Macro

If our travel photos look great, it's mostly because the places we are visiting are magnificent, not because of the person holding the camera.

However, I have had some help and inspiration from my friends, Todd and Dan. Throughout my years in the backcountry, they has given honest critique of my photos. Most recently, Todd has pushed me to take more macro photographs. These are essentially close-ups of objects smaller than my pinky fingernail.

With Kristin's patience, I went a little crazy on our last hike and took many macro shots. I got up close and personal with the tiniest living things, crawling on my hands and knees to discover the little brilliances of the paramo terrain. I think a few of them came out well enough to share with you all. Enjoy.

Quito - Day 2

In less than an hour from leaving our hostel, Kristin and I stood at 4100 meters. Granted, Quito sits at 2850 meters and we took a gondola the rest of the way ($8.50 rt). Still, this was pretty cool. Even cooler was that we got to hike another 3 hours (2 up, 1 down) to the peak of Rucu Pichincha at 4680 meters. It was partly cloudy for most the hike, until we got near the peak, where is was a complete white-out. We enjoyed peanut butter and jelly sandwhiches (this one´s for you Matt B!), nutella, and wholegrain cookies. This was easily the best day-hike we´ve done from a big city. in Latin America.

The terrain is páramo, which is a like a high-altitude tropical sponge. The harsh conditions - rain, clouds, high winds - prohibit trees from growing. But if you look closely the earth is covered with magnificent tiny plants and grasses. The soil is saturated with water and filters the water, slowing it´s descent into the valleys below. This process helps regulate water flow to the Amazon, ensuring water even during a drought. This ecosystem exists only in on small area of Guatemala and Costa Rica, plus portions from Venezuela through northern Peru. 

The tallest plants we found were less than two feet high.

Beautiful flowers, the size of a peanut M&M, peppered the ground.

The trail splits at the base of the rocky peak. The direct routes goes straight up the ridge and hits class 5 territory (an experienced climber died there a few years ago), while the standard route winds to the right around the backside.We chose the more scenic trail.

We took the easier way, but still got off trail and found ourselves scrambling up a wall that eventually stopped us. Luckily, a passing hiker alerted us to the actual trail.

The summit. Grand views, huh? It was still well worth it.

Enjoying the descent.

A view of the city.

On the gondola ride down. They don´t call it a CrackBerry for nothing.

Quito - Day 1

Quito is a city that evokes love or hate in most travelers. Many friends warned me that I wouldn't like it here, while a few others said it was one of their favorite cities in South America. So far I have enjoyed many of the continent's biggest cities, much to my surprise, but we've always stayed with a friend. In Quito, we are staying in a hostel in a quiet neighborhood near the New Town. And while I can't say that I'm in love with the city, we have  had two days of the best urban adventures yet. Tune into the next blog for our second day.

Our First Day - The Old City (Ciudad Viejo)
I have lost track of how many "old towns" and colonial cities that we have visited. Each city has a historic district and that is usually the only area worth visiting. Quito's historic center is quite large, on hilly terrain, and easily navigated with the many tall church towers. It's also horribly clogged with traffic, which makes walking tours less appealing.

There are three places that are the most memorable:

Basilica del Voto Nacional
This gothic monstrosity sits atop of a hill overlooking the old town. The three soaring towers elicit awe from all points in Quito. We each paid $2 to climb the two front bell towers, above and across the church roof, and into the rear tower. This was by far and away my most exhilarating church experience ever.


Too big to fit into my camera lens, even from a block away.


View of the inside of the church . . .


. . . and on the ceiling above it, which we walked along the apex on wooden planks


The scary climb up. I don't think this church has insurance or a risk analyst.

Govindas
A six-table vegetarian restaurant that has no sign over the front door and no menus. You sit down and are quickly served a set meal of soup, brown rice, beans, fake meat, fresh juice and dessert. This set us back $1.60 each. The soup was delicious, though we weren't sure what veggies where in it. The main meal was fairly standard. The dessert was fig served in honey. It was delish.

Adding popcorn to my soup. I've never heard of this before, but it's such an easy, cheap and fast way to add flavor and texture, instead of unhealthy crutons.

La Compania de Jesus
A very odd church, not just for the 7 tons of gold that was used to gild the walls, but also because of the graphic "art" adorning said walls. The entry was $1, which in unusual in that most churches don't charge and if they do, then we don't go.


Creepy


Creepier


Creepiest


And Gold EVERYWHERE

Chillaxin

This week Kristin and I have taken the slow road to Quito. We have meandered through smaller mountains towns sandwiched between cloud forests and coffee farms. The weather has been mostly rainy, but we've still enjoyed it. There are only a handful of travelers in each town and there is no real tourist infrastructure here, which we prefer. We haven't had another gringo on any of our buses and there are only Colombians at our hostel tonight.

Also, tonight is our last night in Colombia. After exactly a month here, we make a run for the Ecuador border tomorrow, hoping to make it all the way to Quito. From there, we'll try to spend as much time in the Andes as we can. Like the next three months.

Salento

Salento is "famous" for the nearby Wax Palms. This is the only place in the world where these 60 meter tall palms grow.

We hiked past many a farm, past the wax palms, into the cloud forest. Deep in the forest is homestead that has become a haven for hummingbirds. The birds are all wild, but they are not afraid of humans. I sat for an hour just watching them fly back and forth, sucking the nectar from bottles and flowers alike. This photo shows one hummingbird actually licking it's beak.

Our transportation to and from the wax palms and cloud forest. Guess how many people fit in this standard-sized Jeep? Nope, guess again. Higher. No, still higher . . . yes, 17 people!! Easy stuff first - squeeze three people up front and four on the seats in the back. I hung off the back, standing on the bumper, in between a Colombian couple. Another couple sat on the roof above the driver. Along the way we picked up a farmer (on the back) then two fisherman (I moved inside, standing still, but between the legs of the four seated passengers) and then other hitchhikers. Eventually we had the three up front, two on the roof, four sitting and two standing in the back of the Jeep with another six hanging off the side and rear. It was awesome.

Salento was the most colorful town we have been to. The people were very charismatic: a lot of cowboys, farmers, indigenous, and old men walking around with hats and handmade canes. People could care less that we were there. I think this was my favorite town so far, even though the food selection was extremely limited.






Popayan

It rained every day that we were here, but it did not deter us from staying for five days. Why? Well, we didn't see the nearby volcano or thermal springs because of the rain, but we loved our hostel. We got a lot of computer work done. There were four vegetarian restaurants within a few blocks from our hostel. And like Salento, nobody in Popayan cared that we were there. It is really nice to feel like a person, not a tourist/money sign.

Yes, we actually ate out. The vegetarian restaurants all had set-lunches that were excellent deals. This meal cost us $1.50. Now do you understand why we a) ate out, and b) stayed so long?

The view from our room. Each town has at least a half dozen churches. I don't know why, but I still try to see them all. They are typically the only thing of note in smaller towns like this. I might only spend 10 seconds inside, but it's worth it. I don't know how many thousands of churches I have seen.

Pasto
The least favorite of the three towns, this one serves only as a stopover between Popayan and Quito. The roads here are super sketchy and the bus drivers like to pass on the windy two-lane mountain roads. Additionally, there are horror stories ruminating in the backpacker world of buses that cross the border into Ecuador at night and then are robbed as all the passengers are gassed to sleep. No thanks. Anyways, there is not much to see here, though I did manage to peek into 4 churches. More importantly, we found another veggie restaurant, which was particularly important because our "hostel" doesn't allow us to use the kitchen. Lame.

On the way to Pasto, though, we did see a lot of these buses. Not only are they doorless and six-passengers wide, but they also lack windows. When it rains, they just hang the tarp of the center roof pole, dropping the tarp down the windows and tying them to the bus. I hope we have these style buses to look forward to in Ecuador.

Saying Good Bye to Bogotá

Last Wednesday we left Bogotá with heavy hearts, because we were leaving a most wonderful family that has practically adopted us. Grant and Kathleen hosted us, off and on, for two weeks over the last month. They taught us an immeasurable amount about Colombia, their family, and their beliefs. We ate an exotic array of excellent vegetarian food. Over dinner, we received an enlightened education on any topic that piqued our interest. Together, we played in the parks, shopped for food, and hiked through the nearby hills. It was perfect.

At the same time, Kristin and I were afforded the luxury of having a home for over a week. While Kristin programmed, I did our taxes, edited photos, wrote emails, blogged and did research for our future travels. We both read a lot and ran a few times, but mostly we just worked. It was a much needed break after six months of traveling. As we told them, our trip wouldn't be possible without the help of wonderful people like them.

We thoroughly enjoyed the time with their family and deeply admire the work that they do as missionaries. They have literally dedicated the last 12 years to helping Colombians improve their own lives. At the Peniel Farm, Grant works with 24 boys who had a precarious future. In addition to giving them a safe and loving home where they can eat well, sleep comfortably, and have help with their homework, Grant also trains them in technical skills in the farm's workshop.

When Janie was here, the three of us spent a day touring the farm, meeting the boys and the on-site adults, playing soccer, and fixing a few bikes. We can attest to the excellent work that Grant and his team are accomplishing in giving these boys help for a more hopeful future.

If you would like to learn more about the work that Grant is doing on the farm, please see his brand new blog: Peniel Workshop


Taking a break at the Farm after an exhausting game of soccer.


Saying "Goodbye" for the first time, as we left for the Caribbean Coast


Many of the boys spend Easter Week with their family, but William and Einer didn't have anywhere to go. Naturally, Grant and Kathleen brought these two home for the week. We went up to the mountains for a day of hiking and gawking at the rock climbers.


Enjoying some veggie and non-veggie empanadas at a local restaurant run by the first Colombian to summit Everest without supplemental oxygen.


Sometimes balancing on the rail is easier when someone is holding your hand.


The view from the stairwell of our "perch" - the loft that we called home for two weeks.

How Chavez is Destroying Venezuela

In the last 11 years as President, Hugo Chavez has thrown Venezuela down a socialist path littered with totalitarian paranoia. Socialism is not the root of his evil, and indeed, it has proven to be the most popular current politcal stance in South America. The problem with Chavez is that he's got such a big anti/capitalist chip on his shoulder that he's steering Venezuela into destruction. Venezuela is faced with food shortages, malnutrtion, poor healtchare, high violence rates, and an energy crisis. What is doing about it? Buying $5 billion USD worth of Russian weapons (in addition to the $4.4 billion that he already spent). He is also in negotiations with China to purchase additional weaponry. Nobody is attacking Venezuela, so who is Chavez at war with? 

Chavez has riled more than a few national leaders with his angry rhetoric and shallow threats, but now he's turning against his neighbor, Colombia. An early turn came a few years ago when four Venezuelan soldiers were caught spying on Colombia. The Colombian military called President Uriba, who said "Give them a hug, tell them that they're our brothers, and send them home." Why was Chavez spying on Colombia? Nobody knows, but it goes against the two country's long history of peace.

In 2008, Colombia attacked a FARC guerilla camp in Ecuador, just over the border from Colombia. This was an unprecedented move which upset relations with Ecuador, but netted some very "interesting" information. Besides the fact that Ecuador was harboring the guerillas, two laptops revealed records that over the last several years, Chavez had funneled over $300 million dollars to finance the FARC in their fight against Colombia. Again, we ask why?

Earlier this year Chavez manually, and arbitrarily, reset the exchange rate for the Venezulan dollar. He instituted a two-teir pricing system that would make domestic goods cheaper but double the prices of imports. In the long run, all the prices will rise as Venezuela has very little domestic producing capacity and has to rely on imports for most manufactured goods. But in the short term, it netted the goverment an extra $50 million USD from oil sales, that he was free to use as he wished. It just so happens that his re-election is just a few months down the road. One of the other effects of this monetary change? Colombian farmers who exported agricultural products to Venezuela, were shafted out of their payments. Trade between these two countries was effectively killed, even though Colombia used to be Venezuela's biggest trade partner.

Just this week, a Colombian family living in Venezuela has been accused of espianoge. The family of 8, who run an ice-cream factory in Venezuela, have been jailed on the basis that the father of the family had taken a photo of an electrical substation. He was later found to have pictures of bridges, roads and buildings. Under this criteira, I would be considered a spy in every country I've been too. Chavez didn't stop there, however. He further blamed the "spies" with acts of sabatoge to the electrical infrastructure. Venezuela has been in a painful draught this last year, which, as a result of their heavy dependence on hydroelectric power, means that they have also faced dire power shortages. Chavez has previously blamed the lack of rain, but not he has a new reason: these Colombian spies have been behind it all. Never mind the fact that the family has lived in Venezuela for 17 years. It's also convenient to neglect the fact that Chavez spent $9.4 billion on Russian weapons instead of improving the power infrastructure, among other things that need help.

Also this week, I was alerted to the fact that Caracas is one of the 10-most dangerous cities in the world and holds the noble distinction of being the murder-capital of the world. Way to go Chavez. Look who is Number One now, biatch!

While Colombia is not completely safe and has it's own violent history, things are quickly improving. Years ago, the Colombian cities of Medellin, Cali and Bogota were high on those lists of most dangerous places. Now, none of them are. Colombia sees five time more international travelers than Venezuela, even though Colombia is the only country with a US State "Travel Warning." Chavez is vehenmentally opposed to the right-leaning Colombian government, who, along with US help, is aggresively and successfully dismantling the FARC. People say the war on drugs isn't working, but I can tell you that in Colombia's case, it has made a huge difference.

While Kristin doesn't feel as safe as I do, we have not had any problems in our month in Colombia. We have encountered some of the friendliest people in South America. The only safety issues other travelers have exprienced are the corrupt Ecuadorian border police, who are notorious for stealing valuables while rifling through your backpack during the customs "inspection."  We have one more week of traveling south before hitting the Ecuador border. You can bet that we'll employ all of our tricks to stop the border police from taking any of our belongings. 

I apologize for the heavy nature of this blog, but I believe it is an important issue that might not get fully covered in the US. Most of this info is all stuff that I have learned while traveling. In the US we have this image of Colombia as dangerous and maybe we know of Chavez as a little off his rocker. But he's crazy and could personally cause distability (or war) here in northern part of South America.

And if it wasn't obvious, this also explains why we are traveling in Colombia and not Venezuela.

Colombia: Turning Guns into Guitars