ECUADOR- the High Country Nov. 3rd

Ecuador is the size of Colorado yet it has an amazing diversity- from expansive coastal beaches to even more expansive jungle opening on to the great Amazon basin. Between these two geographical extremes lies country at many different altitudes where most of the people live. While it is not impossible to find people living at 13,500' it is not the best environment to eek out a living. Tubers will grow and some small animals will get by but for me I love the 11,000-13,000 foot elevation. Why? Many of the rolling hills and open expanses are at this altitude and just invite a stroll through tall grass. It is oftentimes raw with questionable weather. You can start out in the am with warm sun, yet with a thinness in the air. The cloud covers the sun, the temperature drops, the cloud passes the sun and warmth returns. The wind come up, you hunker down, the changing landscapes from clouds passing shifts the colors and creates magic.

It can and does happen everywhere. In your place also. It all happens so fast we tend to miss it unless we bundle up and strike out. Here are some shots.

[caption id="attachment_508" align="alignnone" width="1024"] lower elevation looking out over former hacienda lands returned to indigenous peasants in the 1950's as part of a re distribution program.

The farm houses of the Hacienda La Magdalena a magnificent structure just purchased by 87 partners (all indigenous farmers who have always lived and worked on the farm(sounds like middle age surfdom?) Right. With over 400 acres of fertile land the main house(not shown) is designated for tourist use.

my favorite area to explore is the paramo shown here as the higher elevations. With short grasses, an occasional sheep or llama the views are incredible, once you manage to reach the elevation...

paramo without the long distance views. I also feel a chill in the air or is that a mist moving in. Time to bundle up.![/caption]

Quito, ECUADOR-Colonial Center- a brief detour

Quito has the largest identifiable colonial center in Latin America. It has the famous designation as a World Heritage Site and as such must restrict development, renovation,painting and change to maintain it's status. What I find remarkable about this colonial center of town is that it is still a vibrant, lower working class environment that has been cleaned up. It has only one street, La Ronda, that has received, in my opinion, undue sanitary whitewashing to the point of museum. Others might not agree but then,this IS my Blog. Over the years, drunks and prostitutes have been removed, streets closed to traffic which makes this a walking friendly area. Social police are present to offer directions and be helpful. Guns and rifles are not visible. Something else isn't very visible. Hole in the wall restaurants that cater to the lunch crowd. Seating between 4-8 tables 'cheek to jowl' I had a lunch that cost me $2.00. A large glass of juice, a large bowl of tasty soup, a plate full of rice,beans, a slice of plátano,and several pieces of cooked pork. $2.00, just like we remember it when we travelled 20-30-40 years ago. Gas is $1.46 regular. Enough. Back to Colonial Quito. A few pictures of the vibrant area at 10,000' and an interior that is old.

[caption id="attachment_501" align="alignnone" width="1024"] looking over colonial Quito toward el panacillo (the breadloaf'

another view

note how the string is lashed around a supporting timber, interwoven around the bamboo. Age unknown but must be over 150 years old and still holding strong.[/caption]

a contrast between a ceiling that is old and hand painted and the substrata that is supporting the ceiling. It is bamboo held together with 'cabulla' a string made from a plant in the maguey family.

Costa Rica/October 6th Four Seasons in a day

[caption id="attachment_379" align="alignnone" width="683"] Guillermo, our Mexican psychiatrist, just got too fed up with the slow border crossing and started to do something about it.[/caption]

We are still in the rainy season although some days are bright and clear and others are full blown torrential rains. We might start out the day with the temptation of even just riding in a tee shirt since it is hot yet soon after the rain clouds form off in the distance, the wind really picks up and we know what is coming next. Visibility drops, we get buffeted by strong winds and focus on the road demands more intense concentration.

The day before yesterday we hit four seasons. An early morning sun with a hint of wind and heavy rains made for a long and difficult ride. We arrived in San Jose, a typical big city with all the traffic issues and navigation challenges imaginable. After a one hour stop to dry off, we again hit the road late in the afternoon. We were headed toward the Panama border. The winding mountain road took us up 10,000 and temperature changes from 46-72. Visibility was extremely low, my headlights had to remain on high beam and the curvy slow road was daunting. With no places to stay that were acceptable we continued on over the mountains at a snails pace with an occasional truck,bus or fast car passing on the curves.

We arrived about 8 pm ( one of our rules is not to ride at night...but if there is nowhere to stay, that is what you do.)at a hotel which was new, dry and too expensive but under the conditions....the owner had a BMW motorcycle, welcomed us, took us to his other hotel and we sat and enjoyed some nice food. The next morning he came and took us back to the restaurant for a full breakfast on him. Needless to say we didn't leave until about noon. With semi dry clothes and threatening clouds we headed into some twisty backroads over and down toward the tropical coast only to be slammed by hard and warm rain. Soaked and with limited visibility under the jungle canopy I could't make out the surface changes in the road or see the side ditches. Slowing way down, attempting to get some air into my visor I realized I still had my sunglasses on...duh...visibility improved without the glasses and warm rain is better than cold.

Late afternoon found us once agin drenched then sun then more rain and darkness fell without a hotel in sight. We finally arrived at one and that was the end of another fun filled day of riding in Costa Rica.

Critters afoot

While visiting my old friend Diego in Oakland I also met his 40 some turtles that live in most rooms of the house as well as the back yard. One night I woke up to scratching sounds in my bedroom. I went back to sleep. In the morning I noticed a turtle quietly sitting peering at me. this place is more like a turtle condo with good quality food and care,structured activities. You go Diego!

This looks good enough to eat ! Is this for the turtles or for us?

Dumpster diving in the land of plenty.After a trip down the Oregon coast and northern California coast I headed down to Oakland. I spent two days in Oakland with an old friend I met in Guatemala in 1970. He has about 40 turtles living in his back yard, in his kitchen,bathroom and any other room. Needless to say he's a herpetologist and a P.A. and totally committed to his herd of turtles.

HorizonsUnlimited gathering in Nakusp, British Colombia,Canada -mid August, 2012

Since this event coincided with my presumed departure it was a natural fit to go and use the gathering as a 'take off point'. My house is rented, I've been homeless for a week so a trip to this gathering in the interior of B.C., 500 miles north of Seattle seemed 'just right'. 200 folks showed up, most of which had bikes and most all the people had either travelled extensively on their motorcycles or were planning to do their dream. Here is a picture of a Ural, A Russian motorcycle with 1960's technology (read =less to go wrong) that went from Calgary, Canada to Tierra del Fuego (where I'm heading)last year then was shipped to England for more travel, then back to Canada. This couple have a website called Smiles and Miles.com and they are committed to a different lifestyle than most.

Ed's Motorcycle Adventures

7/24/2012 : Change can happen in the oddest ways or read Goethe "Until One is Committed"

Back to the 50 year dream.

Since I've been retired for several years and physically active and always have' my passport in my back pocket', I just assumed I'd do this motorcycle trip to South America, however, it wasn't happening. Thinking about preparation always involved renting my house and to do that meant preparing the house to rent which mean doing a big clean out of all my 'objects of affection' so someone could move in without being overwhelmed by my 'stuff'. In my mind this necessary step seemed overwhelming and when I get that feeling, I usually put those dreams to the side and look for something with more 'immediate payoff and less work'. So the dream stayed dormant occasionally getting a kick to see if it was still alive.

Somehow the process of aging sends a message about paying attention to how you spend your time and whether it is being well used. At 69 I know that some plans or dreams can't be put off any longer because of what they demand to bring them to fruition. I also know that I won't be any stronger or physically able to undertake a solo trip when I'm 70 so...

A sense of creeping age was like a kick. 'Crap or get off the pot'. Do it or stop holding on to a useless dream. Let go of it. It's served it's time. Forget it. These kicks sent me into renewed mental effort to address what I needed to do. But each time I would shrink back from this difficult task of going through all my stuff.

Finally I took a different approach and that was to just go out and buy the motorcycle I would need for the trip. I had held the belief that getting the motorcycle would be 'down the road' in the list of things I'd need to do, namely get the house ready,etc. What really happened was that once I bought the bike and made the commitment to the trip, my house got rented immediately and without having to interview anyone. My how Providence seemed to say "YES".

Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffective. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occured. A whole stream of events issue from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, Power and magic in it.  William Hutchinson Murray (1951)

Since mid April, when I bought the bike, I have actively moved toward the hurdles that had previously stymied and frustrated me. I have looked at, held, caressed and thrown out countless objects I was attached to. Everything from file cabinets of large black and white photographs, to clothes, to furniture, to books have been jettisoned. And do I feel liberated!

I love stuff. I collect stuff. Maybe it's like comfort food but like food that is held for a long period of time, it's usefulness become limited and we wonder why we still hold on to that stuff.

So a liberating feeling accompanies this journey. I leave in a couple of months. Will I be prepared? I think 50 years is a long enough incubation period, the rest will take care of itself.

7/01/2012 : The Back Story or "Why would Ed want to go to the tip of South America"?

Often times when we think backwards we can see a dimly lit trail with hints and incidents that lead us to a conclusion rightly or wrong of how our love for something got started. Perhaps the original idea to do such a trip was inspired by armchair travel literature popular in the 50's which told of explorers undertaking new adventures among the most remote parts of the world with little in the way of backup or support. In my case these tales caught my interest and I read a lot of books about travel in South America when I was about 12. In high school I did the required reports and usually chose a topic having to do with South America and by the time I was 16 I had already planned a motorcycle trip from Seattle to Tierra del Fuego. I can easily recall sharing my maps and idea with three friends who were about to graduate from High School. They turned to each other and said:"Why don't we do that trip this summer after graduation?" They did start the trip and got as far as Panama. Still no small feat 50 years ago.

Since they 'did the trip and stole my idea' I wasn't going to do it. So, in 1963 I travelled in Mexico in a Morris Minor convertible with plans of selling it in British Honduras, now Belize. Since that trip along with wonderful experiences like flunking out of college and failing Spanish, Anthropology and Philosophy, three subjects I returned to major in, all were very formative in my 50 years of travel in Latin America.

So, jump forward to 2012 I am still carrying the dream of going to Tierra del Fuego by motorcycle. The next blog will be a lesson in change or how it worked for me.