RevThom's Sabbatical Blog

00:15:00

2009-11-03T16:36:00.004-06:00

Fifteen minutes. I had been back in the United States for fifteen minutes when I heard racist comments about Latinos. I had passed through customs in the Houston airport and had boarded a tram that carries travelers between terminals. A recorded voice announced in English and in Spanish the terminal at which the tram arrived. A man with three chins, carrying a book entitled Master of War (the biography of a Civil War general from Virginia who fought with the Union, I discovered when I looked up the title on Amazon.com), mocked the Spanish announcement – “Poooor faaaavor, Muuuuchos Graaaacias” – while muttering his displeasure about having to listen to the announcements in Spanish. The woman by his side, presumably his wife, acted embarrassed and tried to shush him, “Shhh… there are some of them on this train.”

***

During my two months of sabbatical travel in Ecuador and Peru I sought to improve my Spanish language abilities. I also was interested in exploring the intersections of race, culture, and religion. To the degree that racism manifests itself subtly, I certainly missed a lot as I traveled. And yet there was plenty to observe. Billboards selling everything from beauty products to cell phones almost universally depicted men and women with very light skin.

On my third day in Ecuador I went to visit what I thought was the city’s museum of contemporary arts. Actually, that is what it will be. The museum is situated in a renovated military hospital and its inaugural exhibit marked the bicentennial of a violent massacre of those who were trying to bring about independence from Spanish colonial rule. The exhibit included an excerpt from a 1615 sermon by a Catholic priest that warned against racial mixing. According to the priest, only pure-blooded Spanish children were beautiful. The offspring of mixed racial couples were “monkeys,” “bears,” or “Indian slaves.”

In a previous entry I mentioned some of the stereotypes that some of the American and British expatriates I encountered hold about the people of Ecuador.

I also encountered racial stereotyping among Ecuadorians. My visit to Ecuador coincided with a stretch of atrocious play by the Ecuadorian futbol team as they played other teams from South America in a World Cup qualifying tournament. Ecuador managed to defeat Peru, a perennial doormat, but lost key games against Colombia, Uruguay, and Chile. Following the loss to Chile, the final nail in the coffin for Ecuador’s World Cup hopes (I think), one Ecuadorian I spoke with lashed out against the racial composition of the team. The Ecuadorian National Futbol team has a high proportion of Afro-Ecuadorians. The descendents of African slaves brought to the New World by the Spanish, Afro-Ecuadorians make up somewhere between three and eight percent of the population of the country.

The man with whom I spoke characterized Afro-Ecuadorians as gifted in size and speed but deficient in intelligence, work-ethic, motivation, and the passion at the heart of a champion.

***

Comments like these are eerily similar to the racism present in sports coverage in the United States.

Whenever a player is described using terms that might be used at a slave auction such as long, thick, or wide; whenever a player is referred to as gifted, a physical specimen, or naturally talented; whenever an athlete’s performance is described as “effortless”; whenever a player is said to live up to his potential: chances are the player that is being described is African-American.

However, in the United States, whenever a player is described as scrappy or gritty; whenever a player is praised for his work-ethic or his intelligence; whenever a player is described as exceeding his potential through hard work or willpower: chances are the player that is being described is white.

While I was in Ecuador news broke that Rush Limbaugh was a member of a group that expressed interest in purchasing the St. Louis Rams football franchise. Limbaugh soon dropped off of the list of potential buyers of the team, but not before everyone dug up the footage of Rush Limbaugh’s criticism of Donovan McNabb, the African-American quarterback of the Philadelphia Eagles, who Limbaugh accused of being given too much credit by members of the media who were “desirous that a black quarterback do well.” Limbaugh made these comments in 2003 while serving as a commentator on ESPN. His comments generated a cloud of controversy and Limbaugh resigned. If you listen to the entire segment, it is telling that another white commentator jumped in and framed the discussion of McNabb’s performance as a quarterback who was skilled at “making plays” but lacking when it came to “running the offense.”

Limbaugh’s comments were ludicrous. The NFL had already had several successful African-American quarterbacks including Doug Williams who won a Superbowl 15 years earlier, Randall Cunningham who is the all-time leader in rushing yards at the quarterback position, Steve McNair who was the reigning NFL co-MVP at the time Limbaugh made his comments, and Warren Moon, a prototypical pocket passer, who made 9 Pro-Bowls and ranks fourth in passing yardage in NFL history despite playing his first six seasons in the Canadian Football League.

However, the comment made by the other white commentator about the difference between “making plays” and “running the offense” went unnoticed and unchallenged. This odd parsing – it is not possible to do one without doing the other – only makes sense within a racist worldview where African-Americans display physical giftedness required to "make plays" without possessing the intelligence, discipline, or leadership necessary to “run the offense.”

***

Later this week I will post a reflection about racism on my main blog because I’ve been sharply aware of it lately in the cultural and political discourse in the United States. It was chilling to observe, in the context of a discussion of Ecuadorian futbol, the very same racist assumptions that we find in coverage of sports like football and basketball in the United States.

["00:15:00" is a song by the Dallas-based alternative rock group Chomsky.]

Homeward Bound

2009-10-30T20:38:00.002-05:00

This morning I decided to ride the Teleferiqo (gondola) one last time up to the observation area several thousand feet below the summit of the Pichincha volcano in Quito.

I wanted to gaze out across the city of Quito, nestled in the Andes mountain range, one last time. The next time I gaze out across the city will be when my flight takes off tomorrow morning. (An alternate title to this blog post could have been "Leaving on a Jet Plane.") The time after that, who knows?

When I return to Kansas City tomorrow I will get to spend a month working on various projects and I think I've already set my sights too high for what I hope to accomplish.

During my third and final month of sabbatical, here are a few of the things I will be working on:

+ Developing a modest marketing plan for the book I've edited, The Growing Church, which will be published by Skinner House Books in December.
+ Writing several "thought pieces" that I've been thinking about and developing over the past few months and years. One of these pieces will be a treatise on church staffing. Another one will consist of 95 Theses on Membership and Leadership in church life. A third, to be entitled "Dancing on the Heads of Pins, Stepping on Toes" will be a provocative piece about differences between how the vocation of ministry is talked about and thought about.
+ Finally, I hope to write enough to be able to put together a book proposal for a book with a target audience larger than Unitarian Universalists. The subject of the book will have to do with entering the ministry in your early or mid-twenties.

I leave for the airport in a little less than 7 hours. I'm homeward bound.

Heart Songs

2009-10-30T20:26:00.002-05:00

In my last post I thanked a lot of people who helped to make the two months of my sabbatical that I spent in Ecuador and Peru so special. This post is for those for whom words of thanks are simply not adequate.

First of all, Anne, thank you so much for your constant love and support. I missed you fiercely during these travels. Every phone call and email meant so much to me these last two months.

Samuel, Carlos, Theresa, and Tatiana at Hostal Mia Leticia each did so much to make me feel welcome and at home. You each went above and beyond running a hostal. You invited me into your lives and opened your hearts to me. You are each amazing and I am grateful for your hospitality.

While on a boat like the Sagitta or while staying at a place like the Samona Lodge in the Amazon, it is natural to bond with the others on the trip with you. I so enjoyed the presence of my fellow travelers. I wish each of you safe travels and the best of luck.

During my two months abroad I have met a whole host of amazing people. Thank you to each and every person I met on a plane or a bus, on a hike or at a hostal. Thank you for your conversations, your stories, and your smiles.

To the beautiful people of Ecuador and Peru, I am deeply indebted to you for sharing your country and your culture with me. I have tried each and every day to be a respectful guest, to understand and appreciate, to be patient with the things I don't understand, and to try not to butcher your native tongue. Thank you for your patience with me, for being quick to forgive sentences that came out badly, for your wonderful hospitality, and for sharing the beauty of your country with me. Thank you!

Finally, to my wonderful parents: Mom and Dad, I am so glad that you finally made it to Ecuador. Mayra, Alex, Sofia, Kevin: You’re next!

[“Heart Songs” is a beautiful song by the band Weezer from their most recent self-titled album, the one with the red cover.]

Kind and Generous

2009-10-30T20:20:00.004-05:00

Today is my final day in Ecuador. Tomorrow I return to the United States. I haven’t written everything on this sabbatical blog that I had hoped to write. I will continue to post about my trip to Ecuador and Peru and also let you know about how I plan to spend the final month of my sabbatical. But I couldn’t leave Ecuador without first saying thanks. (Check out this post’s “twin” here.)

Here are some people and businesses that I want to send my special thanks to:

First of all, I have to express my gratitude to the members of the wonderful congregation I serve, the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church. Thank you for affording me this fantastic sabbatical opportunity and for being supportive of my growth, development, and learning during each of the 6+ years I’ve served as your minister thus far. You are too many to thank individually, but I especially want to thank the staff and the board for stepping into new roles while I’ve been away. I also need to thank both Linda T. and Carla D. for their devotion and commitment to the worship and pastoral care programs. Along with them I thank all the Preaching Practicum graduates, the members of the worship committee, and our lay ministry team.

Thank you as well to my colleagues who took a Sunday or two in the pulpit in September, October, and November: Vern Barnet, Fritz Hudon, Ron Knapp, Thea Nietfeld, Kate Rodhe, and Lisa Schwartz.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Natalie Gulbrandsen Memorial Scholarship Fund at the Unitarian Universalist Association. I am grateful for a grant from this fund that has greatly assisted me with my sabbatical travels.

In Quito I stayed at Hostal Mia Leticia. This gorgeous hostal became a home away from home to me. I cannot recommend it strongly enough!

Thank you to all the baristas at the Coffee Tree in Mariscal Foch in Quito. You not only have the fastest internet connection in the country; you also always made me feel welcome.

During the days I spent in Lima, I stayed at the lovely El Faro Inn in Miraflores. Less than a 5 minute walk from a park overlooking the Pacific Ocean, it is a great place to stay!

Thank you to the captain and crew of the Sagitta for doing so much to make the trip my parents and I took to the Galapagos so special. The Sagitta is owned by Angermeyer Cruises.

As well, I am grateful to the whole staff of the Samona Lodge in the Cuyabeno Reserve in Ecuador. You are a treasure inside of a treasure.

Thank you to Veronica at Andando Tours and to Angel at Happy Gringo travel. You were each very caring, professional, and helpful beyond words.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you all!

[“Kind and Generous” is a song by Natalie Merchant.]

Paint it Black (List #17: Socialist Graffiti in Ecuador)

2009-10-30T14:54:00.012-05:00

Before I set out to Baños, I passed a few hours doing a piece of photo-journalism featuring different graffiti slogans I’ve seen in Quito. Many of these slogans, especially the more charged ones, get painted over with black or white paint, only to have the graffiti slogans appear some time later. In this list I’ve intentionally focused on scrawled slogans. I could just as easily have taken pictures of beautiful murals. What strikes me about the graffiti of Ecuador is how politically and ideologically charged it is. By comparison, graffiti in the United States seems nihilistic and juvenile, with the exception of witty spray paint works like the famous “If this [car] were a lady…” billboard vandalism.

Here are a few of the slogans I saw around Ecuador:

10) “Estudiante tu lucha es junto al obrero”

The fight of the students is with the workers.

9) “Radicalizar el proceso hacia el socialismo”

Radicalize the progress towards socialism!

8) “Pobre Ecuador en manos de los ñaños”

Poor Ecuador, in the hands of brothers. I discussed this saying here.

7) “Defender los derechos laborales.”

Defend the rights of the workers.

6) “Cambio base de coca por base Yanqui”

I exchange coca fields for Yankee bases. (I guess someone has a strong opinion about one of the companies in this building.)

5) “El Che Vive, La Lucha Sigue”

Che lives; the struggle continues

4) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

Perhaps because Ché Guevara is difficult to paint.

3) "Las Comidas del Ejido estan en Parque el Arbolito"

Even though this is most likely a sign indicating that the food vendors are on the other side of the park, I prefer my more questionable interpretation: The food of the communal land is in the Arboretum. This sign was discussed here.

2) "La Fé no es Negocio Fuera"

Faith is not business. Or, Faith is not the business it was.

1) I so deeply wish I had been able to take a picture of a graffiti slogan I saw on the wall of a school in Otavalo. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera handy at the time. Imagine for a moment what youth in the United States might spray paint on the walls of their school. However, painted on the school wall in Otavalo was this message:

“Educacion de Calidad y mas Maestras.” Quality Education and More Teachers!

[“Paint it Black” is a song by The Rolling Stones.]

Sympathy for the Devil

2009-10-30T14:25:00.013-05:00

With the last couple of posts being more on the serious side, I thought I’d post something a little more entertaining. For part of my last week in Ecuador I traveled to the beautiful town of Baños. By far my favorite activity there was renting a bicycle and taking a 20 kilometer downhill bike ride that passed dozens of waterfalls. (Some cyclists continue on an additional 40k to the town of Puyo.)

The bike ride followed a road that had beautiful scenery: mountains, the river, and, of course, the waterfalls.

Along the trail, the most popular waterfall is called Cascada Pailon del Diablo, the Devil’s Cauldron. This waterfall is not particularly tall, but it is strong. The water winds up in a swirling pool at the base of the falls. Supposedly, if you look hard enough you can see the face of the devil somewhere. I didn’t see any such thing.

I have a theory that if you name your local attraction after the devil you significantly increase the number of people who want to visit it. The city of Riobamba is a few hours from Baños. Riobamba’s main attraction is a train ride through the cliffs. One precarious section of the train track is known as La Nariz del Diablo, the Devil’s Nose. I didn’t take this train, but it seems like tourists travel for hours and hours just to ride a train across the Devil’s nose. Would a tourist attraction by any other name be as popular?

The path you walk down to the Cascada Pailon del Diablo is privately constructed and contains frequent signs that combine admonitions to care for nature with pithy and odd theological statements.

"Let's demonstrate education, let's care for nature."

"God loves you and looks for you in the silence of nature."

"Are you ready for a surprise?? God exists!!!"

Another sign proclaimed that the Cascada Pailon del Diablo is, in fact, the 8th Wonder of the World. I would fully accept the claim that this waterfall is the 8th best waterfall in Baños. (And, just for the record, viewing this waterfall had no impact whatsoever on my beliefs about God’s existence.)

I can’t end this post without mentioning one of the coolest features of this waterfall. There is an extremely narrow crawl space through the rock that brings you up to a little path and takes you behind the waterfall. Here I am getting thoroughly soaked.

[After titling my previous two posts after a song by the Grateful Dead, I had an irresistible urge to title this post after the song by The Rolling Stones.]

Friend of the Devil (Part 2)

2009-10-29T17:40:00.004-05:00

In my last blog entry I briefly discussed the political history of Peru over the past 40 years. Peru’s current pro-capitalism policies stand in marked contrast to present day Ecuador. Ecuador’s President, Rafael Correa, is currently serving his second term, a rare occurrence in a country that seems to believe that few leaders are worth re-electing. According to one person with whom I spoke, Correa ran for office as a moderate promising to eliminate corruption. This person, no friend of Correa’s, claims that Correa has continued in the country’s tradition of political corruption.

Before assuming the Presidency, Correa was Ecuador’s Finance Minister. From the outset of his presidency he has assumed an oppositional stance to the World Bank. In speeches he has called much of Ecuador’s national debt illegitimate because it was assumed by illegitimate governments that preceded his. Whether his bold statements about wiping Ecuador’s debts off the book are real threats or just political grandstanding, they have certainly led to economic volatility. Critics accuse Correa of yanking the economy around for his own gain. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss,” sang the band The Who.

Correa is a socialist and has aligned Ecuador with Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Iran. Chavez, Castro, and Ahmadinejad have attended Correa’s inaugurations. Correa has been brash in his dealings. He declined to sign an agreement giving the International Money Fund access to Ecuador’s economic plan, declaring that the IMF will not dictate Ecuador’s economic decisions. He kicked a guest of the United States’ State Department out of Ecuador because he had tried to obtain Correa’s permission for the US to hold veto power over Correa’s appointments to the Ecuadorian agency that combats drug trafficking. At Ecuador’s invitation the United States was supposed to close an air force base it maintained in Ecuador in September though I do not know whether the base was closed or not.

Correa has also enjoyed a troubled relationship with the media, threatening to bring charges against a newspaper that criticized him. (Now that I think of it, maybe I should wait to publish this blog post until I return to the United States.)

During my time in Ecuador I’ve had the opportunity to witness three aspects of political turmoil in the country. The first of these began about a year and a half ago when Colombia launched an attack across the border against a FARC encampment. The FARC is a Marxist guerrilla group in Colombia that is highly active along the Colombia-Ecuador border. This led each nation to dispatch armed forces to the border and to a lot of aggressive rhetoric between the leaders of each country

The instability in the south of Colombia has led a flood of Colombian refugees to cross into Ecuador. According to one source, Ecuador has the highest refugee population of any country in South America. While on my way by plane and bus to the Cuyabeno rainforest I met a woman from Argentina who is a United Nations employee. She was headed to the region to help monitor the refugee situation. (In fact, my trip to Cuyabeno took me closer to the border than I had hoped. At least it took me close enough that we traveled with an armed military policeman on the bus.)

Another aspect of political turmoil I have witnessed is massive protests by indigenous tribes who live in Ecuador’s Amazon rainforest. These tribes are protesting the government opening up more rainforest land to oil industries and other commercial interests. In one incident, protesters occupied a bridge halting all traffic to and from a region of the rainforest. I also heard an account of someone getting run through with a spear, though I’ve not been able to confirm this story.

Besides the environmental impact of increased natural resource production from the rainforest, these developments are culturally and anthropologically meaningful. They serve to demonstrate the dramatic contrast between the experiences of Native American tribes in the continental United States and the experiences of Amerindian tribes in Ecuador and other South American nations.

In the United States, less than 0.7% of the population is Native American. Ecuador is 25% Amerindian. Plus, another 65% of the Ecuadorian population is Mestizo, that is, a mix of Spanish and Amerindian. One of the big differences between the two countries is that in the United States, 99% of the population trace their ancestry to those who arrived after 1620, regardless of whether they arrived under their own free will, in shackles, or due factors that compelled them to come. In Ecuador, it is precisely the opposite. At least 90% of the population traces their ancestry to those who were there long before the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the early 1500s.

I admit that there is great piece of knowledge that I am missing here, but I do not believe that Ecuador has ever had anything like a system of reservations like what Native Americans in the United States had and have. What is ironic is that even though Ecuador has followed a “melting pot” model, the cultural and linguistic practices of many of the Amerindian tribes have survived and even thrived. Rafael Correa’s fluency in Quechua was an enormous boon in his election. By contrast, the survival of the languages and cultural practices of Native Americas in the United States seems much more uncertain. Feel free to correct me if you have a different perspective.

So, back to the question of oil drilling in the rainforest: Do the Amerindian tribes that sparsely inhabit the region have a claim to the land? It is a complex question. The situation is very different than if, say, some fantastic natural resource was discovered on the reservation of the Navajo nation. That land is legally owned by the Navajo people. Of course, the United States has a long history of breaking the treaties with indigenous people. Just ask yourself why the church I serve is located in an area known as “Shawnee Mission” but the Shawnee have not lived there for over a century.

All this brings to mind one other important consideration. Ecuador has 40-some-odd protected natural areas. Similarly, the United States has an extensive system of National Parks, National Forests, and so on. However, as Bill Bryson points out in A Walk in the Woods, there is a lot of logging that takes place in National Forests in the United States. National Forests are controlled at the Federal level and the US Government can decide what to do with the land, including selling logging rights. The situation in Ecuador appears to parallel this.

Finally, I might mention a third struggle facing Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa. He faces the fallout of appointing his brother to the position of the nation’s Finance Minister. This appointment, for many, undermines Correa’s professed commitment to eliminating corruption. There have been large protests against what is seen as Correa’s nepotism and corruption and a frequent graffiti slogan has lamented, “Pobre Ecuador, en manos de los ñaños.” Poor Ecuador, in the hands of brothers.

Friend of the Devil (Part 1)

2009-10-28T12:11:00.003-05:00

In my last post I described the Circuito Magico del Agua in Lima, Peru. I neglected to mention one aspect of the park. The fountain park is bisected by a major road but the two parts of the park are connected by an underground walkway. The underground walkway shows the development of Lima in pictures. Enlarged photographs show the city as it was decades ago and as it is now. The exhibit is part history and part political bragging. Extreme City Makeover is on display. That hazardous intersection has been rebuilt. That empty lot is now a modern high rise. “Then and now” photographs showcase the triumphs of this mayor, of that politician.

Peru’s embrace of globalization is astounding considering how tumultuous its history has been for the last forty years. In 1968, General Juan Velasco Alvardo staged a coup d’ etat and took control of the country. As a military dictator, Velasco courted the Soviet Union and bought weapons en masse from the Soviets. You can still see Russian-built cars on the road in Peru.

(According to the United States’ policy for battling the spread of Communism during the Cold War, the US orchestrated a regime change in neighboring Chile, installing the brutal dictator Augusto Pinochet as head of state.)

Velasco was overthrown in 1975 from within his own military and a pro-democracy President emerged. Shortly thereafter Peru plunged into what should be called a civil war but is referred to as a period of domestic terrorism. Beginning in 1980 and running through the mid-1990s, a Maoist group known as the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) waged guerilla war against the Peruvian government conducting bombings, assassinations, and other terrorist activities. In 1990, Alberto Fujimori took office in Peru. Fujimori’s reign included rampant corruption and ultra-violent retribution against the Shining Path. Many innocents died in the efforts to weed out the members of the Shining Path. In one example, hundreds of University students suspected of subscribing to Maoist ideology “disappeared.” They were imprisoned, tortured, and often killed by Fujimori’s military and police.

(While touring downtown Peru, I wandered into a building to ask for directions. It turned out that the building was a research center for finding out information about students who had been “disappeared.” This research center is part of the work of Peru’s version of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Alongside South Africa, Peru has been one of the pioneers in this method of national healing and restorative justice.)

An estimated 70,000 Peruvians died in the struggle between the Shining Path and the Peruvian government. In 2000, Fujimori fled Peru and began a self-imposed exile in Japan. However, in 2005 Fujimori traveled to Chile, was immediately arrested and extradited to Peru where he went on trial for corruption and crimes against humanity. Fujimori was found guilty and is currently imprisoned in Peru. Over the last decade the Peruvian government has embraced modernization, globalization, and capitalism.

Feelings about these changes are mixed. In Lima I spoke with the owner of a zinc mine in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest. (If I wanted to start my brief history of Peru in the 40s instead of the 60s, I could have mentioned that during World War II, while the eyes of the world were focused on the battle between the Allies and the Axis, Peru seized a large portion of the Amazon rainforest from Ecuador.)

The zinc mine owner is an American ex-pat and, predictably, a rabid fan of capitalism and free trade. He lauded the current government of Peru and passionately attacked the socialism of the leaders of nations like Venezuela and Ecuador. He even defended Pinochet saying that United States intervention was, in the long term, in Chile’s best interests. After reading Bill Bryson’s brief description of a zinc mine in Pennsylvania in his book A Walk in the Woods, I shudder to think of the environmental impact of that zinc mine. Presumably, the mine owner sees his own work differently. He is creating wealth for a nation without a lot of it.

During a harrowing taxi ride to the Lima airport I talked to the driver, a man who has driven taxis for forty years. The driver gave me a different version of the changes Lima has undergone. All the new industry and new business were not helping the people of Peru, he told me. International corporations were the ones getting rich; all the good jobs were being given to foreigners. The barrios of Lima are filled with the poor and the disadvantaged. People there cannot find work. (Lima’s population has exploded in recent years. With 5.5 million residents in the city proper, it is the 22nd largest city in the world. With over 8 million living in the greater metropolitan area, it is the 26th largest metro area in the world.)

The taxi driver spoke nostalgically of a time in the past when the city was smaller. Was it better then? During his forty year career as a taxi driver this man has lived through a military coup, a civil war lasting over a decade that took 70,000 lives, and the rampant corruption of Alberto Fujimori. I didn’t ask the taxi driver whether he had been to the Circuito Magico del Agua.

["Friend of the Devil" is a song by The Grateful Dead.]

I’ve Got Peace like a River

2009-10-28T11:52:00.007-05:00

In our UU hymnal, the hymn “I’ve Got Peace like a River” contains a verse about joy: “I’ve got joy like a fountain,” the hymn exclaims.

From my travels in Ecuador and Peru there has been an image that my mind has returned to time and time again. It is not the image of an Andean condor majestically soaring next to a great volcano. It is not the image of lumbering giant tortoises in the Galapagos. It is not the image of the astounding sight of Machu Picchu. Instead, the image that I return to is of a fountain park in Lima, Peru.

I visited the Circuito Magico del Agua in Lima on September 27, my last night in Peru. If fountains are your thing, you’d enjoy it. I have to admit that I enjoyed the fountains. One assortment of tall fountains performed a choreographed routine to a piece of classical music. Another fountain was shaped like a pyramid. A third fountain formed a long tunnel through which people strolled. By far the best fountain was an astonishingly complex one that formed a labyrinth or maze. Hundreds of spouts of water rose and fell creating and blocking paths. The timing of the rising and falling was arrhythmic. At times all of the spouts would rise to seven or eight feet, trapping people in place. At others, a clear path to the outside would open up. If you followed it you had no way of knowing whether it was a safe passage or if you would get blasted by the water as you walked through. Crowds gathered around the maze, watching people attempt to enter and exit.

The Circuito Magico del Agua is open every night from 4pm to 11pm and contains 13 “attraction fountains.” It also contains beautiful trees, benches, and lovely gardens. Many of the fountains are robotically programmed. All of them incorporate special lights of various colors. Some of the fountains are set to music.

What made my visit to the Circuito Magico del Agua so special were not the fountains themselves. Instead, it was all the people. On the night I went there were probably around 1,000 people there and I think I may have been the only tourist. This fountain park was for the people of Lima and they were there. I saw parents pushing strollers and I saw people pushing grandmothers in wheelchairs. Children splashed joyfully. Young couples walked hand in hand and stole kisses while sitting on the benches. I loved seeing people of every age having a good time. I loved the joy of the fountains.

***

Before I went to the Circuito Magico del Agua, I checked the web to make sure I had the right directions to get there. I found the webpage of a tourist who had reviewed his visit to the fountain park. I learned that the government had spent $13 million to build it. Admission to the fountain park costs 4 soles. That is the equivalent of about one dollar and thirty cents. After the visit I did the math in my head. Even if you use a ludicrously optimistic projection of 1,000 visitors per night, the Circuito Magico del Agua brings in only $1,300 per night. When you think of all the costs of the park – landscaping and planting, electricity, cleaning services, security, equipment maintenance and repair, paid ticket takers, etc. – it becomes clear that the fountain park must operate at a loss.

***

On the web-site that I checked before I went someone from the United States had left a comment blasting the Lima city government for spending $13 million on a fountain park when so many in the city live in squalor and poverty. This poster also pointed out the irony of the city building a water park when access to clean and safe drinking water remains a significant problem for many in Peru.

This type of thinking is familiar to me. When I began running mental calculations to guess at whether the fountain park operated at a profit or loss I had started down a path that could have ended with a criticism of the city government for building the Circuito Magico del Agua.

I would like to introduce two terms that I believe are my own inventions: moral math and moralistic math. Moral Math involves the use of figures and statistics to bring attention to injustice. Moralistic Math employs figures and statistics to stand in judgment of a person or institution. It is not always easy to tell the two apart. We need to think, to question, and to scrutinize. At the same time, we need to exercise caution.

I remember that a big story was made out of the cost of Hillary Clinton’s haircuts back when Bill Clinton was President. Sarah Palin’s shopping spree in Minneapolis ahead of the Republican National Convention last summer also became a big media sensation. Both these stories were about moralistic math. We all know someone who quietly sneers at the spending habits of a friend or neighbor. Such opinions are seldom spoken directly to the person who is being judged. Often, we ourselves sit in such a place of judgment. The lines between moral math and moralistic math are often blurry.

***

A sprawl of graffiti in Quito, Ecuador announces that, “Las comidas del Ejido estan en el Parque Arbolito.” The food of the communal land is in the Arboretum.

In the picture above, the graffiti is written on the large green tarp that surrounds a large public park known as El Ejido that is closed for renovations. The graffiti can be interpreted two ways. One way is very literal. The Parque Arbolito refers to two different parks, another park a few miles away as well as a park that is connected to El Ejido. Perhaps the sign is being helpful and directing you to where the food vendors have set up because El Ejido is closed. I choose a different interpretation. The person who wrote this is protesting the renovations to the park. This person wants the park to be “liberated” to grow food for the people. After all, it is ironic that a park with the name ejido would be closed by the government. What is worth more: a nicely renovated park with trees or a communal farm? These calculations are not easy.

***

What I cannot calculate is the pure joy I encountered in the fountain park. The wild playfulness of children. The preciousness of the infatuated swooning of young lovers. The tenderness of several generations spending time together. The side-splitting hilarious laughter while watching a surprise soaking delivered by the labyrinth fountain. What are these worth? By what math can we account for such things?

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round

2009-10-26T16:19:00.005-05:00

In a post I wrote on my sabbatical blog several weeks ago I commented on the impact of travel in another country and culture on my thought processes and practice of reflection. When everything is very new to me my mind takes on a pattern of hyper-awareness. At times I have found myself searching for a word in English. After 8 weeks in Ecuador and Peru I catch myself thinking in Spanish and, in those cases when I do happen to speak to someone in English, I slip back into Spanish unaware.

I have a little less than a week left of my South American travels. All along I've been making notations of things to which I'd like to return, reflect on, and write about.

All through this trip everyone has been telling me that it would be unforgivable to visit Ecuador and not visit Baños. So, this morning I caught a bus in Quito and traveled four hours to Baños. I have decided that Baños would be a good place to spend a few of my last days. I am hoping that it will be a place that is conducive to reflection.

You can read about the town of Baños de Agua Santa on this web-site. It is named for its plentiful hot springs, but after Anne and I had the misadventure of going to the hot springs in Aguas Calientes (we both agreed that the water was tepid and filthy) I don't think I will be heading to the baths.

Baños is a small town situated where the high mountains of the Andes begin to taper and where the jungle stretches up. It is gorgeous. Besides its hot baths, Baños is known for its dozens and dozens of waterfalls and its adventure sports: white-water rafting, rock climbing, "canyoning" which is actually rappeling down a waterfall, mountain biking, horseback riding, bungee jumping, and variations of bungee jumping designed to make it even more exciting.

Baños also sits in the shadow of an active volcano, Tungurahua. From the town's web-site you can get the latest scoop on volcanic activity here.

I am hoping for a week of thoughtful reflection... with a little hiking and mountain biking mixed in.

Stand

2009-10-25T17:49:00.004-05:00

I can’t resist creating one more post about my trip to the Ecuadorian rainforest. In my last entry, you may have noticed that I didn’t post any animal pictures. This was for two related reasons. First, I didn’t take that many pictures. The others with me on the tour were very intent on snapping photos. I found the idea of putting your camera up against the eyepiece of a telescope to take a picture of a monkey or toucan 100 yards away a little bit ridiculous. The second reason was that everyone else’s camera was out of my league. I have a digital camera I bought a little over six years ago and it has served me well. All of the other people joining me on the tour had ridiculously expensive cameras with all kinds of fancy bells and whistles. We’re talking about $1,000 cameras. I’ll let you do the conversion to Euros.

The huts that we stayed in were connected by a circular walkway on stilts. The center was an attractive “courtyard” with plants and flowers. On the final morning, before we left to head home, Neizer set up his telescope and tripod in the center of the courtyard. Standing virtually in place and turning 360s we looked to see how many birds we could spot. We saw a group of weaver birds, a falcon, an orange-winged parrot, and a hawk.

After this we changed places. We took the binoculars and telescope down to the dock by the river. What followed was something I am not sure I fully believe. Neizer fixed the telescope on a creeper, a bird that resembles a woodpecker. I looked at it. Next, Soren joined us and Neizer told him to check out the bird. Soren gazed into the telescope and commented on how well he could see the three parrots. I took another look. Sure enough, the creeper was gone and three green parrots sat on the branch where the creeper had been. Next, Neizer had another look and said, “Parrots? That is a toucan.” I took a third look. The parrots had flown and a toucan now sat on the very same branch. This happened in about three minutes.

One of the many things that I left out of the last blog post was a side of Neizer that was captured by depicting him as a camouflage-wearing, knife-wielding, Rambo type. Another side of Neizer is that he is at work on a book for children about the animals of the Ecuadorian rainforest. He had this great rant about children in Ecuador getting books about animals that feature elephants, lions, giraffes, hippos, and zebras. He is determined to write a book to let children know about the animals of their own country: Condors, jaguars, giant tortoises, dolphins, anacondas, and macaws.

["Stand" is a catchy song from REM's Green album.]

Wilderness

2009-10-24T13:12:00.009-05:00

I’ve just returned from spending four and a half days and four nights in part of the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. I stayed at the Samona Lodge on the Cuyabeno River, a tributary of the Amazon River. If you want to find where we stayed on a map, find the province of Succumbios in the Northeast part of Ecuador. Our lodge was a two hour bus ride East of the small city of Lago Agrios, followed by two hours in a long boat with an outboard motor down the Cuyabeno River. This region is one of 40-some-odd protected natural areas in Ecuador.

Our group consisted of six tourists and a guide. I was joined by Peter and Nina from Germany, Soren and Helene from Denmark, Cicil from Holland, and Neizer “Nathan” Toro, our guide from Ecuador.

Our stay at the Samona Lodge overlapped with two other tours. Of the 20+ tourists I met, there was only one other guy from the United States. Besides Germans, Danes, and Dutch, I also met Belgians, Spaniards, Swedes, a Brit, and an Irishman.

Up to this point in my life I had only been on one guided tour that lasted longer than a day. That was in the Galapagos Islands three weeks ago. Neizer’s guide-style was different than the sytle of our Galapagos guide, but comparing the two would be like comparing apples and oranges. Neizer wore camouflage and was never seen without his Rambo-style knife. At all times he also carried a very powerful pair of field binoculars, a telescope with tripod, and a video camera. On the last evening he burnt us a DVD of parts of our trip and some of the wildlife we saw.

Spotting animals in the rainforest is a lot harder than it is in the Galapagos. Neizer amazed us all by doing things like spotting a small green tree boa curled in a ball on a branch from at least 150 yards away. We did not see an anaconda (darn!) or a jaguar, but we did see an absurd variety of animals. We saw:

∙ A pod of river dolphins. (Did you know they have a light pink color?)
∙ Two tree boas (one green, the other brown) and a poisonous baby coral snake
∙ Two different species of sloths
∙ Dozens of blue and yellow Macaws in addition to a whole variety of different types of green parrots
∙ At least four different species of hawks and falcons
∙ The Hoatzin, a silly looking bird that lives in trees. It resembles a turkey with a fashion sense that brings to mind the 1980s. Its crown resembles a Mohawk hairdo and the blue circles around its eyes looks like an over-application of mascara. The locals call the Hoatzin the “stinky turkey” because of its awful taste
∙ At least six different species of Monkeys, including the smallest specie of monkey in the world with a body only five or six inches in length. (Neizer spotted it from over 50 yards away.)
∙ At least five different species of Woodpeckers and Creepers
∙ At least four different species of Toucans
∙ Yellow-headed Vultures
∙ Hundreds of weaver birds with bright yellow and black plumage. These birds weave hanging nests in which they lay their eggs and feed their chicks. Do you think you could ever trust your child to hang 75 feet above the ground in something you wove with your own hands? Well, beak in the case of the weaver bird. The male weavers create the most amazing sound: On a branch they arch their back, drop their head between their legs, and let out an unreal sound that sounds like it could only come from a Pixar movie in which the sound of a giant drop of water landing in a body of water has been synthesized
∙ We saw a poison dart frog, and other frogs, turtles, and lizards of various types
∙ We saw an amazing variety of butterflies, moths, ants, termites, and lots and lots of spiders
∙ Also spotted: Over a dozen varieties of herons and other aquatic birds
∙ At least four species of Kingfishers
∙ At least four species of Bats
∙ Hummingbirds
∙ Brilliantly colored Tanagers
∙ An Amazonian Cardinal and several kinds of Swallows that gave us a flight show over the water
∙ A baby Caiman
∙ A bird the size of a large robin or small crow that was the most vivid shade of turquoise you could possibly imagine
∙ And piranhas for which we went fishing!

Neizer was a bit of a wild man. He jumped out of the canoe to stick his head in holes where he might hope to find an anaconda sleeping. We crossed a path of marching army ants and he grabbed a soldier ant, let the pincher bite the back of his hand, and twisted off the head leaving the pincher stuck in his skin. He explained that using army ants in this way is the preferred method of stitching up a wound in the jungle.

I think the jungle rubbed off on me. On the first day I stopped shaving; on the second I stopped combing my hair. By the third day I was no longer bothering to put on insect repellent and by the fourth I had ditched the sunscreen. In the early morning of the fifth day I took a bar of soap down to the river, jumped into the brown water, and cleaned myself. It was much more pleasant than the cold shower in my hut. I put things in my mouth that I wouldn’t normally: ants that were supposed to taste like citrus, a splinter of wood that is used to make quinine, a coca leaf. What would happen to me if I spent weeks or months or years here instead of mere days?

While attractive on the outside, the hut lacked hot water and electricity. We slept on threadbare sheets under a mosquito net. The hut is actually open-air. Anything that wants to can get inside. Mostly cockroaches enter, lots of them. Animals that eat cockroaches follow. Tarantulas make their nests in the thatched roof. Animals occasionally fall from the ceiling. Like the plagues from Exodus, insects fell onto our tables during meals. A foot long skink took a twenty foot plunge as were having lunch, hit the wood floor, and scampered away.

We walked a lot, at daytime and at night. We took the boat downriver to visit a town where members of the Siona tribe live. A woman spent a few hours with us. We harvested yucca, skinned it, grated it, used a net and a stick of wood for torque to wring all the water out of the yucca, sifted it to remove the fibers, and cooked a yucca pancake on a clay surface. It tasted like Matzoh. We visited a shaman.

On the fourth day I took a 4 hour canoe trip with Neizer, Helene, and Soren. On the river, Neizer told us to stop paddling and look at a clump of trees. He said that as we passed we should scream at the tops of our lungs, clap, and stomp our feet. We were to do this for three seconds and then sit perfectly still and silent. We did. The sound that returned started slowly and then became a cacophony. It sounded like one hundred Ecuadorian soldiers on the march, keeping perfect rhythm. We had disturbed a colony with dozens of giant nests full of “marching wasps.” They were, in unison, beating their wings against the inside wall of their nests; they were telling us to beat it.

We were hot all the time. We were either wet from the rain or moist from sweat. Insects lived among us and on us. Mud was everywhere. The simple comforts of the day consisted in a delicious lunch prepared by the cooks, a swim in the piranha, anaconda, and caiman infested lake, and a shady siesta on the hammocks.

In my life to this point I know I have seen the beauty of nature. I have experienced awe in nature. I have been spiritually touched by nature. I’ve never known submission to nature until now. I’ve always felt as though my own willpower, cleverness, and simple tools, medicines, and technology could contend with nature. Not this time. The part of my theology that is pantheist met a different God, a Gaia that is also Lord to use more conventional theological language. “All creatures of the earth and sky / Come, kindred, lift your voices high. Alleluia!”

[“Wilderness” is a song from Sleater-Kinney’s critically-acclaimed final album, The Woods.]

Welcome to the Jungle

2009-10-18T20:53:00.003-05:00

If you are following my sabbatical blog I wanted to let you know that I am leaving early tomorrow morning for a 5-day excursion into the Amazon. This blog is unlikely to be updated until Saturday, October 24.

Wish me luck as I venture forth to meet Shamans, fish for Piranhas, try to see a wild anaconda, learn about the ecology of the rainforest, canoe, birdwatch, and try not to contract malaria.

["Welcome to the Jungle" is a song by Guns 'n' Roses.]

Sweet Home Alabama v. God Save the Queen

2009-10-18T00:54:00.004-05:00

Bill and Mark each own English language bookstores in Quito. Both stores are located on a street named Jose Calama, a street that essentially runs through the heart of La Mariscal Foch, the epicenter of tourism in Quito. The surrounding area is full of hostels, bars, nightclubs, restaurants, coffee shops, internet cafés, Spanish language schools, and travel agencies. Simply put, if you wanted to locate an English language bookstore anywhere in the city, this is where you would want it to be. Bill and Mark’s bookstores are only a block and a half apart. Bill and Mark hate each other. Bill and Mark hate each other fiercely.

A Tale of Two Bookstores: Part One

I first walked into Bill’s bookstore on one of my first days in Quito back in September. A red neon sign in the store’s window simply said, “Books.” Bill, a middle-aged guy with a bit of a beer belly and wearing a University of Illinois sweatshirt, sat at a desk just inside the store’s entrance. As he finished up a BBQ sandwich from a restaurant a few doors down, Bill was giving instructions to another middle-aged guy. The instructions dealt with where the liquor store was and what kind of beer he should buy and bring back for them to share. “You fly; I’ll buy. Tell them it is for the gringo at the bookstore.”

I poked around the bookstore; it was getting close to closing time and I was trying to burn a few minutes while waiting to make a phone call back to the States. My impression of the store was it wasn’t messy, but cluttered in the way stores selling used books are supposed to be. A small table displayed several items - a Don DeLillo novel, a book about Darwin and Galapagos, one of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s lesser-known works - that would appeal to the stereotypical English-speaking tourist in Ecuador. The fiction section was orderly and contained some books that I would classify as finds if I stumbled upon them in a bookstore in the United States. The non-fiction section was a bit sparser and revealed that Bill had a thing for military history. Next to the desk where Bill sat there were clearly marked sections containing travel guides and books by Latin American authors in English translation. I got the sense the store was closing up. I left.

A few days later I returned around lunchtime to get my hands on one of those great finds, Donald Barthelme’s Sixty Stories. I approached the counter. Bill was tucking into a plate of greasy food and drinking a can of Grolsch that rested inside of a beer koozie. I briefly exchanged pleasantries with him, remarked on how impressed I was to find the collection of Barthelme's short stories, and paid up. He slipped a bookmark into the book and I slipped out of the store.

The bookmark prominently featured a crayfish holding a Confederate flag and the following information:

CONFEDERATE BOOKSTORE
QUITO ECUADOR
SOUTH AMERICA

BEST SELECTION
OF
BOOKS IN ENGLISH
IN SOUTH AMERICA
WE BUY AND SELL
BOOKS IN ALL CATEGORIES

[STORE HOURS]
[ADDRESS]
[PHONE NUMBER]
[EMAIL ADDRESS]

COURTESY OF
DR. WILLIAM GROCHOWSKI
BOOK SELLER

My mouth was agape. I turned back and looked at the store and saw that, indeed, the store was called The Confederate Bookstore. The store’s name was written in very small letters on the side of the building. At that very moment I felt like marching back in there and confronting Bill as to why his store is named in honor of the Confederacy. Then I had another idea. Instead I decided to sleuth. Browsing the bookshelves of a store that sells used-books is a great pleasure of life. I decided to find out what I could find out.

Here is what I found out: Each time I entered the store Bill was eating greasy food and / or drinking beer, or negotiating with someone to go and bring him greasy food and / or beer. I once overheard Bill asking someone in the middle of the afternoon if he wanted a beer. The man replied by asking what time he should come back in the evening. “No, I mean now,” Bill countered, “I drink on the job.”

Bill is a Catholic who comes from a Polish family in Chicago. He left the United States over five years ago and wound up buying this bookstore from its previous owner, a man from New Orleans who gave the store its name. When Bill bought the store he decided to keep the name.

I also found out that Bill is married to an Ecuadorian woman and is an absolutely voracious reader.

A Tale of Two Bookstores: Part Two

One day in late September while I was riding the bus to Mariscal Foch I got off one stop too late and wound up backtracking by foot down some roads I’d never walked before. Surprisingly, on Jose Calama, I passed a modest looking bookstore with a sign that simply said “English Bookstore.” I raced inside.

The bookstore was a mess. I am a connoisseur of bookstores and libraries. This was, without question, the most poorly organized bookstore I have ever experienced. With fiction I literally could not even find where “A” began. In English we all know that we read from left to right. When we organize authors alphabetically we put, for example, “Hemingway” to the left of “Hesse” and “Hesse” to the left of “Homes.” Within any given letter, the books at the English bookstore were organized correctly from left to right, but the letters themselves were arranged from right to left. In other words, if you were searching for Jane Austen and found they didn’t have any Austen books in stock, you would need to move to your left to see if they had any books by the Bronte sisters. This was disorienting.

Next, it is always a bad sign when you have use little white stickers, the type you might purchase at an office supply store, to indicate where one section ends and another begins. Just to the right of the counter of the English Bookstore was the most prominent shelf in the store. A maze of little white stickers ran vertically and horizontally separating “New Arrivals,” “Humor,” and “Rentals.” If you were to lie down on the floor, you would find the section with Latin American authors. It is unmarked.

Yes, I did just write “Rentals.” Mark decided that all the books that are in high demand should be available only for rent. This is about the stupidest business practice I can imagine. I would have to guess that a significant percentage of Mark’s business is derived from travelers who don’t want to be encumbered with having to return to this very same bookstore at a future time to return the book.

It gets worse. First, The English Bookstore grossly mis-categorized several books. Non-fiction books were stuck in with fiction. The travel section contained a copy of Palace Walk, a very successful novel. (To be fair, I did find one book mis-categorized at The Confederate Bookstore. It was a pre-publication version of Timothy Tyson’s work of non-fiction, Blood Done Sign My Name, the account of a race-based murder in North Carolina. Or, perhaps the fact this book was placed in the fiction section was not unintentional.)

It gets even worse. The English Bookstore is crammed into a room that also holds a small hearth. The fireplace is very much out-of-order, but it does create a nifty space to display a couple of books. Out of his entire inventory, Mark chose to display the book How to Make Love like a Porn Star by adult film star Jenna Jameson.

As depressing as the state of The English Bookstore is, books were not my prime motivation for walking into the store. Instead of Mark, a young man was working behind the counter. I needed to get the scoop, “What is the deal with that other bookstore just up the street?” I didn’t get much concrete information, only that the guy who ran the bookstore down the street was “a piece of work.” This was said while the guy working the counter made a circle around his ear with his index finger, implying that “piece of work” was synonymous with “crazy.” I discovered that many of The English Bookstore’s customers come in and fume about being offended by Bill. According to the guy working the counter Bill has alienated a whole lot of people; he refuses to send business to The English Bookstore if he doesn’t have something in stock; he refuses to acknowledge that there is even another English language bookstore in town; and that the respective owners have a feud going between them that has lasted many years.

Interlude: Can it really be that hard?

Perhaps what I am about to write is grossly naïve, but I just can’t imagine that developing and executing a business plan for an English Bookstore in Quito is that hard. The most important part is to understand your customer base. I would imagine your customer base would include (from larger in number to smaller):

1) English-speaking tourists of all ages, but especially younger backpackers.
2) English-speaking ex-pats who are living in Quito. These would include English teachers, embassy workers, those working with non-profit / service organizations, religious missionaries, etc.
3) Students doing study-abroad in a Spanish immersion program.
4) Tourists for whom English is a second language but buy books in English because they know they are not going to find a book in Swedish or Hungarian anywhere in Ecuador. Again, these would tend to be younger travelers.

What can we presume about the folks above? First, as the vast majority of the customers are either traveling or are staying for a limited amount of time, they don’t want to haul weight or to accumulate stuff. They are going to buy one book. Second, many of the people are on vacation and want something light they can read on a bus, a plane, or at the beach. Third, many of the people are traveling to have a cultural experience, an experience that is enhanced by reading Latin American authors or books about South America. Fourth, a significant number of the customers are young; it is worthwhile to find out what people in their 20s are reading. Fifth, the bookstore is a “different place” for travelers. When you step inside the door you have entered a small space where English is the dominant language. What other services might you offer in this different place? Sixth, by displaying the damn Confederate flag you alienate a whole lot of potential customers. Those from the United States who have chosen to come to Ecuador are especially likely to react negatively to the Confederate flag. (They are also not likely to want to travel around South America carrying the hardcover edition of a porn star’s memoirs.)

In other words, you are serving a niche. Find a way to stock lots of copies of books in high demand. (There is no reason not to have five copies of Che’s Motorcycle Diaries or Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude at any given time.) Institute a generous buyback program to obtain the copy of that book that someone bought at an airport bookstore and knocked off on the flight to Quito. Offer something that helps the store to stand apart for those people from English speaking countries.

Am I off the mark here?

A Conversation with Bill: Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

The time had come to spring the question on Bill about the Confederate flag. He already knew me a bit. I had been into his store to browse a half-dozen times and was always chipper and conversant. I asked him about books and made literary comments. Here are some excerpts from our conversation. [Note: the longer Bill talked, the more of a train wreck his comments became. At first I tried to listen. Then I found myself not wanting to argue for the reason that I couldn’t believe what was coming out of his mouth.

The Conversation begins…
T: So, I’ve got to ask you a question you must get a million times. How’d you decide on the name of the bookstore?
B: I’m a racist. [Long pause.] Actually, I bought the store from a Southerner from Louisiana and decided to keep the name. I like that it gets some people riled up. It makes the day more interesting.
T: How’s that working out for you?
B: It’s mostly college kids who think they know a lot but are really ignorant. It is fun to see them blow a fuse.

Bill on Barack Obama…
B: The only reason he won was that a lot of young people thought it would be cool to have a black president. [Thom wishes he said, “I’m sure that explains his 365 to 173 electoral college victory.”] Internationally Obama is a joke. The people in other countries love him but the leaders of other countries laugh at him behind his back. They all hated Bush but it didn’t matter because they feared Bush. Obama is a socialist and he is determined to transform the United States into a socialist nation.
T: Umm… I think there is a difference between socialism and regulated capitalism. A colleague of mine once said that a free market self-regulates like children playing in a sandbox self-regulate. The market needs adult supervision. I think Enron, Arthur Anderson, the Wall Street meltdown, and all the junk mortgages show that we need more regulations.
B: Nope, Obama is pushing for a total redistribution of wealth. Just check out the quotes from all the “czars” Obama has appointed.
T: I’m not familiar with those quotes. Where did you hear about them?
B: Glenn Beck… Obama is also eroding our freedoms?
T: Exactly which freedoms has he eroded?
B: Well, freedom of speech for starters. It is very subtle. Just look at how he is attacking FOX News, trying to get people not to watch them.
T: [Speechless.] [Thom wishes he had said, “I think that is the freedom of the press you are talking about, and your argument has completely confounded me and makes no sense whatsoever.]

Bill on Jews…
B: [After making several derogatory comments about Jews.] I’m an anti-Semite. But I’m also a Zionist. If we can get all of the Jews in one place we can keep an eye on them.

Bill on Religion…
B: There are a lot of groups active down here trying to push their religion on people. Jehovah’s Witnesses. Evangelicals. Mormons. I can’t stand people who try to push their religion on others. Someone once asked me who I prayed to and I answered, “The Virgin Mary.” The person then asked why I couldn’t pray to God directly but instead needed to pray through Mary. I told him that when I pray to the Virgin Mary I am praying to God. I believe God is a woman. Plus, the Hail Mary is shorter than the Our Father…. I’m a Roman Catholic. We’re a drinking, f***ing religion.
[Thom wishes he said, “You should put that on a T-Shirt.”]

Bill on Ecuadorians…
The people in this country are ignorant. They are like savages. They throw their trash on the side of the road. They foul their own land.

Bill on Hospitality…
[After a man brought him a 6-pack of beer.]
B: Hey, want a beer?
T: No thanks, I’ll probably have one later on tonight.
[Thom wishes he said, “Sorry, I don’t drink when I’m not working.”]

Bill on The English Bookstore…
They’re bad people. The owner stabbed me in the back. He hung around my store for years pretending to be my friend, took what he learned, and went and started his own store down the street.

I should also mention that Bill managed to slip in the N-word and the anti-gay F-word into the conversation. I have not put the above excerpts of our conversation in quotation marks because I can’t guarantee it is what was said word-for-word. Rather, the words above accurately represent the content of parts of our conversation.

A Conversation with Mark: Straight from the Horse’s Mouth

The next day I paid a visit to The English Bookstore and paid a visit to Mark. (The last time I was in the shop I had spotted a 2003 novel by Lucy Ellman, a book that I never knew existed. I read her first three novels for fun in college.) I introduced myself to Mark, a tall Englishman with a silver head of hair. I made small talk with him for about 10 minutes. He announced he was stepping outside for a smoke but that I should feel free to browse the shop.

Instead, I stepped near the entrance and continued the conversation, bringing up the subject of the Confederate Bookstore. Here are some of the things that Mark told me:

∙ Mark told me that he finds Bill’s political views insane and his racism intolerable. He told me that he receives a constant stream of customers who complain about Bill’s boorish behavior. According to Mark, Bill snaps at his customers. Supposedly, one of Bill’s customers asked him if he knew of a camera shop in the area and Bill responded, “Do I look like the F***ing Yellow Pages?” Apparently, Bill also delights in shocking his customers with racist comments. A recent customer reported that Bill referred to Obama as, “that floppy-eared n****r.” [For the record, I never witnessed Bill verbally abuse any of his customers.]

∙ Mark confessed that he doesn’t run his business very well. He said that Bill knows a lot more about books than he does. “I think that Bill likes books more than he likes people.” Mark also told me that he charges far more for books than Bill (about twice as much, in fact.) Mark told me about all his problems navigating customs in order to import books.

∙ Mark showed me his wall display of bookmarks from bookstores all over the world. It included a bookmark from The Confederate Bookstore, only the bookmark was covered with pen-drawings of little swastikas and other Third Reich symbols. Above Bill’s name was written “BOOK NAZI.”

∙ Mark told me that Bill is not a doctor in anything. When he first moved to Ecuador he got a certificate for teaching English and then started putting “Dr.” before his name. Mark also said that Bill left the United States and moved to Ecuador to beat $30,000 in debts.

∙ Mark proved himself to have a penchant for exaggeration. Towards the end of our conversation, Mark was talking about how dangerous Quito is. Mark says that 70% of his customers mention being either robbed or assaulted.

∙ Mark also had disparaging things to say about Ecuadorians. He said that Ecuadorians are dishonest, anti-social, and lazy. He said the main problem with this country is that people are lazy and don’t work hard. He compared Ecuadorians to the Colombians who are friendly and industrious.

∙ Mark also was opposed to and troubled by Ecuador’s embrace of socialism.

Conclusion

So I never did find out what truly lay at the heart of the hatred between the rival bookstore owners on Jose Calama Street in Quito, Ecuador in South America. I think I was most shocked by the patronizing, condescending, and infantilizing remarks made by both Mark and Bill about the people of the country in which they both live. I’m also quite surprised by the rampant dysfunction which both owners demonstrate in the operation of their businesses.

Lists #15 & #16: Thom and Anne's Observations at Machu Picchu

2009-10-17T15:18:00.002-05:00

List #15: 4 Weird Rules Found on the Machu Picchu Visitors Brochure

When a visitor enters Machu Picchu they are given a brochure containing a map and other helpful information. This brochure also has a list of regulations. Some of them are quite sensible, for example, “Do not disturb the flora and fauna.” Others seem to be ignored by every single visitor.

1) “No food allowed.” Our hostel sold us bag lunches for the visit. That says it all.

2) "Do not use disposable containers or bottles." The bag lunches contained bottles of water and soft drinks. Plus, many of the Machu Picchu visitors are not only hiking the ruins but also climbing longer and harder trails in the sun. So we are supposed to spend the day in the heat and the sun at a high altitude without hydration?

3) "No back pack more than 20 litres." Nobody breaks this rule. But the rule is still odd considering how heavy a backpack with ten 2 liter bottles would be. I doubt anyone has ever tried to back pack in more than 44 pounds of liquids.

4) “No walking sticks.” Anne and I saw tons of hikers with walking sticks and poles that defy the spirit of this rule.

List #16: 6 Annoying Tourist Habits at Machu Picchu According to Thom and Anne

1) Littering. Anne says, “I’m annoyed enough when I see littering in Kansas City.” Thom says, “Oh, it is only a pile of old stones anyways.”

2) Disturbing the Llamas. Background: There are llamas that graze in the central part of Machu Picchu. We observed a small group of tourists jump a wall to go have their pictures taken next to one of the llamas. Thom says, “It was funny to see the girl almost get spit upon.” Anne says, “Llamas don’t wear sunglasses, fool.”

3) Kissing the Condor. Thom says, “So there is this rock that was carved to resemble (slightly) a condor, one of the three sacred animals of Incan culture. I understand that Machu Picchu is a spiritual place for many, maybe even enough to cause you to want to kiss or rub another part of your face against the rock…” but, Anne wonders, “Is that sanitary?”

4) Beer Commercials. We both read about an incident involving a beer commercial, a crane, and a busted Incan sundial that happened in 2002. Anne says, “I still bought a Cusquena T-shirt for my brother.”

5) Racing to the Top. An old maxim says that only the lead dog enjoys the view. Anne says, “When everyone entered they took the path to the top. I guess I’m not annoyed because Thom and I took a different path and had the place to ourselves for a while.”

6) Leaving Cigarette Butts. That may look like an ashtray to you. Actually it is an ancient indentation in the rock used for pounding corn into meal.

Island in the Sun

2009-10-16T12:53:00.007-05:00

In my previous post I mentioned my recent trip to Otavalo. The Otavalo region features far more than shopping in the markets. It is an area with amazing natural beauty. The Imbabura Volcano (15,190 feet) rises up above the city.

However, about ten miles northwest of Otavalo stands the majestic snow-capped peak of the Cotacachi Volcano (16,197 feet) which I find even more impressive than Imbabura.

The day after my odd experience at Parque Condor I decided to catch a lift up to the trailhead of a walking trail around Laguna Cuicocha, a beautiful volcanic lake that sits in the metaphorical shadow of Cotacachi.

I started my hike at around 8:00 in the morning and finished slightly after 12:00, though I hiked the path at an unusually brisk pace. The brisk pace was due to a couple of negative features of the path. First, much of the path had mosquitoes, flies, and other annoying and nasty insects. Second, parts of the path were overgrown with various plants that poked, clung, tickled, and rustled. Needless to say, I created a racket walking the trail. The result was that birds and other wild creatures gave me a wide berth. I did manage to see glimpses of a few particularly interesting birds on my walk. I glimpsed a few hummingbirds and a black bird with a bright red chest. My thumping along the trail around the volcanic rim of the lake managed to frighten hundreds of skittering lizards, though I did manage to get a good look at a few.

However, not all was lost. As I began the trail I stopped for about 15 minutes and marveled as an Andean Condor soared high overhead. Attempts to photograph the condor were unsuccessful. I also saw several handsome birds with yellow breasts and dark orange crowns.

The nature that didn’t move was undisturbed about the racket I made. I spotted dozens of different varieties of flowers, like this one.

Also, the view of the lake was simply exquisite.

Following the hike I treated myself to a gigantic lunch at a restaurant overlooking the lake and then returned to Otavalo. Oddly, I only ran into four other hikers during my four hour hike. Two of those hikers were the Dutch couple I had met the day before at the Parque Condor. If you ever have the chance to go to Otavalo, you’re cheating yourself if you treat it as a day trip. The lakes, waterfalls, mountains, flowers, and birds are as beautiful as anything you can buy at the market, though you can't take them home with you.

[“Island in the Sun” is a song from the second of Weezer’s three self-titled albums to date – the lime green one, not the blue or the red one.]

Let the Eagle Soar

2009-10-16T11:30:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week I returned to the town of Otavalo, this time for a little over three days. I had taken a day trip there very early during my time in South America. Otavalo’s main attraction is the indigenous market; the Otavalo Indians are world famous for their crafts, especially their fabric art and weavings using Alpaca wool. I loaded up on gifts to bring back with me when I return to the US. I purchased a beautiful Alpaca blanket to offer at the November church auction. I also purchased a wall-hanging for my parents.

However, on my trip to Otavalo I ventured outside the town to some of the other local attractions. On my second day I decided to check out the Parque Condor. As a young child my parents frequently brought my siblings and I to a place called Drumlin Farm, a working farm the next town over operated by the Audubon Society. My favorite part of Drumlin Farm was their display of eagles, hawks, and owls, all of which had been injured and rescued.

My experience at Parque Condor was quite mixed. A sign outside of the park declared that none of the birds had been captured. They had all either been rescued or donated. This was an interesting way to phrase it. Parque Condor is rather small. It has about two dozen birds on display and another dozen or so that are trained for a flight show that they offer twice daily. The Park is attractive with exquisitely landscaped gardens.

Some of the birds, like the Harpy Eagle, had clearly suffered significant injuries and were being kept safe in captivity. Lots of the other birds seemed in fine physical condition (to my untrained eye.) And, doesn’t the fact that a third of their birds are being trained for a flight show undermine the notion that these birds are incapable of surviving in the wild?

By far the worst feature of Parque Condor was the rude Dutch guy who seemed to run the place. He was a total jerk. Before I go on, let me qualify these remarks by saying that I have met more than a half-dozen tourists from the Netherlands in my travels thus far. To a person they have all been polite, kind, intelligent, and very friendly. They have all spoken Spanish quite well, which is impressive considering that for most of them Spanish is their fourth, fifth, sixth, or even seventh language! In fact, I recently met a tourist from the Netherlands who speaks Dutch, English, German, and French fluently. This tourist is learning Spanish and also knows enough Italian and Portuguese to get by.

Parque Condor is a small operation. I spent the morning there and counted 9 total visitors (myself included) and three people on staff including the rude Dutchman. I had approached him and asked if he had a free moment to answer a question. He said he had time and I told him that I had hiked Pichincha volcano in Quito, had seen a bird on top, and was having difficulty identifying it. “Oh, you probably just saw a turkey vulture,” he quickly snapped back at me. I asked him if turkey vultures had white on the back of their wings. “Oh,” he said, “Maybe it was a condor.” I’m still a bit perplexed. In flight the bird I saw had all the markings of an Andean Condor however its head was nothing like a condor’s head and I haven’t had any luck in finding an eagle that resembles what I saw.

Of the nine visitors, two were a young couple from the Netherlands. I met them in the area where birds that are being trained for the flight show are kept. Along came the Dutchman who ran the place and he began talking with the young couple. One of the birds being trained for the flight show was a bald eagle. The guide introduced this specimen as a “Gringo Bird.” I cheerfully offered that this bird is known as the bald eagle and it is the national symbol of the United States. I also commented that Benjamin Franklin had proposed the turkey as the national bird of the United States and listed off a few other commonly known bald eagle facts.

The Dutch guide found his opening and said that maybe the bald eagle should not be our national symbol because there are more bald eagles in Canada than the United States. I didn’t respond though I felt an interesting emotion. This was the first time that I experienced a feeling of nationalism during my trip.

Two further comments: First, it is extremely odd that they have a bald eagle as part of their collection. The southernmost limit of the bald eagle’s normal range is northern Mexico. It is a long way from the north of Mexico to Ecuador. This bird clearly wasn’t rescued. Second, while it is embarrassing that our national symbol was once endangered due to hunting, pesticides, and human destruction of bald eagle habitat, the bald eagle is definitely making a comeback. Its territory is expanding and its population is strong. What is ironic is that the Andean condor is nearly extinct in Ecuador. A recent census found only 40 Andean condors living in Ecuador though I have no idea how one would go about taking a census in the wilds of the Andes mountain range. The natural range of the Andean condor includes Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Chile although newer maps have eliminated Ecuador as a place where condors live. Considering Ecuador's national symbol is nearly extinct in Ecuador the Dutch birdman had no business opening his yap.

About the Andean Condor: It is a truly remarkable bird. The Parque Condor had three Condors in their collection. They had two younger birds and one that was older. Condors grow their white feathers at 9 years of age. Some people speak of the Condor as nothing more than an over-sized turkey vulture. Condors and vultures are related and condors tend to be scavengers more than hunters. However, condors are immense. They can have a wingspan of up to ten feet, a length that is only exceeded by the largest species of Albatross.

One of the more poignant parts of the Parque Condor is that wild birds will often come to pay visits on the members of their own species. Andean condors have been observed perched on rocks right outside the cage of their relatives. I didn't see any wild condors but I did see a kestrel perched on a rock very near the park. Maybe the kestrel was on his way to visit the kestrels on exhibit there. I find this both sad and sweet.

[“Let the Eagle Soar” is a song written and sung by John Ashcroft, an ultra-conservative who served as U.S. Attorney General during the first term of George W. Bush. Late night comedians Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, and David Letterman frequently mocked Ashcroft by showing a clip of him performing his song. You can see the clip here.]

Testify (or, an Encounter with Ecuadorian Humanism)

2009-10-11T12:41:00.012-05:00

Yo llore porque no tenia zapatos hasta que vi un niño que no tenia pies. -Guayasamin

I used to cry because I didn’t have shoes until I saw a boy who didn’t have feet. (Translation mine.)

A few days ago I was browsing through an art gallery in Quito while conversing with the proprietor. She asked me if I had been to see the works of Guayasamin. When I told her I hadn’t, she ordered me to go. I was told that I could not possibly know Ecuador if I did not know Guayasamin. (As an aside, I should probably mention that Spanish has two different verbs for “to know.” The verb saber is used to indicate knowledge of facts. The verb conocer is used to indicate familiar knowledge, especially a person or a place.)

Two days ago I visited La Capilla del Hombre (The Chapel of Humankind), an architectural space especially designed to display the works of Oswaldo Guayasamin (1919-1999). Guayasamin is the most important Ecuadorian artist of the last century. My visit to the museum was profound and moving.

Guayasamin’s art deals with human misery, suffering, violence, oppression and bigotry. While he pays special attention to the horrors and atrocities suffered by the peoples of Central and South America, his work is universal and speaks to the suffering of people everywhere.

Here is another quote by Guayasamin:

De pueblo en pueblo, de ciudad en ciudad fuimos testigos de la mas inmensa miseria: pueblos de barro negro, en tierra negra, con niños embarrados de lodo negro; hombres y mujeres con rostros de piel quemada por el frio, donde las lagrimas estaban congeladas por siglos, hasta no saber si eran de sal o eran de piedra, musica de zampoñas y rondadores que describen la inmensa soledad sin tiempo, sin dioses, sin sol, sin maiz, solamente el barro y el viento.

From town to town, from city to city, there were testimonies of the most intense misery: towns of black clay on black earth, with children caked with black mud; men and women's faces with skin burned by the cold, where the tears of centuries have hardened until we couldn’t tell if they were salt or stone, and music from zampoñas and rondadores* that describe an immense solitude, without time, without gods, without sun, without corn, with only the clay and the wind. (Translation mine.)

(* These are traditional instruments in South America.)

Guayasamin left the Catholic faith and became an agnostic after several young men including his best friend were gunned down in the street during a political uprising in Ecuador.

I was deeply moved by several of his works. His three paneled work entitled Arrasamiento shows the fear and dread of bombing victims, not only in South America but in places like Guernica, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Vietnam. What is especially striking about this piece is that the gestures of the bombing victims imitate three of the four traditional expressions of prayer. Their postures seem to imitate supplication (asking), an expression of awe or wonder (also known as praise), and confession. (The fourth act is giving thanks or expressing gratitude.) Arrasamiento is a striking painting.

Another work by Guayasamin that touched me was his piece entitled Lagrimas de Sangre. The museum guide explained that this piece was created out the pain of losing three of his closest friends - Salvador Allende, Pablo Neruda, and Victor Jara - over a short period of time. The positioning of the fingers in this piece is haunting.

One of Guayasamin’s best known works is his painting of a mother attempting to comfort her malnourished child.

While there were many paintings depicting the terror and violence that human beings inflict on one another, other paintings captured a different aspect of humanity. Traveling from Mexico to the tip of Chile, Guayasamin captured the various faces of Latin America. La Capilla del Hombre contains an enormous wall displaying some two dozen faces. Here are a few examples from this series of paintings.

Another powerful piece is entitled El Mestizaje. This painting is a composite of the various faces of Latin America.

La Capilla del Hombre contained not only Guayasamin’s most well-known works. It also contains works by other artists created to honor Guayasamin. I’ll mention two of those.

The first one is a painting of Augusto Pinochet, Chile’s brutal tyrant who was put into power by the United States government. This powerful work of political art depicts Pinochet with beady eyes and a monstrous mouth. Variations of his name appear on the piece, including a French play on his name turning Pinochet into Pinnochio – a puppet dictator. A Spanish/English hybrid of name renders him “pillo-shit.” Pillo means “wicked” or “scheming” in Spanish. The portrait of Pinochet is hung with a noose.

The largest piece in La Capilla del Hombre was an enormous wall-size mural depicting a condor seizing a bull by the neck. I don’t believe that this mural was created by Guayasamin. The condor is a symbol of South America; the bull is a symbol of Spain. This work is a giant representation of anti-colonialism. At least that was the interpretation offered by the museum’s guide. She also explained that in Bolivia they hold an annual fight between a bull and a condor. After the tour I asked her if an actual bull and condor were made to fight and the guide told me that this was the case. I think I need to do some further research to find out about the veracity of this statement. Besides all of the ethical problems this would raise, I am puzzled by the logistical problems of how it would be possible to force a condor to fight a bull. They are not exactly natural enemies. Condors don’t hunt animals the size of bulls. A bull seems ill-equipped to counter an attack from a condor. It’s only recourse would be to strike blindly upwards, to hope to knock the condor out of the sky, and then to trample it. On the other side of the equation a condor possesses razor-sharp talons, but are they long and strong enough to cut through the thick muscles on the neck and shoulders of a bull? I’m puzzled.

This piece seems out of place in the museum. For one thing, the violence of this piece is incongruous with the rest of the pieces in the museum (except for the Pinochet portrait.) For another thing, Guayasamin seems like he would be above such black and white thinking. Instead, I want to propose a different interpretation of this mural. It is a highly nuanced interpretation and it is probably not what the artist intended.

Here goes: It is obvious that Picasso was an artist who influenced Guayasamin. Guayasamin certainly knew of the horrors of the Spanish Civil War which pitted Republicans backed by the Soviets against Nationalists backed by fascist Italy under Mussolini and Nazi Germany under Hitler. Guayasamin would also have known of Picasso’s masterpiece Guernica, a depiction of Franco’s use of Nazi weaponry to conduct devastating bombing raids against Spanish towns. (I found my visit to La Capilla del Hombre to be as emotionally moving as when I saw Picasso’s Guernica in Madrid in 2004.) Guernica contains a stylized bull. I choose to interpret this mural as a warning against nationalism that would group all people of a country together. The villager in Guatemala and the villager in Franco’s Spain each knew horrors.

Such an interpretation is upheld by a quote from Guayasamin,

Por los niños que cogio la muerte jugando, por los hombres que desfallecieron trabajando, por los pobres que fracasaron amando, pintare con grito de metralla, con potencia de rayo y con furia de batalla.

For the children death took while they were playing, for the men crushed by toiling, for the poor whose loving ended too early, I will paint with the deafening sound of gunshots, with the force of thunder, and with the fury of battle. (Translation by the Fundacion Guayasamin, adaptation mine.)

La Capilla del Hombre is one of the most emotionally moving collections of art I have ever experienced. It is a world treasure. Here is a link for more information about Guayasamin.

(“Testify” is a song by the band Rage Against the Machine.)

Message In a Bottle

2009-10-10T16:39:00.003-05:00

There is another part of our trip to the Galapagos Islands that I cannot help but mention. You may think it is a little bit hokey. I agree, but I also think that it is charming.

Since the mid 1700's there has been a barrel at a specific location that was used by ships crossing the Pacific Ocean to pick up and drop off messages. Trans-Pacific sea vessels no longer navigate through the Galapagos, but there is now a different barrel on the same site, nicknamed "Post Office Bay." Nowadays, those touring the islands can drop off postcards and the like. When we went to Post Office Bay we opened the barrel and pulled off several large zip-lock baggies filled with postcards. We each took about 20 or 30 and read the addresses. If we found a postcard addressed to a place close to where we live, we picked it up. No stamp required. The only rule was that if you picked up a postcard you had to hand-deliver it. When I return to Kansas City, I will be hand-delivering postcards to a couple in Lenexa and to a woman in KC, MO.

Here I am at the "Post Office."

("Message in a Bottle" is a song by The Police.)

Close to Me

2009-10-09T13:54:00.008-05:00

We leave our boat, The Sagitta, by climbing down a ladder and boarding a dinghy with an outboard motor. The dinghy (called a panga) takes us to shore. We get out on the Island of Española, one of the oldest islands of the Galapagos archipelago.

I take ten steps onto land and then I stop. Standing in that one place I turn in place taking a 360 degree view of where I am. Here is what I see. On the rocks around me there are dozens and dozens of marine iguanas sunning themselves. They're joined by hundreds of crabs in brilliant hues of orange and red that walk across the rocks. A lava lizard scampers across the path, inches from my toes. On the rocks I can see three or four pelicans preparing to fish. In the water I spot a dozen sea lions swimming as well as at least one green sea turtle. Blending in with the rocks there are dozens of other sea lions asleep. I spot a blue-footed booby on the rocks as well. A gregarious mockingbird approaches to investigate me. I spot a Galapagos Hawk in a nearby tree.

Of all the things I wasn't prepared for in the Galapagos, the accessibility of the animals was perhaps the most surprising. These animals were not far off. I could reach out and touch at least half of the species I named above.

I don't want to recite a natural history of the Galapagos Islands, but every human visitor has not been kind to the animals there. Early explorers did land on the islands and hunt some of the animals. Some of Darwin's experiments were cruel. Buccaneers used the islands for protection and whalers were active in the region (and probably still are.) But humans didn't settle the islands in anything more than the smallest of numbers. The terrain is hostile and, more importantly, the entire group of islands has only one tiny freshwater spring.

The only predator who hunts on land is the Galapagos Hawk. They eat small birds, small lizards, and they especially love sea lion placenta. A human being is nothing like a hawk and the animals have no fear of human beings. (Things are a bit different in the water where sea lions, sea turtles, pelicans, penguins, herons, boobies, dolphins, whales, and sharks all do their hunting.)

On land some of the animals approach us with curiosity. Others are completely indifferent to humans. Still others are slightly skittish. However, on the Galapagos a yellow warbler may fly across the path and sit on a branch a few feet away. When going bird watching with my father as a child in New England we usually had to get out the binoculars to spot them. Most of these animals were, at one time or another, close to me. I am talking about inches, not feet.

So, without further ado, here are some pictures of me doing my best Saint Francis of Assisi impersonation.

(With a Giant Tortoise)

(With a Land Iguana)

(With a colony of Marine Iguanas)

(One of these Sea Lions is different)

A few more comments on being close to the animals: First, most of the animals were actually quite indifferent to a dozen human beings walking by in a group. On trails we encountered land iguanas, marine iguanas, and sea lions that decided the trail would be comfortable to lie across. This required walking around delicately or stepping over. Often the animals didn't even bother to wake up!

Second, we observed a rule in the Galapagos. We weren't allowed to touch the animals but if the animals decided they wanted to touch us, that was OK. Most of these types of interactions happened in the water. Curious sea lions swam up to me while I was snorkeling and put their faces a few inches away from my mask. We played games diving and chasing each other and one of the other snorkelers told me that when the sea lion chased me it would nip at the tips of my fins. In a bay we stood shin deep in the water while rays swam in the surf. Occasionally the rays would brush against my ankles. And, while snorkeling I found myself looking down at an amazing green sea turtle. The surf brought us in to shallow waters and for a minute I was pressed belly to back against a sea turtle. This was like nothing I could have imagined.

("Close to Me" is one of the best songs by The Cure.)

Para La Clase de Señora Dalton (#6)

2009-10-08T17:05:00.009-05:00

Hello Again,

In my last message to you I talked a little bit about Machu Picchu. Now I want to tell you about the other special place I visited. They are called the Galapagos Islands and they are found off the coast of Ecuador.

The Galapagos Islands are a group of many small islands. The fancy word for a group of small islands is an archipelago. On this trip I traveled with my parents and 8 other travelers from all around the world. We sailed on a boat. Here is a picture of the sailboat.

The Galapagos Islands were formed by volcanos in the ocean. When the volcanos erupt, the water cools the lava and forms land. That is the same way that the islands of Hawaii formed. I have never been to Hawaii.

What makes the Galapagos Islands so special is the animal life on the islands. We saw all kinds of amazing animals. In another place on my blog I will put some more pictures of all the animals. The animals on Galapagos are extremely special because a lot of them do not live anywhere else in the whole world. Some of the animals only live on one of the islands.

In 1835 an English scientist named Charles Darwin came to the Galapagos Islands to study the animals. His studies changed the way that scientists think about animals, plants, and all kinds of life. Everything we know about life on our entire planet was changed by what Darwin learned about animals on the Galapagos Islands.

So, are you ready to see a few of the animals?

Here is a picture of a Giant Tortoise. A giant tortoise can weigh around 800 pounds. How much would all of the students in your class weigh if you all stood together on a scale?

Another one of the big animals on the island is the Sea Lion. On land, sea lions walk very funny but they swim very well. We got to swim with them and sometimes they played with us in the water. On the boat there was a "memory book" and one ten year-old girl wrote that sea lions reminded her of her dog.

And, here is a baby sea lion sleeping...

Another animal that is well-known in the Galapagos are Iguanas. There are two types: Marine Iguanas and Land Iguanas. I liked the land iguanas better because they were bigger. Here are some pictures of land iguanas.

There were lots more animals. We also saw sharks, sea turtles, lots of different types of fish, rays, penguins, pelicans, lava lizards, albatrosses, the blue-footed booby, the Nasca booby, lava gulls, mockingbirds, frigate birds, and flamingos. I have pictures of a lot of these animals, but not all of them.

I promise to write again soon and answer some of the questions you asked. I will write to you about what people do for fun in Ecuador, about what the stores are like, about what the food, weather, and houses are like.

I will write again soon!

Para La Clase de Señora Dalton (#5)

2009-10-08T16:20:00.007-05:00

Hola Mis Amigos y Amigas,

I am writing you to tell you a little bit about a place called Machu Picchu in Peru. Machu Picchu is located on the top of a big mountain. But the area is part mountain and part jungle so there are lots of trees, parrots, and jungle flowers around. I went there about ten days ago with my girlfriend, Anne. Unfortunately, we didn't see any parrots but we did see beautiful butterflies and amazing flowers like this one.

Machu Picchu was built by a tribe of South American Indians known as the Incans. In school you have probably learned about North American Native Americans and know that there are many different tribes like the Navajo, Sioux, Apache, and Cherokee. Well, the Incans were one of the most powerful tribes in all of South America.

Let me show you some pictures of what they built on top of a mountain:

The Incans built Machu Picchu almost 600 years ago! We got to explore and walk around the ruins for as long as we wanted. We walked for hours and hours and didn't even come close to seeing everything!

Not many animals live at Machu Picchu, but one very special kind of animal does. It is a kind of animal called a llama. Here is one of the llamas that lives at Machu Picchu.

This llama isn't very big, but they can grow pretty tall. If you disturb them, llamas spit at you. The people in Peru use the llama for its very warm wool and also for its milk. There is a smaller animal called an Alpaca that has even softer wool, the softest wool in the world. And, there is an even smaller relative called a Vicuna, but vicunas are pretty rare now and I didn't get to see any of them.

Feel free to ask me any questions about Machu Picchu!

Para La Clase de Señora Dalton (#4)

2009-10-08T13:17:00.003-05:00

Dear Mis Amigos y Amigas en Kansas City,

It has been a long time since I wrote a note to you. Over the next couple of days I will write a whole bunch of notes because I have lots of news to share. Señora Dalton shared your questions with me and I will try to answer them as well. I may even see if Tatiana is free to write another letter.

Over the past two weeks I have done a Lot of traveling. I went to two of the most famous and important places in all of South America. First, I went to a place called Machu Picchu in the country of Peru. I will write you another note about Machu Picchu a little bit later. Second, I went with my parents to a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador. These are known as the Galapagos Islands. I took a lot of pictures of both and maybe Señora Dalton will show you some of those pictures.

Before I tell you about Machu Picchu, let me tell you a little bit about the country of Peru. Peru is a country that is much bigger than Ecuador but it is very tiny compared to the size of the United States. The capital city of Peru is called Lima. Lima is gigantic. Over 8 million people live there. The shape of Peru reminds me of a bean. It also reminds me of the shape of the state of California.

Even though Peru is bigger than Ecuador, it has some of the same features. It has a coast and people on the coast eat lots and lots of fish and seafood. It has really tall mountains. And it also has jungle. I spent a few days in Lima where I went to lots of museums and ate like a pig! The city of Lima is famous for its food and people travel from all over the world to eat at the best restaurants in Lima.

I didn't try Lima's most famous local food. Lima's most famous local food is called ceviche. Ceviche is fish that is prepared in a special way. They don't use any heat to cook it but it isn't raw. Instead, they use lemon juice to cook the fish. If you have ever put a slice of lemon in your mouth you know how sour it tastes. The sour taste is caused by something called citric acid and they use enough lemon juice to cook the fish. I tried ceviche in Ecuador and it was delicious.

In the mountains of Peru they have a different kind of special food that is called cuy. Cuy is guinea pig. Who is grossed out by the thought of eating guinea pig? Well, I tried it. Below is a picture of me eating cuy. I will write a lot more later.

Baby, Baby

2009-10-08T11:16:00.010-05:00

This blog post is for someone special. You know who you are.

Traveling to the Galapagos Islands gives you amazing opportunities to take photos of wildlife. In truth, I'm not much of a photographer, but here are a few pictures of animal babies.

One of the animals that the Galapagos Islands are most famous for is the Blue Footed Booby. Here is a picture of a Booby family with their newly hatched chick.

Here is another photo of an incredible baby bird, though it doesn't look much like a baby. Although this young one is only a few months old, it is already larger than an adult turkey! It is a baby Albatross.

On the first full day of our voyage we visited the Charles Darwin Research Center where they hatch the famous Galapagos Giant Tortoises. As adults they can weigh as much as 800 pounds. But here are four baby turtles.

Finally, here are some photos of baby sea lions.

Baby sea lion hanging out and sleeping near marine iguanas...

And here is one of me with a baby sea lion...

("Baby, Baby" was a song off Amy Grant's 1991 album Heart in Motion. Amy Grant is an evangelical Christian musician and this song was her first "secular" hit song.)

It's Been a Long Time Since I Rock and Rolled

2009-10-08T09:14:00.002-05:00

The lyrics to Led Zeppelin's song "Rock and Roll" begin, "It's been a long time since I rock and rolled." Well, I have been rocking and rolling (so to speak) but it has been a long time since I wrote on this blog.

The reason for my recent hiatus is that over the past two weeks I have had the tremendous privilege of visiting two of the most amazing places on the entire planet. Two weeks ago I went with my dear Anne to visit Machu Picchu in Peru. This past week my parents joined me for a week on a boat in the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador.

I am awed by my visits to both of these amazing locations. They are incredible, almost indescribable. Plus, I really don't want to turn this blog into too much of a narrative of my trip although I do want to share parts of the journey. In the spirit of gratitude and praise I need to state how fortunate and blessed I feel.

So, here is what is ahead for this blog and for my travels:

Right now the blog is a little bit out of sequence. There are old entries that I want to return to and new entries to write. I'll try not to confuse anybody.

Right now I also have a little bit over three weeks left in South America. My travel plans call for me to take three trips out of Quito over the next three weeks. One trip will be to return to Otavalo for several days. Another trip will be to head South along the Andes to the town of Banos. Banos is one of the prettiest towns in the entire country and is a favorite place for adventure sports. I've been told about a wonderful (and low impact) mountain biking trail and the town features lots of beautiful waterfalls to discover. Another thing they have there is the best bungee jumping in Ecuador. Don't worry Mom, I don't have any interest in going bungee jumping.

Finally, towards the end of the trip I will be taking a trip into the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest. There is just no way to pass that up. However, over the next couple of days I will be recharging here in Quito and visiting some more parks and museums. Expect a lot of blogging over the next couple of days.

Pictures of You

2009-09-28T14:56:00.002-05:00

For the past week I traveled with my sweetheart Anne to Cusco, Aguas Calientes, and to the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu.

When it comes to taking pictures, Anne's got a lot more talent than I do. This link takes you to a site with over 60 pictures from our trip. Check it out!

["Pictures of You" is one of the best songs by the band The Cure.]

Dayenu

2009-09-28T14:12:00.006-05:00

In a previous entry I wrote about T-shirts I've seen in Peru. Well, Peru has also featured some of the most interesting representations of the Last Supper that I've ever seen.

At the gift shop of the Cathedral in Lima they sold small sculptures with an all-Latino Last Supper.

However, that has nothing on the large painting prominently displayed in the Cathedral in Cusco. First of all, in this painting Jesus and Disciples are dining on cuy (Guinea Pig) which is a local delicacy though it is not kosher. Photos weren't allowed inside the church. Click here for the whole scene. Click here for a close up of the cuy.

The second this to notice about the painting is that Judas (clutching his bag of silver coins) is painted in the foreground looking out at the viewer. To me, Judas bears a pretty close resemblance to Francisco Pizarro the Spanish conquistador who began conquering Peru in 1532 and conquered the city of Cusco in 1533. Paintings of Pizarro show him as having a long face and perhaps an underbite although it is hard to tell with his full beard. Pizarro is also depicted as having a thin nose, a high forehead, and in different paintings his hair is either dark brown or a lighter brown color with some reddish tones. I'll let you judge whether you think the Judas in Marcos Zapata's Last Supper painting resembles this image of Pizarro.

I will have more to say about Pizarro in a future blog entry. However, let me end this entry with one more Last Supper image. This one is found on the wall of a restaurant in Aguas Calientes. In this rendering, Jesus isn't joined by the twelve Disciples. Instead, he is joined by fourteen Incan Kings.

Take a second to notice the upper right and the upper left corner of this picture. In those respective corners you will see the moon and sun, which the Incans deified in their religious worldview. Also, the table prominently features maize but Jesus is sitting in front of an avocado! I wonder if anyone has ever tried a guacamole communion?

In case you are wondering, Dayenu is a festive song that is sung at Passover Seders. The Last Supper was actually an observance of Passover.

Man in the Mirror

2009-09-28T06:39:00.002-05:00

I wound up getting to bed late last night because I found myself reading the sabbatical blog of my colleague in Norwell, Massachusetts who blogs under the pen name "Peacebang."

Last January she began a 5-month sabbatical that included:

∙ Spending time with a UU Fellowship in rural Texas.
∙ Visiting friends in the American Southwest.
∙ Spending approximately a month living in Guatemala.
∙ Returning to the US for a period of writing focusing on her ongoing doctoral dissertation.
∙ Interrupting her writing to take a road trip to Washington D.C. and back.
∙ Taking a tour of Turkey and Greece to visit historical sites of early Christianity.
∙ Along the way stopping in Romania to visit her congregation's partner church in Romania.
∙ Concluding her travels in Paris.

Whew! Even though our sabbaticals are different in some ways, in other ways they are similar. While I won't be working on a doctoral dissertation when I return to Kansas City, I do have some writing projects that I hope to begin. I found this post, in which Peacebang reflects on the "theme" of her sabbatical, to be quite meaningful.

[I couldn't resist titling an entry after a Michael Jackson song.]

Souvenir

2009-09-27T10:48:00.007-05:00

"Souvenir" is a great song from Buffalo Tom's tremendous 1995 album Sleepy Eyed. Warning: The fourth and final image in this post is a little bit risqué.

In a previous entry, I talked about looking at material culture for clues about race relations. While traveling to Machu Picchu and Cusco, I was exposed to a lot of tourist merchandise, some of which was not at all subtle about race and ethnicity.

In the United States, the most racially charged T-shirts I've seen are varieties of the "Homeland Security" theme. I love these shirts, by the way.

Peru offered plenty of interesting shirts. The first one, with the slogan "The Encounter of two Worlds," depicts a conquistador being spat upon by a llama.

A different version of this shirt depicts the conquistador being sprayed with fluid from a different bodily orifice. The next shirt, "Independence Day," is pretty much self-explanatory.

In a third shirt, the object of derision is not a Spanish conquistador wearing a metal helmet and breastplate. Rather, the joke is on wealthy white tourists.

In a conversation with the saleswoman at the T-shirt shop, I was told that this T-shirt is absolutely hilarious to most local Peruanos. The joke is that white tourists show up with thousands of dollars worth of hiking equipment and exert themselves to reach where the locals live. Locals walk these trails in sandals.

I can't end this blog entry without throwing in an additional example that is more adult in nature. I took a picture of the mouse-pad version rather than the T-shirt version.

On one level, this image is fairly juvenile. On another level, it is interesting and complex. The bestiality between the Spanish conquistador and the llama signifies both depravity as well as impotence. Relations with a domesticated farm animal are a consequence of rejection by other human beings. The Incan's position is not homoerotic in nature. Rather, it signifies power and dominance.

Roy Llichtenstein?

2009-09-26T13:38:00.003-05:00

Right now I am enjoying my last few days in Lima, Peru before I head back to Ecuador. Early this morning I dropped my sweetheart Anne off at the airport. Last night we stayed at an airport hotel to make it easier to get to the airport for a 7:00am international departure.

This post is not named after a song. It is just a chance to show you a picture of the llama wall art in our hotel room:

How the West Was Won and Where It Got Us

2009-09-24T17:24:00.005-05:00

I began composing this entry on September 17 at a cruising altitude of 39,000 feet on a flight from Quito, Ecuador to Lima, Peru. In Peru, I spent a couple of days on my own in Lima before meeting up with my fiancée Anne and traveling to the lovely city of Cusco and the Incan ruins of Machu Picchu.

I’ve spent the last two weeks in Quito and the surrounding areas. When I talk with other travelers they are astounded that I spent two weeks in Quito. For most of them Quito is a place to pass a day or two before heading off to the Galapagos, the rainforest, or somewhere else. But I really enjoyed spending two weeks in Quito. In even that short amount of time I began to feel the rhythm of the city and the rhythm of its people. I had a chance of recognizing the person I passed on the street. The person at the bakery recognized me. The city opened itself to me in a way that wouldn't be accessible if I had just passed through.

Earlier this year, in writing about my plans for this sabbatical, I focused on four areas. They were:

First, to have an immersion experience in a Spanish speaking country, and to improve my ability to speak Spanish.

Second, to study and observe the intersection of race, religion, and ethnicity. To understand how racial and ethnic identities are understood in a different country. To explore how the legacy of colonialism is regarded and how religion regards race and ethnicity.

Third, to have the experience of living in a country very different from my own.

And fourth, to connect with the country of origin from which my sister was adopted when she was four years old.

As to the third and fourth goal, the fourth is a private matter and the third is a matter of process.

As to the first goal I seem to have my good days and my bad days. There are times when I’ve been able to hold up an hour long conversation in Spanish and times when the simplest question catch me off guard and I find myself tongue-tied. I’ve made a commitment to speaking only Spanish while I am here. At museums and other attractions I ask for the tour guide to speak only in Spanish. I decline the English “gringo” menu. I click the Spanish option at the ATM.

I am improving and yet I also feel myself hitting plateaus and tripping over the same phrases time after time. I’ve been told by many people that my Spanish speaking abilities are quite good, but that I speak slowly and take a lot of time to think of exactly what I want to say. In other words, pretty much like how I speak English.

***

When I started this blog entry on the plane I planned to mention how superficial a lot of my blog entries have been thus far. Upon further reflection, that they have been superficial isn’t exactly a surprise. For one thing, the ordinary tasks of the day are more challenging. Catching the correct bus or buying Chapstick with UV protection are elements of the day that pose challenges much greater than if I were engaging in the same activities in the United States. The hyper-awareness with which I spend the days tends to sap energy away from deeper reflection.

This brings me back to my second stated goal for the sabbatical, the observation of race, ethnicity, and religion. I haven’t neglected this aspect of the sabbatical, but I have found it harder than I had expected.

For one thing, I am a stranger here. And, I am not just any stranger. I am a stupendously privileged stranger whose grasp of the language is flawed and whose knowledge of the customs is incomplete. Who is this stranger who just flat out asks how indigenous peoples regard the historical legacy of colonialism? Who is this stranger who asks questions about syncretism between indigenous religious practices and Catholicism?

I will tell you a bit about who this stranger is. This stranger is a United States citizen. This stranger comes from a country with a pretty rotten history when it comes to race relations, a country that has over the course of its history found ways to systemically marginalize and do horrific violence to every race and every ethnicity that is not Anglo-Saxon. Slavery. Indian wars. Broken treaties. Reservations. Internment Camps. Jim Crow. Immigration raids. Lynching.

Not only am I a citizen of a country with an appalling legacy of racism, I am also a citizen of a country that has time and time again had dirty dealings in Central and South America. In Augusto Pinochet the United States put a brutal dictator in power in Chile in the 1970s. Che Guevara was killed in Bolivia in 1967 with assistance from our government. In Central America in the 1980s we propped up brutal regimes in some countries while undemocratically (and violently) installing regimes friendly to the interests of the United States in others. Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez enjoy immense popular followings in Ecuador while Cuba and Venezuela are treated coldly by the United States.

Scholars of race relations have pointed out that people of color often have two ways of speaking: a way of speaking when solely in the presence of other people of color and a way of speaking that is used in dominant white culture. Similarly, native Ecuadorians and Peruvians adopt a similar practice. Tourists are spoken to one way; locals speak to each other differently.

Let me summarize the last several paragraphs in one succinct thought. I was naïve to believe that others would be frank and forthcoming with me when I have asked questions about religion and race. The times when I have broken through have been few. What has been consistent is that the times when I have broken through have been with a person with whom I have taken the time to develop trust and intimacy.

Other conversations have been much less fruitful. I will discuss a few of these conversations in future blog entries. At the same time, there have been other clues available in the material culture that point to a much more complicated reality. These examples are seen in the pictures below. Here I point to chess sets depicting Indigenas vs. Españoles. (I can’t imagine similar games being sold in Selma, Alabama or at the Trail of Tears National Historic Monument.) Or, consider the following portion of a sign at Quito’s botanical garden. This sign introduced an area of the garden that grew plants that indigenous people harvested for medicinal uses.

[“How the West was Won and Where It Got Us” is a song by R.E.M. from their album New Adventures in Hi-Fi.]

Purple Haze

2009-09-19T09:21:00.002-05:00

After my post yesterday I thought I’d write a little bit more about my first impressions of Lima, Peru. The two words that come to mind are “purple” and “haze.” And with all due respect to Jimi Hendrix, the two words are not connected.

First, “haze.” I’m not sure whether this is a seasonal thing or whether it is like this all year, but I have not yet seen the sun in Lima. I’m sure that there is a part of the haze that is caused by the pollution of a city of over 8 million people but I think it is much more naturally occurring. As I’m not a meteorologist I can’t tell you whether the dense clouds are coming off the mountains to the East or from the Pacific Ocean to the West or whether it is some combination of both. What I can tell you is that for a person who loves to walk I get to escape the effects of the sun beating down on me as I explore the city.

Second, “purple.” Lima’s non-alcoholic beverage of choice is Chicha Morada. At lunch my first day in town I had two. The key ingredient to the beverage is maize or corn. A cocktail of fruit juices that can include pineapple and apple are added and the final touch consists of adding spices (cloves, or cinnamon in some cases) to give the beverage a bit of a bite. I’ve been told that alcoholic versions exist.

For the last two nights I have stayed at a residential hostal called El Faro Inn. A “faro” is a lighthouse and the hostal is only a three minute walk from a small lighthouse located in a handsome park on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The park has all kinds of great features, from a “lover’s lane” type area which I described in my last blog posting to a small dog park, a playground, and something I do not want my mom to read about. (Don’t read the rest of this paragraph, Mom.) The park also features an area on the cliffs where parachuting enthusiasts gather. They run towards the edge of the cliff and the updraft causes them to soar above the cliffs, out of over the ocean, and then back to the cliffs where they make precision landings from the place where they started. Those of us who aren’t parachutists can fly tandem for a price that is a bit pricey. I’m thinking that this is absolutely necessary to do this before I leave.

El Faro Inn is located in Miraflores, the most beautiful area of the city. Everything here is very green and there are lots of fascinating trees and flowers, cactus and palm trees. Even though it is very temperate right now (mid-60s) the design of the buildings indicate that the region is a bit more tropical in nature. Buildings have areas that are open-air and rooftop patios abound. Especially overlooking the cliffs there are lots of high-rise condominium buildings, apartments, and the like. Most of these are designed with a sleek modern style and incorporate nature. Patios display flowers or miniature palm trees; one building has a thirty five story flowering vine that climbs up its façade. Miraflores is definitely the upscale area of Peru. I’m about a 15 minute walk from one of the booming nightlife districts in the city.

One other thing I ought to mention about Lima is that it is an extremely cosmopolitan city. While tourism to Peru is focused on visits to Machu Picchu, gastronomic tourism is booming. People come to Lima from all over the world to eat at the city’s world-class restaurants. These restaurants feature Lima’s signature dish, ceviche. Ceviche is fish or shellfish that is cooked chemically rather than with heat. Here, ceviche is cooked with lemon; other areas use lime, tomato, or other highly acidic fruits. The lemon juice fully cooks the fish, but leaves flavor and texture that heat would burn away. Other spices and flavors are added to the “acid bath” that the fish receives. The local cuisine has expanded dramatically incorporating French and Asian influences and fusion cuisine fuels the gastronomic tourism in Lima. Many restaurants offer menus with sections labeled “clasica” and “moderna.”

One more day in the city and then I am off to Machu Picchu.

All the Small Things

2009-09-18T23:54:00.007-05:00

I am writing to you at the end of my second day in Lima, Peru, the world’s 22nd largest city with 5.6 million people (and 26th largest urban area with a population well over 8 million people.) The style of this entry is modeled after a writing style called biji. Click on this earlier entry where I describe what that is. Here is a little Lima biji for you.

***

For pet lovers: The climate here in Lima is very temperate at this time of the year. On the day that I arrived I would estimate that the afternoon temperature was in the high 50s or low 60s with the moisture coming off the ocean causing gray skies and low-hanging clouds. I took an afternoon walk in a beautiful park on the cliffs over-looking the ocean. Lots of people were out walking their pooches. Almost all of the dogs had those silly vests that people put on their pets in the United States when it is really cold out. Only, here it wasn’t freezing cold. I felt comfortable in a pair of khakis and a button-down denim shirt. But wait, there is more. Many of the dogs wore what looked like Andean ponchos, the kind of bright, patterned clothing hand-made by local artisans.

***

Today I toured Lima’s downtown where all of the historic government buildings, old churches, and museums are located. One destination I could not pass up was the Inquisition Museum. Actually, the full name of the museum is the Museum of the Inquisition and Congress. This was the actual building the Catholic Church built to use for trials, torture, and imprisonment of those people brought before the Inquisition. After the Inquisition ended the room where the trials were held was converted for a time to the meeting room of Peru’s congress. You can’t make this up.

***

Not for Pet Lovers: The taxi from my hostal to Lima’s downtown dropped my off at the Plaza Mayor. On one side of the Square sits the Lima Cathedral. On another side sits the Government Palace. On a third, sits Lima’s City Hall. I walked around the square and noticed that there was a dead dog in the middle of the road in front of the Government Palace. This was at about 10:15 in the morning. After touring the Cathedral I returned to the Square to see the changing of the guard, a daily occurrence behind the fence that confines the Government Palace. The changing of the guard involves a marching band, two regiments carrying flags, and a whole lot of pomp and circumstance. Hundreds of tourists stand across the street on the Plaza Mayor to see the spectacle. And the dead dog was still lying in the street. I’m just saying that a dead dog in the street in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue would not last for more than two hours.

***

When you think of city birds, what do you think of? Pigeons, definitely. Sparrows, maybe. Crows, perhaps. Lima has all of those but it also has buzzards. Vultures circle over the Plaza Mayor and sit on the ledges of the Government Palace. This has nothing to do with the dead dog in the road. Later during my tour I spotted seven vultures circling over another city block.

***

Did you check out my photojournalism piece about police officers on my other blog? Well, today I had a run in with Lima’s tourist police. Today I was standing in the Plaza Mayor trying to make sense of the map my hostal had given me when I was tapped on the shoulder. I turned to see two smiling officers who kindly offered me an even more incomprehensible map of Lima’s city center.

***

Speaking of police officers, the transit police in Lima have corporate sponsorship! Inca Kola is a very sweet soft drink that combines the taste of pineapple and bubblegum, but actually tastes way better than that sounds. This still seems like a marketing risk to me.

***

So far my favorite part of Lima has been a wonderful park located on the cliffs above the Pacific Ocean. A part of this park is named “El Parque del Amor.” It has a large sculpture of two people in an amorous embrace and the benches look like they were designed by Gaudi. Underneath the statue there are four quotes in tiles. One quote, by Antonio Cilloniz, reads, “In cities they do not make monuments to lovers.” Check out the pictures below:

["All the Small Things" is a song by the band Blink 182.]

Quiz Responses

2009-09-16T21:23:00.002-05:00

After publishing this quiz on my blog last Sunday, I received several guesses and I am ready to declare a winner.

But first, here are some of the responses:

TK from Church jokingly suggested a ferreteria is a place that sells Ferraris.

TH from Church thought it might be a shoe store.

My Dad wondered if a ferreteria is a store that sells products made from Alpaca wool.

First runner-up goes to my Mom, the amazing word wizard. She made a connection between the word and the Latin root that gives us the word "ferrous" or, made out of iron. She guessed that it was a store that mold metal items. Extremely close.

But, your winner is...

Vickie Trott from Church. Vickie writes that she has been helping her daughter move into her new house and has been spending time at Home Depot and Lowe's where the signs are bilingual. A ferreteria is a hardware store.

Waterfalls

2009-09-16T21:12:00.004-05:00

The 90’s pop/rap group TLC advised “Don’t go chasing waterfalls. Please stick to the rivers and lakes that you’re used to.”

That is exactly what I did on an afternoon last Friday (9/11/09). Out of Quito I caught a series of buses and three hours later I was in Otavalo. In the afternoon I decided to hike up to La Cascada de Peguche. On the hike I took a wrong turn and found myself crossing a field and sinking up to my ankles in mud. Dangling my muddy boots in the stream I was fortunate to discover that my hiking boots are essentially water proof. My khakis didn’t fare as well.

Here is a picture of the Peguche waterfall:

Of course, one doesn’t go to Otavalo for the waterfalls. The entire town is dominated by an amazing market where indigenous Otavaleños sell amazing textiles—ponchos, blankets, scarves, etc.—many of which are made from luxurious alpaca wool.

Sorry folks, no pictures of the market. In reading up about the town, I learned something that would appear fairly obvious. It is disrespectful to walk around the market taking pictures of the wares and it is especially disrespectful to walk around taking pictures of the Otavaleños selling their wares. The exception seems to be if you make a large purchase and pay the full asking price. Then it might be acceptable to pose with the artisan and the beautiful textile the person has produced. I did make a couple of purchases, mostly small stuff so I can limit what I have to carry around.

In Ecuador a quarter of the population is indigenous. My friend Samuel is a Saraguro Indian. His people now mostly inhabit the Southern highlands of Ecuador having been pushed there up from Peru by the Incans. According to Samuel, the Otavaleños were the first Amerindians to recognize the immense potential of trade which has helped their tribe better to survive.

However, I did receive permission to take pictures of one person’s wares. A woman had a table with about twenty varieties of chess sets. Each chess set depicted a history of racial tension.

Most of the sets were themed around conflict between indigenous Amerindian tribes and Spanish conquistadors. One set featured British slave traders and African tribes. In this chess set the English knight is a white horse whereas the African “knight” is a leopard.

This is one of the first entries where I’ve mentioned a major focus of my time here in South America, the understanding of racial identity and racial conflict in South America. I will say a lot more about this facet of my trip in a separate blog entry I will publish in the next couple of days. This aspect of my travels has definitely led me away from the rivers and lakes that I am used to.

Such Great Heights (The Iron & Wine Version)

2009-09-15T11:09:00.017-05:00

As I wrote yesterday I successfully reached the peak of the Pichincha Volcano, a 15,696 foot summit that overlooks the city of Quito. As I’ve already explained, you just have to take a 15 minute taxi ride from downtown Quito to the base of the volcano. From there you catch a gondola that takes you up to 13,451 feet. From there it is about a six hour hike (2,200 feet vertically) to the top and back though I imagine an accomplished high-altitude hiker could shave quite a bit of time off that.

The first time I attempted to climb Pichincha my heart felt like it would jump out of my chest and less than half way to the summit I was bending over and panting. This time was completely different. Thanks to acclimatization and a bit of exercise last week I managed to complete the entire climb without sucking wind even once.

Yesterday’s climb was full of amazing surprises. First of all, I expected the bio-diversity to be extremely boring. During the first half of the hike all you see is brown grassland dotted with the occasional yellow or purple flower. I expected the monotone grassland to change over to dark volcanic rocks as I closed in on the summit.

Instead, it was the opposite. Not long after I passed the part where I had turned around last time I began to see a few birds here and there. These birds were a grayish-blue and were too skittish for me to take a picture. As I climbed higher the plant diversity increased. The most interesting plants appeared like a kind of alpine cactus. They didn’t have thorns but all the leaves had sharp points. They had brilliant red and orange flowers and there were literally fields of them.

As you approach the dark rocky part, the path doesn’t lead directly to the summit. Instead, the path wraps around to the back side (North side) of the volcano. As you hug the path on the East side, everything explodes with life. Along with the abundant blooming cactus there are amazing bright-green mosses.

And, hummingbirds! I saw at one point about 9 or 10 hummingbirds at nearly 15,000 feet. Astonishingly, the birds did not only feed on the cactus flowers. They also feed and drink from the underside of rocky outcroppings where mosses and lichens grown abundantly. Photographing a hummingbird is a tough task. Here is a picture I took on the way down. The hummingbird is sitting on top of the cactus plant.

As the path curves around to the other side of the mountain you face the hardest part of the climb. There is a large slope of sand, volcanic ash, and small rocks. It is an impossible and frustrating climb although you can cut across to the edge where people have trampled through the alpine vegetation creating more dependable footpaths. I felt guilty following these paths, but there was no other way to do it. Taking a step forward is hard enough at over 15,000 feet. Taking a step forward and three-quarters of a step back would have broken my spirit. (I did make a resolution as I was climbing along the side and trying to impact the vegetation as little as possible: On the way down I was going to slide straight down the middle. And I did. I wish I could’ve done it on skis!)

On the way up, I focused on a volcanic rock that I named “Eagle Rock” which rested between two peaks.

When I reached it, I climbed it and had my picture taken on it.

I should mention here that I had made climbing buddies with a wonderful couple from Switzerland, Andrei and Corinna. They were spectacular to climb with.

Back to the climb. By the time I reached “Eagle Rock” I began to feel euphoric. We were only a couple hundred feet from the summit. Of course, that last 100 feet included free climbing. It wasn’t anything like the sheer face of a rock wall, but this part meant using hands and feet and holding on with three points while you searched for the next foothold or handhold.

Even the volcanic rock at over 15,000 feet supported life. Several varieties of birds nested in the cliffs. (I wish I had a bird book here!!!) There was flora as well. I love this picture of flowering moss:

At last, I reached the summit. Andrei joined me for the final climb but Corinna decided to hang out below. When we reached the summit we were not alone. Another couple was hanging out on top. They had climbed to the summit without using the Teleferico gondola. In other words, I climbed around 2,200 vertically. They climbed well over 5,000 feet vertically. Wow! But, we had another guest at the summit as well. An eagle was perched very, very close to the peak. I approached it and took this picture from about 15 feet away. As I moved in closer, the eagle took off.

Here are some pictures of me on the climb:

Here is a picture taken from the summit looking down at the volcanic crater:

This was such an amazing day! At this kind of altitude your heart works much harder because there is so much less oxygen. To compensate for this you have to walk extremely slowly. Each step is practically meditative. Not once did I find myself out of breath or having to suck wind. I stopped to rest frequently to further slow my pace. Nature is amazing, but so is the human body.

Thanks to Anne, the love of my life, for the orange shirt you see me wearing in the pictures and the great hiking boots she got me a month ago for my birthday.

After this experience, it is humbling to think that I was only at half the altitude of Mt. Everest. No thanks. But I’m not ruling out Cotopaxi or Chimborazo. (OK, so maybe I am.)

["Such Great Heights" is an amazing song. It was first recorded by the band The Postal Service. The song is loved and has been featured on numerous television shows and, ironically, on the UPS "Whiteboard" commercials. The original single featuring the song also included a cover version by the band Iron & Wine. Their version is acoustic and slower. It was featured in the movie Garden State. I prefer the latter version of the song. Check it out here.]

Eye of the Tiger

2009-09-15T10:06:00.006-05:00

On my third day in Ecuador I unsuccessfully attempted to climb the Pichincha volcano. I blogged about that failed attempt here.

I think that there were three reasons my attempt was unsuccessful:

First, I had not yet acclimatized to the high altitude in Ecuador.
Second, I was pretty out of shape.
Third, I could have approached the climb with more intelligence.

A week later, I successfully climbed Pichincha, but it wasn't like I was just sitting around twiddling my thumbs and getting used to the thin air. I put myself on a rigorous training program. OK, the program was less than rigorous.

Last Tuesday I began my training with a planned hike to the top of the the Panecillo. Of course, that didn't go well, as I didn't want to get stabbed.

Last Wednesday I began the morning with a little bit of exercise. The street right next to my hostal is called la calle Chile. It has one block that is the steepest I've been able to find in the entire city. Check out how steep it is:

I began the morning with wind sprints from the bottom of Chile Street to the top. This amused those who were awake at 6 in the morning quite a bit.

Last Thursday I needed to go to a different area of the city to take care of some travel arrangements. While I was there I decided to walk to Quito's extremely lovely botanical garden. I probably got in a good five miles of walking that day.

However, it was Saturday and Sunday that I really turned up the training. Thanks to Carlos and Samuel, the great guys who run the hostal where I am staying, I learned that there is an amazing park only a few blocks away. Of course, to get to the entrance of the park, you need to climb about 300 steps.

On both Saturday and Sunday, after climbing the 300 or so steps, I walked around the Parque Itchimbia for about two hours. My goal for the walk was to keep my heartrate elevated for about 2 hours. That meant some powerwalking and, when I felt my pulse start to slow down, I would run a little bit to get it higher.

I have to say I was very impressed with Parque Itchimbia. It is not a nature reserve per se, but there are some signs that point to the exotic types of birds a person might see at the park. The park (at just under 10,000 feet altitude) had numerous hiking, bicycling, and walking trails. It had sandlots where groups of young men played futbol (soccer) and a dog park with an agility course for dogs. The only "wildlife" I saw were lots of mourning doves and a variety of LBBs (little brown birds.) There were also some birds that looked a whole lot like crows, only they had bright orange beaks.

However, between the joggers, bicyclists, and people walking their dogs I think most of the "exotic" bird species were deep in hiding. The park had some impressive special features, including a special house made of glass that grew orchids. The park offered a grew view of the city:

I ended each 2 hour walk with a couple of runs up the 100 steps inside the park (in addition to the 300 to reach it) before I cooled down by walking back to my hostal to shower and change.

In addition, each time that I arrived at or left the hostal I would ascend Chile street. There was a big difference. A week ago I couldn't climb this street without breathing hard at the top. Now I could climb it and my pulse would barely change. Remember, the altitude in Quito is over 9,000 feet.

Finally, before my climb yesterday I packed a bit more intelligently than I did the first time. I brought a lot more water, though I should have packed some snacks. I removed all the unnecessary weight from my backpack. I was as ready as I realistically could have been for the big climb.

["The Eye of the Tiger" was the theme song to Rocky III. It was recorded by the band Survivor. According to Wikipedia, another interesting fact about this song is that during finals week the Reed College library is open 24 hours per day and they play the song over the library loudspeakers every hour on the hour.]

Such Great Heights (The Postal Service Version)

2009-09-14T17:30:00.007-05:00

This morning I took the Teleferico Gondola up the side of the Pichincha volcano. The Gondola drops you off at an altitude of 13,451 feet above sea level. From there, it is 6 hour hike round trip to climb to the top of the Pichincha volcano at 15,696 feet above sea level.

Here is a picture of where you start with the Pichincha volcano in the background:

Here is a picture of the tough part of the climb:

Here is a picture of me at the summit:

I will post more tomorrow. I promised myself that if I made it all the way to the top I would find a sports bar and see the New England Patriots on Monday Night Football.

Para La clase de Señora Dalton (#3)

2009-09-13T18:39:00.006-05:00

Dear Mis Amigos in Kansas City,

The country where I am currently staying is named Ecuador. Have you ever wondered why it has this name? Well, the answer is because there is an imaginary line that runs through the country. That imaginary line is called the Equator. The Equator divides the North half of the world from the South half of the world. The line actually runs all the way around the world, and it runs through the center of Ecuador. Don't Ecuador and Equator sound alike?

When you stand on the Equator, you are exactly half way between the North Pole (in the Arctic Circle) and the South Pole (in Antarctica.) You can imagine the equator this way: Get a round ball like a soccer ball, a basketball, or a kickball. Hold it with one hand on top and the other hand on the bottom. Now if you drew an imaginary line around the middle of the ball, where the ball is fattest, that would be the Equator.

There are actually a few neat science tricks that involve the Equator. One of the science tricks has to do with water. In the Northern part of the world (known as the Northern Hemisphere) when you fill a sink with water and then pull the stopper, the water drains in a circle clockwise. You can try this with any sink and the water always goes the same way. In the Southern part (the Southern Hemisphere) water drains in a counterclockwise direction.

The other neat science trick is that exactly on the Equator you can make an egg perfectly balance! One of our guides showed us the trick below:

If you have any questions about Ecuador (sports, food, language, or anything about life) please ask Señora Dalton to write to me. I will try to answer all your questions! Thom

Quiz

2009-09-13T07:03:00.003-05:00

Thus far in my trip there has been one thing that has completely cracked me up. I am talking about a major case of the giggles that I am barely able to suppress.

In Spanish a book is a libro and a store that sells books is known as a libreria. Whenever I ride the bus around Quito, I inevitably pass stores that are called ferreterias. No, these are not stores that sell ferrets. They are not stores that are filled with ferrets, although I find the idea of a store filled with ferrets incredibly humorous.

So, here is the quiz: If ferreterias do no sell ferrets, what do they sell? This quiz operates on the honor system. If you already know Spanish, you don't get to answer. Similarly, you are on your honor not to browse the web in search of the answer or dig up the answer in a Spanish dictionary.

Please send your guesses to: thombelote [at] yahoo [dot] com

I will post any answers I receive and there will be a small prize for the winner.

The Middle

2009-09-12T17:31:00.007-05:00

(When I wrote the previous entry, the best song title I could come up with was “Stuck in the Middle with You” first recorded by Stealers Wheel. I neglected a much better song simply called “The Middle” by the rock group Jimmy Eat World. The song has a cool video.)

In my previous entry I didn't write about what happened after I visited La Mitad del Mundo. This is a story all to itself.

While I was there I became travel buddies with two women who had met each other on the bus that morning. One was and a 50ish woman from Spain. The other was a 20ish woman from the Netherlands. I latched on to their group.

Maybe La Mitad del Mundo was a bit more of a tourist trap than I let on. As we walked around La Ciudad de La Mitad del Mundo we were besieged by representatives from two competing tours. One tour cost $2 and included a 15 minute bus ride to the rim of a large volcano. There is a small town with lots of very green farmland down in the large crater of the volcano. That tour allowed people to hike down into the crater.

The other tour (also $2) included a visit and tour of a “reconstructed” Temple of the Sun. The woman from Spain was very insistent that we take this tour so we each shelled out the two bucks and went. When we arrived we saw something that looked like a set piece built for an Indiana Jones film.

There were also wood statues of Incan(?) warriors and kings that were painted gold. Another statue fabricated out of concrete depicted some incredible creature. It appears the Incans co-existed with some kind of giant saber-toothed bearcat. I couldn’t help it:

After some time to take pictures on the outside, we entered the temple on the ground level. The temple had a hole in the top for worshiping the Sun. The temple was built exactly on the equator so our guide treated us to the egg trick.

Here was where things started to get even stranger. On the second floor we were led into a room where we were “treated” to Andean aromatherapy. We sat on pillows or couches while our guide turned on a CD of what I swear was the soundtrack to Disney’s Fantasia with an overlay of jungle sounds. Next, our guide walked around leaving a liberal amount of therapeutic perfume on our hands. Approximately hree dozen dreamcatchers hung from the ceiling of the room. (These are often referred to as Native American but does anybody know their exact origins? Which tribe invented them? Did the any of the Amerindian peoples of South America adopt this tradition? If so, when?)

Next, we were led into a room with a few dozen paintings and sculptures by an Ecuadorian artist who now lives in Los Angeles. On this level most of the pieces of art appeared to be expertly-rendered modern paintings that reflected and interpreted the artist's indigenous roots. However, on the third level the artwork was completely different. One piece had a none-too-subtle political bent; it depicted the last ten Presidents of Ecuador behind bars in jail. The rest of the pieces on this level looked like something inspired by Thomas Kinkade. (The painting of a silver horse crossing a stream at night with a full moon shining down was just too much.)

Finally, we were led to the very top of the Temple of Doom… I mean, Temple of the Sun. In that room we were each given a small cup containing tea of coco. I took a taste. It was cold and I didn’t care for it. Once we were all seated our guide came in and asked us how we all liked drinking marijuana tea (he was joking) and then spoke very quickly for about 20 minutes. His talk was about the Spanish attempts to destroy Amerindian culture and heritage, the conquest of South America, and the oppression and discrimination faced by native peoples. He told a story about visiting Barcelona where he visited a church where some objects were covered with gold leaf five centimeters thick. His comment, “That is the gold your people stole from my people.” This was my favorite part of the day for the honesty of his comments. I will return to these sorts of comments in later blog entries.

At the end of the Temple tour we were driven up to the edge of the crater where we got to look down at the town and farmland below.

Stuck in the Middle with You

2009-09-12T16:22:00.010-05:00

On Wednesday (9/09/09) I decided I had to be a true tourist for part of the day so I headed to a place called La Mitad del Mundo or the middle of the earth. The equator is only a half hour north of Quito. I wasn’t expecting much. Many sources had called this attraction as a tourist trap and one guidebook to Ecuador described it as tacky.

Let me describe it. It is situated in an area that is fairly non-descript. For a fee of $2 I gained entrance to “La Ciudad de la Mitad del Mundo” which is not a city at all, but a bunch of shops and restaurants and, of course, this truly ugly monument.

There was also a bright orange line running from east to west demarcating the equator. This led to all sorts of immature tourist-y fun. “Look, my left leg is in the northern hemisphere and my right leg is in the southern hemisphere.”

Two Canadian backpackers had me beat. They played a hacky-sack tournament across the equator!

Despite the ugly monolith, I didn’t find this place to be too much of a tourist trap. It was clean and attractive. I arrived quite early in the morning so I enjoyed a great cappuccino at one of the restaurants while sitting outside in the beautiful morning air and making conversation with the servers at the restaurant (I was the only customer.) There were dozens of stores but the people working in them were not pushy and the stores looked fairly classy on the outside. Here is a picture of two stores with a tall mountain in the background.

Plus, I should mention that La Mitad del Mundo had some very nice gardens. When I first arrived in the morning I identified a kind of hummingbird that I had never seen before. I am pretty sure it is called a Quinde Herrera or a Colibri Herrera. (On my first day in town, I spotted a beautiful green hummingbird with a long tail known as a Colibri Colilargo in the Plaza Grande in the middle of the city.) Here is my attempt at a picture of the Herrera hummingbird, which is the largest hummingbird I have ever seen and is a mix of dark blue and dark green in the sun:

For more on my day at La Mitad del Mundo click here.

(“Stuck in the Middle With You” was originally recorded by a band named Stealers Wheel.)

Help Me, Rhonda

2009-09-12T14:56:00.004-05:00

There are two places I’ve discovered so far that are great for night life in Quito. La Mariscal Foch (or simply El Foch) is definitely the more popular and tourist-y of the two. It is full of night clubs and bars and such. Don’t think that I’ve been hitting the night clubs. A lot of them don’t open until close to midnight and I am not that much of a night owl.

Let me give you an introduction to the heart of Quito. The heart of Quito consists of two districts. The modern district is called La Mariscal and has lots of modern architecture and boutique hotels. It is the hip place to be in Quito. The name “Mariscal” is funny to me because in Spanish mariscos are shellfish. So, as a private joke, I’ve taken to calling this area “clammy.” And, no, “Foch” is not pronounced that way. The “o” is long and the “c” is pronounced as an “s” so the last two letters create the shushing sound a librarian might make.

The other area that is the heart of the city is El Centro Historico. This is the part of the city where my hostal is and it is where all the churches and plazas I’ve been describing are. It is full of historic architecture and narrow roads. It is the old city. Most of the Centro Historico closes down at night, but not a small area near the Plaza de Santo Domingo. This area is known as La Ronda. (Thus, the title of this blog. Apologies to The Beach Boys.)

La Ronda has narrow streets where cars are not permitted. There are lots of restaurants, craft shops, and art galleries. At night you can hear a band playing traditional Ecuadorian music or you might see three men with guitars serenading tables at restaurants. In La Mariscal Foch you hear dance music and techno.

I’ve become enchanted with La Ronda. It has an energy that is at once slightly bohemian but also traditional. Here are two pictures of las calles de La Ronda.

Finally, I should mention that the cheese empanadas I had the other day at a restaurant called El Tampu are simply to die for.

The First Cut is the Deepest

2009-09-09T18:13:00.006-05:00

(It was a real stretch to come up with a title for this blog, so apologies to Cat Stevens, Rod Stewart, Sheryl Crow, etc.)

On Tuesday 9/8 I had some travel scheduling business to attend to in the morning. Afterwards, I decided that I should take a walk so I will be in better mountain climbing shape for my second attempt to climb all 15,696 feet of the Pichincha Volcano. Directly to the south of Quito's historic district there is a pretty good sized hill called the Panecillo. On top of the hill there is a large silver statue of La Virgen de Quito.

Here is a picture showing the hill and statue framed by the streets of Quito:

When I reached the base of the hill I began to climb but encountered a man who told me, "No sube. Hay ladrones." (Don't climb, there are thieves.)

Warily, I continued on and began walking up a foot path where there were lots of women and children present ahead of me. As I began to feel the sweat of the uphill climb I noticed two girls, about 12 years old, sitting on a stoop. I asked them, "Un hombre me dice que esta peligroso subir al Panecillo. Esta peligroso?" (A man told me that it is dangerous to climb to the top. Is it?) The girls laughed and told me that, "Ahora esta seguro. En la noche es peligroso." (Right now it is safe but I wouldn't try it at night.)

So, with a little bit more confidence I continued to walk up the path feeling that great feeling of exercise in my legs. Fifty yards ahead I found myself surrounded by older women who screamed at me, "No sube! Hay ladrones con cuchillos! Es peligrisimo!" (Don't climb any further. There are theives with knives. It is extremely dangerous.)

Tentatively I began to slowly walk down the hill. As I descended I passed three boys who seemed to be about 7 years old. They were wearing bright red school uniforms. I decided to call out to them. "Mis amigos, tengo una pregunta y yo necesito la verdad. Esta peligroso subir al Panecillo?" (My friends, I have a question and I need the truth. Is it dangerous to climb up to the Panecillo?)

The boys looked at me with wide eyes and one of them said, "Esta muy peligroso. Hay personas malas con cuchillos. Te mata." (It is very dangerous. There are bad people with knives who will kill you.) One of the boys took his thumb and drew it across his neck and made a horrible sound. That is a disconcerting gesture from a 7 year old.

I descended and took a taxi to the top. The top has security guards. At the top I met a person from Wayland, my home town, who had graduated from high school about ten years before I did. I took pictures of the city from the top and also took a picture of La Virgen de Quito.

Here are some pictures:

Para la clase de Señora Dalton (#2)

2009-09-07T10:02:00.006-05:00

Dear La Clase de Señora Dalton,

In the hotel where I am staying there is a girl named Tatiana who works here. I asked her if she could write all of you a note.

HOLA, LES ESCRIBO DESDE QUITO MI CIUDAD Y ME GUSTARIA CONTARLES TODO SOBRE MI CIUDAD PERO TENGO UN BUEN AMIGO LLAMADO THOMAS QUE SE OSPEDA EN EL HOSTAL MÍA LETICIA Y LES CUENTO QUE TENGO 10 AÑOS DE EDAD. MIS DEPORTES SON BASQUET, TENIS Y BOX PERO ME PONGO CONTENTA DE ESCRIBIRLES A USTEDES Y AUNQUE NO LOS CONOSCO LOS VOY A FELISITAR POR SUS ESTUDIOS SI LLEGAN A LEER MI CARTA QUE LES ESCRIBO QUIERO QUE ME RECUERDEN AUNQUE SEA EN CARTA Y SALUDOS PARA LA MAESTRA QUE DEBE SER MUY BUENA MAESTRA Y SI QUIERERN BUSCAR AL ECUADOR BUSQUENLO EN EL MAPA QUE LOS QUEREMOS Y ALGUN DÍA LOS EDE VISITAR A SU PAÍS. LOS QUEREMOS MUCHO.

LOS QUEREMOS MUCHO Y ATENTAMENTE TATIANA

Here is a picture of Tatiana and her mom:

I won't be staying at Hostal Mia Leticia much longer, but if you have questions, I can ask Tatiana if she would like to answer them.

Thom

Para la clase de Señora Dalton (#1)

2009-09-07T08:50:00.004-05:00

Hello! Hola!

My name is Thom. I am a friend of Señora Dalton. I am spending two months traveling in South America. I will be visiting two countries: Ecuador and Peru. Right now I am staying in a city called Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Quito has about the same number of people as all of Kansas City. I am traveling for a number of reasons. One reason is to learn and practice Spanish. A lot of people here do not know any English so I am forced to practice speaking, reading, and listening in Spanish. It is hard but I like the challenge.

Let me tell you a little bit about this country. Ecuador is a small country in South America. It has almost the same shape as the state of South Carolina in the United States. The entire country is about the same size as Kansas.

Ecuador has three sections. The West touches the Pacific Ocean. It is tropical. The center of the country is very mountainous. That is where I am right now. The Eastern part of the country is part of the Amazon rainforest. I hope to travel there at the end of my trip. The country has many interesting types of animals and birds. Later I will send you lots of pictures of Ecuador.

The next message I send you will have a very special surprise.

Feel free to ask Señora Dalton any questions you have about Ecuador and she will send them to me and I will try to answer your questions.

8675309/Jenny

2009-09-07T08:42:00.002-05:00

The purpose of this entry is to introduce a second feature of the sabbatical blog. One of the members of the church that I serve is a elementary school teacher in Kansas City, Kansas. She works with many Latino children, most of whom have their roots in Mexico. Before I left, Jenny asked me if I could write to her class from time to time and share my experiences with them.

Entries for Jenny's class will NOT follow the lame song-title theme of all my other posts. However, I couldn't help titling this entry after a one-hit wonder from the 80s. Tommy Tutone: I'm sorry.

Dear Prudence

2009-09-07T08:27:00.005-05:00

With apologies to The Beatles I was sorely hoping to begin this blog entry with a different title. Now I am just sore.

Yesterday morning I set out to climb to the summit of the Pichincha volcano whose base is only a 10 minute taxi ride from the center of Quito’s historic district. The elevation of the city (9,350 feet) is the elevation at the Plaza Grande, the center of the "old town." By the time I was at the base of the volcano, I was already at about 10,500 feet. To put that in perspective, a few years ago I rode to the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque on a gondola. The summit of Sandia Peak is lower than the base of Pichincha. You can see me in a picture at the top of Sandia Peak here.

Like Sandia Peak, Pichincha has a gondola that whisks you up to 4,100 meters or 13,451 feet. That is where the trail to the peak of the volcano begins. The trail is a couple of miles of gentle climbing and then a quick climb to the peak. The summit is 15,696 feet.

I would love to tell you that I made it to top. I didn't. But next week I am going to succeed. I estimate that I made it halfway there before the lack of oxygen and altitude really caught up with me and I prudently decided to descend rather than push on. At my high point I was definitely over 14,000 feet and possibly close to 14,500.

In case you were wondering, the highest peak in the continental United States is Mt. Whitney in California with a summit of 14,494 feet. The continental United States has 72 “fourteeners” as they are called in mountain climbing lingo, although there is debate about the inclusion of some mountains on this list. If we accept that there are 72, 55 of them are in Colorado, 14 are in California, and 3 are in Washington State. (I’ve excluded Alaska which has many more “14ers” including Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in North America, that is over 20,000 feet.)

So, even though I didn’t make it the top, I did get about as high as Mt. Whitney. Next week I am going to bag this mountain! Here are some photos:

Thom with the Pichincha summit in the background. (I made it half way there.)

A closer look at the peak:

The Cotopaxi volcano (at 19,347 feet, the second highest peak in Ecuador) with the city of Quito below as seen from the gondola:

If You're Going to San Francisco

2009-09-06T18:38:00.007-05:00

Yesterday I visited three major attractions here in Quito. One of them was the Basilica, which was quite impressive. I did not spend very much time inside because when I walked inside I discovered that there was a wedding taking place. Fortunately, cathedrals are large enough that I could hang out in one of the corners and walk a quick circuit of the massive Basilica between weddings. The next wedding began less than ten minutes after the previous one ended! However, it was extremely tacky to observe dozens of tourists walking around during the misa de matrimonio taking flash photographs of the building. The inside of the building was fairly non-descript. However, the outside was far more interesting. While one end of the Basilica had regular looking gargoyles, most of the gargoyles were far from typical. Instead the gargoyles took the shape of native animals: iguanas, giant tortoises, and armadillos, just to name a few.

The Basilica:

Iguana Gargoyle:

Basilica (another angle):

The second attraction I visited yesterday was the Centro de Arte Contemporaneo. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any contemporary art on display. Instead, there was an exhibit commemorating the bicentennial of the Quito Revolution, a tragic and bloody massacre that helped to bring about Ecuador’s independence over 20 years later. I asked for a personal tour guide who led me through the exhibit speaking only in Spanish. I think I understood about 75% of what she said.

The third place I visited yesterday was the most interesting and the most disappointing. I visited the monastery and church of San Francisco, a major landmark in the historical center of the city. Now, if we asked religious liberals to name their favorite Catholic Saint, St. Francis of Assisi would be at the top of many people’s lists. We like the image of St. Francis with the birds and with the other animals. The prayer of St. Francis is rather beautiful. Yet, the art that was on display here showed a completely different image of St. Francis than I could have imagined. This was a bloody St. Francis. Most of the pieces of art that featured St. Francis portrayed him with stigmata. There was a statue of him depicting him scourging himself Mel Gibson-style.

But some of the religious art that did not feature St. Francis was even more curious. There was an interesting arrangement of statues featuring Jesus, Peter, and a rooster depicting the Gospel story of Peter denying Jesus three times. In this statue arrangement Peter’s head is fashioned with clay that has been sculpted around an actual human skull. Seeing Peter’s facial features I have to assume that it is the skull of an indigenous person. You can actually see the teeth!

However, it was two paintings that especially caught my attention. One of the paintings showed Judas betraying Jesus. Jesus is depicted as white; Judas is mestizo. Another painting depicts Jesus being taken captive by the Roman soldiers. Again, Jesus is lilly white and the Roman guard, ironically, is dark-skinned. I tried to ask my guide about the work of art with Jesus and Judas. (Remember our conversation was in Spanish.) I tried to ask a question along the lines of why the good guy is portrayed as pale and the bad guy is darker in complexion. The guide argued with my characterization of Judas as a “bad guy.” There is a theological interpretation of the gospel stories that understands each of core characters almost as “actors” doing what is necessary to bring about the tragic then heroic conclusion with Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection. Under this interpretation, Judas isn’t so bad because he helps to facilitate the death of Jesus. (Yes, I consider this a stretch.)

So, I decided to invite the guides out for bebidas later that evening. Four of the guides came along. After a lot of small talk I decided to pop the question. How did they feel about a white Jesus and Judas and the Roman soldiers having the same skin color that they all had? The four guides defended the paintings from another perspective. According to them, these paintings were only partially painted by a Spaniard living in Quito. All of the Spaniard’s understudies were indigenous. The “master” painted the central figure and the understudy painted the characters on the side. (I’m still not satisfied with this answer.)

By the way, the main courtyard and garden of the San Francisco church and monastery was completely beautiful. One corner had a very excellent birdhouse with a small green parrot. So there was a little bit of my stereotype of St. Francis represented.

La Iglesia y Convento de San Francisco:

The Parrot

My apologies to Scott McKenzie. Did you know that he originally recorded "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Hair)"?

Something to Talk About

2009-09-06T18:03:00.002-05:00

This is just a blog entry to capture a bunch of unrelated thoughts and observations about Quito so far. (If you are interested, the latest issue of McSweeney’s taught me that this genre of writing is known as “biji.”) So, here’s some Quito biji for you:

***

When I arrived in Quito late on Thursday night there was an unusual part of the process of passing through customs. Part of the process included walking past a heat-sensing camera. This machine could read your body temperature from ten to twenty feet away. I guess this is their way of not letting anyone with a fever (and infectious disease) into the country.

***

Taxi drivers don’t observe red lights. I have taken two taxis at night and neither driver cared much for red lights. Sometimes they just blew through them. At other times they approached the red light with a rolling stop but then drove right through the light. In those two taxi rides I think we blew through about 50 red lights.

***

While lots of music from the United States is popular in Quito, alternative rock music is not. Last night I went out for bebidas with four tour guides from the San Francisco monastery. (I will explain this in another entry.) All four were University students studying in the hotel management and hospitality program. None of them had ever heard of Weezer, the Smashing Pumpkins, or Death Cab for Cutie. They recognized the band Nirvana only vaguely. When I asked them about music from the United States, it was all about Beyoncé.

***

The 80s rule in Quito. Walking past the tiendas (small shops), you frequently hear music blasting. If the music that is blasting is not in Spanish, there is a greater than fifty percent chance that it is Michael Jackson. However, other stores feature televisions that seem capable of carrying only two stations. One of those stations plays non-stop music videos from the 80s. Just today, I’ve seen televisions playing videos by Cyndi Lauper, Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, Erasure, and Rick Astley (no joke!).

***

The other station picks up soccer matches. Yesterday, when I was walking back to my hostal, I noticed that Quito had become a ghost town. Some stores had barred the doors even though the shopkeepers were still inside. Other stores had simply put a chair in the doorway and the shopkeepers were ensconced in front of their televisions. The funniest sight was in front of the store that sold televisions where people lined up in front of the window to the store four or five people deep watching the soccer match on about 20 televisions simultaneously. Everybody in town was watching the soccer match between Ecuador and Colombia. These two teams are serious rivals. Everything stops for soccer!

***

Spanish is definitely taking over my mind. After each place I visit I sit down and write some reflections. On only my second day in town, I found myself writing words in Spanish rather than English.

(This blog entry has sort of a forced title, but my apologies to Bonnie Raitt nevertheless.)

High and Dry

2009-09-04T18:28:00.004-05:00

Finally, my first post about being in Ecuador. (Not only that, but I am also continuing my tradition of naming all of my posts after songs. In the case of this post, my apologies to the British band Radiohead.)

I arrived in Quito late last night, found a wonderful and reasonably priced hostal to stay and slept and slept. My plan for the first few days: relax and acclimatize. Quito is located at 9,350 feet above sea level. If Denver is the mile high city, Quito is the mile and a half high city.

So, I woke up this morning with a mild headache and feeling a little lethargic. The plan is not to do too much my first couple of days, especially since lots of the day trips I´m planning to take from Quito involve climbing a couple thousand feet higher.

Besides the altitude, it is also incredibly dry here. I´ve been drinking water all day and applying very liberal amounts of hand lotion.

I am staying in Quito´s old town and took a walk to the church and convent of Santo Domingo where I received my own personal tour from a very kind art historian named Vincente. Then I spent the afternoon walking around the Plaza Grande. I will have some pictures to post in the next entry. Now, back to acclimatizing, hydrating, and taking a little walk to see the sun set on Quito.

Don´t Worry, Be Happy

2009-09-04T18:16:00.003-05:00

This entry is cross posted with list 12 on my regular blog.

On the plane yesterday I took the opportunity to review all the health information and travel advisories that were provided to me by the travel health clinic I visited before I left. Here are the eight that sounded the worst to me.

1) Kidnapping by The FARC: The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) have held travelers in one of the northern provinces of Ecuador. Fortunately, my travel plans will not take me to that province.

2) HACE: High Altitude Cerebral Edema is even worse than it probably sounds. At high altitudes your body produces more red blood cells and works harder to get enough oxygen into your body. In the process, capillaries can burst. I am not a doctor but HACE seems to be a kind of brain-bleeding caused by high altitude. It results in disorientation, confusion, lethargy, coma, and death. Guess I’ll have to reconsider my plan to climb Chimborazo.

3) HAPE: Your lungs instead of your brain. With High Altitude Pulmonary Edema your lungs fill with fluid. HAPE can also be fatal.

4) Dengue Fever: Reading about symptoms of this disease (acute hemorrhagic fever, for starters) was pretty scary. Fortunately, the mosquitoes that carry it don't live up in the mountains.

5) Landmines: Fortunately (for me) these are only found in the southern provinces along the border between Ecuador and Peru. This is another place my travel plans will not bring me.

6) Leishmaniasis: Looks like being up in the mountains safeguards me from this one too. The parasite that causes it comes from a bite by a sandfly. The wikipedia article on this disease is especially disturbing.

7) H1N1 Virus: Good thing I brought some doses of Tamiflu with me.

8) Volcanoes: “Volcanoes, including those in areas near Quito, may be active, and news reports should be monitored prior to travel.” Considering that Quito basically sits in the shadow of the Pichincha Volcano, this is actually kind of worrisome.

(With apologies to Bobby McFerrin)

Question the Answers

2009-09-01T06:59:00.004-05:00

If you haven't already seen it, you should definitely head on over to the Shawnee Mission Unitarian Universalist Church web-site and check out the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section about my sabbatical. Thanks to the web-site that was expertly designed by K. and is meticulously kept up to date by P., the FAQ was posted with no problem.

One thing you should note is that my church email has been disabled and will not be available for the next three months. Instead, I will be using my yahoo address: thombelote [at] yahoo [dot] com.

(Question the Answers isn't actually a song. Rather it is the title of the 1994 album by the band The Mighty, Mighty Bosstones.)

The District Sleeps Alone Tonight

2009-09-01T06:42:00.006-05:00

For a little pre-South America fun, Anne and I recently traveled to Washington D.C. to visit Anne's friend Jebby, Anne's brother Jeff, and my high school friend Beth. We had a great trip that included taking a hike with Jebby's dog on a boulder-strewn path in Silver Spring, visiting the Corcoran Museum, and having Sunday brunch at Clyde's.

Here are a few pictures:

Thom and Anne on the Metro

Anne and Jebby

Thom interacts with the art.

("The District Sleeps Alone Tonight" is a song by the Postal Service. This continues my attempt to name each entry after a song.)

La Cucaracha

2009-09-01T06:13:00.003-05:00

I leave for Ecuador in less than 24 hours!

Currently I am making a list and checking it twice. Oliver Burnette, the very cool proprietor of Muddy's Coffee House, lent me his wetsuit that I will take with me to the Galapagos Islands. For my birthday a couple of weeks ago Anne gave me a great pair of hiking shoes.

However, probably the oddest pre-Sabbatical arrangement was to find cockroach sitters. At the last SMUUCh auction I tried to drive the bidding up on a terrarium with about a half-dozen Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. Anne has been very tolerant of them, but the idea of taking care of them for two months gave her the heebie-jeebies. Thankfully, B. from church was only too happy to take the roaches of my hands for the next two months.

Here you can find some basic information about Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches. Yes, they can grow to over three inches in length and they can live for up to 5 years in captivity!

(La Cucaracha is a traditional Spanish folk song. As a gimmick, we're going to see how long we can keep naming blog entries after songs.)

The Needle and the Damage Done

2009-08-13T13:50:00.003-05:00

I don't leave for Ecuador for a couple more weeks so I don't have too much to post about.

However, I figured I would let you know how disease free I am thanks to a visit to the travel health clinic here in town. I am a powerful wall of immunity and preventative medicine.

Yellow Fever: Immune.
Typhoid: Immune.
Hepatitis A: Immune.
Tetanus: Immune.
Diptheria: Immune.

Other diseases better watch out as well:
I'm packing scary looking pills for Malaria.
I'm packing TamiFlu in case of H1N1
I'm packing Cipro in case of "intestinal distress." But we all know what the Cipro is really for: Anthrax.

(My deepest apologies to Neil Young for stealing the title of this post.)