confirm flights, and thats interesting, we have a stop over en route to San Jose, with two nights at Antonio Manuel National Park on the pacific coast directly opposite San Jose. We did remember planning it but somehow we had lost the timing plot.
We packed and left Monteverde in the rain, and took a different route to that we drive in on, heading towards the pacific coast. Not a main road, it decended very steeply from the hotel at 5,500 ft to near sea level (the coastal plain) in about an hour and a half. Early in the piece about a 1 km section was so steep it was concrete surfaced, like one of those driveways to a cliff edge home on Portobello read. In a fully loaded van of not new pedegree I wondered about the brakes and the drivers plan if they failed, but that was not required and we continued on down, down, down the steep windy road through beautiful forested ridges and spurs. Some of the hill sides the road crossed over were possibly as much as 60 degrees slope in places. There was plenty of evidence of digger activity,it would not be an easy road to maintain. In some ways it reminded me of fiordland except for the large leaved tropical vegetation. On the way we surprised an Agouti, a long snouted animal like a racoon. Earlier we had also seen grey squirels, quite large, and a huge guinea pig whose name we dont yet know. But all native mammals.
As we dropped down out of the cloud forest the mist shredded up and the coffee plantations appeared on the less steep and on the sunny slopes. Being so hand tended the plantations are immaculately groomed even the roadside hedges are trimmed.
Once on the coastal plains we drove south, towards the park. Its an area of coastal rainforest that includes its beaches. We stayed very nearby, and on the next morning took a guided walk into the park. They let visitors into a marked trail, in groups of 12 with a guide. There were so many groups you could see one or more both ahead and behind. But it turned out to be not an issue as the guide gave us a lesson in sharp eyes and the ability to locate wildlife in proximity.
The 2.5 hr walk followed a track parallel to the coast about 500m from the beaches, then dropped down to the waters edge and returned to the start point. We saw sloths, an owl, a forest kestrel, snakes, bats roosting under a tree limb, lizards and iguanas of various sizes and orchids and the usual range of facinating plants and insects. But the highlight and what the area is renowned for are its monkey troops, four species of treetop monkeys that live in extended family groups. They move quite swifly feeding in the canopy, but give you glimpses as the pass through. The cheekiest of them, the white faced (or Capichun)(sp?) monkey is a capable thief and we were advised not to let go of possesions if they came to ground level. They are also masters of the art of bombing, so when a few hefty fruits started to whack the ground in our vicinity we shifted our position and they moved on!
We saw the small and rapidly moving squirrel monkey and also another band of howlers. They have frustrated all my effors to photograph them so far, usually staying well hidded behind foliage, peering at you from a concealed position, or dropping out of sight. This group that crossed over us gave voice directly above us, no doubt in reponse to our presence, and we all froze in our tracks, pop eyed, as this intimidating challenge roared out.
We came away realising that there is a lot of detail we missed in the forest we have walked through, but is not that easy to spot. The snakes for example sat motionless and even when told where they were it took a while to see them. My eyes hurt and brain was wobbly with looking by the end of it, but the rain came in, hard, so we had no choice but to hole up inside with some reading and sleep.
As I write we are in San Jose, flying out in the morning. Its time to get everything clean and dry, and prep ourselves for a new place with a new currency.
Thinking and talking together about our impressions of Costa Rica, its very dominated by its geography with a high mountanous spine and broad foothills, and various widthed coastal plains. The hill country is heavily forested and sopping, the flat country largely farmed for fruits, which we thought were absolutely superb in their quality. Rivers and streams run out of the hills, everywhere, some filthy brown others pure, probably depending on the human activity in the catchment they are draining. Getting around is not easy, roads are narrow and windy and often congested with trucks, if its an arterial route. They are shifting fruit produce to the ports for export. The roads are not great because they are often wet, heavily lined with roadside growth and ususally clutterd with power lines. The dont run a couple of power lines there might be 20 of them crossing a pole, sometimes on both sides of the road and regularly crossing overhead. Apparently the country had a more developed railway system but lost it to earthquakes which are very frequent and sometimes very serious.
The place has cottoned on to its wonderful wildlife and are basing the tourist industry on it. We found the encounters with birds and animals to be something special in terms of their abundance and spectacular nature. Our optical gear has been wonderful, the rainproof nature of our binocs and camera being perfect in the changeable weather. And man it rains.
On the wildlife front the country is in love with everything eco, a word you see splashed absolutely everywhere. There will be eco undies for sale somewhere im sure. I dont think it requires them to actually do anything, but at least its a recognition of value in their natural heritage which should increase their chances of preserving it. There is development apace in the more desirable regions, much of it foreigners buying in, a gold coast in the making I hope not. For the moment its not 3rd world, but not first world it falls somewhere in between.
We are in getting organised mode. Talk again soon, sx
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Monteverde day 2.
4.30pm local time.
Today we were children of the cloud forest! The sky grumbled, flickered and spat all night but clear first thing in the morning. We headed off to do an early 2 hr walk in an area of forest where there are zigzagging tracks then wire bridges (good ones) across a number of gullies. As a result you walk up through the canopy in effect then over it, as the land drops away into the gully below you. The longest bridge is 300M long (but angled and secured in the middle so its really two 150m sections, and the highest piont above ground is 50m. We were at altitude 2000m at the base of the cloud forest, which is defined as a belt of upper hill country forest with 100% humidity almost all the time. It happens in certain areas of the divide, where constant moist air condences at these elevations. The rainfall is 4m pa which is solid but not heroic, so its about the mist content as much as direct rainfall. But as a result of this phenomena the forest supports an unusually high abundance of living communities in the crown of the forest. In particular you see it as a solid belt of epiphytes. There are large numbers of species of plants, birds and insects even mamals who live in that belt and dont visit the ground (well maybe once, if you get it).
Thats the reason for the bridge walk to see into and over the canopy. It was superb to be there. The canopy is rich in fruit and flowering plants, that must be the basic driver of the ecosystem. We heard birds all the time but they are not easy to see. It would probably take a lot of time and quiet observation to start seeing all that is going on. We loved seeing the first skeins of mists starting to form and drift over and through the canopy, as time progressed. The pattern is that that the airflow, early morning, is warmer as the lowland air is heated. Carrying more moisture as a result it reaches this condensation zone and cloud build up starts. By late morning there are belts of mist everywhere and the place is clagging in. The warmer air reaching here causes convection activity and atmospheric instability, so by mid afternoon the first thunder is grumbling and then the rain sets in, deceptively gentle and pattering on the forest canopy, then building to decent rain and if active enough electrical storms that flicker through the night but petering out before morning.
After this walk we headed back up to the hummingbird observatory, to spend more time and photographic effort on them. Then we walked again in the forest and fulfilled an ambition with a good view of the Quetzal,(pronounced Ket-zil), a bird of mythical stature and for good reason. Monteverde is famed for its accessible Quetzals. We got a good binoc view but much harder with the camer, however I photographed them in RAW, a high resolution format so we can edit them to be clearer. About now, early afternoon, the forest was becoming pea soup. It is very atmospheric, we noticed the forest interior had those acoustics, where bird calls seem to almost echo and resound around you. One bird call fascinated us, Shanti managed to describe it very accurately as the sound you make rubbing a damp finger around a wine glass rim. Imagine you are at the stage its not quite working properly. Your finger shudders a bit and the sound starts, becoming very clear and beautiful for a moment then the sound roughens and you lose it again. A wonderful sound to hear in the forest along with all the other unfamiliar sounds. We also noticed, particularly above the canopy, how nice the forest smelt and with many wafts of fragrance, from perfumed flowers. We smelt a fragrance like Earina autumnalis, one of our own species with a very narcissus like smell. It seems to be a forest fragrance theme - maybe it travels well in that environment.
The Questzal was an ooh and aahh experience, but rain was coming and by the time we got home it was hosing down. But a memorable experience walking in and around forest for a day not to mention another dose of hummingbird close encounters.
I have got some more photos on flickr but no videos as yet, and the Quetzal pics need attention before showing them! Sadly thats the end of
Today we were children of the cloud forest! The sky grumbled, flickered and spat all night but clear first thing in the morning. We headed off to do an early 2 hr walk in an area of forest where there are zigzagging tracks then wire bridges (good ones) across a number of gullies. As a result you walk up through the canopy in effect then over it, as the land drops away into the gully below you. The longest bridge is 300M long (but angled and secured in the middle so its really two 150m sections, and the highest piont above ground is 50m. We were at altitude 2000m at the base of the cloud forest, which is defined as a belt of upper hill country forest with 100% humidity almost all the time. It happens in certain areas of the divide, where constant moist air condences at these elevations. The rainfall is 4m pa which is solid but not heroic, so its about the mist content as much as direct rainfall. But as a result of this phenomena the forest supports an unusually high abundance of living communities in the crown of the forest. In particular you see it as a solid belt of epiphytes. There are large numbers of species of plants, birds and insects even mamals who live in that belt and dont visit the ground (well maybe once, if you get it).
Thats the reason for the bridge walk to see into and over the canopy. It was superb to be there. The canopy is rich in fruit and flowering plants, that must be the basic driver of the ecosystem. We heard birds all the time but they are not easy to see. It would probably take a lot of time and quiet observation to start seeing all that is going on. We loved seeing the first skeins of mists starting to form and drift over and through the canopy, as time progressed. The pattern is that that the airflow, early morning, is warmer as the lowland air is heated. Carrying more moisture as a result it reaches this condensation zone and cloud build up starts. By late morning there are belts of mist everywhere and the place is clagging in. The warmer air reaching here causes convection activity and atmospheric instability, so by mid afternoon the first thunder is grumbling and then the rain sets in, deceptively gentle and pattering on the forest canopy, then building to decent rain and if active enough electrical storms that flicker through the night but petering out before morning.
After this walk we headed back up to the hummingbird observatory, to spend more time and photographic effort on them. Then we walked again in the forest and fulfilled an ambition with a good view of the Quetzal,(pronounced Ket-zil), a bird of mythical stature and for good reason. Monteverde is famed for its accessible Quetzals. We got a good binoc view but much harder with the camer, however I photographed them in RAW, a high resolution format so we can edit them to be clearer. About now, early afternoon, the forest was becoming pea soup. It is very atmospheric, we noticed the forest interior had those acoustics, where bird calls seem to almost echo and resound around you. One bird call fascinated us, Shanti managed to describe it very accurately as the sound you make rubbing a damp finger around a wine glass rim. Imagine you are at the stage its not quite working properly. Your finger shudders a bit and the sound starts, becoming very clear and beautiful for a moment then the sound roughens and you lose it again. A wonderful sound to hear in the forest along with all the other unfamiliar sounds. We also noticed, particularly above the canopy, how nice the forest smelt and with many wafts of fragrance, from perfumed flowers. We smelt a fragrance like Earina autumnalis, one of our own species with a very narcissus like smell. It seems to be a forest fragrance theme - maybe it travels well in that environment.
The Questzal was an ooh and aahh experience, but rain was coming and by the time we got home it was hosing down. But a memorable experience walking in and around forest for a day not to mention another dose of hummingbird close encounters.
I have got some more photos on flickr but no videos as yet, and the Quetzal pics need attention before showing them! Sadly thats the end of
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Day 1 Monteverde
4 pm local time.Yesterday we drove the short distance then walked on the old larva fields at the base oif the mountain, and learned more about it from the guide. Arenal is very active but unpredictable, currently spilling larva and building a cone but on the other side of the mountain top so out of view. The mountain needs a ring road so you can get around it, but it is forbidden to climb on the mountain or to fly around it because the terrain, weather, and intermittant but sometimes violent eruptions are considered too high risk. Personally I disagree, but risk aversion must have reached Costa Rica. The larva fields are boulder covered, being a steeped sided cone rocks tend to reach the bottom and must make an impressive sight careering dowwn the slops, still red hot. They are dark with iron content, and extremely rough and abrasive with their gas content which froths the rock up as it is ejected. On the way down we saw a small, bright yellow snake, coiled and sitting on a limb. Highly agressive and venomous we were told, and we had to keep 3 m distance. None of us initially saw it for all the world it might have been another fallen leaf. The story is that it likes to position itself in flowering shrubs and whach hummingbirds that come to feed.
After the walk we visited the Tabacon hot springs, several streams in a valley with the mountain at the top. There are areas of hot ground rocks, so these strams heat to various degrees - they are not sulphurous ground water. The facility has both areas of natural stream, in the bush, then fancy pools at the bottom with a poolside bar and restaurant. We spaked happily in the water sipping another cocktail, and admiring the views up onto the mountain very nearby. Lighting started as it got dark, then we had an excellent meal and drove home as rain started to get serious. In the night we had the brightest lightening, loudest thunder and heaviest rain we have experienced probably anywhere. We sat in bed with the blinds open on the sliding door, lightening flahes almost dazzling us. We had all the electrics off but our room lights flickered with the waves of electric charge in the storm. It was a splendid sleeping night with the sound of heavy rain. Next day you wouldnt know it had even happened. If we had that rain at home tghere would be chaos.
Today we drove from Arenal to Monteverde, a seeming short distance but a 3.5 hr drive in a van with 3 young spaniards, from Valencia. The driver was excellent as soon as he knew we were intereted he was on the lookout for wildlife and found us first a 3 toed sloth, then some howler monkeys, all at roadside. WE had good views of both and loved every second of it, getting some photos to show you. The sloth has a shaggy coat, like an old fur rug in the worst of repairs and needing urgent throwing out. Its face was small and round, flushed pink with embarrassment at being seen in that state. The three clawws were long and visible, pale coloured hooks to grasp with. The howlers are called "Congo" by the locals. We saw one large male sitting in a roadside tree, who turned his suprising dark round eyes on us. Over the next few minutes other monkeys moved - thats how you can spot them the foliage moves- and soon we were looking at a troop of about 8 includings some wee fellas. They werent 100% about us walking below them and a couple of times burst into very loud and gruff "huff huff" noises. Yahoo we thought.
Our trip took us round to the back of Lake Arenal, with dwellings all the way. There a real estate boom going on as outsiders buy in and build, for lake and mountain views. Its very pretty and charming. We climbed away from the lake and started ascending, with very windy roads reflecting this steep gullied terrain Ii mentioned previously. All the way to Monteverde there were homes, initially local famers running cattle on hill pasture with bush filled gullies, then higher (and wetter) it was into coffe plantaions; neat rows of dark bushes often on quite steep hillsides, with forested areas on shaded slopes. The occasional small towns of a few more buildings were very cute with their narrow roads, people on horerseback and motorbikes, but obviously indigenous families.As we climbed higher the road deteriorated and the forest was starting to impose more. We reached the township of
All well this end, lol, sx
After the walk we visited the Tabacon hot springs, several streams in a valley with the mountain at the top. There are areas of hot ground rocks, so these strams heat to various degrees - they are not sulphurous ground water. The facility has both areas of natural stream, in the bush, then fancy pools at the bottom with a poolside bar and restaurant. We spaked happily in the water sipping another cocktail, and admiring the views up onto the mountain very nearby. Lighting started as it got dark, then we had an excellent meal and drove home as rain started to get serious. In the night we had the brightest lightening, loudest thunder and heaviest rain we have experienced probably anywhere. We sat in bed with the blinds open on the sliding door, lightening flahes almost dazzling us. We had all the electrics off but our room lights flickered with the waves of electric charge in the storm. It was a splendid sleeping night with the sound of heavy rain. Next day you wouldnt know it had even happened. If we had that rain at home tghere would be chaos.
Today we drove from Arenal to Monteverde, a seeming short distance but a 3.5 hr drive in a van with 3 young spaniards, from Valencia. The driver was excellent as soon as he knew we were intereted he was on the lookout for wildlife and found us first a 3 toed sloth, then some howler monkeys, all at roadside. WE had good views of both and loved every second of it, getting some photos to show you. The sloth has a shaggy coat, like an old fur rug in the worst of repairs and needing urgent throwing out. Its face was small and round, flushed pink with embarrassment at being seen in that state. The three clawws were long and visible, pale coloured hooks to grasp with. The howlers are called "Congo" by the locals. We saw one large male sitting in a roadside tree, who turned his suprising dark round eyes on us. Over the next few minutes other monkeys moved - thats how you can spot them the foliage moves- and soon we were looking at a troop of about 8 includings some wee fellas. They werent 100% about us walking below them and a couple of times burst into very loud and gruff "huff huff" noises. Yahoo we thought.
Our trip took us round to the back of Lake Arenal, with dwellings all the way. There a real estate boom going on as outsiders buy in and build, for lake and mountain views. Its very pretty and charming. We climbed away from the lake and started ascending, with very windy roads reflecting this steep gullied terrain Ii mentioned previously. All the way to Monteverde there were homes, initially local famers running cattle on hill pasture with bush filled gullies, then higher (and wetter) it was into coffe plantaions; neat rows of dark bushes often on quite steep hillsides, with forested areas on shaded slopes. The occasional small towns of a few more buildings were very cute with their narrow roads, people on horerseback and motorbikes, but obviously indigenous families.As we climbed higher the road deteriorated and the forest was starting to impose more. We reached the township of
All well this end, lol, sx
Friday, May 21, 2010
Arenel day 1
We thought we had died and gone to heaven thought shanti, sitting on our veranda last night looking across an idyllic forested scene, up the 35 degree slopes up the side of the perfect cone shaped mountain to a summit probably not even 10k away, in the evening light. We enjoyed a last few hours at Tortuguero, before a 7 hr trip here. There was a rain storm coming, not that we knew that, and we sat beside the canal while the howlers went off in the distance. They were the perfect lead in to mighty thunder that rolled through then rain that just upped and upped in intensity. We finished packing in near dark, with the heavy cloud cover, then onto the boat (with top covered but not sides) for the ride out. We and gear were well wrapped in plastic covers and off we went for an hour and half trip. We followed a different canal system north then put on life jackets to turn west into a smaller system, with a decent current. It had plenty of timber some visible and some not, so we slowed often to crawl over drowned, fallen trees. A good idea in that waterway, with only one outboard motor and no back up. It hosed down all the way, and eventually the forest started opening, with the occasional building and then some smaller plantations of bananas and other fruits. The residents had access only by boat, the occasional one skimmed past on the way down, very long narrow vessels with an outboard. Finally we reached a concrete slipway in a muddy bank and walked out to meet a van. The roadway was surprisingly good with gravel on it and we soon found out why. The area was well populated with extensive plantations, homes and even schools. We left the lodge 9 am, and by 2 pm we transferred vans for the drive to Arenal. It takes us north and to the uplands, rolling hills at the foot of the main divide. Very pretty country and temperatures becoming a little cooler. It reminded me of the rolling hill country in the nz central volcanic plateau, the way the soils erode to produce distinctively shaped hills and steeper sided gullies. We were approaching an area dominated by active volcanoes.
We could have spent more time in Tortuguero, just at the lodge and gardens to marvel at the wildlife. There would be a tiger heron, all banded and with a dagger of a bill sitting on the wharf. Around the trees might wander an occasional iguana or their smaller, bright green cousins, They seemed to like habitations, the roof making a good sunbathing spot in the morning. They are impressive and I wouldnt imagine you could leave an infant kicking on the lawn with one of those things around. They have a curious disc on the side of the head that grows larger with age. It looks like and eye (that may be its purpose) but the real eyes are evil little yellow things that track you as you walk around. One bird that fascinated us was the Montezuma bird, a long crow like bird with bright yellow tail, strangely marked head and a dark metallic black body. I couldnt photograph them well, high in the canopy. They emitted a periodic call, a´high volume burst of turkey like gobble, with an accompanying whizzing noise and high frequency clicks. This was accompanied by falling forward, still holding the branch, lifting the tail forward and fanning it, and half spreading the wings. Very bizzare. Other life was every where, from marbled fish in the shallows, to birdlife through the garden, toads and large water beetles in the pool, and turkey vultures overhead.
But our time was up and after a long but not an uncomfortable trip we were sitting in the splendid place, with a spacious room and excellent air con, to wash and dry out all our clothes which seemed otherwise destined to become mushroom farms.
The mountain could be Mt Taranaki, except clothed in rain forest until the larva and boulder fields take over, higher up. A gas plume climbs out of the crater and bends away down wind. There is a nearby tourist town La Fortuna, but we are 10 kms closer, not the nearest place to the mountain but almost. I could walk in minutes to the foot slopes so it is very imposing and we look straight at it from our room. We had just checked in a sat down and we had a decent earthquake to remind us where we were. For 30 seconds at least the ground shook and quivered, We couldnt get over the fact that the hedge in front of out veranda shook visibly, the ground is very soft and wet a it all quivered like jelly. It must have either been related to the plate boundary we are sitting on, or maybe the magma chamber below the mountain (and no doubt below us) released some pressure into one of the volcanic vents. Unfortunately no eruption followed. The mountain erupts regularly often daily, but nothing as yet. It also is covered with clouds much of the time, but heres hoping. At its best, it erupts at night with the booming very audible, molten rocks thrown to height and larva flows on the top section of mountain being visible in the darkness. But its a long shot and even without an eruption its a wonderful and beautiful place that photos do no justice to.
Its about midday on day 1 here, following yesterdays travels. We spent the morning with our fist good views of hummingbirds. We found a bank we could sit close to and just above flowering shrubs the birds were visiting, and had a couple of hours watching two species. Shortly we will see many more as we head, for the next stage, into a higher location in the so called cloud forest. But I have my first photos and will stop now to try to load some on FlickR.
We could have spent more time in Tortuguero, just at the lodge and gardens to marvel at the wildlife. There would be a tiger heron, all banded and with a dagger of a bill sitting on the wharf. Around the trees might wander an occasional iguana or their smaller, bright green cousins, They seemed to like habitations, the roof making a good sunbathing spot in the morning. They are impressive and I wouldnt imagine you could leave an infant kicking on the lawn with one of those things around. They have a curious disc on the side of the head that grows larger with age. It looks like and eye (that may be its purpose) but the real eyes are evil little yellow things that track you as you walk around. One bird that fascinated us was the Montezuma bird, a long crow like bird with bright yellow tail, strangely marked head and a dark metallic black body. I couldnt photograph them well, high in the canopy. They emitted a periodic call, a´high volume burst of turkey like gobble, with an accompanying whizzing noise and high frequency clicks. This was accompanied by falling forward, still holding the branch, lifting the tail forward and fanning it, and half spreading the wings. Very bizzare. Other life was every where, from marbled fish in the shallows, to birdlife through the garden, toads and large water beetles in the pool, and turkey vultures overhead.
But our time was up and after a long but not an uncomfortable trip we were sitting in the splendid place, with a spacious room and excellent air con, to wash and dry out all our clothes which seemed otherwise destined to become mushroom farms.
The mountain could be Mt Taranaki, except clothed in rain forest until the larva and boulder fields take over, higher up. A gas plume climbs out of the crater and bends away down wind. There is a nearby tourist town La Fortuna, but we are 10 kms closer, not the nearest place to the mountain but almost. I could walk in minutes to the foot slopes so it is very imposing and we look straight at it from our room. We had just checked in a sat down and we had a decent earthquake to remind us where we were. For 30 seconds at least the ground shook and quivered, We couldnt get over the fact that the hedge in front of out veranda shook visibly, the ground is very soft and wet a it all quivered like jelly. It must have either been related to the plate boundary we are sitting on, or maybe the magma chamber below the mountain (and no doubt below us) released some pressure into one of the volcanic vents. Unfortunately no eruption followed. The mountain erupts regularly often daily, but nothing as yet. It also is covered with clouds much of the time, but heres hoping. At its best, it erupts at night with the booming very audible, molten rocks thrown to height and larva flows on the top section of mountain being visible in the darkness. But its a long shot and even without an eruption its a wonderful and beautiful place that photos do no justice to.
Its about midday on day 1 here, following yesterdays travels. We spent the morning with our fist good views of hummingbirds. We found a bank we could sit close to and just above flowering shrubs the birds were visiting, and had a couple of hours watching two species. Shortly we will see many more as we head, for the next stage, into a higher location in the so called cloud forest. But I have my first photos and will stop now to try to load some on FlickR.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tortuguero day 2=
Our day started 5.30, first light, with a knock on the door, time to join an early morning group to baot through the forest and watch it wake up. The area is an extensive lowland rain forest, very diverse in swpeciesw, and laced with waterways. so con can boat it as a way to view the forest. We had 2.5 hours out, a cooler time of day, and cruised in a small open topped flat bottomed boat, along the margins. A lot to see such as Caimen alligators, otters, turtles, not enough snakes but wonderful birds. Just to putter along the forest wall for that time looking for anything was sheer joy.
The highlight for us both were the Howler monkeys. I never thought monkeys would interest us, being just bum scratchers of one form or another, but in the wild they are a quite different story. I can hear a howler right now, 8pm at night as I type. We heard them first, then saw a troop of about 8 high in the canopy. The sound is hard to describe. There is a deep chested barking, like a a mighty hound but not quite, very deep and resonant. The so called howl is not well described by that term. It is like an extended lions roar, but with a strange sonic quality that I can only liken to a high performance engine. It seems to come from everywhere and nowhere in particular, the primal sound of the forest itself. We talked about how top predators and top food chain animals seem to capture the whole essence of a place, the Condor in the Andes, the Wolf on the arctic tundra and the Falcon in the Otago hills for example. Here the Jaguar and Howler are top members of the forest community and they say it all in both sight and sound.
We then saw a Howler troop of about 8 monkeys. After a night browsing in the canopy they were lying up in the tree tops, perched in comfortable branches soakinh up ther early sun. They sat hunched, dark shaggy mounds with head sunken onto their big torsos and limbs drawn in. Only with binocs could you see their dark eyes watching us, deeply set into their shaggy coats. They have joined my short list of wonderful things worth being!
We were back for a late breakfast then pushed out again by boat, this time into the smaller canals protected ftom the hot sun. Another heavenly two or more hours pushing up tight waterways, seeing the sights and sounds of the forest interior. We turned back when it started to rain. Waterproof capes came out and before we were halfway back the it was in downpour. The noise of heavy rain on forest canopy is something else. A couple of hours break, we were stuffed and slept, and we went walking for 2 hours on forest tracks. By 5 pm the mossies were diabolical so back to the cabin, looking and i must say feeling like a sack of A holes. Sopping wet with sweat and not a stitch of dry clothinmg left. That was sorted by going to the pool and submerging ourselves and drinking fruit and rum cocktails till dinner. The frogs and night birds start teeing off by 6 pm and the lightening flickers in the nearby mountains.
Im losing control of my use of my (writing)tenses and having to back edit everything, so that means time for about shower number 6 for the day and bed, under the fan going full T. Shanti hyas already vanished shes a trooper but probably needs more sleep than me and maybe thinks even less than me of being permanently red faced, pouring with sweat and in sticky clothes 24 7. Im going to set the alarm to turn the fan of about 5 am so it doesnt compete with the howlers in the morning. we have a big thrill tomorrow weather depending, moving in super close to a very active vocano, Arenal.
Talkl soon, sx
The highlight for us both were the Howler monkeys. I never thought monkeys would interest us, being just bum scratchers of one form or another, but in the wild they are a quite different story. I can hear a howler right now, 8pm at night as I type. We heard them first, then saw a troop of about 8 high in the canopy. The sound is hard to describe. There is a deep chested barking, like a a mighty hound but not quite, very deep and resonant. The so called howl is not well described by that term. It is like an extended lions roar, but with a strange sonic quality that I can only liken to a high performance engine. It seems to come from everywhere and nowhere in particular, the primal sound of the forest itself. We talked about how top predators and top food chain animals seem to capture the whole essence of a place, the Condor in the Andes, the Wolf on the arctic tundra and the Falcon in the Otago hills for example. Here the Jaguar and Howler are top members of the forest community and they say it all in both sight and sound.
We then saw a Howler troop of about 8 monkeys. After a night browsing in the canopy they were lying up in the tree tops, perched in comfortable branches soakinh up ther early sun. They sat hunched, dark shaggy mounds with head sunken onto their big torsos and limbs drawn in. Only with binocs could you see their dark eyes watching us, deeply set into their shaggy coats. They have joined my short list of wonderful things worth being!
We were back for a late breakfast then pushed out again by boat, this time into the smaller canals protected ftom the hot sun. Another heavenly two or more hours pushing up tight waterways, seeing the sights and sounds of the forest interior. We turned back when it started to rain. Waterproof capes came out and before we were halfway back the it was in downpour. The noise of heavy rain on forest canopy is something else. A couple of hours break, we were stuffed and slept, and we went walking for 2 hours on forest tracks. By 5 pm the mossies were diabolical so back to the cabin, looking and i must say feeling like a sack of A holes. Sopping wet with sweat and not a stitch of dry clothinmg left. That was sorted by going to the pool and submerging ourselves and drinking fruit and rum cocktails till dinner. The frogs and night birds start teeing off by 6 pm and the lightening flickers in the nearby mountains.
Im losing control of my use of my (writing)tenses and having to back edit everything, so that means time for about shower number 6 for the day and bed, under the fan going full T. Shanti hyas already vanished shes a trooper but probably needs more sleep than me and maybe thinks even less than me of being permanently red faced, pouring with sweat and in sticky clothes 24 7. Im going to set the alarm to turn the fan of about 5 am so it doesnt compete with the howlers in the morning. we have a big thrill tomorrow weather depending, moving in super close to a very active vocano, Arenal.
Talkl soon, sx
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Tortoguero day 1
Today. Shantis birthday, was massive. A 5 am start and driving west through the central mountain spine of Costa Rica. We were on the main east west highway and it was clogged with vehicles mostly trucks, in both directions. What a drive 5 plus hours at a crawl or even stopped in lines of traffic. The driving antics such as overtaking were a sight. We stopped midmorning at some touriosto food place, complete with an armed guard to watch for bandits. Eventually we turned north towards Toroguero, and followed an unsealed and a bad road that deteriorated until not much more than a boulder field. But as we got deeper into the rainforest area it was exciting to know it was getting very remote and the birdlife was getting increasingly exotic. I felt a bit sorry for Shanti as for her birthday she had little sleep and now was being pummelled by the road and the heat, a very shabby story. And the skies had opened and water ran in streams both sides of the road. Parts of the final journey were through banana growing villages, large scale enterprises in this wet fertile area. Evenually the back road crawl finished where the road reached a river
Totoguero is a village on the coast in an area of unspoiled rainforest, where rivers from the mountains make many channels to the sea. We then boated for an hour and a half into our lodge, in an open boat (4 couples) with a canopy over us. The river was narrow in places winding through tall forest and very wide in others. Trees collapse into the river in flood so its a mess of tree trunks each side. Turtles were sunning on some of these and we distuirbed a crocodile and then a snake swam across our bow and climbed into greenery on the side. Beautiful birds like herons and kingfishers were visible and electric coloured butterflies flopped about. We were all fizzing at the excitment of it.
The lodge is where the fiver finishes, on a thin island maybe 200m wide, with the caribean on one side (surf and sharks)and the estuary on the other. The lodge is excellent with decks pushing out onto the estuary and comfy cabins. Extremely hot and humid we are losing moisture almost faster than i think i can drink it.
The local population is small and they are fishing villages on the estuary. We visited the main one (Tortoguero) this pm (and bought iris a toucan puzzle made locally). The wildlife astonishes us. We stepped out of our cabin and disturbed a 1.8m lizard - an iguana. It powered across the lawn and up a tree climbing right into the canopy. Other large green lizards run away from you on hind legs. We spent some time watching toucans - there are three species around us not to mention a wealth of other beautiful birds. Their calls drive us nuts we hear a burst of song and wonder what the hell is that? My camera is a great asset we are getting some good shots.
Tonight we sat on the waters edge, drank fruit cocktails and smoked the Trinidasd cigar from the factory we had seen them being rolled. Then dinner. I gave Shanti a field guide on local birds which she is thrilled with. The skies above were starry but lightening was flickering on the . Geckos are yapping around us, other night calls and we can hear the sound of the surf. Shanti has now conked out and headed to bed (its 8 pm) but we agreed it has been an unforgetable experince. I am it the keyboard sweat pourting of me, so will sign off and talk again later.
sx
Totoguero is a village on the coast in an area of unspoiled rainforest, where rivers from the mountains make many channels to the sea. We then boated for an hour and a half into our lodge, in an open boat (4 couples) with a canopy over us. The river was narrow in places winding through tall forest and very wide in others. Trees collapse into the river in flood so its a mess of tree trunks each side. Turtles were sunning on some of these and we distuirbed a crocodile and then a snake swam across our bow and climbed into greenery on the side. Beautiful birds like herons and kingfishers were visible and electric coloured butterflies flopped about. We were all fizzing at the excitment of it.
The lodge is where the fiver finishes, on a thin island maybe 200m wide, with the caribean on one side (surf and sharks)and the estuary on the other. The lodge is excellent with decks pushing out onto the estuary and comfy cabins. Extremely hot and humid we are losing moisture almost faster than i think i can drink it.
The local population is small and they are fishing villages on the estuary. We visited the main one (Tortoguero) this pm (and bought iris a toucan puzzle made locally). The wildlife astonishes us. We stepped out of our cabin and disturbed a 1.8m lizard - an iguana. It powered across the lawn and up a tree climbing right into the canopy. Other large green lizards run away from you on hind legs. We spent some time watching toucans - there are three species around us not to mention a wealth of other beautiful birds. Their calls drive us nuts we hear a burst of song and wonder what the hell is that? My camera is a great asset we are getting some good shots.
Tonight we sat on the waters edge, drank fruit cocktails and smoked the Trinidasd cigar from the factory we had seen them being rolled. Then dinner. I gave Shanti a field guide on local birds which she is thrilled with. The skies above were starry but lightening was flickering on the . Geckos are yapping around us, other night calls and we can hear the sound of the surf. Shanti has now conked out and headed to bed (its 8 pm) but we agreed it has been an unforgetable experince. I am it the keyboard sweat pourting of me, so will sign off and talk again later.
sx
Monday, May 17, 2010
Cuba to Costa Rica
We travelled across the Carribean to Costa Rica today, and are settling in for the evening and a 6 am start tomorrow - 5 hr bus trip to the Caribean coastline.
Leaving Cuba we were talking about the politics, something you cannot get away from or stop being aware of while here. The place is full of photos, monuments, graffiti, books and so an about the 1959 revolution, starring Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. The photographic record is excellent, showing these two exceptional young men, absolutely burning with passion but also great warmth and seeming humanity. Che in particular looks like something very special he certainly captured imaginations and was the face of an idealogy that went much further than Cuba. I remember the idealogy alive and well as a uni student. In a way the 70s ideals were his ideals - despose of institutional and vested interest by revolution, not evolution. Anti commercial, pro a more simple life with more equality across the board, and people power sweeping away the existing order of things. But it was deeply influenced by socialist idealogy in a way that was not apparent on the surface. The Cuban revolution stripped land ownership from individuals, the state took ownership and control across the board. They destroyed resistant idealogies and the state became the new power.
Today there is, in general, no individual ownership. The state owns all infrastructure, resources, all business exept some small enterprises heavily taxed so as to be not capable of amassing wealth. They own the farmers tractor and his bullock (if one dies you have to report it so officials confirm it is dead and they dispose of the body so it cannot be consumed). The population are mostly government incomes. If an enterprise does better, all wealth accrues to central govt, for example as taxi driver you work as required and receive the same pay rate regardless of effort. Average income about $USD 35 monthly although you hear different versions. A taxi driver told us he was on $US12.80 monthly equivalent. The result is an extremely poor population across the board, and an economy in a shambles. The only accumulations of visible wealth are in the standard of living of higher ranked govt officials.
To maintain this seems to require a police state and a massive bureaucracy, and a general state of paranoia. Countless individuals are employed to do nothing except check on other and fill out forms. Every transaction required paperwork and more paperwork, because everything that is done has to be documented, checked 10 times and any abnormalities reported and dealt to. There are arms of the party right down to street level, where feedback on local and individual activity is assessed and passed up the line if it warrents. No person has a job interview without a party official, briefed on you as an individual, present at the interview and influencial as to whether you are considered suitable. There are officials all around at roadside, continually stopping vehicles and checking peoples papers, and questioning what they are doing. We were amazed at one location our taxi driver became quite upset and worried because he had seen a certain someone twice in succession and believed he was being followed. He had said something tactless to his boss and was becoming fearful of the consequesces.
Education and the arts are very well supported, with full literacy, compulsory education and vibrant literary and arts scene. It is liberal on the face of it but at the cost of being politically correct. Not in the way we would think of it for example our unionised teaching profession and the need to hold the correct views (the so called liberal views) to progress in that profession. Political correctness Cuban style is about the state agenda in schools (I photographed a school billboard to show you what i mean) and the necessity of staying clear of any risky political content if you want to retain your freedom. It made me think about the old stand off between socialism and capitalism. To me they both ultimately involve wealth distribution but im definitely in the later camp because at the core of socialism as I see it is that human freedom of thought and opinion is collectivised into a set of common views (even if liberal) which in the case of Cuba has taken the further ominous step of being controlled by an unanswerable, self perpetuating state.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. It seems unlikely to continue in its present form as it is subjugation not freedom for its people as mooted in revolutionary dotrine. People are concerned but not able to individually act. One interesting person cited China as a possible future model that allowed economic modernisation but retained the power of the state.
So those were our discussions, sitting in Havana International Airport, lights flickering as if whoever was peddling the dynamo was tiring. Hopefully thats the end of politics but in this case they are in your face and its what the place is all about <9that, and the cigars!) We had a grotty night sleep in a hotel with no ventilation and useless aircon, then a 5 am rise to leave by 6 am. Costa Rica did not start too well, Shantis bag did not initially arrive off the plane. It was not looking good but an upset Shanti fired some ground staff up and they located it, somewhere. Next none of my bank cards worked at the airport so we travelled into town to our hotel luckily by pre paid transfer. Then the hotel would not let us use bank cards for an cash advance and declared we had to go to the bank, several kilometres away somewhere in the guts of San Jose. So off we went on foot, being penniless, to find it. The traffic was intimidating and we maka de mistaka trying to cross a multiple lane highway with central rail lines, getting stranded and very nearly cleaned out - meaning very nearly. Then we saw a bike smash, motorbike parts sprayed around and the victim on the ground, with someone applying a plastic bag to his bleeding. The other charming sight was armed security guards carrying sidearms or toting a pump action shotgun - they are everywhere outside commrcial premises and accompanying security transfers such as shop cash pickups. Man we thought, its a jungle out there. In the meantime however plenty of people about of all ages, so we so we thought DOESNT MATTER, dumped the sunglasses and looking ALL around style of walking and found our bank, where to great relief the cards did the business. So loaded with more good target fodder we headed back to the hotel, then out again by taxi to an internet cafe to finally download a few flickr photos and back up an SD card onto memory stick. On the way we saw our first beautiful CR bird, a blue taniger. Apparently the wildlife will be something else.
San Jose is surrounded by high mountains, forest covered and clouded tops. The place is so green and plush. Despite previous comments regarding our walkabout (and being told to be careful to be back in the hotel by 8pm), it is immediatley obvious its a more wealthy country for example the aiport is international standard and this hotel is fabulous.
Its Shantis birthday tomorrow, we have found a Birds of Costa Rica handbook which I will give to her, plus depending on our state Im hoping we can shop at our destination for a light dress and go out for dinner. Anyway I will look after her for you.
We are both well, although the last 3 days from Las Terrazas to Havana to San Jose have rattled us a bit so hopefully a recuperating night and a reasonable bus to sit in tomorrow!
sx
Leaving Cuba we were talking about the politics, something you cannot get away from or stop being aware of while here. The place is full of photos, monuments, graffiti, books and so an about the 1959 revolution, starring Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. The photographic record is excellent, showing these two exceptional young men, absolutely burning with passion but also great warmth and seeming humanity. Che in particular looks like something very special he certainly captured imaginations and was the face of an idealogy that went much further than Cuba. I remember the idealogy alive and well as a uni student. In a way the 70s ideals were his ideals - despose of institutional and vested interest by revolution, not evolution. Anti commercial, pro a more simple life with more equality across the board, and people power sweeping away the existing order of things. But it was deeply influenced by socialist idealogy in a way that was not apparent on the surface. The Cuban revolution stripped land ownership from individuals, the state took ownership and control across the board. They destroyed resistant idealogies and the state became the new power.
Today there is, in general, no individual ownership. The state owns all infrastructure, resources, all business exept some small enterprises heavily taxed so as to be not capable of amassing wealth. They own the farmers tractor and his bullock (if one dies you have to report it so officials confirm it is dead and they dispose of the body so it cannot be consumed). The population are mostly government incomes. If an enterprise does better, all wealth accrues to central govt, for example as taxi driver you work as required and receive the same pay rate regardless of effort. Average income about $USD 35 monthly although you hear different versions. A taxi driver told us he was on $US12.80 monthly equivalent. The result is an extremely poor population across the board, and an economy in a shambles. The only accumulations of visible wealth are in the standard of living of higher ranked govt officials.
To maintain this seems to require a police state and a massive bureaucracy, and a general state of paranoia. Countless individuals are employed to do nothing except check on other and fill out forms. Every transaction required paperwork and more paperwork, because everything that is done has to be documented, checked 10 times and any abnormalities reported and dealt to. There are arms of the party right down to street level, where feedback on local and individual activity is assessed and passed up the line if it warrents. No person has a job interview without a party official, briefed on you as an individual, present at the interview and influencial as to whether you are considered suitable. There are officials all around at roadside, continually stopping vehicles and checking peoples papers, and questioning what they are doing. We were amazed at one location our taxi driver became quite upset and worried because he had seen a certain someone twice in succession and believed he was being followed. He had said something tactless to his boss and was becoming fearful of the consequesces.
Education and the arts are very well supported, with full literacy, compulsory education and vibrant literary and arts scene. It is liberal on the face of it but at the cost of being politically correct. Not in the way we would think of it for example our unionised teaching profession and the need to hold the correct views (the so called liberal views) to progress in that profession. Political correctness Cuban style is about the state agenda in schools (I photographed a school billboard to show you what i mean) and the necessity of staying clear of any risky political content if you want to retain your freedom. It made me think about the old stand off between socialism and capitalism. To me they both ultimately involve wealth distribution but im definitely in the later camp because at the core of socialism as I see it is that human freedom of thought and opinion is collectivised into a set of common views (even if liberal) which in the case of Cuba has taken the further ominous step of being controlled by an unanswerable, self perpetuating state.
It will be interesting to see what happens next. It seems unlikely to continue in its present form as it is subjugation not freedom for its people as mooted in revolutionary dotrine. People are concerned but not able to individually act. One interesting person cited China as a possible future model that allowed economic modernisation but retained the power of the state.
So those were our discussions, sitting in Havana International Airport, lights flickering as if whoever was peddling the dynamo was tiring. Hopefully thats the end of politics but in this case they are in your face and its what the place is all about <9that, and the cigars!) We had a grotty night sleep in a hotel with no ventilation and useless aircon, then a 5 am rise to leave by 6 am. Costa Rica did not start too well, Shantis bag did not initially arrive off the plane. It was not looking good but an upset Shanti fired some ground staff up and they located it, somewhere. Next none of my bank cards worked at the airport so we travelled into town to our hotel luckily by pre paid transfer. Then the hotel would not let us use bank cards for an cash advance and declared we had to go to the bank, several kilometres away somewhere in the guts of San Jose. So off we went on foot, being penniless, to find it. The traffic was intimidating and we maka de mistaka trying to cross a multiple lane highway with central rail lines, getting stranded and very nearly cleaned out - meaning very nearly. Then we saw a bike smash, motorbike parts sprayed around and the victim on the ground, with someone applying a plastic bag to his bleeding. The other charming sight was armed security guards carrying sidearms or toting a pump action shotgun - they are everywhere outside commrcial premises and accompanying security transfers such as shop cash pickups. Man we thought, its a jungle out there. In the meantime however plenty of people about of all ages, so we so we thought DOESNT MATTER, dumped the sunglasses and looking ALL around style of walking and found our bank, where to great relief the cards did the business. So loaded with more good target fodder we headed back to the hotel, then out again by taxi to an internet cafe to finally download a few flickr photos and back up an SD card onto memory stick. On the way we saw our first beautiful CR bird, a blue taniger. Apparently the wildlife will be something else.
San Jose is surrounded by high mountains, forest covered and clouded tops. The place is so green and plush. Despite previous comments regarding our walkabout (and being told to be careful to be back in the hotel by 8pm), it is immediatley obvious its a more wealthy country for example the aiport is international standard and this hotel is fabulous.
Its Shantis birthday tomorrow, we have found a Birds of Costa Rica handbook which I will give to her, plus depending on our state Im hoping we can shop at our destination for a light dress and go out for dinner. Anyway I will look after her for you.
We are both well, although the last 3 days from Las Terrazas to Havana to San Jose have rattled us a bit so hopefully a recuperating night and a reasonable bus to sit in tomorrow!
sx
Saturday, May 15, 2010
day 3 La Moka
Thanks for the comments its great to have some messages from home and people we know in the misdt of everyone else we dont!
Today was lazy we slept in and when I woke no sign of shanti - she was in the (empty) bath reading, where it was cooler, apparently. I showered then heard a shanti squeak - we have a clothes line on the veranda with florescent pegs and a zum zum was giving them a hovering inspection. We have had several fleeting glimpses, but they are tropical sprites, there but not there, flashing irridescent colours but never still enough to really drink them in.
WE headed off on a track designated 'observacion de aves' (bird watching), but it was a mosquito feeding post and we were savaged if we stood still - biting us through clothing. These were big bastards, taking a chunk out where they bit you. Then a breeze set up and we found a concrete water tank to sit on, and had the thrill od seeing toe national bird a 'Tokororo'. Its a member of the Trogon bird family, not something we are familar with. Pigeon like, upright posture with a stout beak. Striking colours - they dont do drab here. Another denizen of the water tank was the Anolis, a dark chocolate gecko, who displays periodically by standing on tip toes all four leds, lifting the tail in a stiff incline and opening the mouth to inflate a white throat pouch. Absolutely comical to see several of them on tree trunks around the water tank, each puffing themselves up and posturing to keep each other in their respective corners.
We headed home and flaked out for the pm, a very welcome rest. Starting to feel better acclimatised and not so stunned mullet. We have just finished the evening with a meal and heading now for sleep.
Tomorrow we travel to Havana, a final look a round then a grossly early 6 am check in for the flight to Costa Rica. Talk to you from there,
sxx
Today was lazy we slept in and when I woke no sign of shanti - she was in the (empty) bath reading, where it was cooler, apparently. I showered then heard a shanti squeak - we have a clothes line on the veranda with florescent pegs and a zum zum was giving them a hovering inspection. We have had several fleeting glimpses, but they are tropical sprites, there but not there, flashing irridescent colours but never still enough to really drink them in.
WE headed off on a track designated 'observacion de aves' (bird watching), but it was a mosquito feeding post and we were savaged if we stood still - biting us through clothing. These were big bastards, taking a chunk out where they bit you. Then a breeze set up and we found a concrete water tank to sit on, and had the thrill od seeing toe national bird a 'Tokororo'. Its a member of the Trogon bird family, not something we are familar with. Pigeon like, upright posture with a stout beak. Striking colours - they dont do drab here. Another denizen of the water tank was the Anolis, a dark chocolate gecko, who displays periodically by standing on tip toes all four leds, lifting the tail in a stiff incline and opening the mouth to inflate a white throat pouch. Absolutely comical to see several of them on tree trunks around the water tank, each puffing themselves up and posturing to keep each other in their respective corners.
We headed home and flaked out for the pm, a very welcome rest. Starting to feel better acclimatised and not so stunned mullet. We have just finished the evening with a meal and heading now for sleep.
Tomorrow we travel to Havana, a final look a round then a grossly early 6 am check in for the flight to Costa Rica. Talk to you from there,
sxx
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