We left Copalinga today and traveled to the town of Saraguro to visit the many indigenous communities that surround the town. The hotel we were staying was beautiful and I loved the various unique architectural aspects incorporated into its design. However, what I did not enjoy was having to carry my luggage up a small spiral staircase to the third story attic room Nick and I were given. We were given a brief history of the area that I found very interesting. Apparently the original inhabitants of the area had warred with the Incas, who used another indigenous people to conquer the area. The current indigenous communities are all descendants of this conquering group. Our first stop in town was with a local hat maker, who was going to show us how their well-known hats are made. These hats consist of sheep's wool and are made by hand by local artisans. The creation process is very time consuming, with the artisan we met with having a personal average of about producing one hat every two days. Following our visit to the hat-maker, we went to have lunch with a family in one of the outlying communities. We took another open-air van to their home, but this was one was a lot less sturdy than the one we had used in the Galapagos. This terrified me as I am scared of heights and we spent much of the trip driving near the edge of step cliffs. I wound up not participating in the activities we had planned with the family, as I was extremely disappointed that our planned hike there was cancelled. I did manage to get some good pictures though, which I am happy about. After getting back to the hotel, we had a presentation from a local representative who manages much of the tourism activity in the surrounding communities. The tourism in Saraguro is designed to directly benefit the indigenous communities and provide them with additional sources of income. They accomplish this by organizing into groups and offering various benefits, such as opening their home as a hotel or restaurant. Beyond the additional income, they hope that this will help drive support to keep indigenous traditions and culture alive.
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I spent most of today hiking the trails around the lodge with Evan and Nick, as we were given a lot of freedom to chose what we wanted to do today. We wound up hiking almost seven kilometers in total along the hills in the cloud forest. This was an awesome experience, as we ran across several landslides and waterfalls during our hike. We eventually reached a point where we decided to take one of the more difficult trails and we could immediately tell no one had taken it in a long time, as it was overgrown and barely walkable. The hike eventually ended at the stop of hills, and we had to run down the steepest trail in order to get back to the lodge in time for the next activity. During this run we had the pleasure of running into a False Coral snake, which we thankfully learned was not venomous later. After our hike, we went on another hike with the larger group and our guide Diego. He explained the history of the reserve to us and various aspects about why the Amazon was so diverse. The presentation that night was on the various health effects that are attached to living at high altitudes, something that I had become very familiar with two days ago. Today was a very relaxed day, as all we did was leave Cuenca and drive to the Copalinga Reserve in the Amazonian region of Ecuador. The drive to the reserve saw us descend to about 3,000 feet above sea level, an elevation that I was more accustomed to due to my past experiences snowboarding back home.
On the way to the reserve, we stopped at the city of Loja and I got to see first-hand the sustainable development that Ecuador was becoming known for. The ridgelines surrounding the city were covered in wind turbines, and I later learned that they provided a significant portion of the cities power. The rest came from nearby hydroelectric facilities. Given my background with renewable energy, I found this to be exciting and it was cool to see it in person. Today we finally left Guayaquil and started our drive to the city of Cuenca. The city quickly gave way to farmlands as we drove and the mountains were becoming more prominent features of the surrounding environments. We got to see the variety of different crops that were grown, from teak trees to cash crops like bananas. On the topic of bananas, I was surprised to learn that they were not native to Ecuador and had been introduced.
Before heading into the Andes, we stopped at a nearby shrimp farm and the Churute Mangroves. While in the mangroves, we had to wear mosquito suits in order to protect ourselves from the hordes of insects. I was not happy to be wearing mine as it did not fit well, and it did not really matter in the end as the mosquitos still managed to bite me through the netting. It became nicer as soon as were able to get onto the boats that would take us through the mangroves. We got to see a variety of birds flying around the mangroves, the most surprising of which were the large number of ospreys. Apparently, the ospreys had migrated into the area due to the constant warm weather and availability of food, leading to them permanently living there. After leaving the mangroves, we finally began to head into the mountains and I could not wait for the chance to go hiking. This chance came when we stopped at the top of the continental divide at Cajas National Park. I was blown away by the beauty of the surrounding mountainsides and I can confidently say this was the best part of the trip. I was surprised by the fact that I was able to make the two hour hike without any issues despite the staggering 14,000 foot elevation. This experience did not prove to be entirely without issues though, as I discovered later on. We were supposed to meet with an ex-pat in Cuenca to discuss ex-pat living in Ecuador, but I began to not feel well when we were leaving the hotel. I wound up spending the next two hours in the emergency room getting oxygen. Despite this, I was still happy that I got to see so much of Cajas. We left the Galapagos today and returned to Guayaquil. The drive back to the Baltra Island airport was not as exciting as when we first arrived, as the amount of wildlife around that day was significantly less than when we arrived. I was disappointed to see that the flock of Blue-Footed Bobbies that had greeted us when we had arrived was no longer there, depriving me of the chance to get a good picture of them.
When we had arrived back in Guayaquil, we spent the rest of the day exploring the city. Guayaquil was a very energetic city and bustling with people, although traffic problems were horrific. I was nearly hit by several cars running red lights on our walk to dinner. After we had returned to our hotel, we had a professor from a local university give a presentation on the effects shrimp farming was having on the coastal mangrove forests in Ecuador. Shrimp farming is a very lucrative business in Ecuador, which has lead to over a quarter of the country's mangroves being deforested to make room for farms. To combat this deforestation, the government has gifted mangrove forests to local communities so that can utilized sustainably for small-scale harvesting operations that benefit these communities. |
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My name is Ryan Gibson and I am a Junior at Stockton University. I am a Sustainability major who specializes in energy and building efficiency. ArchivesCategories |