2007 Tropical Internship

Bon Voyage!

2007-01-29T00:22:00.000-05:00

Jan. 28

It’s hard to believe that after three weeks, we are sitting here in the Guayaquil airport awaiting our departing flight. What a great time! Our final three days aboard the Floreana were perfect. We enjoyed more snorkeling, hiking, and of course minor sunburns.

As you can see from these photos, the landscapes of the islands were amazing. We spent the morning hiking to the highest point on Bartholemew and enjoying the views of Pinnacle Rock. We then moved over to Sullivan Bay. This is the most recent island to experience volcanic eruption, the last being 120 years ago, and the lava fields were rapidly cooled to maintain the texture.

The crew of the Floreana was great and treated us to an evening of dinner and dancing. With Captain Freddy and Marjorie leading us in dances, we kept the boat rocking as we attempted to keep up. We retired for the evening so that we would be ready early in the morning for a panga ride into Black Turtle Cove. Our last morning was a sunrise show of sea turtles and baby sharks in the mangrove lagoon.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to read our blog and for your comments as well. Again, we want to thank everyone who has contributed to helping us make it here and has supported us. We look forward to seeing you and talking to you tomorrow!

Just Another Day in Paradise!

2007-01-25T14:22:00.000-05:00

January 20-24th

We are now in The Galapagos Islands. Cruising around on The Floreana, we have visited six islands (Baltra, Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Espanola, North Seymour, and Floreana) each with unique fauna and flora. We have been learning about the endemic species of the islands and comparing them to their North American relatives. These islands are more than we ever expected! We have seen 12 foot high Opuntia cacti, Blue Footed Boobies, Frigate Birds, Albatrosses, bright red crabs, and the unforgettable baby sea lions playing in the surf… and that was just the wildlife above sea level! Each day also brings an exploration of a different underwater environment. Snorkeling from the beaches or around oceanic sunken craters, the fish life has completely wowed us. Along with a countless number of tropical fish, we have been lucky to see schools of Manta Rays, and we were joined by 6 Galapagos Reef Sharks on our last snorkel trip. I’m not going to lie, we were all pretty nervous about those sharks circling us!

After four days of cruising the islands, we dropped anchor at Porto Ayora on the island of Santa Cruz. This charming fishing village is the main harbor and biggest town on the islands. This couldn’t have fallen on a better night, since the youngest LGP Fellow, James, turned 23! We took him out for a night on the town and danced to Ecuadorian music with the other 10 passengers on our boat. The highlight of James birthday was having a special cake prepared for him by the crew. The captain, Freddie, took the liberty of pushing James’ face in the cake; which is supposedly an Ecuadorian tradition.

We look forward to a visit to the Darwin Research Station today and then a hike to the “highlands” this afternoon to see new types of plant life. The coming days should bring visits to ……..

Guayaquil

2007-01-21T09:54:00.000-05:00

January 19, 2007

Today we left Tinalandia and headed South West to Guayaquil. This city is the largest in Ecuador with 3 million people calling it home. We had a relatively quiet ride and arrived in Guayaquil around noon. After lunch we had a few hours of down time so James and Bob visited the “Iguana Park”, which is a small city park that is home to hundreds of huge iguanas. These animals are so tame that they walk right up to tourists begging for food. We then took a trip to the Guayaquil Botanical Garden and the Malecon Garden. We met with the director of the Guayaquil Botanical Garden, James Perez. He told us that the 10 acre garden has 6 horticulturists and runs solely on memberships and donations. Of the 25,000 visitors it gets each year, 80% are students. We were delighted by the tropical fruit trees of mango, guanabana, banana, and mate, as well as the impressive palm and orchid collections. This member of the Ecuadorian Botanic Garden Network is another garden that has partnered with Missouri Botanical Garden in the fight for plant conservation. James also told us about education programs and special events, such as the annual Mango Fair, held at the garden each year.

After leaving the garden, Cecelia von Buchwald, Guayaquil’s head Landscape Architect/City Planner, took us through the Malecon Garden, which she developed 6 years ago. This 10 block garden was a city project that revitalized Guayaquil’s waterfront. We were blown away by this garden! Cecelia’s curvilinear designs use 280 tropical plant species, many of which are native to Ecuador, to hide such things as a parking garage and a power plant under a mass of color and shape. Our favorite part was the classical music that was piped into the garden via unobtrusive speakers. We walked the length of the waterfront garden back to our hotel only to find that dinner would be at an Italian Restaurant. We were all wondering what Italian food would be like in Ecuador, and we were rightfully cautious. Lets just say that it was an experience we will never forget!

Hike today, gone tomorrow

2007-01-21T08:56:00.000-05:00

January 18, 2007

Today we took a hike around Tinalandia. This secondary growth forest contains more birds than we have seen at all of the other sites combined. We were delighted to be greeted by toucans and cuckoos at breakfast before seeing parrots, tanagers, and more hummingbirds on the hike. We hiked high and low through jungle trails visiting the Tinalandia River and only being stopped by a huge tree blocking the trail. Since we had been hiking along a steep ridge, the only option was to turn around and double back taking a walk through a pasture.

After lunch we visited a shaman of the Tsachila people, nick-named the Colorado Indians, in the town of Santo Domingo. These people dye their hair red using the lipstick plant that we painted ourselves with earlier in the trip. The Shaman played a xylophone made of bamboo and told us about the medicinal properties of plants in the jungle. He then brought us into his bamboo hut, showed us his sacred rocks and called the gods to protect us in the future. Tee Jay volunteered for a little fortune telling session. Don’t worry Christina- you have a healthy man and all is well!

Since we only had one night to get our games in for the Tinalandia round of Uno, we started before dinner. The updated scores are… Keri/Amy- 14, Bob/Grace- 10, James- 9, Tee Jay- 6.

Tina Land

2007-01-21T08:53:00.000-05:00

January 17, 2007

What we thought was going to be another long car ride today turned into one of highlights of the trip. We were met again this morning by Hector and Patricio to move on southwest to the Tinalandia lodge. We had all settled in when the van started to pull over to a roadside stand. “What could it be?” we asked ourselves. a) waterfall b) bird sighting c) rare plant d) unknown. We had no idea that it would be d) unknown. After days of constant questions about the “cuyes” Hector had found the spot. It was our time to try the local delicacy, guinea pig!* Roasted on a board, this rotisserie treat might not catch on in the United States. This crispy little snack was served with potatoes and hot sauce, kind of a tough meal for 10:45 am. But as they say, “When in Rome…”

We drove through the “Sweetest City in Ecuador”, and couldn’t resist stopping to try some of the local taffy and drink, the sugar cane alcohol which used to be smuggled through the gulley we traversed while at San Jorge. Finally, we arrived to Tinalandia just in time for lunch and to get ourselves settled into our new home for the next two days.

Boasting one of the only private golf courses in South America, it was time to hit the links! We all took turns playing a few holes, losing as many balls as shots were taken. The term “turf management” takes on an entirely new meaning here. Along with the two cows meandering the course, a good time was had by all.**

*Let it be known, Amy was unwilling to try this delectable little morsel.
** Note the form of Amy’s swing. Please feel free to post any suggestions J

Hemisphere Hopping

2007-01-21T08:45:00.000-05:00

Jan 16th
As we collapse into bed after a long day, let’s do a recap…

We started the day with our guide, Edwin Navarez of the Quito Botanic Garden, taking us into the highland rainforests near Quito. He led us on a hike up to the cloud forest, stopping as we went to learn about various endemic plants. There was an abundance of epiphytes, including many orchids, bromeliads, and semi-epiphytic plants. We passed the plant family quizzes that Edwin was throwing at us with ease (well at least the families we had heard of!).

Lunch brought us to a beautiful vista chocked full of hummingbirds. With four feeders and plenty of nectar-filled plants around us, the place was humming. We all agreed that the long tailed bird with feathered feet was our favorite (Booted Racket-tail, Ocreatus underwoodii).

Enough about hiking—we made it to the equator, twice! After hearing all about the feats that could be performed when standing on the equator, it was time to see the magic. The Solar Museum proved to be the perfect spot for this. We saw water drain in different directions on each side of the equator, Amy balance an egg on the head of a nail, and a real shrunken head.* Of course, we were more than happy to take the requisite pictures straddling the official equator line!

Just when we thought we would have a nice relaxing evening, the fiesta followed us back to San Jorge. We were surprised with a performance by a local dance group during our dinner. The traditional dances of their culture were based on the harvest season, and of course, included crowd participation. It didn’t take long for the whole group to be up on their feet- boy can Bob dance!

As they left, we retreated to our final hands of the Uno Championship Series. The San Jorge series ended with a shake up! There is currently a three way tie for second place. Current cumulative point scores: Keri-11, Amy/Bob/James-8, Grace-5, Tee Jay-2.
Stay tuned…

*Amy would be more than happy to show you her certificate for balancing the egg.

The Hills are Alive

2007-01-21T08:40:00.000-05:00

Jan. 15th

Waking up to the cool mountain air, we had our first full day of San Jorge Eco-Lodge. The morning began with a medicinal plant walk through the foothills of Quito where we found plants to fix all of our ailments. From bruises to hangovers to prostate problems, there seemed to be a plant to fix everything. As part of the hike, we went along an ancient Inga trail that has been used since 1000 B.C., most recently used for smuggling sugar cane alcohol across the mountains to the coast. We made our way through this gulley to the top, stopping along the way to enjoy the waterfalls, and did our “Sound of Music” reenactment at the top of the hill (well maybe just one of us did).

Upon our return to the lodge we were able to take part in a service project planting native hummingbird plants around the eco-lodge. These plants were saved from being destroyed from a construction site. Most of the plants at the eco-lodge were collected in this way. The staff at San Jorge didn’t realize that they were working with a team of speed planters, so we finished the job much sooner than expected. Dr. Cruz, the director of the eco-lodge then took us on a reconnaissance mission to save native plants from an area that was to be clear cut. We collected native bromeliads and transplanted them to a protected area.

On the road again…

2007-01-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

Jan 14th ...
We want to apologize for the lack of photos on today´s Blog. The Internet was acting up and we were unable to post any, however we will add them when we can.

Today we said goodbye to our gracious hosts and hit the road- ALL day long. We did make it out of bed at the crack of dawn to do a little birding. Some of the group even saw some… It was an interesting drive again as we made our way from the Amazon back towards Quito to the San Jorge Eco-lodge.

Highlights of the day included singing Milli Vanilli (Hector didn’t see that one coming!), purchasing shrunken heads, and a banana-themed lunch. We really were in the van a long time. Finally, we arrived at our new home for the next three days. The hardest part of the whole day was trying to climb up the stairs to our rooms, the elevation is kicking our butts.

On a high note, we have been lugging around our donation of clothing throughout Ecuador. Today, we were finally able to make our donation to the clothing drive at the San Jorge Eco-lodge. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this cause.

Uno update: We have decided to go with NASCAR style scoring for our tournament, with each location counting as a series contributing to the overall championship.
Keri is leading with 6 points, Bob 5, Amy 4, Grace 3, James 2, and last but not least, TeeJay with 1 point.

Hiking in the Jungle, Swimming in the Amazon, and a Marriage!

2007-01-16T18:47:00.000-05:00

January 13th...

Where to start… Today began with putting our goulashes back on and hitting the trails. We headed into the secondary rainforest behind our guide, Nelson. It didn’t take long until we were completely enveloped in the thick, green growth. Nelson was able to point out many of the plants used by the indigenous people for a variety of ailments and uses, and of course, we were able to sample some of the fruits.

As we made our way deeper into the rainforest we made it into the primary forest. This is an area of the rainforest that has never been harvested or cut down. The plants in this area were incredible! We saw one of the largest varieties of tree in the Amazon basin, the ceiba, and then took turns swinging on the liana that hung from the branches. Yes, these woody vines could support us even after all the great food we have been eating!

One of the highlights of the day was stopping for a small snack- ANTS! Yes these delicious little guys tasted just like lemon after feeding on the acidic tree in which they live. Nelson insisted, and went first, so we each took our turn in line. Seconds, please ( Six hours after leaving, we drug our tired and wearied bodies back into Cabinas Alinauahi for a night of rest. Yeah, right.

Cue the Fiesta! After a dip in the Napo river, we took naps in hammocks and went to dinner. Our last night included a traditional drink made from sugar cane and delicious dinner. Then the dancing began. Amy took one for the team and volunteered to dance with the native dancers in a wedding ceremony. She is officially off the market boys!* After the entire group joined the dancing it was off to a well earned night’s rest.

* Disclaimer: Amy says this does not apply outside of the Amazon, Keri disagrees (Hi Eric!)

In the jungle, the mighty jungle...

2007-01-14T21:16:00.000-05:00

Today we went to visit a Quichua tribe; which are the indigenous people in the area. Before leaving, we were fitted with rubber boots for the mud ahead. After learning our European sizes, most of us were given tall black boots. Of course Amy only fit into kids’ boots and, after finding a hole in his boot, Bob ended up sporting stylish white boots.

Equipped with machetes, our guides Nelson, from Alinauahi, and one of the indigenous Quichua men took us on a hike to see local agricultural crops around the village. These included bananas, coffee, cacao (chocolate), corn, and cassava. As Nelson hacked a path with the machete, the trail appeared to be more of a jungle than our idea of an agricultural area. We snacked along the way on wild fruits that Nelson picked for us. Our favorite was ripe cacao, which has a sweet white membrane around the seed that we are more familiar with. It seemed strange to spit out the seed!

We then visited the home of an indigenous Quichua family. They prepared their traditional drink. This drink, made from fermented cassava, was originally prepared by chewing the cassava, spiting it into a pot, and boiling. However, now bananas or sweet potato are added to start the fermentation process. This made us feel a little better about drinking it. Our trip to the indigenous village ended with a visit to a woman selling jewelry made from seeds that she collected in the forest strung on palm fibers. As we left the village, Grace made friends with the local children by giving them lollipops. Thanks for the tip, George!

After lunch, we visited Ishpingo Botanical Garden at the Jatun Sacha Biological Station. We learned that Jatun Sacha’s mission is the conservation of Amazon flora and also community outreach. Jatun Sacha is comprised of 4,500 acres, 15 of which are a botanical garden. We toured the garden with Ishpingo’s staff member, David, learning about the plants used by the indigenous people of the Amazon for food and medicinal purposes. David showed us everything from leaves that cure stomach ace, to a plant that gives you night vision, to jungle Viagra, to a hallucinogenic drink that also cures stomach cancer. We also painted ourselves with the lipstick plant, who’s bright orange seeds are more commonly used to color food. We learned that the garden was named after the endangered Amazonian cinnamon tree. The fragrant leaves of this tree are made into a tea to treat stomach problems. The staff at Jatun Sacha is working with Missouri Botanic Garden to propagate species like this for Amazon reforestation efforts. We then saw the nursery and learned that the garden runs with 3 full time staff members, and up to 50 volunteers. We were surprised to find that the garden receives only 30-40 tourists per month, many of which are native Ecuadorians. The staff and volunteers produce seeds at the garden which they distribute to local villages. They also educate the people in the indigenous villages to plant sustainable crops that will help rebuild the soil.

After returning to the cabins, Grace and Tee Jay took a dip in the Napo river, which feeds the Amazon river. Then we all had a dinner of plantain soup, a whole, and we mean whole, Tilapia fish cooked in a banana leaf, with cassava, an avocado salad, and fruit for dessert. This was much better than the chicken soup that we had for lunch, since Amy didn’t find any chicken claws in her food this time. After a couple rounds of cerveza and marathon rounds of Uno, we turned in to rest up for tomorrow’s hike in primary and secondary forests.

** Tune in tomorrow, when we will tackle the slow internet again to catch you up on our last couple adventures! **

Where are my pants?

2007-01-14T20:53:00.000-05:00

This morning we checked out of luxury and headed for the Amazon! We thought yesterday’s trip was bumpy, but the six hours on mainly “secondary” roads had us more shaken than the previous day. Lucky we did not ride continuously for the trip, before leaving the Andes it was time to climb one more mountain. This hike allowed us to see a different paramo environment. As we descended down Cayambe (13,000-14,000 ft), dressed ready for the Amazon, we wondered where our pants were! The wind and haze eventually let up and revealed beautiful lakes and unique plants to this particular paramo.

This trip really helped to highlight the differences in vegetation as we dropped about 10,000 feet in elevation to get to the Napo River where the Cabinas Alinahui could be found. Though the ride was long and sometimes uncomfortable, the trip to reach the Amazon was amazing. Every turn through the roads of the Andes provided us with another great view (except when we drove through a cloud forest which was just a big haze). On our trip there were llamas, waterfalls, beautiful peaks and valleys, plenty of cows and a pit stop for roadside bananas.

We finally arrived at Cabinas Alinahui and were shown to our cabins. Powered by solar electricity and propane heated hot water, we settled into our new, much warmer home for the next 3 days. Snack, hammocks, dinner, cerveza grande, and over three hours of “Uno” ended our first night in the Amazon. We braved the pitch black darkness, which made for a nice starry night, to meet our new bug friends in our cabins.

Cotopaxi: What a sight!

2007-01-10T22:19:00.000-05:00

After an early morning wake up call, perhaps a little too early, we went downstairs for another great breakfast at the hotel. We filled up on tropical juices- watermelon, pineapple, orange, melon, and passion fruit- before once again meeting up with Hector and Patricio.

Then it was time to get into the van. We took the Pan-American highway to Cotopaxi National Park before getting off onto “secondary roads”. Bumpy would be an understatement. We were able to enjoy spectacular views and a hike around a mountaintop lake. There were quite a few birds as well as unique endemic plants.

Then things got interesting… We began the ascent to the 19,300 ft tall Cotopaxi volcano. The flora changed dramatically as we climbed higher. Our guide book stated that the top of Cotopaxi “is a place where life ceases to exist.” Although skeptical, we soon found that the plants got smaller and smaller before disappearing completely. We barely noticed this though, because our breaths were taken away the amazing views… the high altitude probably also played a part in taking our breaths away.

After our trip up the snow capped volcano, we headed for lunch at Tambopaxi, a restaurant on the foothills of the volcano. We crossed our fingers again for guinea pig, but we were served a delicious potato soup with avocado. We are all trying to get used to 3 course lunches, but many of us were still full from yesterday.

We then made the 3 hour trip back to the hotel for our last night in Quito. Tomorrow, we will be making our way into the Amazon. The 6 hour trip will be well worth finally seeing the jungle. We will be staying at Cabinas Alinahui and we probably won’t have internet access for a while. Stay tuned though, because we will be keeping notes on our adventures and can’t wait to share photos soon.

The Big City

2007-01-09T22:39:00.000-05:00

Today’s activities centered on Quito, Ecuador’s capitol. Early this morning we were met in the hotel lobby by Hector, our interpreter and tour guide for this portion of the Internship. Hector is a jovial man, fully understandable with our, dare I even say minimal, Spanish. Even the few key phrases and words we sputtered sporadically seemed to impress Hector, or he was feeding our egos, either way we had a great time. Overall, today was long, and it was fun.

Quito has an interesting layout, roughly twenty-five miles long and only three miles wide, as it is situated between two mountains. Hector and our driver Patricio, drove us up into the hills to one expensive neighborhood, where the average monthly rent ranges from $700 to $1,500. With fantastic views over the city this may seem like a steal, apart from the fact that the average monthly income is about $160.

From here we were off to Jardin Botanico de Quito AKA the Quito Botanic Garden. After a short tour of the grounds we met with Carolina Jijon, the garden’s Director. It was interesting for Carolina to tell us the garden was only two years old, which we could barely tell from our walk of the property. The garden has been focusing heavily on conservation of the endemic and endangered species of Ecuador, and one of Carolina’s special loves, the education of youngsters.

This year the garden has successfully reached out to 12,000 of the poorest children in Quito and the surrounding area, with a special program that provides them with food and environmental education, focusing on healthy eating and water conservation. Twenty-two staff including horticulturists, and interpretive staff make up the garden’s workforce. And remarkably in the short life of this garden, they have an annual visitation of 90,000! After meeting with Carolina we visited the Garden’s orchid display, within the semi enclosed greenhouse. Over 1,200 different orchids of all shapes, sizes, and colors were displayed in this breathtaking exhibit.

After our tour, it was time for lunch, lunch is the biggest meal of the day in Ecuador, and Hector wantd to take us to what he considered a typical Ecuadorian restaurant, and if that is how the Ecuadorians do lunch, they do it right! The local cuisine is not hot or spicy, but at all meals a pepper sauce is used to flavor the food, and each region creates its own distinct flavors. At this point we thought it was time to bring up the guinea pig. We had heard so much about the Ecuadorians eating guinea pig that we had to try some. Hector said this may, just may be a possibility, although this particular item is not easily found in the city; hopefully more to come on this in a few days!

After lunch we were taken to Old City, where the architecture is constructed in the Colonial Style during the mid-1500s to the mid-1800s, and differs dramatically from rest of Quito. We walked through magnificent plazas, and beautiful buildings surrounded us as we toured through the city streets. We were even lucky enough to witness the changing of the Presidential Guards.

We left Old City, and ascended to 10,000 ft. above sea level, to see Quito from a different perspective. We witnessed awesome views overlooking the city, and fantastic mountain views.

Tomorrow we will be traveling to these mountains, going 15,000 ft. above sea level to Cotopaxi National Park, which houses one of the only snow covered volcanoes on the Equator, and where at its highest points the permanent snow cover allows no plant life to exist. This should be interesting. Thankfully we will not be going that high up! Good thing we brought sweaters!

Not "Just Another Day"

2007-01-09T00:58:00.000-05:00

We want to start off by giving a big "Thank you" to everyone who has helped us prepare for this trip mentally and physically. Opportunities like this do not happen on their own, and it is with all of your assistance that we are here tonight.

We are glad to say this evening, that we have safely touched down upon Ecuadorian soil at 9:45pm. Today´s journey, however, begins tweleve hours earlier, in Philly International as we watched anxiously, our checked baggage, one-by-one, weighing in at around the mid-forty lb. range, dangerously close to the airline´s 50 lb. weight restriction.

Becoming suprisingly close, more than once, we passed the test, and were on our way to the international gates. Well...our first flight to Atlanta, went smoothy and after a short layover we were officially en route...a mere five hours from now we would reach our final destination, Quito, Ecuador!

All too soon, many of our initial questions would be answered, and our arrival would spark so many more into our minds, "How difficult will our first day of travel be? How will we be recieved once we arrive? Will the reality of all we have researched, read, and studied about Ecuador be true to our expectations?

Dinner was served, in-flight shows were watched, and magazine quizes were taken, as all the while the anticipation built within each of us. Looking outside the plane´s windows down upon Quito, the scene was that of any other major city you would find in the U.S. Taco Bell, T.G.I.Friday´s, and Chevrolet dealerships illuminated the city streets as we made our final descent.

As the plane landed we followed our fellow passengers down the concourse to Customs, us now offically "Strangers in a Strange Land." Crowds of friends and family members looked down upon us, and the other passengers waiting to go through Customs, from the above mezzanine.

In no time at all, and what seemed like a mere flash of our passports, did we collect our bags, (They all made it!) and meet up with our driver from Holbrook Travel. A short drive through the city streets and we arrived at the Four Points Sheraton, our lodging for the next two nights.

This may not be technically "roughin´it" but we all felt that there was no better way to ease into this experience after a long day of travel, than what we had walked into tonight. Valet service, fancy restaurants, and an indoor water wall descending at least twenty feet are just a few of the treats the Sheraton has in store for us. We know this kind of accomodation will most likely not be commonplace throughout the remander of this trip, and we are certainly going to take advantage of it while we are here. In fact, we even made it to our rooms in time to catch the end of the Florida/Ohio State game, go Gators!

Tomorrow, Hector, our guide for the next few days will be meeting us and taking us around Quito, where we will explore the Botanic Gardens of Quito, and meet with it´s director, Carolina Jijon, also tomorrow, we will be learning some of the unique and eclectic history of Quito.

I apologize as there are no photos to post just yet. It is quite late, and we wanted to get this blog started, not to mention this is being typed on a Spanish keyboard, and Internet in Ecuador is not quite the same as in the States, believe it or not everything is in Spanish...who knew? Do not fear the we are getting the hang of this pretty fast!

Adios!