Angry, Yasuni, Niebel

On my last week in Ecuador I went to a Lodge in the Rainforest, run by the local Sani on the border of Yasuni National Park.

It is one of the most amazing places, maybe the most amazing place, I have ever seen.
We went there by boat - seeing Oil production sites, destroying the forest, all along the way.

Back home I started reading about this paradise and am both saddened and enraged by the role the german government, represented by our "development minister" Niebel (FDP- what else?!) plays.
Here´s an article (in german). (There are more on Spiegel online etc.)

"This is the chance of a lifetime: a unique opportunity to preserve the moths that hover over a tapir´s eye just long enough to drink from its tear duct, or the poison-dart frogs that piggyback their recently hatched tadpoles from the forest floor uo to the small pools that form in bromeliads high in the canopy. Let´s hope the world takes it." (BBC Wildlife, David Herasimtschuk, Oct 2011)
Well, I guess Germany won´t.

Thanks to farsighted people like Mr. Niebel my Niece and Nephew won´t be able to discover places like Yasuni once they´re my age.
But I guess we cannot really afford to spend 40 mil dollars on something as ridiculous as protecting one of the worlds most biodeverse places on earth (and it´s people!), the money is much better spent on saving another bank, and another one....and of course we have garanties there that the money is well spent.
Tell the ecuadorians to cut down the forest, once they replant it they´ll get money for CO2 savings or whatever ...

Link to Yasuni-itt: http://yasuni-itt.gob.ec/

Juvenile Condor

Amazing birds!
This is a wild juvenile, who came to visit the captive Condors at Hacienda Zula a couple of times - she was very inquisitive.

Merry Christmas, Wesołych Świąt, Fröhliche Weihnachten & Feliz Navidad!

" It had taken all my life to understand what that means: baboons, elephants and people belong with the ones they truly know. We need more than strangers around us. Mark and I had studied the significance of social sytems of other species for decades, but in doing so, we had left our own families. And what we learned was that it is not so much that the troop is incomplete without some of its baboons or human beings, but that the individual baboons or human beings are incomplete without their troop.[...] Because most people are as scattered as desert lions, one can find plenty of strays in the dunes; all you need is a net to bring them in. To be complete we need Nature and our troops, but both are slipping away beyond our reach. We must save what wilderness we can because it was our first home, and without it we will never fully understand who we are. [...]we must put our troops and our families back together again. Like Kalahari lions at the end of drought, we must form a new pride. "
Deliah Owens, Secrets of the Savannah

travelling

I took a boat trip to the Isla de la Plata from Puerto Lopez - it was fantastic! Saw loads of seabirds, including blue-footed boobies, and marine green turtles. When I cycled to a beach close by I saw hundreds of tracks of turtle hatchlings, reminded me of 6 great, hot weeks when I volunteered at a beach in greece where we guarded nests, dug up old nests, counted eggs...
See, again? Happens all the time - tings remind me of other travels. And 90 % of the time its good memories so I like it ;). The hostel in Puerto Lopez was great, I had my own cabin in a beautiful garden, just across the beach. Went swimming, lazed around, ate invertebrates...ahem...yes....abandoned my vegetarianism for a week to eat shrimps & mussles. Muy rico!
Was kind of sad to leave, I could have stayed a bit longer, esp. as diving didn´t work out for organisational reasons. At least I could do some snorkeling.
Now I'm back in Quito an though I do enjoy having access to a book store (reading "black swan green" at the moment and love it), a veggie reaturant and everything I feel like every day I spent here is wasted.
So, tomorrow it´s off to Yasuni, the rainforest, the amazoian, the oriente. Off to a lodge, a tent, a canoe and loads od mosquitoes. Btw. I did manage to get preventive pills `gainst malaria in the end. I met a canadian couple in the hostel who´ll be doing the same thing, so we can go to the airport together ;). It always depends a lot on luck and good guides and patience to see stuff in the forest - so I hope we´ll have all of those.

Tavel Time

This morning I left Quito and took a plane to Manta, on the coast.

And finally - I was waiting for it ! - I had my first unpleasant Taxi driver. He tried to talk me into not taking the bus but his Taxi to Puerto Lopez for 40 $ (3 $ by bus) and told me it would take 4 hours (2,5 hrs) and didn't accept my first two polite refusals...when he finally dropped me off at the bus station he ripped me off but I was just glad I got rid of him. How I missed that :).

Just an indicator that things at the coast are different - people scream at you, try to drag you into restaurants, there is loud music everywhere...
Puerto Lopez is a total tourist town, not the "fishing village" my travel guide made me expect. The people in Zuleta were incredibly nice by the way.

Well, the hostel is nice, I saw Frigatebirds, Pelicans, Geckos and tomorrow I'll take a tour to an island - so I'm not complaining, things could be much worse.
Might even go diving, haven't decided yet. Forgot everything from my course last year...went into a dive shop today and will think about it tomorrow.
And it's good to see the sea again - I've spent so many months in Greece, Thailand, Jersey, Honduras and Australia at it, that it almost feels like coming home though that might sound ridiculous, I know.
This is a bit like Utila...I don't know, but I've seen quite a few places by now and now I always end up comparing. Is that good or bad or doesn't it matter?
It's diminishing the sense of "childlike wonder" a bit but it also makes dealing with reality easier. Been there, done that - kind of.
But then I sit here and I watch a 25 Frigatebirds circling over ther harbor and 5 pelicans dive for fish - and it´s fantastic. No matter how often I've seen pelicans, they are still great and Frigatebirds are a first (I think...) - so I know how special this is and enjoy it maybe even more?

But back to comparing: Number One of beautiful places on my list ist still Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia.
Hard to beat. Probably impossible :).
But I´ll give the Isla de la Plata tomorrow a chance. Hoping for seabirds and if I{ m really, really lucky maybe some sealions or dolphins. Will be glad about any nice day, hopefully with nice people.

BTW, In Quito I accidentally ran into the biggest fiesta they have, that was fun ! :)

Quito

Back in the capital of Ecuador, Quito.

Said Goodbye this morning and went with the bus from Zuleta to Ibarra, from Ibarra to Quito and with the Taxi to the hostel. Found the office of the lodge in Yasuni I´ll be visiting next month and paid - have I mentioned that I hated ecuadorian banks? :)

Tomorrow noon I´m taking an inland flight to Manta and from there a bus to Puerto Lopez, close to Machalilla Park. Hoping for seabirds, snorkeling and sun ;).

Right now Im trying to find malaria pills (yeeeees, I should have bought them at home, but for the condor place you don't need them...) that work. "Funnily" enough the pharmacies seem to only sell stuff that the ecuadorian plasmodium has long since developed resistencies against...
Mum, you just didn´t read this, ok ? ! :)

Ok, back to the busy streets (it´s a kind of fiesta today), city wandering, trying to learn spanish, figuring out Quito, good food, strolling aimlessly, looking for pharmacies and a camera shop...

"I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses."
Bill Bryson, Neither here nor there

Last days at the Hacienda and a bit sad to leave. Had a great time here and will miss some people and animals.
But it's raining, so it's easier to look forward to my week at the sea .
Hope all goes well with travelling, I like being places not so much getting there.

only one week left at the hacienda, time flies.
This week I saw a wild andean bear and watched it almost all day, very! thrilled about that. I also saw a possum yesterday night - and I just love them :). Trying to plan my holidays here has become a bit of a struggle, though. I spent almost my whole day off on going to Ibarra (next bigger town, 1 hr by bus) and trying to make a payment for a Galapagos Trip. 7 Banks and a couple of hours later I gave up.
At least I wont be completely broke when I return.
So, the new plan is to go back to Quito and catch a flight to Manta on Tuesday the 5. Then take the 2hr Bus to Puerto Lopez and stay there till Sunday. Puerto Lopez is on the coast and close to Machalilla National Park . I'll spend my days on the beach, on the Isla de la Plata watching Seabirds, snorkelling or maybe even diving (got certified in Honduras last year)?
I'll see...
On Sunday I'll fly back to Quito and on Monday catch the flight to coca in the amazon basin. I'll spend my last week there, camping in the rainforest, trying no to be eaten alive by mosquitoes and watch as much Wildlife as possible.
Then I'll once again fly back to Quito and then back home.

That's the plan.
Keep you fingers crossed it works:).

For now I'm just glad to be here, enjoying my time. Yann and me went bushwacking up a little stream to a waterfall today and every single muscle hurts...
(Btw. : yes that's work, we were looking fo Tapir and Beartracks)

Paramo

Already two weeks over...time flies.
Yesterday we were taken up to the Paramo at 4000 m (you can really feel the height, it takes the breath out of you) on the back of a truck, saw lots of Alpakas and a fascinating landscape.
Today Yann and me scrambled up an overgrown path up a mountain to look for bearsh... great fun ! :) (seriously)

Right now I'm trying to figure out what to do between the 5the and the 20th when I'll be travelling. I guess it's either going to be Yasuni's Rainforest or the Galapagos and ?. Both aren't cheap potions (and Galapagos is downright unaffordable...) but I do want to see some mammals here :).
I'll see... trying o figure out dates and prices.

In 10 minutes we'll be served dinner at the hacienda, in many ways this is a luxury volunteering holiday, which I enjoy a lot! (Yes, I'm old.)

Condors!

Took the Bus from Quito to Gullyabamba (Quito Zoo) on Monday morning. Got to meet Sarah (Canada), Erin (Canada) and Yann (France) my fellow volunteers and Sarah and Fernanda, the project coordinators. Together we were taken to "Hacienda Zuleta", the project site.
It's a beautiful place, a top hotel & a dairy farm with lots of cows, horses, a cheese factory, freeranging donkeys, a bunch of lovely dogs, fantastic gardens with hummingbirds and trails in the cuntryside.
We're the first bunch of volunters staying in our own house and kind of guinea pigs to get everything sorted, which is kind of fun.
The volunteer house is very nice, we've even got a fireplace. In the first week we got to know the place, were tought about condors and bears and moved the rabbit cages. The rabbits and guinea pigs are used as food for the 7 captive condors that live on a site close to the hacienda. One of our tasks will be to take care of them and to do behavioral observations. We'll also be wandering around the area, looking for other widlife, esp. signs of andean bears and mountain tapirs.
On Saturday we went to Otavalo, a two hour bus trip to an amazing market with all kinds of beautiful textiles. A really touristy place but still nice, and a fun day off and out. Being the only Gringos on a bus full of locals always is an experience in itself...

We already saw some wild condors, impressive animals.
The only thing that's been not so nice is the weather - it's been raining every day, but we've also had sunny spells. Today it was dry till 5 o clock pm and we were walking around in Tshirts all day ! :) Well, apart from the time we spent at the condors cages, were I were longsleeves to avoid being eaten alive by the mosquitoes...

Gotta go to dinner now (yes, we get it done for us :P).

Greeting from Quito!

Picture not mine, at : http://imagenes.viajeros.com/fotos/r/rg/rgohmb-bg.jpg

I`m in Ecuadors capital after a very long and tiring (but relatively uneventful) journey of 23 hrs. Had to run through Madrids airport (which I know by heart because I spent 8 hours there last year) but then my second flight was delayed so that my luggage made it as well :).
Got to meet someone at the hostel during breakfast and we spent the day exploring the city, including taking the teleferico to a viewpoint at 4700 metres, very nice.
Monday it`s off to the condor project where i´ll spend the next month.

This week:

My niece, nephew, sister-in-law (I like the english term) and brother moved - they now live only a 15 minute drive away. Excellent!
Work at work is done & machine has been mothballed.
My dad has been in and out of hospital.
My dsungarian hamster and last pet has passed away today.
I´ll be flying to Ecuador in less than a weeks time.
Christmas is just around he corner ;).

Cannot complain about boredom.

"When we remember we all are mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."
Mark Twain

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”
Mark Twain, 1857

Hodophopbia = the fear of travel.

Mixed emotions right now, love travelling but am nervous because I don´t feel well prepared for the next journey, due to a shortage of spare time recently...

I guess it´ll all turn out allright, it always did yet ;).

And, another one by Mark Twain (and an all-time favorite of mine) "“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear”

Once I´m at it :
"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first."

coffee?

after yeras of trying to be in bed early on sundays it feels extremely weird trying to stay awake - nightshift on monday. training for travelling down under :) ?

Fernwehattacke

The english language is definitely incomplete, it´s missing a word for "Fernweh". It´s like being homesick but the other way round - a longing to travel & be far away. Dictionary says itchy feet, wanderlust (which sounds german but isn´t, really) or travel bug.
But those don´t hurt, do they?
Anyway, got a serious Fernweh-attack right now.
Want to go, faaar away. Now-ish. Tasmania would be nice. Australia, too. Guess Portugal (never been) or Greece (spent there almost 4 months in total, working with sea turtles) would do.
Btw.: It´s also missing an expression for a song being stuck in in your head, and one of my life´s missions is to introduce the word "earworm" into english ;).

Whoever said you cant buy happiness...

...forgot about puppies!

Photo session with cooper, a labrador-vizsla mix and his howners, colleagues of mine