Que pasá en Ecuador?

 

The spirit of travel is carrying me far and wide it seems like my restless soul is trying me to see this world indeed. All I’ve really been looking for is a quiet place to write and work with my dance&music thing. Instead of doing what every other sane traveler is doing by moving from south to north or from north to south, in my case that would have been to travel along the coast of Peru to Ecuador then Colombia and then further to Central America, I am drawn yet again to the capital of Peru that is Lima. Just so I deemed it that my solar plexus or the central star of my journey should be Lima in Peru, I’ve now even found a reason to enlighten this decision somewhat further and deeper than I ever dreamt of… Sure the prophecies have been indicating love in my life. But stubborn as I am I just wanted to focus on work, have to get that thing going haven’t I? Can I truly have it all? Well we will see… 😉

So the plan was to chill out a month in the upper north of Peru,  precisely in Mancóra, before I will got to Buenos Aires in September. Beautiful, sunny and windy Mancóra. Too cold really to hang around all day on the beach so I realized one more of my dreams by finally starting with Kite Surfing lessons, what an elemental adventure indeed. But in the end it seemed too boring to hang out there and we voted for a side trip to Ecuador, precisely the surfer mecca of Montañita, located in the national reserve park Machalilla. Here we found ample people and fiesta going on, but it was even more chilly and rainy in addition. Well the winter south of the equator certainly does feel like the summer at home, not so bad 😉 And with the prospect of another summer approaching when in my domestic hemisphere it actually is winter, I do not mind the clouds while I play with the waves in the Pacific Ocean.  Just for my taste the scene here is to consumerist that’s why we’ll head off soon if not to warmer land but to new adventures in the city of witches – more to come soon on this channel 😉

Meanwhile I’ve been thinking of the means of economic traveling and how in Ecuador environmental protection is an ambivalent mission. There are laws protecting the environment but they are always in conflict with the interests of economic progress. In a country with a BIP of $3200 per person, not a minder consideration. Furthermore the ever present corruption does not make it easier to protect the environment. I am reminded of a true story from India, where the state provided a lot of money to build filter plants for the terribly polluted river Ganges, only to enrich the local politicians who built fake plants and bigger villas for themselves. In Ecuador the oil industry has brought much devastation, including the difficult drilling in the midst of the selva = ancient rainforest. With a governmental change things move on to protect the country of indigenous tribes like the Achuar. But I am not yet really the specialist to tell you anything about what is really going on there, thus I rather let you with some references of people who know way better about this than I do.

http://www.theamazonpost.com/

http://amazonwatch.org/

http://www.survivalinternational.org/

I want to know more of Ecuador but for now my experience has been limited to Montañita, its delicious multicultural food and the experience of whale watching – which was most amazing.

Because in the end I got distracted once more in indulging in my favorite manner of body art also known as Tattoo art, this last piece completing the four elements in animal representation with the hummingbird, known as Kolibri in my native tongue, or Picaflor in my language of choice nowadays;) By artist Luis from Trujillo. I like!

Foto by Daniel Etchudez, Buenos Aires

Blessings

Your traveling gipsy