Guayaquil
Day 6 - January 6th 2018
On this day we started our journey back to the mainland of Ecuador. A quick drive to the boat taxi from Santa Cruz to Baltra and then back on a plane to Guayaquil. We landed around 4:30 and after checking back into the Continental Hotel, we began a walking tour of the city. Our first stop was conveniently right across the street from out hotel - the iguana park. These were land iguanas here however, which look a little different than the marine iguanas we were used to seeing in the Galapagos. They were all over! Some were on the ground, being fed by people when signs clearly said not to, some were on the statue of Simon Bolivar, and some where in the trees - they blended in so well! Then we went across the street again to the Metropolitan Cathedral - the most impressive thing about this church was that there were 126 glass window pieces to depict the images of apostles and Latin American saints. I fell in love with the mix of Spanish and French architecture as we walked through the city towards the City Hall. We stopped here for a while while Diego told us some history about Guayaquil. (See below for more details). Next we walked to sort of the boardwalk of Guayaquil. Here, Diego explained to us the current situation of the largest city in Ecuador. He said there is a lot more poverty in Guayaquil so many men have multiple children - sometimes with more than one woman - because they can provide extra income, even though they are supposed to be in school, including college, which is free in Ecuador. Diego told us that children will be selling water, candy or cigarettes on the streets but as soon as the cops come by they hide because they will be thrown back into school. He warned us not to buy anything from children and especially to not buy the water from people on the streets because to make an extra buck, some people will fill up old water bottles they find with tap water and sell them as new. |
Note our group's casual conversation about comparing Guayaquil's boardwalk to the boardwalks we are used to going to in New Jersey.
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From the boardwalk we had to walk about ten minutes to the neighborhood of Las Peñas to begin walking up the steps that would bring us to the lighthouse. While walking through Guayaquil, I felt somewhat uncomfortable - maybe it was all the warnings to be safe, maybe it was because it was getting dark, maybe it really was just the city, either way I was playing it safe and walked towards the front of the group with some of the guys. The lighthouse has always been an important part of the Guayaquil because the river was the key gateway to the city and the lighthouse served as a guide to sailors. Diego explained to us that the colorful houses on the hill used to be the houses of the upper-class because if the port city was ever attacked - which is was often by pirates - the houses closer to the river and at the bottom of the hill would be targeted first.
There were 444 steps to the top and we pasted many bars, restaurants and clubs on our way up. The steps were numbered as we made our ascent (see my blurry picture in the slideshow above). Many of the establishments on the walk up had employees outside asking us to read their menu and/or to come dance - we were on a mission however. At the top of the 444th step, and on the highest point of the the hill, was the base of the lighthouse and a small church, the Iglesia del Cerro Santa Ana. We had to climb MORE stairs to get to the top of the lighthouse then, but it was worth it - there was a 360 degree view of the city, lit up by all different city lights. We spent twenty to thirty minutes up there, taking in the views and taking selfies and pictures with each other.
On our way back to the hotel we were looking for places to grab dinner. About half of the group wanted to get Ecuadorian Wendy's, while the other half, including myself, wanted to try an Ecuadorian fast food restaurant. I actually got a large meal - rice, beans, chicken (that may have been under-cooked but I lived) - for less than $5! While the group that went to Wendy's ended up paying about $10 for just a hamburger. After dinner, the two groups joined up again and we made our way back to the hotel. That night we had a short reflection with Diego because he was preparing us the next day as we would going to a cacao farm, the mangroves, and then up in altitude to Cuenca.
There were 444 steps to the top and we pasted many bars, restaurants and clubs on our way up. The steps were numbered as we made our ascent (see my blurry picture in the slideshow above). Many of the establishments on the walk up had employees outside asking us to read their menu and/or to come dance - we were on a mission however. At the top of the 444th step, and on the highest point of the the hill, was the base of the lighthouse and a small church, the Iglesia del Cerro Santa Ana. We had to climb MORE stairs to get to the top of the lighthouse then, but it was worth it - there was a 360 degree view of the city, lit up by all different city lights. We spent twenty to thirty minutes up there, taking in the views and taking selfies and pictures with each other.
On our way back to the hotel we were looking for places to grab dinner. About half of the group wanted to get Ecuadorian Wendy's, while the other half, including myself, wanted to try an Ecuadorian fast food restaurant. I actually got a large meal - rice, beans, chicken (that may have been under-cooked but I lived) - for less than $5! While the group that went to Wendy's ended up paying about $10 for just a hamburger. After dinner, the two groups joined up again and we made our way back to the hotel. That night we had a short reflection with Diego because he was preparing us the next day as we would going to a cacao farm, the mangroves, and then up in altitude to Cuenca.
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Day 7 - January 7th 2018
On this day we checked out of our hotel and checked out of Guayaquil. It was a busy day as we had three stops before arrived in Cuenca. Our first stop was at a cacao farm! Tait wasn't kidding when he said that the mosquitoes will smell the carbon dioxide from the bus exhaust and will know humans are coming. We stepped off the bus and were immediately covered in mosquitoes. Any part of my skin that was not covered by clothing had mosquito bites on it. The group started passing around bug spray and it was a little more tolerable. We started off with a little walking tour through the cacao trees. We learned here that there are two different types of cacao trees - the national, which is a more yellowish color and is dying out now because of a fungus, and the CCN-51 hybrid, which is a more reddish color and has been genetically engineered to resist the fungus and other pests. It was neat to see the little, strange flowers that then grow into these large fruits that contain that cacao beans. We then headed over to a wooden outdoor kitchen area, where Diego and the cacao farm owners told us we would be preparing 100% cacao! One yellow and one red cacao capsules were opened and Diego showed us how the beans were covered in a sticky substance. He told us to suck on (which sounds like he is saying "soccer" in the video) this but to do bite into the bean because it will be very bitter. I think I actually liked how this tasted more than chocolate! It tasted very fruity - which is not what you would expect from something that produces chocolate. Diego told us that the National and Hybrid beans would taste slightly different but I honestly could not tell them apart. The beans then had to be roasted. While we were waiting for that, we were given other fruits to try! We had rambutan, which looked rather scary at first with a spikey, leathery red/green skin to it. But the skin peeled off easily and out popped a little white, jelly-like grape - on the inside of the grape however, was a pit - it had an almost sour taste to it but I enjoyed it. (Pictured). We were also given an "Ecuadorian mango" and it was amazing. It had the consistency of a carrot but was sweet like a fruit. (Not pictured). When the beans were done roasting in the small metal pot, it was time to grind them. A small amount of beans were put into the metal hand-grinder at a time and we each took turns cranking the machine. It was actually really hard to push! Slowly, mushy cacao came out of the grinder and when we had collected a pan full of it - one of the cacao farm employees took the pan and prepared it to make hot chocolate. Not that it was cold outside but I guess it was the quickest thing to make. I honestly was not listening that closer to what he was saying he was putting into the cacao - milk and maybe sugar? - because I was more intrigued by the exotic fruit. I never really loved chocolate but I had to try some of this hot chocolate, because "when in Ecuador" am I right? To me, it was eh, other people in the group said it was the best hot chocolate on the planet though. |
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We had to leave the cacao farm rather in a hurry to get to our next stop! We were heading to the mangroves. On our way there we had to stop and pick up a specialized guide and when we did, someone pointed out that a sloth was in a tree! We all got off the bus to look up at the sloth - it seemed like it had an odd extra hand in its the middle of its body but then we realized it was a momma sloth holding her baby sloth! That was the first time I ever saw a wild sloth.
We arrived in Churute Mangroves Ecological Reserve and the whole group was prepared this time with bug nets! We walked on a long dock down to the water and got our first look at the mangroves. These trees had fascinating roots that were intertwined in each other. We all managed to fit on one very long, motorized canoe. I felt very sick being on a boat with an empty stomach again but I tried my best to enjoy it. The mangroves lining the water water were beautiful and I couldn't believe the mountains I saw in the distance. We saw so many birds - my GoPro was not good enough to take pictures of any of them. My favorite bird that we saw was the roseate spoonbill - it was a pink bird with a beak that looked like a spoon (like its name suggests) - and I believe Lester was the one that told the group that they get their color similar to how flamingos do: by the food they eat. Luckily, after being on the boat for about an hour, we made it back to land and I did not throw up!!
We arrived in Churute Mangroves Ecological Reserve and the whole group was prepared this time with bug nets! We walked on a long dock down to the water and got our first look at the mangroves. These trees had fascinating roots that were intertwined in each other. We all managed to fit on one very long, motorized canoe. I felt very sick being on a boat with an empty stomach again but I tried my best to enjoy it. The mangroves lining the water water were beautiful and I couldn't believe the mountains I saw in the distance. We saw so many birds - my GoPro was not good enough to take pictures of any of them. My favorite bird that we saw was the roseate spoonbill - it was a pink bird with a beak that looked like a spoon (like its name suggests) - and I believe Lester was the one that told the group that they get their color similar to how flamingos do: by the food they eat. Luckily, after being on the boat for about an hour, we made it back to land and I did not throw up!!
We got on the bus to start our ascent up to Cuenca. We were going from sea-level to about 13,000 feet with in a matter of hours. We were warned several times that this would not be pleasant. I fell asleep on the bus ride and did not wake up until we stopped for lunch - at this point we were at about 6,000 feet. Waking up and getting off the bus, my head hurt so bad. I tried to tell myself that it was because I was still hungry from even before the mangrove boat ride, so I kept myself together and ate lunch with the rest of the group. We got back on the bus and I fell asleep again to try to get rid of the headache that I still had. The next time I woke up we were stopping at Cajas national park - which is just outside of Cuenca and at about 13,000 feet. My head felt like a huge balloon that was not attached to my body. I'm gonna have to say the cliche here but Cajas took my breath away! It was extremely hard to breathe but of course I wanted to go on the hike to experience it.
We began our hike at the Three Crosses - here, as you can imagine, are three stone crosses - they were placed there to commemorate the lives of people that have been lost due to altitude sickness. There were stones piled on and around the crosses and these, as we were told by Diego, were put there by people praying for safe travels. Our hike was about almost three miles and Cajas was unbelievable. Mountains surrounding us, lakes and streams crisscrossing our path, and wonderfully strange plants all around. There are nineteen endemic plant species to the national park and there are 47 species of moss... of moss!! Straw grass was a dominate specie that we saw. Diego told us that there are 700 lakes in Cajas and 235 of them are larger 5,000 cubic meters (176,573.3 cubic feet). Much of this water is provides drinking water for the people living in Cuenca. During our hike, Diego told us we would be walking through a section that looked like something from Harry Potter...he wasn't kidding. We veered from the path slightly and suddenly we were in a dark forest - the bark on the trees were dark and also the denseness of the trees made it seem dark. (See picture in slideshow). These were paper trees and Diego said that they are believed to be hundreds, if not over a thousand, years old because some of the trees at the top of the mountain have roots that extend hundreds of feet down to the streams below. |
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The sun was setting as we left Cajas National Park. Being in the Andes was a completely new experience and I could not wait for Cuenca. I thought we had started off the trip on a high by going to the Galapagos, but it was only getting better from here. We got back on the bus and made our way to our hotel in Cuenca - Hotel Victoria. This hotel was just the first sign of how amazing Cuenca was going to be - everything was dark wood and had a Victorian feel, antiques on every table, vintage books on the bookshelves in the hallways, and different levels and hallways that made it feel like a maze. The best part was that the room I was in with Becky and Laurel, had two wooden desks, a couch, of course its own bathroom, and one king sized bed but a staircase (again dark wood) that lead up to a second level with two full sized beds - all in the same room! I ready to move in and stay forever.
More Details On:
Hybrid Cacao:
Homer Castro developed the Coleccion Castro Naranjal (CCN-51) cacao hybrid in the 1970s. However, it did not become widely used in Ecuador until the 1997-1998 El Nino in which a great deal of the National (Nacional) crop was wiped out and the farmers were prompted to switch (Terenzi, 2017). The CCN-51 hybrid cacao is also resistant to fungal diseases with plague the National cacao and the hybrid cacao can produce four times more than the National cacao (Terenzi, 2017). Three debatable questions arise about the hybrid cacao, CCN-51. The first question is, does it taste like the National cacao? Some say it is great, others horrible, and a third opinion is that is only good when mixed with something else - this however, could be due to post-harvesting practices (Terenzi, 2017). The next question is in regards to the all-mighty dollar. There is the constant struggle between quality and quantity as CCN-51 is more productive and resistant but slightly lower quality, while the National cacao is very delicate and low-productivity but higher quality (Terenzi, 2017). The final question is, what is best for the farmers? Some approve of the use of CCN-51 because farmers need to make a living; others are sure that the hybrid cacao will be disastrous in the long-run; and a third party would say the best option is for the farmers to have a mix of CCN-51 and the National cacao (Terenzi, 2017).
Sanitation Issues in Guayaquil:
Estero Salado (Salado Estuary) or the Guayas River, runs right through Ecuador's largest city of 2.3 million people, Guayaquil (Whitehead, 2016). With temperatures reaching 70-88 degrees F, the estuary is a popular place to cool off and swim (Whitehead, 2016). Water samples were gathered from this area and the worst samples had 100 times the legal limit of fecal material - single-celled organisms that live in the intestines of humans and animals (Whitehead, 2016). In 2001, the water and sanitation services in Guayaquil were privatized and backed by the mayor of Guayaquil since 2000, Jamie Nebot (Whitehead, 2016). This was meant to improve the sewage and clean water provisions, especially in the poor areas of the city (Whitehead, 2016). However, many cities along the Salado Estuary still did not have sewage connection and clean drinking water (Whitehead, 2016). In 2015, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank gave an additional $102.5 million dollars towards the already $247.8 million project to connect another 30,000 homes in Guayaquil to the sewage system and to clean up the estuary (Whitehead, 2016).
Metrovia:
Prior to 2006, traffic congestion and air pollution were increasing as over 80% of Guayaquil's residents made their trips in individual cars or 20-year old buses (Crowley, 2007). Then in 2006, Mayor Nebot, opened the first 15km of the Metrovia bus rapid transit (BRT) system - this provides cleaner, higher quality service that reduces travel times in key areas of the city (Crowley, 2007). The Metrovia system also successfully integrated the private bus services while it retied over 500 of the fleet's oldest and highest polluting buses (Crowley, 2007). Areas of the city were also refurbished to encourage pedestrian use (Crowley, 2007). In September of 2006, Guayaquil celebrated its first Car-Free Sunday in which streets were closed thus allowing thousands of residents to enjoy the city by walking and riding bicycles (Crowley, 2007).
Hybrid Cacao:
Homer Castro developed the Coleccion Castro Naranjal (CCN-51) cacao hybrid in the 1970s. However, it did not become widely used in Ecuador until the 1997-1998 El Nino in which a great deal of the National (Nacional) crop was wiped out and the farmers were prompted to switch (Terenzi, 2017). The CCN-51 hybrid cacao is also resistant to fungal diseases with plague the National cacao and the hybrid cacao can produce four times more than the National cacao (Terenzi, 2017). Three debatable questions arise about the hybrid cacao, CCN-51. The first question is, does it taste like the National cacao? Some say it is great, others horrible, and a third opinion is that is only good when mixed with something else - this however, could be due to post-harvesting practices (Terenzi, 2017). The next question is in regards to the all-mighty dollar. There is the constant struggle between quality and quantity as CCN-51 is more productive and resistant but slightly lower quality, while the National cacao is very delicate and low-productivity but higher quality (Terenzi, 2017). The final question is, what is best for the farmers? Some approve of the use of CCN-51 because farmers need to make a living; others are sure that the hybrid cacao will be disastrous in the long-run; and a third party would say the best option is for the farmers to have a mix of CCN-51 and the National cacao (Terenzi, 2017).
Sanitation Issues in Guayaquil:
Estero Salado (Salado Estuary) or the Guayas River, runs right through Ecuador's largest city of 2.3 million people, Guayaquil (Whitehead, 2016). With temperatures reaching 70-88 degrees F, the estuary is a popular place to cool off and swim (Whitehead, 2016). Water samples were gathered from this area and the worst samples had 100 times the legal limit of fecal material - single-celled organisms that live in the intestines of humans and animals (Whitehead, 2016). In 2001, the water and sanitation services in Guayaquil were privatized and backed by the mayor of Guayaquil since 2000, Jamie Nebot (Whitehead, 2016). This was meant to improve the sewage and clean water provisions, especially in the poor areas of the city (Whitehead, 2016). However, many cities along the Salado Estuary still did not have sewage connection and clean drinking water (Whitehead, 2016). In 2015, the World Bank and the European Investment Bank gave an additional $102.5 million dollars towards the already $247.8 million project to connect another 30,000 homes in Guayaquil to the sewage system and to clean up the estuary (Whitehead, 2016).
Metrovia:
Prior to 2006, traffic congestion and air pollution were increasing as over 80% of Guayaquil's residents made their trips in individual cars or 20-year old buses (Crowley, 2007). Then in 2006, Mayor Nebot, opened the first 15km of the Metrovia bus rapid transit (BRT) system - this provides cleaner, higher quality service that reduces travel times in key areas of the city (Crowley, 2007). The Metrovia system also successfully integrated the private bus services while it retied over 500 of the fleet's oldest and highest polluting buses (Crowley, 2007). Areas of the city were also refurbished to encourage pedestrian use (Crowley, 2007). In September of 2006, Guayaquil celebrated its first Car-Free Sunday in which streets were closed thus allowing thousands of residents to enjoy the city by walking and riding bicycles (Crowley, 2007).
Sources:
1. Terenzi, S. (2017, February 07). The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Cacao CCN-51. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://thechocolatejournalist.com/good-bad-ugly-cacao-ccn-51/
2. Whitehead, F. (2016, May 26). Ecuadorians tired of waiting for a cleanup of Guayaquil's filthy waters. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/may/26/ecuador-veolia-clean-up-guayaquil-water-sanitation-pollution
3. Crowley, S. (2007, January 22). Mayor of Guayaquil, Ecuador to Receive International Sustainable Transport Award Honored for Improving City's Quality of Life. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://www.edf.org/news/mayor-guayaquil-ecuador-receive-international-sustainable-transport-award-honored-improving-cit
1. Terenzi, S. (2017, February 07). The Good, The Bad And The Ugly Of Cacao CCN-51. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://thechocolatejournalist.com/good-bad-ugly-cacao-ccn-51/
2. Whitehead, F. (2016, May 26). Ecuadorians tired of waiting for a cleanup of Guayaquil's filthy waters. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/may/26/ecuador-veolia-clean-up-guayaquil-water-sanitation-pollution
3. Crowley, S. (2007, January 22). Mayor of Guayaquil, Ecuador to Receive International Sustainable Transport Award Honored for Improving City's Quality of Life. Retrieved February 25, 2018, from https://www.edf.org/news/mayor-guayaquil-ecuador-receive-international-sustainable-transport-award-honored-improving-cit
Pre-Trip Assigned Readings
species_arrival.pdf | |
File Size: | 106 kb |
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mangrove_forests.pdf | |
File Size: | 190 kb |
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galapagos_geology.pdf | |
File Size: | 191 kb |
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galapagos_biodiversity.pdf | |
File Size: | 115 kb |
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