Traveling Roses

Last week I treated myself to a bouquet of roses. Having been a florist (in another life) I was taught to gently squeeze the rose heads in a bunch to see if they were soft. It's kind of like thumping a watermelon or squeezing the tomatoes. If the head is too soft the roses will not last long. If the head is too tight and especially if it looks like a Hershey kiss, it will likely never open and will just eventually droop. This seemed just right and were on sale and were a wonderful variegated color. But how long would they last, I wondered? After all roses travel a long ways to get to the stores in the US.

About 90% of all roses come from Columbia and Ecuador. They are grown in acres and acres of greenhouses and often harvested two to three weeks before a major holiday. They are dry packed in coolers and eventually shipped off by plane most likely to Miami where large warehouses then separate the boxes of roses for the rest of their journey to destinations throughout the states.

In the early days when roses were grown more locally they always smelled so wonderful. The roses today hardly have a smell at all. That is due to their being bred to be long lasting and the preservatives added to them so they will last for their journey and still have life left to be enjoyed in your home.

When we visited Quito, Ecuador, the hotel was filled with huge bouquets of roses. They were beautiful. Amazing. My bouquet has been amazing as well. The roses opened quickly and have a ruffled look to the petals. It was a successful impulse buy. I have thoroughly enjoyed them and I appreciate how far they had to travel to give me the pleasure of their company.

Through My Lens - Guayaquil, Ecuador

Cocoa beans

 

Coffee beans

Crab-eating raccoon

World Cruise - Guayaquil, Ecuador

There is no way an English speaking person can pronounce the name of this city and make it sound as beautiful as it does rolling off the tongue of an Ecuadorian. The night before our arrival, we did our turns around the Promenade Deck and watched the lights on the shore and the green and red buoys pass by as we made our way down a river and canal to the port area of Guayaquil. We arrived at 3AM in order for many who had booked all-day excursions or the overnight that was offered to be on their way. Some were traveling to Galapagos and I wondered how in the world they could possibly see enough in one day. Others were going to an overnight adventure at a lodge and rejoining the ship in Callao (Lima).

Our excursion was under way by 9AM and we were introduced to the city by a very personable tour guide who spoke excellent English and was quite knowledgeable. He was very proud of the way his city has come back from some very hard times and is beginning to look truly beautiful now that there is good city management. Some of what he said and what we saw reminded me of home and the comeback that Cleveland has made.

We passed a beautiful area by the river that had a boardwalk with lots of gardens, shops and restaurants. I was almost wishing we had opted for a shuttle ride to town and a walk in that area but our guide assured us that the natural park we were going to was as beautiful and even more interesting.

It took almost an hour in traffic to get to the park and rained a bit along the way. We were packing parkas and umbrellas but I hoped it would stop so I didn’t have to worry about the camera. It did make taking pictures out the bus window a bit tricky.

Mangos were in season and dotted most of the trees we saw along the way. While all the homes still had bars at the windows and fences with sharp pointy tops, some of them were quite lovely to look at. A couple of hills we passed had poorer housing but it was very colorful with hues of pink, blue, green and yellow.

We arrived at the park behind a group of school children eager to see the animals. The park was a bit like a zoo with otters, parrots, deer, an ocelot, tapirs, sloths and some warthogs. It was a more natural setting to show what the area looked like before settlement. I found it interesting that the exhibits had signs explaining what we were looking at in printed form as well as braille in several different languages.

Along the way our guide pointed out the palm plant that is used in the making of Panama hats. The leaves are not used but rather the stems are cut and shredded to make the material that is then woven into the hats that are so popular.

Palm used for Panama hats.

The cultural part of the park showed homes restored from the 1800s and a beautiful old church that was reconstructed. It took us about two hours to explore the whole park and then we were on our way. Oh, and none of the exploring was in the rain or a hot steamy sun. We couldn’t have asked for more.

The drive back through town was much of the same as we retraced our route. Our guide pointed out the drop place for the shuttle from the ship but when I timed our return from there, a half hour, I decided it wasn’t worth hurrying back again since it wouldn’t allow enough time to explore before the last shuttle returned to the ship. Perhaps we’ll visit Guayaquil again sometime.

Sail away was not scheduled to take place until 9PM to allow time for the return of the Galapagos people. The evening had no main show but the lounges were open with the band, piano, and the quartet playing. There was a movie showing in the theater but we didn’t recognize it and opted to get a DVD from the library and watch one ourselves. We spent the evening watching Fool’s Gold in our room and breaking for a short intermission to watch the sail away when we heard Louis Armstrong singing.

It was a relaxing evening and we were ready to hit the open sea again the next day.

World Cruise - Manta, Ecuador

Panama hats do not come from Panama. Perhaps that is a shock to some but they actually come from Ecuador. Apparently they were popular with those working on the Panama Canal and so were dubbed Panama hats. The real name is Sombrero de Paja Toquilla after the Paja, the straw used to weave them which comes from a specific palm—not the leaves but actually the stems.

We had no excursion planned for Manta, Ecuador, so we had a leisurely breakfast in the Lido Buffet and sat by a window to watch the unloading of a tuna boat on the opposite side of the dock from our ship. Huge nets of tuna were lifted by a crane and transferred to a waiting truck to receive the frozen cargo. One tuna was so large and the truck so full that the men had to wiggle it and stick their foot into the fish pile to rearrange the smaller fish in order to get it to fit.

After breakfast, I hurried to our room to get my camera. I was sure that they would be done unloading soon. But no, more trucks lined up and were filled. I can’t imagine how many fish were in the belly of that boat or how long and how much work it took to catch them all.

We decided that we would rely on exploring the area where the ship’s shuttle bus would drop us off so after a few pictures of the tuna boat, we went down and out onto the dock to find our ride into town. It was an interesting morning to say the least. The shuttle dropped us at a square along the waterfront and in the middle of a business area that had a lot of banks. We figured the tuna business must be good.

The square had free WiFi which was a draw for many but by the time so many visitors logged on, it slowed down—a lot. The WiFi was a good way to keep people in the area though while the merchants tried to attract shoppers. And yes, almost every booth had panama hats. One lady was bent over a stand demonstrating the weaving of a hat. We put a dollar in the basket and I took a picture for the blog—Bob took another to send to his brother. ‘Nuf said.

I found an artist who painted, or claimed he did, on feathers. I saw this once before in Costa Rica. They were very nicely done and I purchased one for myself and one for a lady who is confined to the ship in ports where it’s not easy to get around. Her husband is going to Galapagos for a day trip and she’s hoping he brings back pictures of blue footed boobies. The feather I bought has a great painting of a blue footed boobie on it just in case he doesn’t succeed.

The shuttle was also said to make a stop at a mall and since we saw nothing we wanted to walk around to look at where we were, we got on the next bus and went on to the mall. It was still early by Ecuador time, 10 AM, and the little mall where we were dropped off had few shops, most of which were not even open yet. We did a quick walk around, opted not to go through the grocery store (although those can be very interesting sometimes) and hopped on the next shuttle that arrived to go back to the ship.

All in all, we spent almost two hours in Manta but that was okay. There was plenty to do on the ship and we were casting off for bluer waters at 1 PM. We speculated that there would be tuna for dinner. 

World Cruise - Through The Canal to Ecuador and Peru

As I write this we are 229 days away from our World Cruise. I have an app on my phone, T-Zero, which counts down for me. The anticipation is almost as much fun as the cruise will be, I'm sure. Once we cruise from Miami to the Caribbean to Columbia, we then go through the Panama Canal. We've been through the Canal three times already and each has been a wonderful experience. We always learn something new. There is so much history there as well as new construction that had started when we last passed through. It will be fun to see how it is changing.

Once through the Canal, we move on to two ports in Ecuador. Our last trip to Ecuador was to see the Galapagos Islands. This time we will be stopping in Manta and Guayaquil. Manta is the largest seaport of Ecuador and is the gateway to Quito, although the city is reached by airplane from Manta. My search for things to do in Manta revealed a lot of kite-boarding schools. Think we'll pass on that. There is a little town about twenty minutes away however where Panama hats are made. It's called Montecristi. While the taxi fee looks to be $20 roundtrip, there is a ship excursion that is $59 includes a stop at a museum and we can be sure there will be no language problem as some people experienced according to the Cruise Critic boards and we'll get back to the ship on time.

Guayaquil is a little harder to figure out and we may just wait to plan anything until we get closer to it and learn more about while aboard our ship. It looks to be a large city. The offerings for excursions that are within our price range are not terribly interesting from this perspective yet. This will be a wait-and-see port.

We have a day of cruising before we reach Salaverry, Peru, our next port. Salaverry is the port for Trujillo which has several temples from ancient times that look interesting. One especially, The Moon Temple, is said to rival Machu Piccu in interest. It is thought to be a thousand years older. Need to do more research as this doesn't look like a great port to get transportation easily especially with language problems and instances reported of drivers taking the long way around at $10/hour.

Lima, Peru, will be an overnight stop. This is where passengers from the first segment of our cruise will disembark and new passengers will arrive for the second segment. This is the opportunity to meet new people and change dining situations if we need to although as I understand, there are so many booked for the whole world cruise that there may not be a lot of change over on each segment.

Well, off to explore the options in Lima. Ever been there? If so, tell me what you saw and liked.

Tips for Galapagos Islands

If all of my blog posts about our Galapagos trip have made you decide to put it on your bucket list, here are some tips for you.

Decide how you want to see the area. Cruise? Private charter? Land hotel? The Galapagos Islands Tours  has a site that shows a lot of different options besides the one we chose, the Celebrity Xpedition. This is one time when you definitely don't want to put off to tomorrow what you can do now. The tours, ships, boats, etc. fill up fast and you don't want to procrastinate too long.

Consider your physical stamina and your ability to get around. If you have a serious problem with balance and walking you might want to reconsider or find a tour that takes you only on the easiest paths if that's possible. The places we visited are for the most part just natural which means that the zodiacs landed on/near difficult terrain. While the ship provided walking sticks, sometimes those were even difficult to handle when they got stuck between rocks. We spent anywhere from 1.5 hours to 3 hours out in the sun at a time which could be very hot depending upon what king of weather you have.

Needless to say, good walking shoes are essential. I had read recommendations for Teva and Keen sandals. Expensive, I know, but I managed to find a pair of Teva sandals on sale that had a closed toe and they were wonderful. They gave good grip on the rocks, provided an easy off and on shoe for wet landings, were still comfortable even when they got wet and a little sandy inside. [Just a tip, if you are like me and hate sand in your shoes, I took along thin socks to wear with the sandals but found that I used them more to brush off the sand instead of wearing them. I stuck one on my hand and brushed sand off my feet and from between my toes before putting my shoes on for the hikes.]

Another essential: a hat. Baseball caps are better than nothing but to really get some protection from the sun, you need to get something with a brim all around and that has a strap that will go around your chin to keep it on your head when you're in the zodiac and the wind is blowing.

If you have a camera that uses different lenses, take them along but know that you will probably only use the zoom more than anything else and there's little time for changing lenses. I also got a Ziploc Big Bag, one that is advertised to be used for storage. It fit inside my backpack and I could slip my Canon T1i into it and know that at least if we got splashed by a wave, it would stay dry.  Our Go Pro worked great with the snorkeling shots but was a little hard to get the photos of animals close up on land. Still it was a great little accessory for video.

Always, always, always take at least one bottle of water per person with you. The Xpedition provided as much as we wanted as we exited for our excursions. Be sure that whatever tour you hook up with will do the same for you.

We went completely through one spray container of sunblock. I'd suggest taking two to be sure you have enough. A very light weight shirt might help to keep the sun exposure down as well. There were some for sale in the gift shop on our ship with the Xpedition logo on the front.

Leave your bright colored orange, red, pink, neon green colored shirts at home or save them for your time on the ship in the evening. The colors attract wasps. The only person we saw get stung was a guy who had neon yellow colors as part of the design on his backpack. We didn't notice a lot of other bugs. Some mosquitoes and flies but a little bug spray would keep them at bay. I saw some people with those new repellents you wear on your belt. Don't know how well they worked.

Since we are divers, we already had dive skins that cover us up from the neck down. We took those along because it's easier to get in and out of a wet suit with them and provides more sun protection while snorkeling.

While we had only one day when it rained a bit, we did take plastic ponchos that we found in the dollar store at home. Nothing dries well or fast because of the humidity--even in the air conditioning. The cheap ponchos could be worn once and discarded.

Okay, that's lots of information and probably not all that could be said. Every person's needs are different. Leave a comment if you have a question about your trip and I'll try to answer it if I can.

Hope you can share in the joy of God's beautiful creation in Galapagos!

Wordless Wednesday

Through My Lens - Galapagos Plants

Galapagos Journal - Return to Quito

Our flight from Baltra Island to Quito was once again delightful. Even in economy we were treated like first class. Some of the guests left us at the airport to catch flights to other places like Lima, Peru to see Machu Pichu. The rest of us boarded buses for the JW Marriott in the city again.

A shopping excursion was offered when we arrived and Bob went off to find some coffee to bring back. I stayed in the hotel and caught up with these blog posts so that I would not forget all the wonderful things we saw and did.
 

Celebrity Cruise Line provided a room for a final dinner complete with a multi-talented musician. We ate as early as possible so that we could go to bed before nine. We needed to be up at 2:15 a.m. to be ready for our shuttle to the airport at three.
 

The shuttle bus was a little smaller than the other buses we had been on and he took a route we hadn’t used before on our sightseeing and trips to and from the airport. We wound our way down a street reminiscent of the crookedest street in San Francisco. There is so much more to Quito than you can see in a day. This would have been a fun ride if we’d have done it in the daylight and been able to see this part of town better.

There are lots more ways to see the Galapagos than on the Xpedition. It was a choice that we were comfortable with. I sat next to a man on the flight to Houston who had been on a large boat with a group of 36 who explored the islands for five days. A little research and you too could find yourself exploring this wonderful area of our world and wondering how Darwin could have missed the Creator there.

Through My Lens - Santa Cruz Island

Galapagos Journal - Santa Cruz Island, Rancho el Manzanillo

The morning had been a very hot walk and my head was still pounding from the heat. The headache was compounded with the rolling of the ship as we sat in a harbor where huge swells just rolled in. We had been told in our briefing the night before that if we didn’t want to take the walk, we could sit in the restaurant area of the farm we were visiting and wait for our group to return. So the plan was for Bob to take the Canon along with his small Go Pro and go on the walk while I waited in the shade.

The bus ride to El Manzanillo was about twenty to thirty minutes and we got to see lots of farms with cows, banana trees, coffee trees, and other produce along the way. Santa Cruz had a lot more large trees than any of the other islands we had visited. Monica told us that some of them were from Australia and used for wood supply.

El Manzanillo is in an area called the Highlands. As we rode down the long narrow sandy graveled road, we passed several fields with cows and the occasional tortoise. At the end of the road, we came upon a large open sided building.  When we exited the bus, we could see that we were up on a much higher plane and could look out over some rolling hills below us.

The restaurant area was all contained in the large structure. It had several seating areas of padded wooden furniture similar in design to wicker and lots of tables and chairs for guests to sit and enjoy a sampling of juices and fruit.

I sent Bob off with the group and I found a comfortable chair to sit and enjoy the cool breeze that blew through the sheltered area. One of the other reasons I didn’t go along I must confess was that they trekked through some grassy areas and after our encounter with a couple of snakes on the rocks, I knew that I would not enjoy the walk worrying about what might be lurking in the grass besides tortoises.

When the group returned about an hour later, many of them were picking green sticky pods off of their long pants. Bob had worn shorts (against the suggested long pants—he didn’t have any cool pants to wear, just jeans) and was lucky enough not to have scratched his legs. He did have some hitchhikers on his socks that we picked off. I suspect some of the other guests got into the grasses a little more than he did.

All in all, he enjoyed the walk and talked about the tortoises hissing at them as they went by. These were the first animals other than the sea lions who laid in our path on the pier that had shown any reaction to us. Someone snapped his picture with the largest tortoise they found and he took a few others along the way including a nice shot of a yellow moth right by the restaurant area.

Again, we did not shop for anything in town. Sorry to those at home who may have been expecting a souvenir. Instead, we opted to ride back to the ship and take our chances in the A/C on the rolling ship rather than stay on shore in the hot sun and humidity.

That evening instead of the usual briefing, we were treated to a slide show of photos taken by the naturalists of some of the things they saw on our excursions including some funny looking guests, cameras to their faces, bent over animals competing for the best angle.

In the morning, we would be putting on our zodiac life jackets one last time and going ashore. The crew would be preparing the ship for the newcomers—all who would need to be trained on wet landings and dry landings and snorkel procedures. I marveled at the patience and the kindness shown to all of us by the staff and crew. They were a small group who provided us with amazing service. Where else could we have gotten this kind of expedition with such luxury? 

Wordless Wednesday

Galapagos Journal - Santa Cruz Island, Puerto Ayora

There are about 30,000 people who live on the Galapagos Islands. Most of those live on Santa Cruz and the majority of those residents live in Puerto Ayora. This island had been colonized before 1959 when the Ecuadorian government declared all the islands a national park. That same year, the Charles Darwin Foundation was founded to promote scientific research and ensure the conservation of the Galapagos. In 1992, the waters surrounding the Galapagos were made a marine reserve.

The problem with people living on any of the islands is that they make gardens, plant flowers and trees and bushes not native to the area, and eat things that may have seeds that would be discarded and picked up by birds, washed away in the rain, or otherwise transported to the other islands that the park tries to keep pristine and true to its natural habitat. The only way they can combat the intrusion of foreign plants is to pull them out by hand when they are discovered growing in the park.

Just on the outskirts of Puerto Ayora is the Charles Darwin Station for Giant Tortoise Breeding. The zodiacs deposited us on a pier in town and buses took us to the Station about a five minute ride away. Jorge led us through the Station pointing out the various stages of growth of the most recently hatched tortoises.

The Charles Darwin Station was established in 1964 and is a part of the Charles Darwin Foundation which was set up in 1959 to help conserve the ecosystem and natural wonders of the Galapagos Islands. It began its tortoise program in 1965, just a year before the government of Ecuador declared the area a national park.

In the 1960s, the tortoise population of Espanola Island came so close to extinction that all the remaining tortoises-12 females and 2 males- were brought to the park and station headquarters for protection and breeding. The adult tortoises breed, nest and are cared for in captivity. The first successful hatching occurred in 1970-71. As with the other races (they breed several different kinds of tortoise), the young are reared to three to five years of age and then repatriated.

Unfortunately the Floreana subspecies is extinct and now with the passing of Lonesome George, the last remaining Pinta Island tortoise, his subspecies has also disappeared. In 1977, the return of Diego, an Espanola tortoise from the San Diego Zoo, helped to repopulate the Espanola subspecies. Originally there were 13 Espanola tortoises taken back in the 1930s for the zoo and Diego was the last one left of that group.

Diego is not the top guy at the station at what they estimate to be 130 years of age and is still dedicated to the survival of his species. He wasn't out and about yet when we arrived. Probably sleeping in. We could see what Jorge said was his shell way back under the trees but it was impossible to get a picture.

Espanola tortoises -1 male with 5 females and 2 males with 7 females- are permanently housed in two corrals, each with several nesting areas. The tortoises breed before and during the nesting season from June to December. During the nesting season, the corrals are checked daily for nesting activity. A female tortoise builds her nest with her hind legs, forming a hole about 35-40 cm deep and 10-15 cm wide, slighter wider at the bottom. The eggs are lowered on strings of thick mucus, which provide a soft landing. The mother buries the eggs and delicately pats down the soil with the underside of her shell and her feet. The morning after the eggs are laid, one of the park wardens will carefully remove them and transfer them to the incubator.

When we had been through all the displays including some that feature iguanas, we opted to walk back through town to the pier. It was still early in the morning for the town folks but some were out waiting for the tide to come in and release their boats from the muck. One family looked like they wanted to get an earlier start and were trying to dislodge their skiff from the mud it was stuck in. The kids were having a great time of it.

We sat for a time near the fishing pier and watched a pelican try to down his over sized breakfast. Under one of the boats that was stuck in the mud of the low tide, a marine iguana munched on the algae that hung from the bottom.

A cool breeze from the sea refreshed us after a very warm walk through the Station and the town. Slowly storefronts began to raise their metal doors and merchants swept their steps and sidewalks as they prepared for another day of business. The time on the islands was an hour behind the time in Quito and the ship. Our cruise director, Bitinia, had told us on our first day that the ship would stay with Quito time to allow us a little extra daylight for exploring.

We weren’t interested in shopping so we meandered on down to the pier to catch the first of the zodiacs back to the ship. It was entertaining to watch the interaction or even the non-action of the sea lions and the people coming and going from the main pier. There were quite a few water taxis in the bay and they were picking up and dropping off. As people walked up the gangways or landing areas, they had to step around or in some cases, over sea lions.

One sea lion, not unlike a dog who is disturbed, threatened to nip one fellow’s leg as he stepped too closely between one sea lion and another. Earlier in the week, one of our fellow passengers had been nipped in the leg while snorkeling. Apparently the sea lion felt threatened as the snorkeler tried to get closer for a better picture. No real damage done though. It was more of a warning.

For some reason there were large swells all day long in the Puerto Ayora bay where our ship was anchored. It rolled back and forth testing the worthiness of our sea legs. While I was a bit worn out from the heat, I knew I didn’t want to spend the afternoon on the rolling ship either. I had to decide what to do about the afternoon excursion to the area where there were tortoises out roaming over some farmland. It would turn out to





be an easy decision.