Orcas

We first saw them on our walk this morning. Then we saw them from the boat. Then they were gambolling around the boat. But I didn't get a picture. They are seldom seen around here.

The walk this morning was lava and sand, trying not to step on one or more sea iguanas. We also saw flightless cormorants, and a crab changing its shell. This afternoon we saw penguins and another type of iguana and Darwin Finches. Both areas were very new, with lots of lava around.

Turtles

Turtles really struggle to lay their eggs. They need to wait until the tide is right, struggle up the beach, decide that they have a good spot (we saw several tracks today where the turtle decided that it wasn't good, so struggled back down the beach without laying any eggs), and then make it back to water.

I was disappointed by the blue footed boobies, as the ones here aren't nearly as blue as the pictures.

This morning we slowly sailed along a bay which has interesting rock formations including one called "the monk". 

Penguins

Although I saw penguins today, they were too fast, so I didn't have a chance to get a picture. They were zipping around in the water. In fact, a lot of animals were going too fast. Someone needs to feed them all a "go slow" tablet.

We visited the Chinamans Hat and Isla Rabida, and went for a walk and a snorkel on both of them. Snorkelling is somewhat addictive, but I have to stop after a little to remove the excess water from my mask, because I wear my glasses. This is a minor inconvenience. There were plenty of tropical fish, birds, sea lions, iguanas, and lizards where we went today. The vegetation we've seen so far is quite dry and poor, as the islands have been mainly lava flows, without much real soil. 

Giant Tortoises

The Hilton at Quinto serves breakfast between 2am and 10am, so we had breakfast before we flew to the Galapagos (we met in the lobby at 4:20am). After take owe got an excellent view of the volcano that's currently blowing, and caused our plane to take a circuitous route.

We were on the board by lunchtime, and visited the lava caves and giant turtles this afternoon. The giant turtles wander around wherever they want to, but the lava caves place has done a lot to attract them - replacing elephant grass with shorter, native grasses, planting some trees that they like, and creating shallow ponds that the turtles can submerge in, and drink. So there are a lot of turtles there. The one pictured is probably over 100!

Galapagos Meeting

No wifi while I am in the Galapagos. So my next post will be on 16th here and 17th there.

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.

To Market, to Market

Otovelo is famous for its Saturday market - the biggest in Ecuador and if memory serves, the biggest in South America. They actually have three separate markets - the animal market, the food market and the handcraft market. The handcraft market takes up an area five blocks by fifteen. All those streets are closed on Saturday and everyone comes to sell and to buy. The animal market is a few blocks from the handcraft market, in a special area that is only used on Saturday. They even have fat pigs. The food market is always open, and is in an area somewhat between the two other markets, although there is food available at the other end of the handcraft market. The traffic is horrendous. There are busses every ten minutes from Quito, and we have been advised to be very careful, so I decided not to take my camera.

Unfortunately it is raining today (another reason to leave my camera behind), so all the stall holders are improvising tarpolins above their wares, and the occasional deluge suddenly occurs when they fill.

They have lots of clothes, weaving, musical instruments (including someone selling didgeridoos, but not playing it very well), knitting, crochet, embroidery, painting, woodwork and jewellery.

This is the last day of the tour, and I will be sorry to say goodbye to everyone. Five of them are going on the Galapagos tour that is an extension of this, but it was full when I booked, so I will have a day in Quito before I go. The group has been the nicest group I have toured with, and Henry, our guide, has been absolutely superb. He rearranged things when people wanted it. For instance, we were passing through a town, and he mentioned that it was famous for its biscuits and dulce de leche. The whole bus let out a collective sigh (we hadn't seen dulce de leche anywhere in Ecuador), so we stopped at the original shop and all bought some, even though we were due somewhere at a particular time.