Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Hide the Gringa
Hello everyone,
Well, I´m ever so happy to see the way things have gone over with the elections (with the exception of the Wisconsin gay marriage amendement), so I´ve opted to have a few drinks with Edwin to celebrate. Actually, I had the drinks before I knew and mostly it was because I was feeling a bit rich and we were in a nice restaurant. But I can justify it now, and am excited to see the results. This is my first drink in three weeks, ending a sober streak that I haven´t had since.... lets not go there. Anyhow, we are in Cuenca now, second only to Quito in the mountains in size and splendor. Actually, I think I like it more than Quito. It is smaller, cleaner (I´m very tired of Ecuador´s trash in the streets), very historic, full of big churches and has a nice climate. We woke up in Saraguro and rushed to the bus station to make the earliest bus north. I got to see indigenous women standing in a line in full black shawls held together with the traditional embellished silver pins waiting to buy a piece of hog skin off a very large and yellow pig that was tied down on a cart (dead already, don´t worry, but still gross). I have pictures, don´t worry! Saraguro had treated us well, but the indigenous people in the town were distinctly less friendly than other people in Ecuador. They would barely acknowledge anything I said or return any of the ritualized greetings. I´ll try not to hold it against them. We had much success collecting Puya in Saraguro, with a trip up Fierro Urcu mountain to find the cute, cute, cute little Puya pygmaea. I got to watch these amazing black swifts (birds) zone up and over the mountain side, riding the currents and chasing each other. Maybe I´ll take a day in Quito and go do some serious bird watchign when I get back.
We took the three hour busride north to Cuenca, and got pretty grossed out when this women in front of me was changing her baby and kept throwing filthy newspapers from it out the window by my face (thank goodness I could move seats). Also, for the first time I saw a Puya and passed it by. There was absolutely no town or anythign for the bus to stop at on Tinajillas pass and I kind of realized that I¨ll be lucky if I can get this project to work at all, when I get back in the lab and have time to play with DNA, so I shouldn´t really worry about Puya lehmanniana, which looks quite like so many others I´ve seen before. I hate to think that maybe this all won´t work, so I don´t think about it now. I was explaining to Edwin that I¨m relatively stress free in Ecuador, as all I have to do is collect plants. I can´t do lab work, I can´t read journals, I can´t attend meetings. I just take it one day and one species at a time. The trip stresses him quite a bit, but he enjoys it much more than the officework he does at the garden (I´m still not entirely sure what his job description is, but it allows him to take time off with me no problem so I don´t worry). Edwin got the call today that he will be in charge of writing a book on the flora of Cotapaxi national park, which is quite an honor. I´m going to help him translate it into English and use my nice camera to take pictures for the book when we visit it in a few days. I like giving back to this country and helping in any way I can. I also am going to send him and the garden some pdf papers they have requested. We really forget in the US how lucky we are to have all the resources we do.
Once in Cuenca, we settled in to the first hostel listed under ¨budget¨in the lonely Planet. The girl who worked there initially misquoted us the price, and so we promptly left (no way am I going to pay 25 bucks each and not have TV!), but luckily the owner showed up and straightened it out and I could finally take off my ridiculous backpacking backpack and get inside away from the mocking of the middle school students across the streets (Hello USA! I love you, baby!) We rented a taxi to take us to Cajas National Park, pretty close by.
Cajas was much more put together than Podocarpus and had fancy signs and more people working at it. So we went inside the entrance and Edwin showed him our stack of papers and explained the situation. The guy proceeded to explain that Cajas does not work under the Ecuadorian Department of the Environment and is its own seperate entity: I, as a foreigner, would have to pay 500 dollars (or actually a 1000 to ¨secure¨my permits) to collect in the park! Insane. Edwin was furious and so we left and just took pictures inside the park. It was absolutly spectacular, though. Rimmed with peaks, full of mountain lakes and cute cushion plants and silence (unlike this internet cafe...). We were able to collect outside the park the plants we needed, so no harm was done, but I got to see clearly the crazy Ecuadorian bureucracy. I also got a taste of it when discussing with Edwin what should be done with all the Puya seeds we have collected. I can´t take them back to the US, because the minister of the environment is very paranoid abotu biopiracy (even though these are pretty worthless plants from an economic standpoint), and they can´t be sent to the worlds bank of seeds in England for the same reason either. The Minister also shot down Edwin´s plan to start an Ecuadorian seed bank, leaving all the vulnerable orchids and thousands of other species without this safety net. It really is ridiculous. I feel so helpless, as this is not my country, and I feel very sorry for people like Edwin who want to make a difference, but are up against a brick wall.
Tomorrow we are going for another ´mother load¨of plants east of Cuenca to Sigsig and Chiguinda. I´m excited! I´m feeling a bit poor, though. We had a nice dinner tonight at a decidedly gringo restaurant, complete with Indian, Thai and Middle Eastern food, decent booze (including my tomato tree daquari...muy fuerte!), and a very nice (yet very obese) American bartender. I also bought a beautiful sweater made by the daughter of the lady who runs our hostel. It was a bit pricey for Ecuador, but is adorable. Back to chicken off the street for us tomorrow!
Well, rock on compatriots and happy Election! The times they are a´changin!?!?
Love,
Rachel
Well, I´m ever so happy to see the way things have gone over with the elections (with the exception of the Wisconsin gay marriage amendement), so I´ve opted to have a few drinks with Edwin to celebrate. Actually, I had the drinks before I knew and mostly it was because I was feeling a bit rich and we were in a nice restaurant. But I can justify it now, and am excited to see the results. This is my first drink in three weeks, ending a sober streak that I haven´t had since.... lets not go there. Anyhow, we are in Cuenca now, second only to Quito in the mountains in size and splendor. Actually, I think I like it more than Quito. It is smaller, cleaner (I´m very tired of Ecuador´s trash in the streets), very historic, full of big churches and has a nice climate. We woke up in Saraguro and rushed to the bus station to make the earliest bus north. I got to see indigenous women standing in a line in full black shawls held together with the traditional embellished silver pins waiting to buy a piece of hog skin off a very large and yellow pig that was tied down on a cart (dead already, don´t worry, but still gross). I have pictures, don´t worry! Saraguro had treated us well, but the indigenous people in the town were distinctly less friendly than other people in Ecuador. They would barely acknowledge anything I said or return any of the ritualized greetings. I´ll try not to hold it against them. We had much success collecting Puya in Saraguro, with a trip up Fierro Urcu mountain to find the cute, cute, cute little Puya pygmaea. I got to watch these amazing black swifts (birds) zone up and over the mountain side, riding the currents and chasing each other. Maybe I´ll take a day in Quito and go do some serious bird watchign when I get back.
We took the three hour busride north to Cuenca, and got pretty grossed out when this women in front of me was changing her baby and kept throwing filthy newspapers from it out the window by my face (thank goodness I could move seats). Also, for the first time I saw a Puya and passed it by. There was absolutely no town or anythign for the bus to stop at on Tinajillas pass and I kind of realized that I¨ll be lucky if I can get this project to work at all, when I get back in the lab and have time to play with DNA, so I shouldn´t really worry about Puya lehmanniana, which looks quite like so many others I´ve seen before. I hate to think that maybe this all won´t work, so I don´t think about it now. I was explaining to Edwin that I¨m relatively stress free in Ecuador, as all I have to do is collect plants. I can´t do lab work, I can´t read journals, I can´t attend meetings. I just take it one day and one species at a time. The trip stresses him quite a bit, but he enjoys it much more than the officework he does at the garden (I´m still not entirely sure what his job description is, but it allows him to take time off with me no problem so I don´t worry). Edwin got the call today that he will be in charge of writing a book on the flora of Cotapaxi national park, which is quite an honor. I´m going to help him translate it into English and use my nice camera to take pictures for the book when we visit it in a few days. I like giving back to this country and helping in any way I can. I also am going to send him and the garden some pdf papers they have requested. We really forget in the US how lucky we are to have all the resources we do.
Once in Cuenca, we settled in to the first hostel listed under ¨budget¨in the lonely Planet. The girl who worked there initially misquoted us the price, and so we promptly left (no way am I going to pay 25 bucks each and not have TV!), but luckily the owner showed up and straightened it out and I could finally take off my ridiculous backpacking backpack and get inside away from the mocking of the middle school students across the streets (Hello USA! I love you, baby!) We rented a taxi to take us to Cajas National Park, pretty close by.
Cajas was much more put together than Podocarpus and had fancy signs and more people working at it. So we went inside the entrance and Edwin showed him our stack of papers and explained the situation. The guy proceeded to explain that Cajas does not work under the Ecuadorian Department of the Environment and is its own seperate entity: I, as a foreigner, would have to pay 500 dollars (or actually a 1000 to ¨secure¨my permits) to collect in the park! Insane. Edwin was furious and so we left and just took pictures inside the park. It was absolutly spectacular, though. Rimmed with peaks, full of mountain lakes and cute cushion plants and silence (unlike this internet cafe...). We were able to collect outside the park the plants we needed, so no harm was done, but I got to see clearly the crazy Ecuadorian bureucracy. I also got a taste of it when discussing with Edwin what should be done with all the Puya seeds we have collected. I can´t take them back to the US, because the minister of the environment is very paranoid abotu biopiracy (even though these are pretty worthless plants from an economic standpoint), and they can´t be sent to the worlds bank of seeds in England for the same reason either. The Minister also shot down Edwin´s plan to start an Ecuadorian seed bank, leaving all the vulnerable orchids and thousands of other species without this safety net. It really is ridiculous. I feel so helpless, as this is not my country, and I feel very sorry for people like Edwin who want to make a difference, but are up against a brick wall.
Tomorrow we are going for another ´mother load¨of plants east of Cuenca to Sigsig and Chiguinda. I´m excited! I´m feeling a bit poor, though. We had a nice dinner tonight at a decidedly gringo restaurant, complete with Indian, Thai and Middle Eastern food, decent booze (including my tomato tree daquari...muy fuerte!), and a very nice (yet very obese) American bartender. I also bought a beautiful sweater made by the daughter of the lady who runs our hostel. It was a bit pricey for Ecuador, but is adorable. Back to chicken off the street for us tomorrow!
Well, rock on compatriots and happy Election! The times they are a´changin!?!?
Love,
Rachel
# posted by Rachel Jabaily @ 6:25 PM 
