John and Mary at Machu Picchu

Avenue of the Volcanos, Ecuador

Tungurahua Volcano and the valley below

The highlands of Ecuador are filled with volcanoes. We visited nearby to one inactive and one active. Both with snow at the top, and the active one with ash piled high on one side of the mountain and lots of steam escaping. The rivers from these volcanoes drain into the Amazon river, so we were at the entrance to the Amazon. We hiked a little to some of the waterfalls and took a little cable car over the canyon to another.

The highlight of the 4 days, however, was the Hacienda that we stayed at. High up on the highlands, it was really beautiful with a view of the volcano in the distance. The owners were home for the weekend and we had some fascinating conversations with them. They are trying to start an organic farm at this hacienda without a lot of money. So it was interesting seeing how they were raising their first vegetables and corn.

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

Land Iguana

We´re back in Quito after 6 days on the Galapagos islands. They certainly are unique! They have very few native species of plants or animals, but what they have is usually found no where else on earth. Even between islands, many species (or subspecies) are unique. The other key element is that you can approach most of these birds and animals within feet. In fact, a couple of times we´ve almost stepped on a sea lion when we didn´t see him. It´s a real thrill when we saw our first Great Frigate birds. The males blow up the sack on their neck to attract females. When one flies by they lift their wings up and vocalize to get their attention. These balloons stay inflated for a week before they mate, so they fly and eat with them. The other interesting birds are the boobies. Nasca boobies have yellow bills and feet. Blue footed boobies not only have blue feet but also blue beaks. Finally, the red-footed boobies have the appropriate foot color and blue beaks. We saw many of them nesting with their fluffy chicks. We also had the opportunity to see a short eared owl, on the island we found him, they hunt during the day (since there are no hawks on that island).
Then, of course, came the iguanas, the only marine iguana in the world live here, plus several varieties of land iguana. We visited the Charles Darwin Center we they are attempting to repopulate the tortoises on each of the islands. Each island has a different subspecies and many of them are endangered because of feral cats, dogs, and goats. For example, Lonesome George is the only known tortoise left from one island, they have yet to find him a mate. We also went to the highlands to see tortoises in the wild.
The other interesting aspect of the islands is their geology. The islands are volcanically formed. We saw lots of rope lava, and we walked through some large lava tubes (10 feet by 20 feet by 1.5 km). Most of the islands are desert like conditions. But along the seashore you´ll find cactus next to mangrove trees. And for some of the larger islands with highlands, one side of the island is desert and the other is lush plant life. Finally, some islands are like walking on the moon, almost no vegetation, and filled with sputter craters. We saw huge variation in the basalt rocks filled with holes as they cooled, those that cooled in water were dense and those that cooled on land were feather light.

Quito, Ecuador

John and Mary on the Equator

We spent most of yesterday going from Lima, Peru to Quito, Ecuador. The weather here is highly variable, we´ve had a mix of rain and sunshine both days we´ve been here. Quito means middle of the Earth, because the Indians have known for a long time that they were on the equator.

Today started with a concert from a school for the physically (blind, deaf) and mentally (downs syndrome) handicapped. They played a number of Ecuadorian and classical tunes and were quite good, especially one of the blind keyboard players.

We then visited both the historical and the ´´new´ equator. The historical equator was determined by a team of French mathematicians, who spent 7 years trying to determine the equator here in the 1750´s. The new equator is about 300 feet to the North as determined by GPS. We conducted some experiments like trying to get a raw egg to stand vertically and watching how water drained from a tub (straight down, instead of in a counter clockwise direction).

We saw our first real shrunken head. The practice only discontinued a couple of decades ago in the Amazon portions of Peru and Ecuador. They were worn on your belt, after you had defeated an enemy, much like scalps for our Indians. They shrink the head by removing all the bones, putting a stone inside the head and drying it out.

Ecuador is poorer than Peru was. Average income is $500 per month. Education is free, but not compulsory. Everyone learns two languages: in the country your native language and Spanish, in the city Spanish and English. At least here, women have been educated and able to vote since the 1920s. All their schools have 2 shifts: 7 AM to 1 PM, and then 1 PM to 7 PM to make better use of the facilities. It was surprising to learn that 45% of the population is mixed, 40% pure Native, 10% black, and only 5% white.

After a typical lunch: potato soup with avocado and tomatoes, pork with corn and potatoes, and fruit desert, we went to the Colonial part of the city. Here we visited the Jesuit church - almost pure gold. They just completed last year, a 30 year restoration project, so the church just sparkles with the gleam of gold.

Trip around Cusco, Peru

Tapestry Weaving

Our guide has been superb. We've learned a lot about Peru's progress and problems. In 1968, women didn't attend school, 80 percent were illiterate, and most of Peru wealth was in the hands of a few. In 2004, 10 percent are illiterate, everyone attends school to age 16, and while there is still a large discrepancy in wealth, there is a healthy middle class. I've been amazed by the road system. No super highways, but very good roads, much better than most countries we've visited.

Yesterday, we visited a textile project, a cooperative of 1700 people in the country side who are weaving textiles of various kinds. Some beautiful pieces. We saw all 4 types of American camels: llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuna. And then saw the entire process from creating thread with natural dyes, through the weaving process. I usually don't like these stops that end up at a shop to buy their product - but this one was quite interesting and seemed to be for a very good cause.

We then visited Pisca, the largest of the many Inca farming areas. This area is huge set of terraces along the mountain side at about 10000 feet. The had an aqueduct system to carry water from the glacier to this point, in fact, this system still carries water to the town today. While we were touring, someone was playing one of the Andean flutes - so it was very charming.

In the afternoon, we visited the Inca museum and the Cathedral. I've never seen so much gold and silver on the altars. They were very busy polishing the silver for the feast of Corpus Christi, where many of these pieces will be paraded through town.

Machu Picchu, Peru

It's been quite an adventure. We took a bus, then a train to the town below Machu Picchu. We crossed a 12,000 foot pass with 22,000 foot peaks in the distance. Would you believe most of this land at this height is farm land? Corn and potatoes are the big crop.

There are not enough superlatives to describe Machu Picchu. It's hard to believe the ruins are in this good a shape. We spent an afternoon exploring the farming area, the storage bins, residences, and temples. It was built in 1438 as a royal estate where the king would spend the month of June each year (to escape the coldest month in Cusco). We went up and down a lot of stairs, many of them with big drop-offs off the end of the narrow steps. There are 3 different styles of stone architecture -from fairly loose rock for the terraces to very polished rock with almost no cracks for the temples.

The next morning we got up about 5:00 to be up on top again at 6:30. Both days were beautiful and the shadows and light across the ruins were spectacular. This day we hiked up to the Sun Gate, the Inca entrance to the city. What a sight it must be for the hikers of the Inca trail after hiking 4 days from Cusco to see this magnificent view. So after the morning we reversed our course and returned to Cusco. Stopping in a corn bar, a little place where they brew corn beer and cook up live chickens or guinea pig if you get hungry. The owner was a woman who was studying to be a teacher, but when her parents died, she started this bar for her and her siblings. She figures she makes more brewing and cooking than she would as a teacher. We then tried our hand at the local pub game, Sapo, or frog. Where you throw a coin and try to get it into the holes on the board to score.

Cusco, Peru

Sun Temple in Cusco (Spanish Church on top of Inca Temple)
We're in Cuzco, the Inca capital city at 10,700 feet. Today we visited the fortress on top of the city, where most of the bottom wall (out of 3) is still intact. All the workmanship is beautiful, these huge blocks, some 120 tons in weight all closely matched and placed without mortar. This fortress was built to protect the Inca capital from the Chunka, another tribe. We climbed to the top to get a beautiful view of the city and the 20,000 foot peak off in the distance.

From there, we had a medicine man perform a ritual cleansing ceremony. He is a shaman from a small village in the mountains. (It took him an hour walking and an hour by bus to join us.) He took many herbs, and various foods (candies, cereal, alphabet soup with our initials, animal crackers and coca leaves) to create a package. He then wrapped this all up blew on it several times and swiped it around our bodies and asked us to blow 3 times (to give it our spirits). It was then burnt to cleanse us of our problems. Very interesting.

After that we had lunch at the home of a middle class family, Grandmother, Father, Mother, Sister, and all their children. They had a 4 bedroom home (with beautiful ceramic and parquet floors). And yes, we had guinea pig as part of our main entry - a real treat here. We also had a local juice made from a purple corn. And of course, other vegetables that were in season. An interesting time.

Finally, the day ended with a trip to the Temple of the Sun. At one time, this was the main temple for the Incas covered with 700 sheets of gold (which the Spaniards looted). Once again the stone work was amazing. While the Spaniards built a church on the foundation, they actually couldn't dismantle the lower part of the temple. And it has now withstood 3 major earthquakes (the last in 1950 which was 7.0 on the Richter scale). Most of the stone have a tongue and groove fit and those that don't are joined by bronze - no masonry again.

Nasca Lines

Wednesday, May 23 Today, was our trip over the Nasca lines. We flew over all the desert to get to the small town of Ica, where there is agriculture where there is irrigation. They took us to an Oasis there, sand dunes everywhere and then a lake in the dead center, with all sorts of restaurants and tourist spots around it. Then a museum tour where we saw Peru´s mummies, and shrunken heads. The flight over the lines was next, hard to believe. Still too many theories around why they are there. You can´t see them from the ground, only from the air.