Reflections

So, with this tour complete, what are my thoughts?

The tour was not what I really wanted to do. I looked for a trip like the ones I did in Turkey - with an emphasis on learning about the civilisations that existed here, visiting archeological sites and engaging with the ethnic culture. There was one that I found, but it had been cancelled so I settled for a tour that had some of what I wanted. 

I managed to include quite a lot of what I wanted, visiting two archeological sites, and the place on the equator where they talked about the astronomical sites. The Amazon stay also included a lot more than I expected of the ethnic culture - there was even a great night when they danced. Henry included weaving visits for me as part of the optional activities, and during these, I learnt a lot about the ethnic textile tradition - some of which I already knew, but it is great to see it. Otavalo was fabulous because there were separate people who I talked to, who were able to communicate with me as they knew English and were craftspeople, and I had the opportunity to see their embroidery styles. 

There was also the ethnialogical museum in Cuenca which had a superb range of dioramas including genuine ethnic clothing. For instance, there were examples of the complex knotting at the edges of Ikat shawls that we had encountered the previous day at the Ikat weaving place.

I also really enjoyed seeing the country, the white water rafting and the zip lining. The people on the tour were wonderful, and the group fitted together well. Our guide was exceptional, and he really made the tour much better for me than it could have been. So, I am very happy that I did this tour, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

In a lot of ways, Ecuador is the opposite of Australia. It is such a young country geographically, and we have some of the oldest land on the planet. Australia is flat and Ecuador is steep. They are one of the more active tectonically, while we are probably the most inactive. Ecuador has representatives from all the carnivores, so introduced species cause no problems - they even protect all wildlife including rabbits. Australia's plants have evolved with no hooved animals (so many need uncompacted soil) and our animals have evolved with very low level preditors. We are in danger of our entire ecosystem being wiped out by introduced animals (just about everything that's introduced reproduces phenomenally) so we need completely different laws and wild animal husbandry. However, because our environment is so different to everywhere else, people from elsewhere can not be expected to understand how vital these are. This is complicated by what we don't know about our own ecosystem - one thing that has recently been discussed is how much the introduction of the European honey bee has damaged it.

The Galapagos will give a very different perspective because they also have a fragile ecosystem that they are trying to protect. Visiting mainland Ecuador has given me a lot to think about, so doing the tour has been valuable - much more valuable than I thought it would be. The tour was certainly worth it.