jdabell's Xanga

Quito, Ecuador

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 22:37:06 GMT

This will likely be the final blog of our Ecuador travel seminar... We fly home tomorrow, that is, except for Ron Gettinger who stays for a few extra days of independent research. After my blog entry of last night we all went out to Cafe Hood, a wonderful bar and restaurant serving tasty food to tourists with sensitive stomachs. While there, a local Andean band strolled in and started entertaining us. Please look carefully at the following photo of one of the band members. This young woman is playing two instruments at once. You tend to see this kind of thing, say for a drummer, who might keep the beat on a bass drum, while also playing pan pipes. But, I've never seen anyone playing the chorango plus pan pipes at the same time! The chorango is the 10 string instrument that produces the high-pitched guitar sound familiar to fans of Andean music. Her hand is strumming the chorango just as fast as possible, yet she is able to also play the pan pipes that are wedged into the crook of her arm.

Our morning started in Banos where once again it was cloudy, but with very little rain for a change. You may recall that I mentioned a few blogs back a landslide that we encountered on the way into town. We learned that this was the result of an eruption of nearby Volcano Tungurahau within the past few months. Here is the view of what's left of a welcome sign on the outskirts of town and the devastation around it. Clean up continues and we waited in a single lane of traffic to get back out of town while bulldozers cleared away debris.

We had our farewell dinner this afternoon at an upscale restaurant, Mulata de Tal. Wonderful meals were had by all. Here is a photo of some of the impressive art displayed on the walls.

After dinner, Ron, Tina, Kathy, and I took a taxi to the historical center of Quito, while the students relaxed at our hotel--we're back at La Casa Sol, by the way. Here is a photo taken from atop the National Palace looking out over Plaza Grande. The statue to Tina's left is a monument to Ecuador's independence from Spain in the early 1800s.

We arrived quite late in the afternoon at the palace, but were able to take a guided tour. Among the more interesting things we saw was a room full of presidential portraits and gifts from around the world to the current president, Rafael Correa, including one, interestingly enough, from George Bush, and even one from Harry Reid, majority leader of the US Senate. I say that the one from Bush is interesting because Correa is another in a growing string of left-wing presidents throughout Latin America. In fact, he is quite vehemently anti-US. The following photo is of a gift from the "mothers of the disappeared" in Argentina. It is quite different from all the other gifts, such as Bush's silver cup or a set of silver spurs from Chile.

This tapestry says, "Aparicion con vida de desparacidos. Madres de Plaza de Mayo." This translates approximately to "appearance with life from the disappeared ones," The Madres de Plaza de Mayo are the mothers of those sons and husbands disappeared during the reign of the generals in the 1970s and 1980s in Argentina, The mothers have kept a constant vigil in the central plaza of Argentina demanding information about their missing loved ones. A photo (not shown) shows one of the Madres making a presentation of the tapestry, in person, to President Correa.

Shown below is your faithful blogger assuming momentarily the chair of the office of the President of Ecuador at his cabinet table.

I'll close with my favorite photo from the rainforest. Enjoy!

Banos, Ecuador

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 22:41:57 GMT

Today was an amazing day of travel, in spite of more dismal weather--rainy and chilly. We headed east toward Puyo (with the ultimate destination being a botanical park in the Amazonian rainforest) and stopped along the way at a cable car crossing of the Rio Pastanza. In the following photo (l to r), Toa and Sioui (our two guides), along with Kathy, Katy, and Tina are preparing to cross the river.

The crossing allowed a relatively close-up view of an incredible waterfall pictured below. As I suggested yesterday, it is very difficult for a photo to capture the raw power of this river, especially at this juncture. Keep in mind that this river is one of many that all feed into the Amazon River. Ron Gettinger told me that many of the others have a heavier flow than the Pastanza, so it is easy to imagine why the Amazon is such a large and powerful river.

We made a stop at another waterfall along the Rio Pastanza--Pailon del Diablo. Here is a photo of Rachel enjoying the power of the falls.

In Puyo, we enjoyed the rainforest from the vantage point of the Parque Ethnobotánico Omaere. It was everything you would expect and more. Here is Tina next to a couple of Melatomastaceai trees. Check out the root structure!

In this next photo our guide has identified a low-growing plant that has at the base of its leaves, little pockets, which, when broken open contained ants that had a lemon flavor, and were--hold your breath for this--edible. In the photo, Jessica and Justine are being brave and trying this rainforest delicacy.

The following gorgeous plant is a Costus. Its stem has medicinal properties that can be of benefit to an upset stomach. As you can see, its flower has a very pleasing effect on the eyes.

Here is a photo of Jessica feeding a green parrot a piece of apple.

Finally, here is a partial group photo (Jessica, Justine, Rachel, Tina, and Jenn) at the restaurant of the Hostal El Jardin. I must say that I had one the tastiest meals I have ever had there, along with the best cappuccino I have ever encountered.

Tomorrow, we drive back to Quito and fly out early Sunday morning.

Banos, Ecuador

Fri, 15 Jun 2007 00:26:41 GMT

We arrived safely in the town of Banos after 8 hours on the road, including a 45 minute stop for food to take with us at one of the largest and most upscale shopping malls most of us have ever seen in the capital city Quito. Banos is to the south of Otavalo and Quito and we crossed the equator along the way. It was another gloomy day of clouds and rain so we couldn't see the peaks of any of the 14,000 ft. plus volcanos along the way. A relatively small volcano had erupted just outside of Banos only four months ago and the landscape was a barren lava field for a stretch on the way into town.

There is an impressive river (Rio Pastanzas) that forms the northern boundary of the town. Over the ages it has cut a deep and jagged canyon with just enough of a valley for a town like Banos to reside. With all the rain the country has recently experienced, including today's rains, it is quite dirty and rushing along in a fury. The photo below has difficulty conveying all of the grandeur of this river--for example the roar of the water as you get close--but there it is nevertheless. We crossed the main bridge (from l to r) and then returned by way of a trail that took us across the foot bridge you can see in the bottom half of the photo.

Here I am on the foot bridge. You can see a small waterfall on the left bank to my right. There are waterfalls or cascades all around this area. A visit to one of the more prominent ones is on tomorrow's itinerary.

The photo below is of Ron hamming it up next to one of the "scary" clown trash receptacles that seem to be everywhere in Ecuador. There is apparently a serious campaign to keep litter off the streets. To me this is quite refreshing after all of my travels to Guatemala where one has to look awfully hard to find a trash can, and where trash is spread everywhere.

I'll close with a photo of some of the beautiful orange flowers that lined portions of the river hiking trail.

Otavalo, Ecuador

Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:55:48 GMT

This will be the final entry posted from Otavalo. For those of you familiar with our itinerary, be apprised that our final three days have changed. Tomorrow, we head south to Banos and Puyo. We will be able to experience both mountains and cascades, as well as the rainforest. I hope to be able to locate an internet cafe and continue posting blogs. If, by some chance there are none, then I will try to locate one on our final night (Sat.) in Quito. We fly home on Sunday.

We had our last class on indigenous health care today. We learned more about the Latino-dominated health care system in Ecuador that, because of prejudices that go back all the way to the conquest, discriminates ruthlessly against the indigenous and their own system of community healers. The Ecuadorian Ministry of Health, for example, has a code that makes the practice of medicine without Western-style schooling and a license issued by the Ministry to be illegal. In the past, this has led to the persecution of indigenous healers. In 1999, however, a new Ecuadorian constitution was adopted that specifically protected indigenous traditions. It did NOT specifically overturn the Health Ministry's code, but it gave indigenous healers a bit more latitude to practice. It is in this more liberal environment that people like Mario Incayawar are promoting the concept of collaboration between indigenous healers and Western-style doctors. This sounds wonderful in theory, but in practice, there is a lot of hesitancy on the part of the officially recognized medical community to collaborate. They would prefer that the indigenous healers simply become assimilated into more Western ways of practicing medicine. This is a standoff that will require lots of tact and patience to be resolved.

This afternoon we had a visit to the Museo de Textiles. There were exhibitions of wool yarn making, weaving (both pre and post colonial techniques), and reed basket making. Unfortunately, photos of the exhibitors were not allowed. Here is our group assembled around some of the yarn making equipment.

You will have to take my word on the fact that the following photo is Justine wearing a Quichua festival mask.

Sandwiched between the textile museum visit and our evening dinner and entertainment (to be described below) a couple of us took a hike back to the cascades just for exercise. It turned out to be another gloomy, rainy day--June is supposed to be one of the warmer, sunnier months. It is no consolation during our two-week stay to be told how unusual the weather is. As evidence of how gloomy, check out the following photo de los tres perros. Normally, street dogs like this don't let you get so close, but these guys were trying to stay dry and warm.

Being our last night, we were treated to a special meal and special entertainment. Ever since our arrival, we have been hearing about the important place of guinea pigs (Cuy, pronounced kwee) in the Quichua world. They are used in traditional healing practices, both for diagnostics, and for the actual act of healing. They are also considered to be a culinary delicacy. Cuy is served for auspicious occasions primarily. Tonight was one such auspicious occasion. Here is a photo of Tina finally getting to sink her teeth into a bite of Cuy. The fact it was deep fried apparently added to her eagerness. You go Tina!

We were treated to an hour or so of traditional Andean music by a local band called Folklor Latinamericano. At first, we were sitting around like dolts just listening politely, but the hotel manager would have none of this and stepped in and escorted Kathy to the dance floor to get the rest of us moving. You will note that one of the musicians is playing a violin. We were told that this instrument is not typical of most Andean bands, but is an Otavalo tradition. Actually, none of the stringed instruments are traditional Andean, rather, they were introduced by the Spanish. Instruments like the flute, drum, and pan-pipes pre-date the conquest.

Toward the end of the evening, we were introduced to our chef and food servers, who then joined us on the dance floor. In the following photo, Rachel, one of our taller students was ironically paired with the shortest of the food servers.

Once these guys got in on the act, the entire group eventually got up on the dance floor. At one point we had a conga line that circled the room and included the band. Here is a photo of a portion of the conga line.

I will leave you with a photo that captures some of the silliness that erupted at the table as we waited on the band to arrive. It kind of captures the demeanor of our group. These are carved rose petals, by the way.

Otavalo, Ecuador

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 23:09:30 GMT

We continued our classroom discussions of indigenous vs. Western healing techniques today with Mario. Much time was spent on the topic of placebo effects. They were differentiated from the concept of "meaning effects," though the two are closely related. As an example, if you gave someone an inert red pill and told them that it would provide a boost of energy, the pill itself would be referred to as a placebo, but the patient might behave as if he/she were actually more energetic because of the meaning associated with perhaps the color of the pill and the suggestive power of the administering physician.

As I said in my previous blogs on this topic, most Quichua people would go to a Western style physician to treat something like a broken arm or a case of meningitis. For mental disorders, though, they might likely see a Quichua healer for reasons discussed in previous blogs. For something like chronic pain, a Quichua person might also choose to visit a traditional healer. The healer's collection of ministrations might only include things such as I have already mentioned; things like incantations, a mist of alcohol, or blowing smoke. However, if the patient is comfortable with the ambience, has confidence in the healer, and has faith in the entire process, then, through the meaning effect, or placebo effect if you prefer, pain-reducing endorphins may be released, leading to a beneficial outcome for the patient, just as if the healer had administered a dose of morphine.

Our afternoon was free and Jessica, Kathy, Ron, and I went on a hike to the Cascades de Peguché. This turned out to be a seriously cool afternoon. Getting there was a challenge at times, as Jessica exhibits in her stream crossing in the following photo.

The power of the cascades or falls was impressive. Here is a photo of Ron, Jessica, and me in front of them.

We discovered that the falls continued upstream beyond what you see in the above photo. We discovered a smaller, but deeper falls, along with a series of caves or tunnels. Here is a photo of Kathy peering out of one of the caves.

Rather than return the way we came, we kept exploring further and finally made our way to the Parque Condor, not far from El Lechero, the rubber tree that was shown a few blogs back. The Parque Condor is a bird sanctuary where birds of prey can be nursed back to health. We saw the national bird, the condor, with a wingspan of around six feet. The following photo is my best effort to capture the wingspan of the male. He would fly to one part of the enclosure and pose with his wings out while I raced over to get the shot. However, by the time I got there, he would have closed them usually. In the photo, the male is chasing a female.

The timing of our arrival at the park was perfect--4:30PM. Every day at that time (also at 11:30 am) several of the birds are allowed out of their cages and allowed to fly around the site and the nearby hillsides, under the watchful gaze of their trainers. Here is a picture of the Dutch proprietor with one of the raptors.

Otavalo, Ecuador

Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:07:59 GMT

Sorry for no entry yesterday. It was essentially a free day and the cameraman--that would be me--didn't go along on any of the optional activities. The students had a big day of horse riding. Apparently, this was the real deal, with something other than nose to tail slogging along. They returned pretty jazzed about the whole affair. I went on a hike instead.

Today, we returned to the classroom for more discussions about indigenous health care. We encountered a number of studies to suggest that the approaches of Western psychiatrists and indigenous (faith) healers were not very different and that the outcomes were similar in terms of patient healing. Here are a few of the similarities: 1) Apparently, the decision to seek the help of a healer in the first place has a salutary effect, raising one's expectations and emotions. 2) When a healer is actually able to apply a name or label to one's problems, that is of great benefit to the patient, because if the healer can actually identify a problem, then presumably he or she should have the abilities to deal with it. 3) The personality of the healer--being able to empathize, for example--and the physical ambience of the healing site are also of great importance. To one accustomed to Western mental health norms, a faith healer's (and by the way, the designation of witch doctor is a misnomer--there is no more of a connection to witches than to witch hazel) approach might seem completely inappropriate. For example, the blowing of smoke, spraying of alcohol, and uttering of incantations--as noted in a previous blog--might seem to have no connection to the mental healing process, but if an indigenous patient has faith in the healer and the process, then healing may well take place.

I thought I would share a photo of one tiny piece of the school that is allowing us to use one of their classrooms. The following mural states (in English), "Raise your hands and look for peace." That is rather pleasant to see every day when we walk onto the campus.

Kathy, Tina, Ron, and I took a hike this afternoon to the Condor Park--about 4 miles round trip. The park was closed, but the scenery along the way and the exercise was good. Kathy--in the photo below--stopped to try an interesting technique we recently learned about. Supposedly, when you scratch a pig on its belly in front of the hind leg it will lay down and settle into a state of fairly deep relaxation. Well, it works!

I'll close with some more flowers.

Otavalo, Ecuador

Sat, 09 Jun 2007 23:14:39 GMT

As in most Latin American cities, Saturday is market day. We took in three different markets today. Here in Otavalo, the animal market starts early. Only a couple of us made the trek to this market. We arrived around 6:30 AM and things were well under way. People from Otavalo and nearby communities were selling and buying pigs, goats, sheep, and cattle. It appeared to be a low key affair, unlike the high pressure selling in the tourist market. Sellers simply stood with sometimes balky, sometimes quiet animals on tethers, waiting for buyers to initiate a transaction. From an observer's´s perspective, things really became interesting once a transaction was completed. The buyer was, of course, obligated to haul off his new acquisition. The photo below shows a couple of buyers attempting to get a recalcitrant, squealing pig into the back of a pickup truck. Take careful note of the woman´s attire. She appears to have pulled out her best pair of high-heeled pumps for the occasion.

Our full group boarded a bus later in the morning for the capital of the province, Ibarra. Our goal was to observe the portion of Ibarra´s Saturday market devoted to medicinal herbs and spices. You are, of course, well acquainted with camomile--used in teas and other treatments. It is the most prominent in the display below.

Finally, we returned to Otavalo to take in the tourist market, one with which we were already well familiar, since it is open seven days a week. However, the market had doubled, or perhaps tripled in size for the Saturday tourist crowd. Streets normally full of car traffic were set aside for venders´ stalls. Shown below is a little boy and his puppy playing in a pile of textiles while his mother tends to customers.

I´ll conclude with a shot of beauty and color:

Otavalo, Ecuador

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 23:58:25 GMT

We had a free day and took full advantage. We employed the services of a local eco-tour operator and visited the following nearby places: 1) Cascada de Taxopanba, 2) Mt. Fuya Fuya, and 3) Lagunas de Mojanda.

The first stop was at Cascada de Taxopanba, a seriously cool waterfall. It was a bit of a challenge to get there given that the day was overcast and rainy. The trail system was steep and slippery. More than a couple of us received cuts from barbed wire as we reached out for something to hold on to as our footing gave way. Fortunately, we were armed with cleansers, antiseptics, and bandaids, and thus a good time was had by all. Here are two shots of the falls (Ron is in the right photo).

When we reached Lagunas de Mojanda and Mt. Fuya Fuya, the group split in two. About half us explored the lake and the other half climbed the mountain. I only have photos from the mountain climb. I would like to tell you that we made it all the way to the peak--over 14,000 ft.--but bad weather forced us to halt just short of 13,000 ft. It was quite cold and the wind and rain were relentless. We had not anticipated such conditions, and by the time we stopped, our shoes, socks, and pants were soaked, and our feet and hands were frozen. Here we are in the following photo at our stopping point--from l to r, Jorge, our guide, Jessica, John, Justine, Kathy, Jenn, and Ron.

In this photo of Jorge and John, you get a sense of the view of the lake from our vantage point on the mountain side.

Finally, here is a shot of our trek down the mountain side, giving you a different view of the incredible scenery that surrounded us. The lake is to the bottom right of the picture.

Otavalo, Ecuador

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 23:10:23 GMT

We visited the nearby community of Iluman this morning. It is known as a "healers community" because of the 200 or so Quichua spiritual healers located there. Ironically, as we were walking along the street toward our meeting with a particular Yachac (or healer), we came upon a field clinic that was open. Recall that in yesterday's blog, I commented on the lack of official government health clinics available/or open to the indigenous population. So, here we were in a community of indigenous healers and the government sponsored health clinic was open for business.

The following photo shows Amber bravely receiving the attentions of a spiritual healer.

She was the only one of us who volunteered. So, when I say "bravely," I'm referring to the fact that this "healing" entailed having the Yachac blow a mist of alcohol as well as tobacco smoke over her from a variety of positions.

In a later conversation, we discussed what we had observed and the efficacy of indigenous healing practices in general. There was a consensus among our group that in the case of infections and diseases caused by parasites, the most efficacious approach would require Western medicines. However, in the case of mental health problems, there was a bit of disagreement, part of which stemmed from recent research we learned about that suggested that psychotropic medicines may not be any more effective than placebos. To those of us raised on Western medicine, alcohol, tobacco smoke, and incantations seem like less than desirable solutions, regardless of new medical findings. However, to the extent that faith plays an important role in the healing process, then in the indigenous community, where there already is serious doubt and distrust about Western medical approaches, spiritual healers likely will be able to play a positive role.

During our stroll through Iluman, I witnessed this Quichua man deep in thought:

Later, the clouds which have obscured Volcan Imbabura every day, finally parted enough to see the peak (almost).

Otavalo, Ecuador

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:26:24 GMT

How about that photo for an uninspiring start to today's blog! As an extension of yesterday's trip to the regional hospital, today we were supposed to visit one of the many field clinics that are supposed to bring health care closer to the people in rural areas. As the photo suggests, however, the clinic was closed. We arrived at 2:00 PM with a promise that we would be able to meet with the attending physician. Unfortunately, the facility was closed as shown in the above photo. Apparently, they are frequently closed, with doctors showing up for only one or two days per week, and even then, only two or three hours per day. Even when they are open, patients are typically told that they need to go to the regional hospital. So, what seems to be happening here is that Latino doctors have a racket going whereby they are paid for a full-time job, but only work a few hours a week. Those who suffer the most from this system are the Quichua poor. Specific statistics on this forthcoming tomorrow.

From the closed field clinic we walked to nearby Lago San Pablo for a boat tour of the lake.

Ron, Jessica, Kathy, and Katie are shown out on the lake near the shore with Volcan Imbabura behind them. Unfortunately, our day which started off so warm, sunny, and promising, took a turn for the worse. The second half of our tour took place in the rain. Justine and Rachel don't appear to be suffering too badly despite the conditions.

Amber and Jenn, on the other hand... well..., I'm not exactly sure what is the appropriate commentary to explain the following photo:

After the rains stopped, we decided to stick with our itinerary which included a trek to the top of the hilltop overlooking Otavalo where the legendary tree Lechero is located at the peak. It is an ancient rubber tree that still oozes a gooey white sap. From this location, there is an incredible 360 degree panoramic view--of the lake, of the volcano, of Otavalo, of the surrounding farm communities...