Our 3:30 wake up call was painful, but everyone made it to the bus for our 4:30 departure... As we left, Dr. Richter and I counted the number of students on the bus to make sure that we we're leaving anyone behind. Both of us counted 25, so off we went.
Lack of sleep has effects on people, and to our surprise the bus driver stopped about a block away from the hotel to open the door. Tony had been left behind! Both Dr. Richter and I had counted a backpack as a person!
Safely at the airport, Dr. Shingles, Dr. Richter, and the group of 25(!) students entered the departures area of Quito's Mariscal Sucre Airport. Dr. Szlavecz and I are headed out later today to Yasuní National park for a few days of research before we head home. I'm hoping that everything will go smoothly for our students, but I'm expecting heavy traffic in Washington DC for our students' arrival at National Airport...
There can be no doubt that this was one of our best trips ever. Special thanks to the students - you made travel easy and fun! It is a very strange feeling to be here in the hotel without you guys.
- Eric Fortune
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Otavalo
Our trip out of the rainforest made for a very very long day. Wake up at 6:30, breakfast at 7, and departure from Sacha at 8. 15 minutes in paddled canoe, 30 minutes hiking, and 2.5 hours in the motorized canoe only got us to Coca. Our flight to Quito was delayed by 30 minutes, so we sat in Coca for 1.5 hours before taking our 45 minute flight over the Andes.
Flying over the Andes makes for a most amusing ride - Especially in our small TAME 40 seat plane. Then onto the bus for 1.5 hour ride up to Cochasquí... ancient pyramids built by the Quitus-Cara long before the Incan invasion. Rainy, wet, overcast... but extraordinary. They developed both solar and lunar clocks with 12 and 13 months respectively, and had figured out that the earth's axis was tilted. After our visit to the archeological site, we hopped back on the bus for the final 1.5 hour trek to our hotel, Las Palmeras.
Las Palmeras has fireplaces in every room, and is built in the style of an Spanish Hacienda. Our dining room is the "Sala Cuy" - Cuy being the Quichua word for guinea pig. It is complete with a life-sized statue of a winged angel with a guinea pig in her outstretched hand.
Today we visited the animal market of Otavalo, followed by the Plaza de Ponchos - a gigantic market in the heart of Otavalo. Students spent their parents' money by the boatload, picking up lovely textiles and artworks at modest prices. Our afternoon was spent at various tallers or workshops that produce many of the goods that our students purchased.
Our final stop of the day was unplanned - a visit to a local Shaman. Our student "Jaimie" was supposed to be cleansed, but instead had a soul reading with life advice.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Ecuador. We'll start with a visit to an ancient volcano, followed by visits a town know for its leather goods and a stop at a rose plantation. We have been told to expect an unusual and fantastic surprise for our last night in Quito.
Safe in the highlands of Ecuador...
Eric Fortune
Flying over the Andes makes for a most amusing ride - Especially in our small TAME 40 seat plane. Then onto the bus for 1.5 hour ride up to Cochasquí... ancient pyramids built by the Quitus-Cara long before the Incan invasion. Rainy, wet, overcast... but extraordinary. They developed both solar and lunar clocks with 12 and 13 months respectively, and had figured out that the earth's axis was tilted. After our visit to the archeological site, we hopped back on the bus for the final 1.5 hour trek to our hotel, Las Palmeras.
Las Palmeras has fireplaces in every room, and is built in the style of an Spanish Hacienda. Our dining room is the "Sala Cuy" - Cuy being the Quichua word for guinea pig. It is complete with a life-sized statue of a winged angel with a guinea pig in her outstretched hand.
Today we visited the animal market of Otavalo, followed by the Plaza de Ponchos - a gigantic market in the heart of Otavalo. Students spent their parents' money by the boatload, picking up lovely textiles and artworks at modest prices. Our afternoon was spent at various tallers or workshops that produce many of the goods that our students purchased.
Our final stop of the day was unplanned - a visit to a local Shaman. Our student "Jaimie" was supposed to be cleansed, but instead had a soul reading with life advice.
Tomorrow is our last full day in Ecuador. We'll start with a visit to an ancient volcano, followed by visits a town know for its leather goods and a stop at a rose plantation. We have been told to expect an unusual and fantastic surprise for our last night in Quito.
Safe in the highlands of Ecuador...
Eric Fortune
Friday, January 16, 2009
Rainforest Update
My apologies that we have not had updates for the past few days. We had no time in Coca to get to a internet cafe... Tonight I am working on a computer that is linked to the internet via a radio linkage at Sacha Lodge.
The flight from Quito to Coca was very cloudy - for the first time I did not see either of the volcanoes that usually mark our transition from the Andes to the Amazon.
The Napo River and the local lakes and streams are unusually high right now. This is the dry season, but we have had tons of rain. As a result, many of the groups have not seen the most commonly seen animals, but have run into animals that are more scarce here. One group saw a young anaconda completely out of the water and resting on a tree. Others saw Kinkajous and night monkeys. My favorite, the Caiman Lizard, was spotted by several groups (but sadly, not by me or my group!).
In just a few hours we will begin the trek out of the forest... We will be paddled across the lake, hike for 30 minutes, then take a motorized canoe for 2.5 hours up the Napo. This will be followed by a short ride in a Chiva ( a local form of bus) to the airport. After a 45 minute flight we will land in Quito where we will join our highlands guide Jorge and drive up the the Pyramids at Cochasqui.
With luck, we´ll have internet from here on out...
- Eric Fortune
The flight from Quito to Coca was very cloudy - for the first time I did not see either of the volcanoes that usually mark our transition from the Andes to the Amazon.
The Napo River and the local lakes and streams are unusually high right now. This is the dry season, but we have had tons of rain. As a result, many of the groups have not seen the most commonly seen animals, but have run into animals that are more scarce here. One group saw a young anaconda completely out of the water and resting on a tree. Others saw Kinkajous and night monkeys. My favorite, the Caiman Lizard, was spotted by several groups (but sadly, not by me or my group!).
In just a few hours we will begin the trek out of the forest... We will be paddled across the lake, hike for 30 minutes, then take a motorized canoe for 2.5 hours up the Napo. This will be followed by a short ride in a Chiva ( a local form of bus) to the airport. After a 45 minute flight we will land in Quito where we will join our highlands guide Jorge and drive up the the Pyramids at Cochasqui.
With luck, we´ll have internet from here on out...
- Eric Fortune
Monday, January 12, 2009
Galápagos - Day 3
Today was a most remarkable day. We started at one of the crown jewels of the Galápagos Islands, Punta Espinosa on Fernandina. Our group was the first to disembark to the island and we saw hundreds of endemic marine Iguanas defending territories and mating. The males were head-shaking, pushing and locking mouths and heads, while other males pursued and mated with the smaller females. We also saw flightless cormorants and countless species of fish and invertebrates in the tidepools. The Galápagos hawks were watching overhead for any unsuspecting prey. The baby sea lions were quite curious this morning and actually approached and sniffed the legs of some of the students.
The afternoon was better yet. The students took the zodiacs to an area off of Isabella for deep water snorkeling. There they saw masses of sea turtles, flightless cormorants swimming after fish, and were eventually surrounded by penguins. We even saw a sea lion catch and eat a fish on cue!
We have a great group of students, and everyone is healthy and happy. We've done great so far. Tomorrow morning we travel to the highlands of Santa Cruz island for a visit to the Darwin station, and eventually our flight back to the mainland.
- Eric Fortune
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Friday, January 9, 2009
Quito tour, CENIT
Truly insane weather today. The day started off cold and rainy. Then it cleared up and became sunny and hot. And then the clouds rolled back in and we had fog. Later, that changed to rain, but that was followed by another period of clear and hot.
Despite the weather, the tour through the gold covered churches of Historic Quito and the visit to the Museo del Banco Central surprised many of the students... Later, our donations to CENIT were joyously received - one of the Sisters actually chased after the bus to express her gratitude after opening our donation bags. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
This morning our wake up call was 5:30am for a 7am departure to the airport for our flight to the Galápagos Islands. Everyone is groggy, but after another fabulous glass of juice, we're ready to go!
Despite the weather, the tour through the gold covered churches of Historic Quito and the visit to the Museo del Banco Central surprised many of the students... Later, our donations to CENIT were joyously received - one of the Sisters actually chased after the bus to express her gratitude after opening our donation bags. Thanks to everyone who contributed!
This morning our wake up call was 5:30am for a 7am departure to the airport for our flight to the Galápagos Islands. Everyone is groggy, but after another fabulous glass of juice, we're ready to go!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Quito
We've arrived in Quito, and we're thankful to have made it last night. There was heavy fog at the airport, and indeed airport operations were halted immediately after our landing. We're now safely tucked into our Hotel, Sierra Madre, after a late night snack.
It is wet and chilly today, which makes the Quito tour less enticing. We may opt to spend more time at a jewel of a museum, the Museo del Banco Central. The name gives no indication of what is inside - fabulous artifacts from pre-Incan and pre-Columbian civilizations. Gold, Silver, pottery - it is an amazing collection.
Only one bag was lost in the trip down - MINE! It should arrive Thursday evening.
- Eric Fortune
It is wet and chilly today, which makes the Quito tour less enticing. We may opt to spend more time at a jewel of a museum, the Museo del Banco Central. The name gives no indication of what is inside - fabulous artifacts from pre-Incan and pre-Columbian civilizations. Gold, Silver, pottery - it is an amazing collection.
Only one bag was lost in the trip down - MINE! It should arrive Thursday evening.
- Eric Fortune
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Miami
5am at "The Beach" - cold wet and rainy. We were picked up by 4 vans and delivered through very heavy traffic to Washington Reagan National. The normal time for the trip is about an hour - our trip was an hour and 45 minutes. Dr. Citti was patiently waiting for us on our arrival, and thank goodness that we gave scheduled extra time for the trip. We checked in and made it onto the airplane - we were the last to board.
Now we've got 3 hours to spend here in lovely Miami airport. One doesn't need to leave the USA to enter a Spanish speaking territory!
- Eric Fortune
Now we've got 3 hours to spend here in lovely Miami airport. One doesn't need to leave the USA to enter a Spanish speaking territory!
- Eric Fortune
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Lectures
We're in the midst of our two days of Lectures.
Dr. Shingles is about to start...
Here was the list of topics on Monday:
Introduction to Ecuador with a focus on geography, Dr. Fortune
Evolution, Dr. Shingles
Current history and politics in Ecuador, Dr. Fortune
The Conquest of the Inca, Dr. Richter
Biodiversity in Ecuador, Dr. Shingles
The journey of Orellana, A PBS film
...and now on Tuesday:
Sexual selection, Dr. Ball
Rainforest as an Ecosystem, Dr. Szavecz
Pre-Columbian Andean civilization, Dr. Richter
Evolution in the Galapagos Islands, Dr. Ball
Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle, PBS video
This year has been the worst ever for passports... Already they've been misplaced, left behind, near expiry... One is still in the mail and will hopefully arrive today! We're hoping for better luck as the trip starts.
Weather looks very unpleasant for our departure - a large storm that promises to deliver either rain or freezing rain. We're keeping our eye on the forecasts.
Our day starts bright and early tomorrow morning... 5:30am.
- Eric Fortune
Paying attention?
Passports are more amusing than you might imagine.
Here was the list of topics on Monday:
Introduction to Ecuador with a focus on geography, Dr. Fortune
Evolution, Dr. Shingles
Current history and politics in Ecuador, Dr. Fortune
The Conquest of the Inca, Dr. Richter
Biodiversity in Ecuador, Dr. Shingles
The journey of Orellana, A PBS film
...and now on Tuesday:
Sexual selection, Dr. Ball
Rainforest as an Ecosystem, Dr. Szavecz
Pre-Columbian Andean civilization, Dr. Richter
Evolution in the Galapagos Islands, Dr. Ball
Charles Darwin and the Voyage of the Beagle, PBS video
This year has been the worst ever for passports... Already they've been misplaced, left behind, near expiry... One is still in the mail and will hopefully arrive today! We're hoping for better luck as the trip starts.
Weather looks very unpleasant for our departure - a large storm that promises to deliver either rain or freezing rain. We're keeping our eye on the forecasts.
Our day starts bright and early tomorrow morning... 5:30am.
- Eric Fortune
Paying attention?
Passports are more amusing than you might imagine.Saturday, January 3, 2009
Donations for CENIT
Thanks to the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association and to Joppa Road Pharmacy for their gifts to CENIT. For the past few years, the Alumni association has donated pens, bags, cups, hats, and other Hopkins-logo items. Joppa Road Pharmacy donated literally thousands of pills that will be used in the CENIT clinic.
We're in the final push for packing, preparing our lectures, and making the final arrangements for our travels. I know that I'll be staying up late for the next 4 days...
Friday, January 2, 2009
Ecuador 2009 Blog
This is the blog for the 2009 Ecuador and Galapagos Islands Intersession course. We expect to be able to update this blog once per day starting on January 5th.
We are looking forward to a fantastic, safe adventure!
- Eric Fortune
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