Heather on her travels » Ecuador

03 Ecuador and the Amazon Rainforest – Podcast Episode 3

HeatherCowper — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:15:09 +0000

In my travel podcast series, I have a podcast interview about the rainforests of Ecuador you’ll hear how to enjoy how to enjoy your rainforest experience, as well as the many other diverse areas of of the country, the Avenue of the Volcanoes, the Indian markets, and the beaches of Manabi province where you can see migrating whales.

To download Ecuador and the rainforest podcast, right click here 30 min [mp3]

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If you enjoyed this podcast, check out all my other Travel Podcasts in my Podcast Archive

Heather Cowper and Luis Hernandez at the World Travel Market

While I was at the World Travel Market recently, I met up with my friend from Ecuador, Luis Hernandez who was part of the Ecuador country stand, promoting his travel business and Cuyabeno Lodge. When I visited Ecuador with two friends two years ago, we spent an amazing week travelling by canoe down the Rio Bobonaza and stopping at the Rainforest Community at Sarayaku for a few days, all of which was organised by Luis and he also accompanied us.

Luis Hernandez with Sr Guarlingez at Sarayaku

Rainforest Community at Sarayaku in Ecuador

Luckily Luis had made the journey before, so he knew the local communities and also had military connections which smoothed our journey through the lower river military zone near Peru considerably. Luis had also been elected as a member of the Ecuadorian Congress, just before our trip and so he was the man the rainforest communities wanted to meet, to put across their point of view and speak in the schools to their students.

I thought Luis with both his military jungle experience and knowledge as a tour operator and guide would be a great person to talk to about the best of Ecuador. I hope you enjoy the interview.

Show notes

In this interview with Luis Hernandez we discussed;

The Cuyabeno Lodge in Ecuador; where it is, how you get there, the type of accommodation and what you would do while you are there
The steps the Cuyabeno lodge take to be eco-friendly, such as using solar energy, using biodegradable products and recycling waste, as well as employing local people or transport by canoe and guides.
The variety of Flora and Fauna you can find at Cuyabeno Reserve and lagoon, such as birds, plants, flowers, river turtles, cayman and even pink dolphins
How to deal with a snake, cayman or anaconda if you should meet one in the forest
The equipment that you might need in order to be comfortable in the jungle, such as wellington boots, hat, suncream, insect repellant, torch and what health advice Luis gives to his visitors.
The problems in Ecuador with oil exploration and logging and how supporting tourism in the rainforest areas will put money into the local economy and prevent the destruction of the rainforest.
Other areas of Ecuador to visit, such as the mountainous Andean area of the Avenue of the Volcanoes where you can hike and walk on the volcanoes of Cotopaxi and Chimborazo staying in old haciendas.
The Indian markets of Otavalo on Saturdays and Saquisili on Thursdays
On the coastal area, Luiz recommends the south of Manabi province which has the Machalilla national park and the beach of Canoa in the north and Isla de las Plata where you can see migrating whales in July and August.
The political situation in Ecuador which is generally calm and stable – although the factions within the government may dispute among themselves, the situation for tourists is calm. The government is also creating a good network of roads and infrastructure, which makes it easy for visitors to get around.
The music on the podcast was Venus as a Girl by Andy McGee on Musicalley.com

Resources

Cuyabeno Lodge and Neotropic Turis – Travel company in Ecuador the organises tours throughout Ecuador as well as to Cuyabeno Lodge
Sarayaku Rainforest Community that we visited on my trip to Ecuador
Ecuador Tourism website
See all my Ecuador Photos on Flickr
Read all my Ecuador articles
To subscribe to all my podcasts in ITunes click here

If you enjoyed this travel podcast please check out my other podcasts in my Travel Podcast Archive

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Friday Photo – Take a Hot Bath in Banos – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 08:40:22 +0000

This week I met up with an old friend from Ecuador at the World Travel Market and it reminded me of the happy few days I spent in Banos on my trip to Ecuador a couple of years ago. The town is known for being a holiday centre, both for Ecuadorian families and for backpackers. It’s a great place for cycling, hiking, white water rafting and of course the hot baths that give the town it’s name.

Thermal baths in Banos, Ecuador

These baths were just along the road from our hotel and were really an out-door swimming pool that were packed with families at weekends. The green colour is caused by the minerals, and there was a tepid pool, like a warm bath, a hot pool and an icy cold pool. You could also take a cold shower under the waterfall coming straight down off the cliff behind the baths.

I liked the fact that this was not a chi chi kind of place but just a public baths where you could take a shower under the waterfall. That’s not the sort of experience you could get just anywhere in the world. You can read my full post about my time in Banos in my article Warm Baths and Waterfalls at Banos in Ecuador

See my photos of Banos on Flickr

This photo is posted as part of Photo Friday hosted by Delicious Baby – see all the other photo Fridays here.

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Friday photo – a Poncho to stay dry in the rainforest

HeatherCowper — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 08:10:56 +0000

When you go for the rainforest you may as well leave your vanity behind. The constant downpours and lack of a hairdryer will make your bouncy locks go limp and forget any perfume or scented toiletries or the mosquitos will soon come buzzing around.

However, one piece of fashion wear is de rigeur for every self respecting eco-tourist and that is a brightly coloured poncho. You can buy it for a couple of dollars at the local riverside store before you jump on your motorised canoe, as my friend Joanne did on her trip to her Peruvian eco-lodge. You can see her Canadian friend Sean modelling it above, completing the look with his mosquito net headgear.

There were some rash individuals who thought that their waterproof jackets would be enough, but little did they know! In the downpours that followed (doh, I guess that’s why it’s called the rain-forest), theirs were the legs and backpacks that got soaked, while those with a poncho were much better protected by the all-encompassing caress of luminous plastic.

So don’t get wet, pick up a Poncho!

Photo Friday is hosted over at Delicious baby – head over and see all the other Friday photos here.

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Relaxing at the Tambopata ecolodge in Peru
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Friday Photo – Washday on the Rio Pastaza – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 22:11:32 +0000

In October 2007 I took a trip to Ecuador with a couple of friends, down the River Bobonaza as far as the Peruvian border, where the river meets the much larger River Pastaza. Although this isn’t an open border between the two countries, we were given permission to cross over to the Peruvian town of Andaos, just for a few hours.

This is where I took the photo of these children on the banks of the river. At first I thought they were just having some fun splashing around in the water, but on looking closer I realised that they were also doing the laundry. The wooden struts of the old wooden boat made a great place for hanging out the washing. I can’t imagine my kids having so much fun loading the washing machine, can you?

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See all my Ecuador photos on Flickr

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Friday Photo – A pet monkey in the rainforest – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 21:40:23 +0000

What do you keep as a pet if you live in the rainforest? Not a pet snake, that’s for sure. We saw this little girl and her pet monkey in the village of Pacayaku, on our river journey down the Rio Bobonaza in Ecuador.

Normally these little creatures are adopted as pets when their mother has been killed in a hunt and brought back to the village as food. Although it seems unthinkable to us to kill a species with features so close to our own, as a meat eater I can’t deny the villagers one of the few local sources of meat in their diet. At least the babies get lots of cuddles as their parents are roasted over the fire.

If you’re in the US and have been enjoying Mark and Olly on the Travel Channel in their experiences with the Machigenga tribe in the Amazon basin of Peru, you may like to see some videos of Mark falling in love with a pet monkey of his very own. You can see how irresistable these little monkeys are as pets.

You can see all the other Friday photos on Delicious Baby here

See my Ecuador photos on Flickr here

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Friday photo – Defending the rainforest in Sarayaku – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 09:00:38 +0000

When I was in the Ecuadorian rainforest community of Sarayaku we met a young film-maker named Heriberto Gualinga. He was the brother of our two local guides, Ingaro and Gerado who made the week-long river journey with us from Puyo down to Kapawi near the Peruvian border.

In his traditionally built family home made of wood and palm thatch, Heriberto set up his laptop (powered by solar panels) and gave us an impromptu viewing of his film Soy Defensor de la Selva (I am the defender of the rainforest). He had been sponsored to make his film by Accion Creativa, an organisation which supports social change through the use of film and other creative media.

The film shows the struggle in Sarayaku against the incursions of the oil companies who had been granted exploration rights by the Ecuadorian government. The community at Sarayaku strongly oppose this exploration which would destroy the rainforest and when oil workers moved into their territory, Heriberto was there to film their resistance.

Heriberto gave us a copy of the film, which I’d shown to friends, but now I see it’s up on Youtube, so I’d love you to watch it. The version above is 3 minutes long, but if you’d like to see the full 15 min film, the links are also below.

Soy Defensor de la Selva (I am the defender of the rainforest) Part 1
Soy Defensor de la Selva (I am the defender of the rainforest) Part 2
Soy Defensor de la Selva (I am the defender of the rainforest) Part 3

It was a lesson for me in how the use of media is crucial in allowing remote communities to have a voice and take their message to the wider world. And I hope that we bloggers can also use our web-voice in a positive way on issues that affect our world – so spread the word!

This is posted as part of the Friday Photo from Delicious Baby - see all the other Friday photos here.

See all my Ecuador photos on Flickr

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Friday Photo – Loading the dug-out canoe – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:41:54 +0000

Today I’m joining in with the Friday Photo at Delicious Baby to bring you a photo from my travels with a story behind it.

As you may know I spent three weeks travelling with friends in Ecuador last October (I can’t believe it’s over a year ago). Part of the trip was a 10 day river journey we took down the Rio Bobonaza in southern Ecuador from Puyo to Kapawi near the Peruvian border where we flew back by light aircraft.

This is the photo of our canoe being loaded for the initial leg of the trip down to the village of Sarayaku. Our guide Luiz had hired the biggest dug-out canoe on the upper river, but we still couldn’t quite believe that all our rucksacks, food, tents, not to mention 5 of our party, plus 4 boatmen could fit in. Oh yes, then there was the lady with her toddler who also hitched a lift with us at the last minute.

As it had been raining heavily for the previous couple of days, the river was high and fast-flowing, and we were all feeling a little nervous. When we mentioned life jackets, our guide Luiz, who had clearly not expected the water to be so high, got a local to cut down some logs of balsa wood for us to cling on to if we capsized. Then he suggested we take off our wellington boots when in the canoe, as if we capsized, they might drag us under. If we went overboard, he advised, we should not fight the current, but just let it take us to the riverbank. We never quite knew when Luiz was joking and when he was serious! Luckily, we didn’t have to make use of his useful tips and made it safely, in record time down to Sarayaku.

See all my photos of Ecuador on Flickr
Read all my articles on Ecuador

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Friday Photo – Internet in the Rainforest at Sarayaku – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 10:45:45 +0000

Today I’m joining in with the Friday photo over at Delicious Baby to bring you a photo from my travels with a story behind it.

Last October I spent three weeks travelling in Ecuador and we spent a few days in the rainforest community of Sarayaku on the Rio Bobonaza which flows down to join with the Amazon. This is a village which so far has fought off the oil companies and loggers who want to move into their territory and can only be reached by half a day in a canoe from the nearest town, or by light aircraft.

You can imagine my surprise, therefore, when I found out that they had their own internet connection running in the middle of the rainforest. The project was developed by the school and village community, with the help of Amazon watch, an organisation which works to assist the indigenous people to defend their rights and preserve the rainforest. One of their strategies is to use cutting edge technology to even the odds of small communities having a voice against the powerful corporations. By using high frequency radio masts to gain a satellite connection and a bank of solar panels for power, the community not only had internet access but a wireless network around their community office.

So that’s why, when I passed by the offices one evening, I spotted these teenagers sitting on the step with a laptop, making the most of the wireless access to surf the web. It’s an example of how the internet can give remote communities a voice in the wider world and enable them to access education, support and ideas which will enable them to preserve their culture and their environment.

See my Ecuador photos on Flickr
Read all my articles on Ecuador

Take a look at these videos on Youtube taken by John, one of the radio engineers involved in the project (alias Charangito on Youtube and Orangelite on Flickr)

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Kapawi ecolodge at the World Travel Market

HeatherCowper — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 17:42:28 +0000

When I visited the World Travel Market last week, I looked around the Ecuador stand and got chatting to the folks from the Kapawi ecolodge in Ecuador.

When I was in Ecuador last October, we ended our river journey at Kapawi, in Achuar territory on the River Pastaza, where we took a small aircraft to fly us back to the airport at Shell. As the weather was too bad for the plane to land, we stayed the night at Kapawi village, where the president of the community invited us for supper in his home and gave us permission to sleep in one of the school houses. The ecolodge is set by a lagoon, a little away from the main village, and we didn’t get the chance to visit, but I’d heard all about it.

Heather with Kistupa Peas from the Kapawi ecolodge

The Achuar own the Natural Reserve in which Kapawi is situated and have made a strategic decision to say no to the logging and oil drilling that would destroy the natural rainforest environment. We had seen for ourselves the changes that logging can bring earlier in the day, when we visited the town of Andaos, down the river and just over the border into Peru. Here the palm roofed traditional houses had been replaced by shops, hotels and houses with corregated iron roofs, and the rainforest had all but disappeared.

The logging town of Andaos in Peru

The Kapawi ecolodge started in 1996 as an effort to develop a sustainable income source through ecotourism and was developed in partnership with an Ecuadorian tourism company although in 2008 total ownership passed to the Achuar people. The ecolodge has an economic ripple effect throughout the whole of the Achuar territory, providing income for many who sell and transport supplies to the lodge. In order to benefit the maximum numbers of Achuar, those who work there usually stay two years, taking part in the language programme and gaining experience in ecotourism, then move on to let someone else gain the same experience.

I have to say that our visit to Kapawi was all too brief, and we were not in the best spirits to enjoy it. We had been travelling by canoe for over a week and it was pouring with rain as we arrived. The next day we waited anxiously for our plane, which had tried to land the previous day and turned back because of the cloud cover. Finally it came and we all piled in, offloading what baggage we could to keep the weight down in the tiny 6-seater. Finally we were rewarded by an hour long flight over the forest canopy with a bird’s eye view of the rainforest that the Achuar are fighting to protect.

To you the Kapawi ecolodge may be an opportunity to see an unspoiled rainforest wilderness and learn something about the local wildlife and people. To the Achuar it’s a hub from which they can tell their story and build support in the wider world that will enable them to preserve the rainforest on which their culture depends. Seems to me like a win-win all round.

Read all my articles on Ecuador
See all the photos from my trip to Ecuador on Flickr

Website: www.kapawi.com Email: info@kapawi.com

Quito Office: Mariscal Foch E7-38 y Reina Victoria, Edificio Reina Victoria, Of.1, Quito, Ecuador, (+593.2 600.9333) General Manager: José Saltos Carvallo

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Friday photo – a politician in the rainforest in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:00:39 +0000

Today I’m joining in with the Friday photo at Delicious Baby to bring you a photo from my travels with a story behind it.

With election fever gripping the US (election, what election?) I thought I’d share with you a little grass roots politics from my trip last year to Ecuador.

You see, we were lucky enough to be accompanied on our river journey by Luis Hernandez, who was not only our guide, but an aspiring politician who a week previously had been elected to the National Assembly of Ecuador. When we arrived by canoe in the rainforest village of Sarayaku on the Rio Bobonaza, the community invited Luis to address their college students about the new constitution for Ecuador that the Assembly was to write. While we were worrying about anacondas and canoes capsizing, Luis spent his spare time on the river bank reading the constitutions of other South American states, in preparation for his new role as an Asambleísta.

Like teenagers the world over, some listened politely while others looked a bit bored. What will the future be, we wondered, for these children of the rainforest? So far the community of Sarayaku can only be reached by canoe or light aircraft, but they have had to fight hard to keep the oil companies from encroaching into their territory. Will they find a way to preserve their culture based on their rainforest surroundings, and still tap into the benefits of the modern world?

Take a look at my photos from Ecuador on my Flickr site.

You can see all the other Friday photos over at Delicious Baby here.

Luis Hernandez can be contacted through his travel company, Neotropic Travel, based in Quito. I recommend a stay at his Cuyabeno lodge in the Cuyabeno nature reserve. If your Spanish is up to it, you can read the political blog Luis wrote on the Ecuadorian National Assembly website.

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Friday Photo – Catfish and Anaconda on the Rio Bobonaza in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:00:16 +0000

Today I’m joining in the Friday Photo at Delicious Baby to bring you a photo from my travels with a story behind it.

This is the picture I took of Ingaro Gualinga, who was one of our guides from the rainforest community of Sarayaku, on the river trip I took in Ecuador last October. We had stopped on a sandbank to camp for the night, when a local fisherman approached to show us the two enormous catfish he had caught on that stretch of the river.

The man told us the story of how he had been fishing from that very sandbank, when he had been attacked by an Anaconda, the large boas that live on the water’s edge and coil themselves round their prey and crush them to death. Luckily, his wife heard the barking of his dogs and came to rescue him by shooting the snake in the head.

The Anaconda are the creatures most feared by the local people who live by these Amazon tributaries, and later we were pointed out a muddy bank below a military post, where a soldier had been killed by one. Even so they are very rare and our guide Ingaro admitted that he had only seen one a few times in his lifetime.

As we girls walked round the curve of the sandbank to find a more private place to wash, the boatmen frantically called us back. We must stay beside the camp to wash, they advised us, and suddenly we knew the reason why.

You can see the other Friday photos on Delicious Baby here.

You can see my photos from the river trip in Ecuador on Flickr here.

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Friday photo – sleeping in a canoe in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:00:52 +0000

Today I’m joining in the Friday photo with Debbie at Delicious Baby, to bring you a photo from my travels with a story behind it. I spent three weeks last October travelling with friends in Ecuador and one of the highlights was our stay in the rainforest village of Sarayaku.

We were invited to a Minga one evening, a kind of reciprocal arrangement where a family asks the community to help them with some building or farming work, in return for hosting a big party in the evening.

I noticed that while the grown ups were knocking back the Chicha or local beer, these children had found a quiet spot to curl up in a canoe that was lying by the side of the living area, and the party was passing them by.

A dug-out canoe is a big deal in Sarayaku as there are no roads and the river is the route to everywhere, be it the the village upstream or the nearest town of Puyo for supplies. Instead of comparing your Mercedes convertible with my Ford Fiesta I guess there’d be a my canoe’s bigger than your canoe kind of thing going on in Sarayaku.

Anyway, this canoe had hit a submerged log and been damaged beyond repair but the owner obviously couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. So it was sitting there in his back yard for the kids to mess around in, although looking somewhat more attractive than a rusty old banger.

You can see all the other Friday photos on Delicious Baby here.

Read Related Posts
Loading the dug-out canoe in Ecuador
Internet in the Rainforest in Sarayaku in Ecuador
Catfish and Anaconda on the Rio Bobonaza in Ecuador
And all my photos from Ecuador are on Flickr here.

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Friday photo – a toffee seller in Banos, Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 08:00:37 +0000

Today I’m bringing you a photo with a story behind it for the Friday photo hosted by Debbie of Delicious Baby.

Last October I spent three weeks travelling in Ecuador and one of the nicest places we stayed was the town of Banos. It’s in the lowlands between the Andean highlands and the steamy jungle where the river tributaries start their journey to meet the Amazon.

In the fields out of town you can see sugar cane growing everywhere and in the town itself are many stalls selling sugar cane drinks and toffee called melcocha. The sellers pull the toffee on hooks in shop doorways before it’s made into many different kinds of colourful sweets.

It was my trip to Ecuador that re-awakened my love of travel and photography and inspired me to start writing this blog. You see where a bit of toffee can lead you!

You can see all my photos on flickr here.

Check out the other Friday photos on Delicious Baby here.

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Friday photo – A Wika tattoo in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 13:27:10 +0000

Today I’m joining in the Friday photo, hosted by Debbie at Delicious Baby, to bring you a photo with a story behind it.

Here you see me having a snake tattoo painted on my arm by the children in the village of Sarayacu in Ecuador, on my Amazon river trip last October. The black dye is made by roasting a local fruit in the embers of the fire and grinding up the pulp to make a black ink called Wika, which is painted on with a palm stalk.

In days gone by this was used as war-paint to scare the enemy but now children and grown-ups use it for decorating their faces & bodies, a bit like henna. These children painted a snake curving up my arm which lasted for a couple of weeks. I was so sad when my Wika snake tattoo faded away – it represented my happy memories of my time in the village of Sarayacu.

You can see some of more photos from Ecuador on my Flickr site here and visit the Sarayaku website here.

For more Friday photos check out the links on Delicious Baby here.

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Travel on a Shoestring carnival – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:13:48 +0000

Many thanks to the Travel on a Shoestring Carnival for including my post on Warm baths and Waterfalls about my time in the town of Banos in Ecuador last October. I’ve still got a few tales to tell about the trip but in the meantime you can see all my other Ecuador posts here.

As well as South America, the carnival was covering Africa and in particular Marrakesh. Maryam’s blog has put her city on the wish list for many a blog reader and I suspect that I will have to camp in her olive groves if I visit the Peacock Pavilions, as it will be fully booked for months after it opens.

The National Geographic destination guide featured also covered Marrakesh with plenty of useful resources such as blogs, podcasts, books and movies to draw on. I like this approach to using different types of media when planning a trip, as I love to immerse myself in the culture of a place, by reading and hearing about it before I visit. There are other destination guides on offer and I’ll definitely be checking them out in future when planning my trips.

Another site that was mentioned in the carnival was the Amateur Traveler which I’ve recently discovered and been listening to on my way to work – I mentioned the site and some other podcast resources in my last post – Sounds of the city.

I also enjoyed reading about the Voluntour of Duty from Intelligent Travel about working in a volunteer project in Mozambique. The writer discovered as many of us do, that working among those with very little is a humbling experience and can tip us up-side down in ways we least expect.

Thanks to aaron freimark for the photo on flickr.

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Blue hearts and ghost-bikes – ways to remember the dead

HeatherCowper — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 21:22:55 +0000

As we travelled south from Quito along the Pan-American highway, it dawned on me that the front of the bus might not have been the best choice of seat. As if to demonstrate their machismo, the Ecuadorian bus drivers specialise in overtaking all other vehicles, preferably up hill and into the oncoming traffic. Every so often we could see blue hearts or Corazon Azul, painted on the road to mark where someone had died in a car crash. Sometime we would see a group of four or five together – large ones for adults, smaller ones for children. They are part of a campaign by the government in Ecuador to make people aware of the dangers of reckless driving.

A similar initiative, but this time springing from the cycling community, are the ghost bikes which first started in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. The small bikes are painted white and chained to a site near where a cyclist was killed to create a memorial and a reminder that we all have a right to travel safely. Now the idea seems to have spread to many countries throughout the world, to judge by the information on the Ghost-bike website. The internet allows us to share in the memory of those who have died – it’s no less personal but can reach a wider audience.

In Greece, you’ll be hard pushed to drive along a winding coast road, without passing several small shrines by the side of the road. If you look inside you will see a religious icon, perhaps a candle and posy of flowers, and often a photograph of the person who has died. The Greek way of marking a death doesn’t stop at the funeral – services are also held on the 40th day and annually thereafter. When I visited my sister in Greece last summer, she seemed to be regularly off to a memorial service with a bunch of flowers in hand – if you can’t go to every service, you still send the flowers. Floristry is a good business to be in in Greece.

In England, the family often ask for no flowers but their own at a funeral, but that friends instead give donations to a favourite charity. Yet who can forget the sea of flowers outside Kensington Palace following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, each with its own personal and heartfelt message. But for a more lasting tribute, the family will sometimes dedicate a bench. Visit any park or beauty spot in England and you will find wooden benches, each with a small brass plaque dedicated to someone who loved this spot too. The one that made me almost envious of the lucky recipient was the stone bench and table I saw, on the Cornish cliff-top at Treyarnon, facing out to sea, dedicated to Nick and engraved with a motorbike. Did this have any part in his untimely death aged 27?

Despite the different ways that people round the world mark an accidental death, the message from the grieving is the same. The memorials seem to say;

Stop and think as you go about your business. This person was important and will not be forgotten. It could happen to you…

For more on the last goodbye
You can find more tales on how people say goodbye around the world in the articles under Fatal attractions and the podcast entitled Terminal Travels on the Lonely Planet website. Favourite quotes from the podcast;

Death and cremation in Bali and Lombok
And where does the soul go after cremetion? Why to a heaven that is just like Bali.
Sky burial in Tibet
Giving one’s body as food for the vultures is regarded as a final act of generosity to the living world and provides a link in the circle of life.
The Day of the Dead in Mexico
Rather than fearing death, a Mexican chases after it, mocks it, courts it, hugs it, sleeps with it; it is his favorite plaything and his most lasting love.
A funeral in Sulawesi
The grandaughter Marianna, wore a bright blue sarong, pretty racy for the occasion, and there were droplets of blood on her raven hair.

Thanks for the photos to Erin Mcsherry for her blue hearts photo. You can see her post about the Corazon Azul here. Thanks for other photos from Flickr to Vlad Lazerian and Steve Wilde.
Related Posts
My top three beaches on Zakynthos
Banksy and Plastic bags
Blue fishing boats on Zakynthos
Saving the Caretta Caretta Turtles on Zakynthos

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Warm baths and waterfalls at Baños – in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 22:27:04 +0000

Where in the world would you be asked, when checking into your hotel, whether you’d like a view of the garden or of the waterfall?

I spent three weeks last October travelling in Ecuador with two girlfriends and the prize for holiday atmosphere had to go to the town of Baños where we spent a few days. The town sits in a deep valley, with vertical cliffs on either side and is overshadowed by the still active volcano Mt Tungurahua, locally known as the throat of fire – see my last post on sleeping under a smoking volcano.

Much as we loved the night we spent in luxury at Luna Runtun spa, set on the cliff above the town, we concluded that this little piece of paradise wasn’t the real Ecuador. So we moved down to the valley, checking in first to the guest house, Casa del Abuelo and later into it’s big sister the Posade del Arte. The view of the waterfall turned out to be the right choice, as the garden was home to a noisy cockerel who we could have cheerfully strangled when he made his presence felt in the small hours of the morning.

The Casa del Abuelo offers bed and breakfast in colourfully furnished rooms with a wine bar and art gallery downstairs. The main hotel, Posada del Arte was also wonderful, with the work of Ecuadorian artists everywhere on the walls and breakfast to die for, especially all the freshly squeezed fruit juices that we enjoyed throughout our trip.

The place is run by an American couple who are keen mountain-bikers – as we relaxed over breakfast, Jim the owner was just off for a bike-ride up the mountain, but the thought was too exhausting for us to contemplate.

The town is a holiday destination for Ecuadorians families too, who come to enjoy the hot baths in the town, fed by the thermal springs and the waterfalls that cascade down the cliffs on the edge of town. We tried the Baños de la Virgen, just along the road from our hotel for a pre-breakfast dip, thinking that at 7 am on a Sunday morning we would have the place to ourselves.

No chance – we’d forgotten that it was a public holiday weekend and the place was packed with Latin mamas with their children paddling like tadpoles in the warm bath – funnily enough the cold bath was deserted! After wallowing for a little in the warm, milky green water, I moved up a notch to the near-scalding hot bath and then with a sharp intake of breath ran under the freezing showers, fed directly from the waterfall next door.

We wandered round town, sampling the local toffee called milcocha, which is made from the sugar cane growing in the area. There are rows of colourful stalls selling these sweets around the bus station and everywhere you see the toffee makers pulling the toffee on hooks in the wall.

Just beyond the bus station was the new bridge across the impressive gorge of the Rio Pastaza, making its way towards the Amazon basin. The bridge is an escape route for the population of Baños if the eruption of Mt Tungurahua forces them to evacuate in a hurry, as happened in 1999.

We clambered down to the older bridge below, passing several couples out for a romantic stroll, and got a great view of the gorge and the bungee jumpers on the bridge above us. I saw one girl being counted down time and again but not plucking up the courage to jump until finally she was given a gentle nudge – needless to say I wasn’t tempted.

One of the fun things to do around Baños is a trip along the Ruta de las Cascadas, where one impressive waterfall after another cascades down the side of the gorge. We tagged on to a group in a mini-bus, but the more energetic had hired mountain bikes to cycle along this route.

In order to see the Manta de Novia waterfall we took the rather precarious wire cable car across the gorge, and further along the route trekked along a rocky path to find the famous Pailón del Diablo or Devil’s cauldron, which we viewed from the rope bridge (only 5 people at a time) and then from a closer vantage point where we were drenched by the spray.

The guide for our waterfall viewing was slightly creepy – “Don’t worry, you can swim in your underwear”, he said, as we stood beside the pool below yet another magnificent waterfall. “I’m a Pisces, water is my life. I’m visiting England soon, will I see you?” I fiddled nervously with my wedding ring and made my excuses.

Thanks to dnlpnsk and jrubinic for their photos on Flickr

You can see my Ecuador photos on Flickr here.

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The world hears about my adventures in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:24:44 +0000

Congratulations to Suzie from Beijing Notebook on publication of her great article on her designer friend Ira Walendy.

So far my only claim to publication has been in my local church magazine. For those of you who don’t attend my local church of St Bonaventure’s in Bristol, let me share it with you below. Yes, I know it’s not National Geographic or Sunday Times travel section, but a girl’s got to start somewhere!

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I’m told my parish priest had stiff competition with his sermon on the Sunday it came out, as his parishoners leafed through to see what the tres chicas de Bristol had been up to in Ecuador.

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Sleeping under a smoking volcano – at Mt Tungurahua in Ecuador

HeatherCowper — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 11:03:33 +0000

My fellow bloggers Silken on Places to Go and Milton Ramirez on Global Voices alerted me that Mt Tungurahua in Ecuador has been erupting again. It brought back memories of my visit to Ecuador in October 2007 when I slept on the slopes of this smoking volcano.

I stayed with two friends in the fabulous hotel spa of Luna Runtun perched high on the slopes of Mt Tungurahua. Our night at the spa was our one concession to luxury, on a trip where the typical accomodation was a tent on a sandbank beside the Rio Bobonaza (but that’s another story).

Luna Runtun Spa

From our balcony you could have practically dropped a stone onto the town of Baños below. The view from the window was of the thick plumes of grey smoke issuing from the Tungurahua crater behind us. We took a trek up the mountain through the cloud forest, passing polytunnels growing tomatoes just above the hotel, as far as a marked Mirador, but there the trail ran out. There are paths that take you higher up the mountain but it’s now forbidden to venture up to the mountain refuge due to the very real dangers from the volcanic activity.

Tungurahua is part of Ecuador’s ‘Avenue of the Volcanoes’ a string eleven peaks of the Andean cordillera, some still active, that cross Ecuador from north to south. In 1999, scientists monitoring the volcanic activity predicted that a major eruption was imminent. The fall-out of ash led to the temporary evacuation of more than 25,000 inhabitants of Baños but after a while the inhabitants returned. The rumblings continue to this day and periodically cause concern for those living on the ‘Throat of Fire’.

Mt Tungurahua erupts

Don’t let the rumblings put you off a trip to this lovely spot – for the more adventurous it may even be a good reason to visit. The town authorities monitor the activity closely and give residents plenty of warning if there’s any cause for concern, so take local advice. The town of Baños relies heavily on the tourist dollars and is well worth a visit for its hot springs, waterfalls and holiday atmosphere. But I’ll keep that for another post.

Many thanks to Nelson Piedra and Lesmode on flickr.com for the photos of Tungurahua under creative commons. Luna Runtun photos from the Luna Runtun website.

Book Luna Runtun The Adventure SPA, Baños, Ecuador with Hostelbookers.com

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Books that inspire you to travel

HeatherCowper — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:46:13 +0000

As I enjoy reading & travelling I thought I might double the enjoyment by finding some books to insire my travels. I don’t mean the trusty Lonely Planet or Footprint guide, but rather a novel or travel account that will let you can soak up the atmosphere before you even reach the airport, or even add a little spice to the experience while you are there.

On my wish list for places to visit in 2008 are Rome (taking my 11 year old son there for a long weekend), Lebanon (friend moving there soon), Ethiopia (friends who do aid work may be sent there) and Malaysia (possible family holiday this summer).

To get me in the mood I thought I’d seek out some possible reading material and this is where my own research or recommendations from friends led me;

For Lebanon
De Niro’s Game by Rawi Hage is about relationship between Bassam and George, childhood friends living in Lebanon.

For Ethiopia
The Emperor by Ryszard Kapuscinski relates the story of the court of the last Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie I (1892-1975),the period during which Selassie reigned as absolute ruler and source of all power in his country, and traces its way to his downfall at the hands of a military coup in 1974, and his subsequent death.

The shadow of the sun by the same author gives an insight into the African continent at the time of independence

For Malaysia
The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess is three inter-connected, but independent stories on the dying days of the British empire.

In October 2007 I spent three weeks in Ecuador and still retain a passion for all things South American. The book I had in my rucksack on that journey was The Mapmaker’s wife by Robert Whittaker ! which tells the story of Isabel Godin who travelled down the Amazon in search of her husband, experiencing disaster and tragedy – she was the only one of her party to survive. With two friends I retraced her steps from her home town of Cajabamba in the Andes into the Amazon basin as far as the Jesuit Mission station of Andaos (now in Peru) where she was taken to recover following her rescue from the jungle. The book gives a picture of the life of a wealthy woman in the 1760s as well as the context of the scientific expedition that brought her French husband to Ecuador. With this account of her journey I was able to taste a little of her experience, although thankfully not the capsized canoes or wandering for weeks in the jungle with only berries or plants to sustain me

I shall continue my researches on books to inspire my travels and let you know when I have actually read any of the above and whether they did the trick in making me want to go there.

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