Homeward Bound!

Friends, family, and countrymen,

This is my last blog of this journey, for tomorrow I leave this foreign land and head home to you, New Zealand. Tomorrow morning, Wednesday 11 August, I board a plane for Lima, stop for an hour, then fly to Buenos Aires, wait for eight hours before I board Aerolineas Argentina for home. Mahitians, look heavenwards Thursday morning for I´ll be madly waving to you as the jet aeroplane flies overhead.

So... I´m about to ´off-load´ some more thoughts. Before I drop these on you, I´ll comment on the photos.

• Me clutching a small receipt, entitling me to use the public toilet after having queued for ages and having paid my 10c.


• More market scenes! We loved the abundance of fresh fruit, veges, cheese, herbs, cooked beans and legumes, and meats! All ready to go!!


• More street scenes - including having my shoes cleaned by Alex, a young student. It´s his school holidays. He wanders the streets offering to clean peoples shoes for 5c. I have more to add to this small episode! Shoe-shiners are a very common sight in South America.


• A young lad, also on school holiday, pushing his trailor bike around the streets, selling fresh coconuts, home-made sweets, nuts etc!


• Two boys and their dog chasing a bobby calf. The animals are not enclosed in fences, instead (in Ecuador) they are tethered to a peg.

We´ve had a fast and furious trip, here are a few high-lights (that we can remember!)

• Sitting in a crowded bus nursing a crying baby for a few minutes while her exhausted mother slept.


• Eating fried goat cheese.


• Drinking copious amounts of fruit juice - freshly squeezed while we waited: Tamirillo, papaya, orange, berry, pineapple, coconut - just to name a few!


• Argentinian wine.


• New adventures in every town.


• Peruvian beer.


• Being able to speak simple Spanish and be somewhat understood.


• People on the buses offering to help us as we appear very lost (we´re peering through the windows, looking around whilst referring to the Lonely Planet Guide)! We´ve also discovered the LPG is not always reliable.


• Stunning churches, and beautiful stained glass windows.


• The warmth and friendliness of people wherever we went.


• Fresh whole natural foods.


• The flower markets (Ecuador).


• Latino music - happy, upbeat and melodic.


• All the travellers who are coming to stay in Mahia.


• The wild-life - especially the llama, hummingbirds and flamingoes.
• Seeing the clothes the women from different parts of South America wear.
• Visiting the ruins of the Inca - an amazing, structured society.
• Dancing and music in the streets.


• The people, people, people, people, people!

Culture - thoughts addressed to Room 1 and 4.

(Maybe you could do a comparison against the NZ culture.)

I´ve been thinking..... What is Culture?! This has been a hot topic when meeting and talking with fellow travellers from Europe as their countries are facing many changes due to the huge movement of peoples to and from other countries - a massive mingling of cultures.

I know one can´t make an accurate assessment on a people in five minutes or even six weeks. However, in the short time I´ve been here I´ve made a few elementary observations based on my definition of CULTURE.

The following headings are elementary to a culture (I´m sure there are more).

• Food- how people grow, harvest and prepare their food. South Americans still grow and eat the same food they´ve eaten for hundreds of years. They have a huge agricultural and horticultural focus. They prepare the food in the traditional way- often in adobe brick kilns in their yard, or over a naked flame.
• Values. It´s been apparent as we´ve travelled that there´s a strong family focus. In the market places, on buses, in the streets we´ve seen families working, playing and walking close together. The people also have a very strong work ethic - it was common to see whole families working together in the fields, and at roadside stalls.
• Celebrations. The South American people love to dance and sing - we witnessed them celebrating Independence Day, weddings, and in street festivals.
• Music. The people continue to play the instruments that have been played for hundreds of years - pan pipes, rattles made from sheeps toe nails, charango (looks like a small guitar, the back of which is made from a amadillo shell), wooden flutes (recorder like), and drums made from cattle skin. It´s common to see groups of people playing together in the markets.
• Clothing. Most of the indigenous people continue to wear daily the clothing that has been worn by their families for hundreds of years. They take a lot of pride in their dress - we saw thisl throughout South America.
• Religious /Spiritual beliefs. The Catholic Church is central to the peoples life. 90 percent of the peoples adhere to the Catholic faith - introduced by the Spanish in the 1500s. Some peoples combine the Catholic faith with their early spiritualism, while peoples in the Amazon, still practise their primative faith - worship animals, plants, spirits, etc.
• Customs. We weren´t here long enough to observe their customs, however, what was evident was the importance of sitting and enjoying their food while talking with others.
• Songs, stories, myths and legends. Once again we weren´t here long enough to see these happening. However, I read that oral history is still alive , especially in the rural communities. As families work the land or move the animals, stories are told of how and where they came from - often linked back to the Inca. Myths and legends are told to teach principles and rules of a culture.
• Shelter - how communities live together. In the rural communities, the people help and support one another in their labours. In the cities, people live as we do in the west - in our own homes.
• That´s it!!!!!!

I look forward to seeing you all on Monday morning, going to give you all a ´whole lot of love´, especially Mr Tait!!!!!

Adios!

The Equator

¡Buenos dias! ¿Como estan?
¡Big news! ¡Big news! ¡I´ve stood on the Equator - dead on the line! And.... I´ve the photos and the stamp in my passport to prove it! The following photos show:

• Me balancing on the Equator (theoretically I should have perfect balance as I´m inbetween both poles (North and South) - I hardly wiggled!!! Brag!


• I´m trying to balance an egg on the head of a nail - supposedly perfect balance again. (I couldn´t do it though others could!)
• As I stand in the Equatoral line, my strength is being tested by the guide! Theoretically I should have less strength, and less resistance. Hmmm.... ´was that a mind game´, I asked myself.
• My sister and I standing on the line - note the
  co-ordinates showing our position.
• Believe it or not, we stood on two different Equatoral lines - 50m apart! Why? Well... the first was designated in the 1700´s by a French explorer! (clever... I wonder how he did that?!) The other plotted more recently by GPS!
  
  
  

Prior to our going to the Equator we went for a long walk through the local country side.

These three photos are typical rural scenes of northern Ecuador. They show:
The stream where the women wash their clothes, hitting them against the rocks.
The dried maize stalks standing tall, used as animal fodder.
The simple one or two room homes where whole families live.
Chickens, pigs and dogs scratching, rooting or playing in the yard.
Men and children outside tilling the earth.
Women washing vegetables and dishes at the well in the yard.
Men and women carrying insanely heavy loads on their backs. (Note the man in the photo - he is short in stature, is many years ahead of me in age, and is carrying a load of firewood - Eucalyptus.)
Children minding animals in the fields- mainly cattle.




This is a photo of a girl who served our lunch in a cafe. She is wearing the typical clothing of her pèople. As we walked the streets of Otavalo (just north of Quito), the woman are dressed as so - white lacey, embroiderd blouse, black wrap skirt, gold jewellery, and a coloured shoulder wrap. Their hair is long, and tied into a ponytail with an embroiderd hair-tie. We saw many women and children in the streets going about their daily life dressed like this. Beautiful! The men are ´dishy´!!!! Very goodlooking! They take alot of pride in their appearance. Their hair is worn long, and neatly tied back into a ponytail!! They often wear a black, felted bowler shaped hat, and a long black or dark blue poncho.

South Americans love their music and some are excellent musicians - it´s common to see people playing their traditional music in the streets.















Hasta luego. XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Where´s the Sun?

Greetings folks,

Here we are , a hop, skip and a jump from the equator and we´re cold! What´s going on? The last few days have been cold (16 degrees c), overcast, drizzly, with a cool breeze (similar to Mahia!)! This is not what we expected - yes... we´re at a high altitude (2,500m) and in the mountains, but, aren´t we also at the point where we are the closest to the Sun! I need a meteorologist to explain!

Last night in desperation we went looking for warmth and food. We came apon a restaurant where there was a fire, wholesome food, and great music! The seven piece band played wonderful latino music - four guys on percussion, two on guitars, and one on keyboard. The music was fun, energetic, and lively. The vocals were excellent - great harmony. People danced - if only Big Mike was there to dance with us! Instead, Jarki and I swivelled, bopped, clapped, and tapped from our seats. All the music was sung in Spanish.

I sat there thinking....hmmmmm...... ´got to get cracking and learn Spanish´.

Here´s my plan, once in NZ I´m going to learn the verbs, persons and tenses! The nouns are

the easy part!

We´re flying to Quito this afternoon, then tomorrow we´re off to Otavalo for a couple of days.

Ciao

Ecuador

Greetings friends and family! And hola to Riccardo - my most recent follower! We´re in Cuenca, Equador.

Ecuador

Area- Roughly the same size as NZ

Capital - Quito

Languages - Spanish and Quechua

Money - US dollar

Phrases - bacan (cool), guacala (disgusting), farra (party)

Time - GMT minus 5hr

Ecuador is very different to what we have experienced on our journey so far. It´s very green, has rolling hills and seems more prosperous in comparison to what we have previously seen in South America. Cuenca is an old city, steeped in history. It has an abundance of beautiful old churches and cathedrals - all have beautiful architecture and are richly embellished inside. I counted nine large churches within a five hundred metre radius.

Our alojamiento (accommaodation) is adequate! The beds are hard, the pillows are very lumpy, and the door to the ensuite doesn´t close! That´s very unfortunate as the toilet STINKS! (Plumbing is an issue throughout Sth America - in fact, everyone is told DO NOT PUT TOILET PAPER DOWN THE TOILET! Instead it must be put into a bin beside the toilet.) Hence, our room smells like the inside of a rotten cabbage! However, the upside is the hostel is on the sixth floor and looks out over the old city. From the window we look down on the old orange ceramic roofs, and the vege gardens in the convent below.

Yes.... we´ve visited more markets! We seem to gravitate towards food. The photos show a woman preparing sugar cane - skinning and cutting it into small pieces for sale (a common sight), and a boy selling pineapple and melon he´s prepared for sale(also a very common sight). The fruit was so sweet and juicy! The bottom photo shows the typical scene of young boys (and men) polishing shoes for a few cents at a time.

Adios

Travelling North

¡Hola! We´re feeling travel weary! We´ve

completed some very long bus rides in the last few days. We´re now in Loja, Ecuador, having a rest for a couple of days.

BIG NEWS! BIG NEWS! The hostel we´re staying in has a HOT shower!! I wanted to stay in it all day!

The first two photos shown are typical scenes of the outskirts of the cities. Note there is no grass - instead, dry, dusty ground.

Most people live very simply in these adobe brick houses - the small houses often have chickens scratching in the yard. I´m never ceased to be amazed how people emerge from these houses looking so clean and well groomed. I don´t know how they do it!

The children always looked very neat and tidy in their school uniforms - hair neatly cut or tied back, schoolbags on their backs.

Once again, we spent an hour wandering around a very large fruit, vegetable and hardware market. Not only did I love looking at and smelling the produce, I loved watching the people work and connect with each other. They are a happy people - always laughing, talking, and working together. The children worked with their parents - carrying, sorting, pushing carts laden with produce. My sister and I stood out like a beacon- blue-eyed, fair and tall. The local people were so welcoming. They would wave to us, call out ´welcome´, and would shake our hands. Children would follow us - wanting to practice the little english they knew.
All the people dress tidily and are clean. Jarki and I feel so sloppy in comparison. We saw people selling pots and pans, cobblers with their lasts mending shoes, bakers selling their freshly made treats, street vendors selling nuts and sweets, barbers setting up their stands. Our favourite stall was a fresh juice stall where we could choose what juice we wanted (papaya, apple, pineapple, vegetable and fruit mix! Delicious!!!!)- It was freshly made/squeezed as we waited.

As we travelled north to Ecudor the terrain and temperature changed markedly. The land became more green and mountainous. The temperature rose and the atmoshere is a lot more humid - we´re in the tropics. For the first time we saw rice fields.

Got to go now and buy chocolate!!

Missing you all!!

Machu Picchu - A Salute to the Inca People

From Cusco we took a train to Aqua Caliente - a
small tourist town at thebase of Machu Picchu.

We awoke to find ourselves at the bottom of narrow valley, surrounded by towering, sheer monolyths, shrouded in clouds. A dramatic start to a breath-taking day! From there we took a twenty minute bus ride up the very steep mountains to Machu Picchu - the ruins of an Inca community.

Interesting facts I gleaned from the guides:

• These ruins circa 1500 AD.


• These ruins were discovered in 1912 by an historian, Hiram Bingham.


• The Inca built these structures within 100 years.


• People did not pay tax, instead they were required to give two months of every year to the building and construction of the community.


• The facility was used by the leaders, nobility and learned people primarily for political and religious purposes. It was a place for learning. People would come from all over South America to study.


• It was also a place of worship. The people worshiped the Sun (the world above - symbolised by the Condor), the Earth (the plant and animals - symbolised by the Puma), and the world below (symbolised by the snake). They would make offerings by sacrificing animals (not people!).


• Pilgims would come to worship - they would bring a stone and food with them as contribution.


• The disciplines taught were: philosophy, medicine, agriculture, astronomy and religion. The women were also taught cooking and the preparation of halucingenic drinks for medical purposes .


• The Spanish did not find this community - the Inca fled when they knew the Spanish were in Cusco, taking their gold and treasures with them.


• About 500 permanent residents lived here.


• The people grew all their food including: avocado, tapioca, chilli, sweet potatoes, passionfruit, papaya, chirimoya, quinoa.


• Agricultural research was a primary focus - acclimatising plants for the high altitude. There are marked temperature differences between the terraces - each suited for a different crop.


• The rocks are granite - hewn by bronze tools as well as sand, water and hammers.


• They built high on this mountain (2860m above sea level) because of: the access to spring water, the abundance of rocks on the mountain, high position (protection from enemies), access to the jungle (special plants-coca), and built near the Inca capital - Cusco.


• The city is fully irrigated - channels carry fresh spring water throughout the housing area and down the terraces.

Off to buy chocolate now!

Adios