Welcome to my weblog!
This weblog was set up to keep my family and friends informed of my travels in South America.
I will not keep a day-to-day diary, but rather try to give impressions of my experiences here through stories and photos.

All according to this trip´s motto: “Life´s a journey, not a destination” (Aerosmith)

And yes, this weblog is in English, omdat niet al mijn vrienden Nederlands spreken.

Beds are long enough, toilet paper can be flushed, sidewalks are level and without potholes, I am of average height, I can understand everything said around me, no matter what accent. Stroopwafels, drop and hagelslag are available and everything is familiar.

But: No dulce de leche, guarana, buses cama, street vendors, endless views of nature, banana con leche or three dollar dinners. No more beautiful new places to discover, no wild animals, ancient taxis or people calling me “my friend” because they want to sell me something.

Yes, I am back home. After 9 months of playing the tourist, the “real life” is about to start again. And no, I am not looking forward to that.

But I shouldn’t complain. I have had an awesome trip, I have experienced things that most people can only dream about, I have seen things I did not know existed, I have met wonderful people, made new friends and I have enriched my life beyond measure. Going to South America is one of the best decisions I have made. No matter what the future may bring me, I will always have these great memories.

So here it ends… the last story on this weblog. I hope you have enjoyed following my adventures. I know I have enjoyed writing them. And who knows, when I have earned a bit more money….. another trip, another weblog? If so, I will mention it here. Until then, keep safe, have fun, and travel all you can!

Well, I saw very few eggs and no bunnies at all, but Easter Island is a very interesting place nonetheless. Interesting mainly because of the many moai, the stone statues found in many places on the island, and because of the history and legends surrounding them.

Moai near Hanga Roa, the only town on Easter Island

Easter Island was probably first settled between 400 and 800 AD. How the first settlers found these extremely remote islands (almost 4000 km from mainland South America and about the same from French Polynesia) is not clear, nor is it absolutely certain where they came from. Accepted theory says they were Polynesians, but there are a few very intriguing links with mainland South America as well. More on those later.

Between about 800 AD and 1680 AD, was the so-called “Classical Era” of Easter Island. In this period, the moai were carved from the rock of Ranu Raraku, one of the volcano craters on the island. The moai were probably not portraits of gods, but of important clan leaders. They were erected on ahu, raised ceremonial platforms which were often the graves of the clan leaders. Moai always overlooked the site of a village and, with one exception, were erected on the coast and had their backs to the sea.

Ranu Raraku, the birthplace of moai. Many moai, finished as well as unfinished, still “litter” the area

Between about 1680 and 1864 was the “time of conflict”. According to legend, this was a time of war between the “long-ears” (the old elite, with pierced earlobes stretched by weights, hence the name) and the “short-ears” (the oppressed majority). Another theory says the wars were caused by a shortage of resources due to overpopulation. The truth may also lie somewhere in between, Easter Island is another one of those places where you hear many legends, sometimes conflicting with eachother, but nobody knows for certain what happened. In these wars, some or all of the moai were toppled (again depending on which theory you follow). The toppling of moai was done either because they were a symbol of the oppressors (there is only one moai of a “shortear” and that is in a very unusual kneeling position) or because toppling the moai diminished the “mana” or spiritual power of the village it overlooked.

Toppled moai. Most of them are still in this position these days

And another one

In the meantime, in 1722 to be exact, Easter Island was discovered by Europeans. Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen was the first to sight them, on Easter Sunday, hence the name. He nicknamed it “Island of Giants” because of the moai statues. Many famous explorers followed him, among them James Cook in 1779 and Frenchman La Perouse in 1786. Both of them commented on the moai standing, evidence that not all had been toppled by that time. By the mid 1800´s though, for whatever reason, all moai on Easter Island had been toppled. Every moai standing today has been restored and raised by archaeologists.

So why, when all of this happened comparatively recently ago, are there only legends about what happened? After all, Easter Island was the only place in Polynesia where a written language (rongo-rongo) developed and wooden tablets with rongo-rongo inscriptions are found in several musea around the world (although none remain on Easter Island itself). Well, the answer lies with slavery and disease.

In 1862 and 1863, Peruvian ships appeared off Easter Island (then claimed but neglected by Spain) and kidnapped about half the population to make them work as slaves in the guano industry. About a year later, international pressure made the Peruvians return the islanders, but only a few were still alive. Imported diseases (mostly tuberculosis and smallpox) killed most of the remaining islanders (the returnees as well as those not kidnapped) in a few years so that by 1877 there were only 110 “natives” alive. Among them was not a single person who knew the history of the island, or who could read the rongo-rongo tablets. And there still isn´t, there are many different legends and the rongo-rongo has defeated many attempts at decipherment.

These days, Easter Island is a peaceful, quiet island of around 3500 permanent inhabitants. The only town on the island, Hanga Roa, is so quiet that you can cross the main street blindfolded and have a very good chance at survival. Especially since you have about equal chances of being hit by a horse or bicycle as by a car. And as to the horses, the majority of horses on Easter Island are wild. There are more horses than people on this island, you may see them roaming around everywhere. They are even a (pretty cruel) source of amusement for the local macho boys, who round up wild horses for fun and then brand them with their personal “sign”. Sort of a living graffiti, but I can imagine the horses wishing these guys would go and buy a Playstation or something.

Horses on Rapa Nui, wild but branded

My first day on Easter Island, I took a long walk to some moai north of Hanga Roa and the one place where they are inland, called Ahu Akivi. My companion for that day was “Sukkel” (a mild insult in Dutch, the equivalent might be “dufus” or so), a dog who followed me around all day. He earned his nickname by chasing after every horse or cow we encountered and nearly getting his head kicked off a few times. He was useful though, he showed me the entrance to a cave which I would not have found otherwise. It was just a hole in the ground, covered by grass, but it was the hole I was looking for. And all that in return for half a chicken sandwich, the cheapest guide I ever had.

Ahu Akivi. The only inland moai and the only ones facing the sea, they may represent the legendary 7 explorers that discovered the island

The sights of Easter Island were shown to me by excellent guide Patricio, of AO Tours. Unlike many guides, he did not try to convince us of his point of view, but told us the various legends and was very willing to discuss their pros and cons. All in excellent English too, so I now know all about the stories surrounding the moai, the “birdman cult”, the wars and the various possible connections with Polynesia and even the Incas. All theory, but very interesting nonetheless.

The next day I rented a quadbike, which I found to be a very enjoyable way to zip around the island. Especially if you can find company like Ian and Carolyn, great fun to spend the day with them even though riding behind their quadbike on dirt roads meant I got pretty dirty. But then, since I was ahead of them half the time, so did they. We re-visited many of the sites Patricio had shown us the day before, developed very interesting theories of our own on just about every subject concerning the island and had a very good time. Thanks guys!

No, that is not an unshaven face, that is dirt

The prevailing theories on the history of Easter Island say that it was settled by Polynesians and probably never had contact with South America. Of course, Thor Heyerdahl sailed the raft “Kontiki” from Peru to Tahiti in 1947, but all that proved was that contact was theoretically possible. In my opinion, a much more interesting possible link is shown by the following photo:

Remind you of something? Inca walls in Cuzco maybe?

One of the ahu (the platforms on which the moai are placed) on the south coast of Easter Island is built in a way which is very reminescent of the Inca “Imperial” building style, with the massive close-fitting stones. Two nearby ahu show the same style, but much less refined. So is this evidence that the Inca came to Easter Island? No, but maybe the reverse, since these walls have been found to be hundreds of years older than the walls in Cuzco. Of course, again nobody knows the exact story, but you see what I mean by interesting links with South America.

Another link like that is the fact that the reed growing in the crater of Ranu Raraku, where all the moai were carved, is found in only one other place in the world…… Lake Titicaca. It is the type of reed that the famous reed boats on that lake are made of. So maybe Thor Heyerdahl isn´t as wrong as many people think. But then again, maybe the Incas are descendents of Easter Islanders. I have heard that theory both in Cuzco and on Easter Island. But once again, just theories, no proof whatsoever…….

One of the most intriguing places on Easter Island is Ranu Raraku. Called “the factory” or “the nursery”, it is the place where almost all moai were carved from volcanic rock before being transported to the ahu all over the island. There are still hundreds of moai standing or lying around Ranu Raraku, as well as unfinished moai still “stuck” in the rock wall of the volcano. The work involved in carving these huge statues (some are over 10 meters tall and weigh over 50 tons), lowering them down the volcano wall and then transporting them across the island can only be imagined. Especially when you realise that the Easter Islanders did not know any metals and the only materials used for lowering and transportation were wood and rope. Not all of the moai made it, there are many lying around the island, abandoned or damaged during transport.

Moai at Ranu Raraku. The cliffs where they were carved can be seen in the background

Pretty big moai. And this is just its head, the body is below ground. Imagine hauling something like this across 20 km of island using only logs and rope

On the inner wall of the volcano, the lush vegetation provides an interesting surrounding for an abandoned moai

Near Ranu Raraku is the famous Ahu Tongariki. Its 15 moai, including some of the largest ever transported from the “nursery”, were hit by a tsunami in 1960. Some of them, and we´re talking 90 tons of stone here, were washed more than 200 meters inland. In the 1990´s, they were restored and put on their ahu. An impressive sight, even if the “topknot” (the chunk of red stone on top of the heads of some moai, representing the dyed hair of the elite) could only be restored on one of them. The heads of the others were damaged too much (by erosion more than by the tsunami) to support topknots.

Ahu Tongariki. For scale, that orange dot on the right is a person

The moai at Anakena, on the north coast, with 4 topknots

In the Kevin Costner-produced film “Rapa Nui” (which I saw, of course, on Easter Island) it is suggested that the building of moai and the “birdman cult” occurred at the same time. Most of the legends disagree with that, claiming that the birdman cult was established as a sort of election method for a rotating leadership, after the elite long-ears had been defeated (and most of them killed) in the wars.
The “birdman” was the first man to descend the cliffs of Orongo volcano, on the southwest corner of the island, swim to the furthest islet there, collect a birds egg and deliver it back to the ceremonial village at Orongo. This sometimes entailed staying on the islet for days, waiting for the first bird to lay an egg. This man would then be “birdman” for a year and effectively be the chief of the island.

The crater of Orongo volcano

The offshore islets. Note the birdman petroglyphs on the right

With all the legends, historical obscurities, moai, birdmen, food for thought and above all, friendly population, Easter Island was a unique place to visit. And since I hit my head on the ceiling in the “cave with two windows”, according to the local legend I will return. I certainly hope so.

Rapa Nui or Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua, better known in English as Easter Island. Yes, that’s where I am now, after a long and tiring flight (Quito to Guayaquil to Santiago, 4 hours layover at the airport, then to Easter Island).

Easter Island is one of the remotest inhabited islands in the world, 5 hours flying from Santiago and about the same from Tahiti. Best known for its 887 giant stone statues or moai, it was discovered on Easter Sunday (hence the name) in 1722 by Dutch admiral Roggeveen.

These days, Easter Island is part of Chile, albeit a very remote part. It is a small place, about 180 square kms, with only around 4000 permanent inhabitants. The fact that on this island, almost everyone knows almost everyone else is very evident on the plane, which resembles a flying reunion for the locals.

Because internet is very slow (and very expensive, like everything else) here, you will have to wait for updates until I get back to the mainland. I’m flying back on the 19th, so in the days after (I will be travelling a lot, so no guarantees), watch this space.

Yes, I chickened out. Instead of enjoying another 10-hour bus trip from Cuenca to Quito, I took an internal flight. That saved me 9 hours and 25 minutes, but yes it cost me $40 extra. Real American dollars, since that is the currency of Ecuador. All bills are the genuine American stuff (faces of presidents and all), but the coins come in two varieties, American and Ecuadorian (same sizes as American coins, but Ecuadorian statesmen and scenes).

Anyway, as an aviation enthousiast I can of course say that the 40 dollars were well spent, as my flight was on Icaro, an airline even I had never heard of before arriving in Ecuador. On the Cuenca to Quito route, they fly the venerable Fokker 28-4000. A good Dutch product, so even though the plane is not the newest (they are at least 20 years old), I had no worries about my safety. I’ve flown worse. By the way, in their inflight magazine, Icaro mentions their “modern fleet of Fokker F28 aircraft”. Modern compared to what? But since there aren’t that many F28′s flying anymore, I thought it might be one of my last chances to fly one.

HC-CDW waiting for me at Cuenca airport. A nice paintjob is always a good sign, if an airline starts skimping on paint, maintenance is usually next

Funny thing though, a few hours after buying my ticket I was in an internetcafe in Cuenca and decided to check out Icaro (most people would do this before buying the ticket, but you know me…) and look what I found…… that is why I was glad to fly HC-CDW, not HC-CDA after what would have been a very quick repair job. But still, I was not worried to fly Icaro. Any airline that hires an ex Miss Ecuador as their Cuenca station manager just can’t be bad. And even the name of the airline didn’t scare me off. In Greek mythology, Icarus was the guy who glued wings together to be able to fly. He flew too close to the sun, the glue melted and he crashed and died. And what do you know, Fokker was one of the pioneers of using glue (different kind though, industrial strength) to hold their airplanes together. And still I was not worried about this plane coming unglued…

Anyway, the flight itself was fine, sitting next to the engine reminded me of the progress that has been made in the last decades where airliner noise is concerned. Ah, noisy and smoky airliners, the good old days. Even though it was a very cloudy day, the tops of several volcanoes could be seen above the clouds, snow and all.

I’m not entirely sure which volcano this is, but it looks nice anyway

But I guess the inhabitants of Quito and Cuenca (and Guayaquil too) will not share my enthousiasm for older airliners. In all three cities, the airport is situated literally in the middle of the city. Old F28′s and 727´s screaming over your house every 10 minutes would probably dampen even my enthousiasm. But it does make for spectacular approaches, just when you wonder how many tv antennas will be hanging from the undercarriage, the runway appears and seconds later you are on the ground.

Quito International Airport. These houses are relatively far away from the runway, in Cuenca they were no more than 30 meters from the wing of the airplane

I have always used Fuji for all my photo film, right until the moment I bought a digital camera. So why did I buy a Kodak underwater camera? I don’t know (well, I do, they didn’t sell Fuji at Baltra airport), but I will never make that mistake again.

OK, the sealion photos turned out fine, great underwater close-ups of sealions playing with eachother, with me and even one of a sealion biting my flipper. So far, so good. But after having the film developed here in Cuenca, I couldn’t find my shark photos. I had especially saved the last photos on the roll for sharks, and had taken two photos when we finally found them on the last day. However, these photos were nowhere to be found.

The place where I had the roll developed was very helpful and they found out that at the end of the roll, there was evidence of photos being taken, but there was no more room on the roll itself. However, the camera had told me that all was fine and there were 2 pictures left. After the last two photos, it showed the roll as ended and all had seemed fine. Until today.

In other words, Kodak underwater cameras say they can take 27 photos, their meter shows you can take 27, they actually take 29 (but there is no way of knowing that unless you count the photos yourself, and in that case, what is that meter for?), but the last 2 are worthless. So when I thought I was saving the last 2 photos for sharks, actually the roll was full, but the camera didn’t tell me until 2 photos later. In other words, no shark photos.

Thanks a lot Kodak, I hope your factories spontaneously combust and your share prices hit negative values. Idiots.

OK, the stars of the Galapagos show… the animals. How can you describe the feeling of being able to stand right by the nest of an albatross, and it not being bothered by your presence and even standing up for a moment so you can take a good look at the eggs? How to describe the many submarine encounters while snorkeling? Not only the manycoloured fish, but also sea turtles, sealions (and very playful ones at that!) and even (after a long search) sharks. Luckily I had bought two underwater cameras to record it, unlucky for you I have not yet had them developed and cannot post them here anyway (no digital cameras).

Anyway, I will just let the photos tell the story and add a few words. There is no way I can describe the experience anyway, you would have had to have been there to know what it feels like. Unbelievable doesn’t even come close.

I’ll start with the birds. For many visitors, the blue-footed boobies are the most attractive birds, nesting close to many paths on various islands and with their distinctive light-blue feet, they do look different from most other birds. Add to that their spectacular way of fishing (flying at 20-50 m altitude to spot fish, then diving straight down to catch them, hitting the water with a splash) and their highly ritualized mating dance, easy to see on the islands, and it is no wonder many people love them.

Yes, their feet really are that blue

Blue-footed boobie nesting

There are three kinds of boobies on the islands. We did not see the red-footed boobies, as they mostly live on the Northern outlying islands, where we did not visit, but we did see masked boobies. Often their nests would be in the same places as their bluefooted cousins. However, they are not in eachothers’ way, as the bluefooted boobies fish close to the islands and the masked boobies fish further out to sea.

Masked boobie grooming its feathers

Many other birds can be seen on and around the islands:

Nesting waved albatross

They are much more graceful when flying

Multi-species shot: masked boobie, Galapagos hawk and sealion

Even the Galapagos hawk lets you get very close

Pelican on the red beach of Rabida Island

Flamingo in stereo

However, my personal favorites in the bird world were the frigatebirds. So named because they harass other birds but also sealions (just like the old frigates from the sailing days) until these animals drop their catch and the frigatebird swoops down and scoops it up (sometimes in mid-air). This piratical behavior was not what endeared them to me, though. No, it was their curiosity, their beautiful silhouette in flight, their aerobatic displays and the fact that they were always around the boat. Some of them really wanted to model for my camera, flying in the same relative position to me on the top deck of the boat for up to 10 minutes.

Silhouette of a frigatebird in flight

Coming in for a closer look

Formation flying

Frigatebird pair at sunset

Frigatebirds are best known to most people because of their behaviour on the ground, not their aerobatics. In the mating season, male frigatebirds will inflate their bright red throat sack to attract the females flying overhead. This behaviour can be seen on various islands and during a large part of the year, as the mating season lasts for many months.

Attracting the females

Another example of a male showing off

And this is what they do it all for. A (pretty ugly) frigatebird chick

As to the land and sea animals, they can usually be enjoyed both on land and in the water. There are only a few animals (land iguana, giant tortoise) which stay exclusively on land, and only the fish stay exclusively in the water. On the border between land and water, the Galapagos Islands are incredibly rich in animal diversity.

Marine iguana playing “King of the hill”

Multicoloured marine iguanas enjoying the sun

Beautifully coloured Sally Lightfoot crab

Same species, different colours. Mature and immature Sally Lightfoot crabs

The multicoloured crabs, often sitting on black rocks, were very photogenic. Even though they were not as curious as many other animals, getting a few very nice pictures of them was no problem at all. I also found out that these animals can run forwards (not just sideways, as everyone thinks) and at an amazing speed. I caught it on video, but can’t post that here.

There are various kinds of turtles and tortoises on the islands. In the sea, you will most often find the marine turtle, a graceful swimmer, especially when underwater. It is most often spotted when sticking its head up out of the water, a very funny sight.

One of just a few shy species, this marine turtle did not want to hang around us. Black Turtle Cove

Of the many species of land tortoise on the Galapagos islands, at least 3 were hunted to extinction by buccaneers and other passers-by looking for food. Tortoises would stay alive for months on the ships without too much in the way of food and water, thus providing an excellent source of fresh meat. Unfortunately, the slaughter of these animals was on a massive scale.
A fourth tortoise variety is on the brink of extinction. The only known living example of the Pinta tortoise is kept in captivity at the Charles Darwin Research station in Puerto Ayora. Nicknamed “Lonesome George”, he has been put in an enclosure with two females of a very similar variety, hoping that they will reproduce. So far, no luck, rumours are going around that George might be gay. However, things move slowly in the tortoise world, so who knows……

Lonesome George chasing one of his females around the block (at an agonizingly slow pace)

Giant land tortoises are pretty sloppy eaters

Land iguana

The sign is meant for tourists, land iguanas can go where they like

For most visitors to the Galapagos Islands, one of the highlights must be snorkeling with the sealions. The females and especially the pups are very curious, often coming down from the rocks where they are sunbathing into the water just to see what these strange creatures swimming by are.
In the Galapagos Islands, it is not allowed to touch the animals. However, while swimming with sealions they will touch you! I had sealions swimming underneath my outstretched arm, in between my legs and even nibbling at my flippers. It really is a very special feeling to be playing with these animals (they are very obviously having fun) in their natural habitat.

Sealion checking out the tourists on Rabida Island

Posing for a portrait

Especially the pups will be very playful, getting up to all sorts of mischief when mom isn’t looking. They will swim straight at you at very high speed and veer off at the last moment. You can almost hear them laughing at these clumsy creatures trying to get out of their way. No chance, the sealions are extremely fast and manoeverable underwater.

Sealion pup, tired from playing with the snorkelers

Please come back in to play! I promise I won’t bite your flippers anymore!

Playing with seashells is much less fun than playing with tourists

One day, after we had snorkeled with the sealions at Lobo Island (next to San Cristobal), we climbed back into the panga and were treated to the sight of about eight sealion heads, sticking up above the water and obviously wanting us to get back in to play some more. When we didn’t, they decided to race the panga back to the “Amigo”.

In the Galapagos Islands, different mammal species share the beaches in peace

Spot the odd one out

Yes, sealions can catch a cold too

Apart from sealions, there was one other marine experience that I actively went looking for. Yes, I wanted to go snorkeling with sharks. The hammerheads often spotted by divers are usually too deep for snorkelers to see them, but there are plenty of whitetip sharks around. Don’t worry mom, no human has ever been attacked by a shark in the Galapagos, there are just too many fish around.
We did spot quite a few sharks from the “Amigo” and from the panga, and even from the beach, but not while snorkelling. At least, not until the very last day of snorkeling, on Floreana Island at Devil’s Crown (a partly submerged volcano crater). There, at a depth of about 8 meters, we spotted three whitetips directly below us, lying on the bottom. I had saved the final photo on my underwater camera for these guys, so yes I have a picture. Later on that same swim, we spotted two more. And yes mom, I still have two legs, two arms, ten toes and ten fingers.

Shark!! A whitetip patrolling the beach

More sharks lying on the bottom in Black Turtle Cove

Believe it or not, but the first two days on the Galapagos Islands felt a bit disappointing to me. After all the stories I had heard and read, the hype created about the incredible wildlife viewing opportunities, my expectations were high. Too high, I thought in those first few days.

I realise I have been spoiled on this trip (and previous ones) where wildlife is concerned. Still, I could not help but think when the other passengers went wild over seeing two penguins: “I saw 50.000 of them at one place in Antarctica”, or when they took 20 photos of a single sea lion: “I have photo’s back home showing a beach with 250.000 sealions on Cape Cross in Namibia”. Three flamingo’s in the distance made me think of the dozens I saw close-up on the Uyuni circuit…. OK, we did see a vermillion flycatcher on the first day, which according to our guide was a rare sighting, but still…….

Vermillion flycatcher on Santa Cruz island

Just a single Galapagos penguin. A far cry from the thousands I saw in Antarctica

However, starting on the third day, I slowly started to see the animals on the Galapagos in a different light. Of course, there are not the massive concentrations of animals that you might see in other places, but there is more to animals than sheer numbers. When confronted with 250.000 sealions, it is difficult to discern the characteristics of a single animal, or just to see that animal by itself, without the context of thousands of others nearby. In the Galapagos, you get the unique opportunity to enjoy the animals on an almost one-on-one basis, since most animals are utterly fearless of humans and will even seek you out because they are curious about you. This is a totally different experience from seeing the masses of animals. In other words, I learnt to enjoy the trees and not focus on the forest.

Once this mindset was achieved, the Galapagos turned out to be one of the most incredible places I have ever seen. It has risen to number 2 on my top 10, only beaten by Antarctica because of the other-worldly scenery there. But for sheer interaction with animals, it has to be number one.

Curious frigatebird checking out the photographer

This complete lack of shyness of the animals here can create some amazing scenes. The dinghy of “Amigo”, lashed close to the stern deck with usually many people on it, was at times a pelican resting place, a sealion nursery and even a sealion dormitory. The crew had to clean the dinghy (called a “panga” here) several times a day before they deemed it fit for their guests to ride to the beaches.

Pelicans resting on the panga

Sealion pup being nursed in the panga

The Galapagos Islands themselves are not the stars of the show (that role is left to the animals), but they are interesting nonetheless. Discovered by accident in 1535 when the bishop of Panama drifted off course on his way to Lima, they later became a haven for pirates and buccaneers preying on the Spanish ships (laden with gold and silver) on their way from Peru to Panama. These pirates started the slaughter of the great land tortoises the islands were named after (Galapagos means tortoises in Spanish) for food. It was the start of hundreds of years of exploitation and misuse of the islands.

Giant land tortoises. Remember that Leon (in the background) is almost as tall as I am

In 1835, the most famous visitor to date arrived in the Galapagos. Charles Darwin, then a young naturalist, spent 5 weeks gathering specimens of and data on the various species of animals found on the different islands. The slight differences between similar species on the different islands helped him develop the theory of “survival of the fittest”, as described in his book “The Origin of Species”, published in 1859. Darwin was by no means the first to develop the idea of evolution and natural selection, but his book was so full of persuasive arguments that evolution has been accepted as the dominant theory ever since.

The Galapagos Islands were created by volcanic activity, as two tectonic plates (the Cocos and Nazca plates) slowly drift apart (at the stunning speed of 5 cm per year) and magma seeps in between from below. The magma comes to the surface mostly in the form of volcanoes. This explains the huge age difference between the eastern islands (oldest at 4-5 million years) and the western islands, barely a million years old. In fact, the western islands are still being formed, the last volcanic eruption was in 1998.

Different landforms give different colours on Santiago Island

However, not all landmarks on the islands were created by nature. On Bartolomé Island, there is a place called Pinnacle Rock, which was created by the US Navy. In 1942, the US Navy occupied Baltra Island to build a massive airfield, used to protect the Panama Canal from Japanese attack. The airfield is still the most important airport on the Galapagos. However, in their wisdom, the Navy decided to use many of the other islands as bombing ranges. They were uninhabited, so why not? (To be fair, I can see the need for a bombing range close to Baltra. But why not use just one island? The soldiers also shot almost all land iguanas on Baltra, maybe they thought they were spying for the Japanese?). On Bartolomé, a huge bomb dropped from an aircraft collapsed a large part of a rock and created the unmistakable shape of Pinnacle Rock.

Pinnacle Rock, courtesy of the US Navy

This one is natural, Kicker Rock (Leon Dormido) near San Cristobal Island at sunrise

A little piece of paradise on Floreana Island

Another result of human habitation on the islands (first colonists arrived on Floreana in 1807) is the introduction of introduced animal species. Because of the fragile natural balance on most of the islands, this usually resulted in a disaster. For instance, the endemic (occurring only on the Galapagos) rice-rat is almost extinct because ships brought in the much more powerful black and brown rats. Introduced donkeys and horses trample birds nests, goats eat the natural vegetation and turn islands into deserts, dogs kill all kinds of endangered animals, etc. There are several initiatives these days to kill all non-endemic animals on uninhabited islands in order to try to restore the natural balance.

Map showing introduced animal species per island

However, human influence has also brought at least one interesting tradition to the islands. On Floreana island, there is a bay called “Post Office Bay”. For at least 250 years now, passing travellers have left notes here (at first under a rock, now in a metal postbox) for their friends and relatives back home. This tradition is still going on, the idea is that visitors check the postbox for notes to people living near their home town and then taking these notes back (and hand-delivering them if possible). I have left a few notes for some of you there (no, I am not saying for whom!), so let’s see how long it takes for them to be delivered.

Post Office Bay

The fight for survival of various species, as described by Darwin in “The Origin of Species” still goes on these days in the Galapagos. Not only do animal species still adapt to natural changes, but there is also the “fight” of nature against disturbances caused by humans. Colonization of the islands goes on at a high rate, even though the Ecuadorian government is trying to slow it, because of job opportunities on the islands. Tourism helps (the US$ 100 park entrance fee is used almost entirely for conservation) and hurts (pollution, inconsiderate tourists disturbing animals). All in all, this is still an incredible place to visit, let’s hope it will stay this way in the future.

Sunset on the water between the islands

Starting tomorrow, I will be off to the Galapagos Islands for 8 days. My “home” for those days will be the MV “Amigo”. Check out what I will be seeing here. Dodging iguanas, swimming with sea lions and hammerhead sharks, watching frigatebirds and of course checking out lots of boobies.

I hope the weather will be good, the ship will stay afloat and TAME gets me there and back safely. On the return trip, I will get off the plane at Guayaquil and return to Quito via (probably) Cuenca and Baños.

See you after Friday the 6th!

On November 3rd last year, the day after the American presidential election and the murder of Theo van Gogh, I wrote a story which mentioned that South America seemed like a safe and politically stable place to watch the goings-on in Europe and the USA from. Well, when I wrote that story, I had not yet been to Peru and Ecuador.

In Peru, the race for the presidential elections of 2006 seem to have begun already. Lots of walls sporting enormous slogans saying: “Alan 2006″, “Fujimori 2006″ or “Toledo Presidente 2006″. These are the three main candidates. Poor Peru, I would almost say, if that is their choice.

Alan Garcia was the youngest Peruvian president ever (age 39) at his election in 1985, the leader of a political party (APRA) new to government and a lot was expected of him and his party. It turned out to be an enormous deception, his government is seen by many as the most corrupt in the history of Peru (quite an achievement!) and shortly after the end of his term, he went into exile in France. But he is back and wants another term as president.

His successor, Alberto Fujimori was initially seen as a successful president. Under his leadership, the economic tide was turned and the guerilla movements Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and MRTA were defeated, so avoiding a civil war. However, Fujimori lost a lot of goodwill when he had the constitution changed so he could run for a third term. He won the 2000 elections amongst rumours of irregularities. Later that year, when Fujimori was abroad, a huge scandal broke out in which Vladimiro Montesinos, head of security and seen as the strongman behind Fujimori, had been videotaped bribing a congressman. Fujimori, who according to the opposition must have known about this, resigned as president by fax and sought political asylum in Japan. Incredibly, he is now back in the 2006 presidential race, although the legality of his participation is still hotly debated in Peru.

The current president of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, has seen his term in office plagued by personal, financial and political scandals, including possible fraud in a previous election. In March 2005, his popularity rating was at a staggering 8%. Despite this, there are a few slogans calling for his re-election in 2006.

Good luck Peru, having to choose between candidates like this.

However Ecuador, the country where I am now, does not have an exemplary political record either. Just last week, the second president in 8 years was removed from office using a “political shortcut” to facilitate the impeachment process. In 1997, this had happened to Abdala Bucaram who in six months of presidency had appeared on television cavorting with dancing girls, had lunch with Lorena Bobbitt, wrote and recorded a pop song, stole about US$ 50 million from the national treasury, but forgot to govern the country. He was removed for “mental incapacity”.

In the year 2000, then-president Jamil Mahuad was removed by a coalition of military and civilian interests, because of “misgovernment” and his plan to replace the inflation-prone currency of Ecuador with the US dollar (this plan was eventually implemented by Mahuad’s successor).

And just last week, president Lucio Gutierrez, one of the leaders of the 2000 coup, was himself forced to leave office after weeks of public protests and riots. As an example of his “popularity”, when he appeared at a football match of the national team, the entire stadium started shouting: “Lucio, fuera!!” (Lucio, get out!!). He was removed by Congress for “deserting his position” after fleeing to the Brazilian embassy. He had angered the Ecuadorian people by his authoritarian style of government, which included firing the Supreme Court and imposing the state of emergency in Quito when protests erupted.

But don’t worry, Quito is quiet now, the vice-president has taken over control of the country and all seems to be settled down. But I must confess that the enormous banana plantations I passed on the way to Quito yesterday were not the only reason the term “banana republic” stayed in my mind. Ah well, at least here in Ecuador they have a credible candidate for the next presidential elections:

Graffiti in Quito showing frustration with the country’s politicians. Sponge Bob for president!!