November 22, 2008

SOUTH AMERICA BLOG #3
22 November 2008
Costa Rica is trying hard to become attractive to travelers. Our stop at Puntarenas (Sp = Sandy point) introduced us to some wonderful sandy beaches, typical Central American life style, a warm muggy climate and not much that would steal vacationers away from Cancun and Acapulco. We chose a shore excursion that would show us the exotic side of jungle bound Puntarenas.
Our tour entitled “Train, Bus and Boat adventure” did indeed feature all three forms of transportation as we explored the sea shore, the interior jungle and looked for crocodiles and exotic birds in a river flowing into the Pacific Ocean. Everything went smashingly well until we came to a wide spot in the road where we were to meet a train on a narrow gauge rail line next to the road. We left the bus and stood in the shade it created for the best part of an hour waiting for our train ride. A series of frantic calls by our guide finally determined that something had gone wrong with the track and the train couldn’t reach us. It was decided that if the train couldn’t come to us we would go to the train. Our bus rattled over country roads, past meager homes and small tilled fields as we fought our way deeper into the jungle. We found the train parked next to a small school in a village that featured a half dozen homes, a dozen or so smiling inquisitive kids and a beleaguered looking crew. We scrambled aboard the little train and began our ride through the Costa Rican jungle which looked something like Tarzan films minus hanging vines for dramatic tree to tree jungle travel. Our train whistled along for a while before slowing to a stop in the middle of nowhere. Looking out the opened window of our coach we watched a crew of a half dozen workers as they stared questioningly at a section of track as we crept by. Apparently a rain storm earlier in the day had washed out a small section that had just been jury rigged for our passage. Not a single one of the staring workers looked as though he believed our train could really make it through…but we did. We eventually popped out of the jungle at the spot where we had waited an hour for our train.
Our bus now picked up speed racing over rough winding roads to take us to our boat ride segment of the tour. The boat was a part of a local concession that promised sightings of alligators and rare birds, and maybe an iguanas or two as we explored the Tarcoles River. We began with an immediate sighting of a crocodile who appeared to be chained to the pier. We did see flocks of Macaws, at least that is what our guide called a bunch of birds that flew over, and a gazillion or so snowy egrets. We were a bit disappointed not to be introduced personally to a spoonbill or a jacanas that our advertisement had touted for the area. We did spot a number of crocodiles that seemed to smile in anticipation of dinner when we floated by. It surprised us to see a family of locals out for an afternoon swim just a couple of hundred yards up stream from the advertised meanies. The promised treat of local fruit while listening to authentic local marimba performers was shortened to a quick stanza or two while we off loaded the boat and climbed aboard our bus where we found a plate of fruit on each seat. Dottie found that Costa Rican fruit is kind of squishy as she sat down before realizing lunch had been served. The Norwegian Sun delayed its planned departure for our late arriving tour bus and our wonderful visit to Costa Rica ended.
Our visit to Manta, Ecuador left us with an entirely different feeling about Central America. Manta, a city of more than 200,000, is a bustling port community serving the sea going transportation needs of the country. The Pacific beaches of Ecuador provide breath taking views of the sea meeting the land. Manta beaches were selected for the sixth annual South American Wind Surfing Championship. Ecuador’s tuna fishing industry works out of Manta with literally dozens of tuna boats unloading tons of tuna around the clock. We were fascinated as we watched cranes lower nets into the holds of the boats and return with huge loads of fish that were dumped into trucks for transport to local canneries.
We learned that the area we now know as Ecuador was originally visited by a Spanish scouting expedition in 1526. Francisco Pizarro and his conquistadores invaded the country six yeas later. Following Pizarro’s death, his brother Gonzalo took over and led a rebellion against Spain. Gonzalo’s independent rule lasted until 1548 when the Spanish Crown defeated his small army.
The independence leader, Simon Bolivar, finally defeated the last vestiges of Spanish colonial rule in 1822 when several future South American countries formed the Republic of Colombia including what is now Venezuela, Panama and others. Ecuador withdrew from the the Republic in 1830 and has been a self governing country since.
The grand adventure of our cruise was our three day shore excursion to Macho Picchu, and ancient Inca city and a site that is now one of the “Seven Wonders of the Modern World. We began with a 6:00 AM ride by bus to the Lima, Peru International Airport. An hour long flight took us from sea level at Lima to 11,000 feet at Cusco, Peru. We had been warned to expect some difficulties with the sudden altitude change and we did. Just walking from the plane to a bus which would take us to our hotel was breath taking, like it took a lot more breath than we had to give.
Our hotel was as grand as we have ever known and our guide’s admonition to take a nap was followed by Bill as Dottie managed to arrange our few things for our two night stay. Our lunch and afternoon tour of Cusco introduced us to the local sights and Inca lore that pervades everything. During our visit to the Cathedral of Cusco our guide pointed out the many ways that Inca beliefs were woven into the Catholic ideology. Incas worshipped nature and their descendants have created a form of Catholicism that incorporates the ancient worship of Inca idols in small but observable ways. A prominent statue of St. Paul holding a large cross included an obvious sun carved in the middle of the cross to indicate the Inca worship of the Sun. Our guide spoke of the confusion that the mixing of beliefs has caused, especially among young people. It was suggested that although the country is basically Catholic, few if any of the younger generation attend church or refer to themselves as Catholic.
Our city tour took us to the Plaza Recogido, Plaza de Armas, Santo Domingo Convent and the winding ancient streets of the city of 400,000. All of the sites visited contained portions of previous Inca stone architecture. Along the way we learned that Peru, a country of 24 million has 19 million cell phones. The country is slowly growing out of a long period of inflation and lack of financial growth. We saw few cars outside the city indicating low income among a large part of the population. We did observe that everything seemed very clean as compared to other developing countries we have visited.
On our second day, we were up before 4:00 AM to catch a bus at 5:00 AM that would take us to the Macho Picchu train. During our first night at Cusco, Dottie was kept awake by a constant cramping and involuntary movement of her legs caused by the sudden change in altitude. The train ride took us from Cusco at 11,000 feet, across a pass at 13,000 feet, to Macho Picchu at 8,000 feet in the high jungle of Peru. Our train followed the Ollantaytambo River which flows down the eastern slope of the Andes into the Amazon River. The rapid descent of the river provided wonderful views of white water rapids along the way. Occasionally we passed small farms where corn and potatoes were being grown.
Macha Picchu was awesome, to say the least. The Inca city built in 1450 and abandoned in 1540 was never visited by the Conquistadors. There are several theories about why people abandoned the site. The most logical seems to be that the terraced fields were unable to feed a growing population. Another theory is that the Spanish gift of smallpox invaded the town through visitors from Cusco and drove the inhabitants away thru fear. Whatever the case, the site was soon overgrown by jungle and not known to the outside world until 1911 when an American professor/explorer, Hiram Bingham, visited the site after learning about it from neighbors. The site was subsequently cleared of jungle to display what is seen today.
Pictures of the site show huge buildings built Inca style with large limestone blocks amazingly shaped and fitted without mortar so that they have remained through the centuries’ many earthquakes. We climbed the many stone stairways connecting buildings until our legs were numbed. Even though the altitude difficulties we were experiencing told us otherwise, we couldn’t imagine not seeing everything there was to see. Our four hours at Machu Picchu left us with some marvelous memories of what the amazing Inca civilization accomplished
Our knowledge of the Inca Empire was enriched by each of the guides along the way. The Incas built one of the largest and wealthiest empires in the western hemisphere between 1100 and 1500 AD covering much of the region now included in present day Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. The empire was ruled by a king who was worshipped as a god. The empire disintegrated when the king and his brother fought for control.
The ancestors of the Incas are interesting people. They farm areas of the Andes as high as 19,000 feet. We saw productive farm operations at 13,000 feet. They continue to follow a conservative set of rules to live by that were written by some ancient Inca king. One king dictated that no couple would have sex during the month of November each year. To this day August birthdays are the most popular among Peruvians. Peruvians are friendly and outgoing with visitors, especially if the visitor appears to be in a mood to pose with a Llama for a photo or by some handiwork created by a semi-talented housewife.
We managed a few poses but avoided collecting Peruvian handicrafts. Even though we knew in our hearts that our family members would really be excited about receiving a hand made flute for Christmas, our luggage was overweight before leaving home and we simply are not using enough tooth paste and deodorant to make more room for such good stuff.
Smelling good with pleasant love you all
Gram and Grampa Bill, Mom and Dad, Dottie and Bill