Valparaiso, called Valpo by locals, is one of the most colorful cities in the world and considered to be the cultural capital of Chile. The historical quarter was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003. It is well known for the massive amount of world-class street art throughout the city. In large parts of town, there is barely a vertical surface without such art. This art is broken into three types by the locals — murals, graffiti and tagging. Murals are the elaborate, highly artistic paintings on walls like those shown above. Graffiti is the artistic, highly stylized words on walls, and are also considered acceptable art by many. Tagging is the lowest form of vandalism that simply defaces a property, with no discernible talent or redeeming value.
Street art began in earnest in Valpo during the Pinochet dictatorship, as a form of protest. Though such art was illegal, it could be done clandestinely. Those who were caught often “disappeared.” After democracy was restored, the local government made street art legal, as a form of free expression. Artistic competitions were created, where the winner was given all the tools necessary for more art. People began to hire artists to create unique designs on their buildings.
Besides the general beautification of the city, taggers also respected the art, and random ugly tags disappeared from large swaths of the city, as available surfaces were covered with commissioned art.
Many of these murals are larger than life, as seen in this first photo block. The one covering the side of the entire 22 story Centenario building (center) was commissioned after legalization. The art on the lower left was painted by the legendary Inti, born in Valpo and well-known as a muralist worldwide.
Many of the stairways in this city of 42 steep hills (cerros) have also become canvases for artists. You don’t even notice the art when walking down, but if you turn around, the vibrant art lays out in front of you. Note the image upper-left, and you can see that the stairway is free of tagging, but the surfaces on both sides are badly defaced by tagging, since no murals were created there. To the right of some of the stairs, people playfully slide down the sides (middle-right). Several stairs are decorated in mosaic tile, while others are painted.
Faces are a frequent theme of murals. Some depict local indigenous people, while others are signed by well-known muralists, and still others are merely fanciful. All are beautiful examples of highly talented artists.
The artwork is not confined to the sides of buildings. Even fire hydrants sometimes get fanciful art (upper-right). Many sidewalk vendors’ buildings also sport murals (center column). The local water company truck gets in on the game with murals too (upper-left).
We will see still more street art in tomorrow’s blog, so check back…
We visited a total of eight wineries while in Chile. The first four were described yesterday. Here are the remaining four. The next one in our tour was Viña Santa Cruz, still in the Colchagua Valley. This tour was not as enjoyable as most, partly because of the large number of children everywhere. This was Winter Break for the schools (remember, July is the middle of their Winter), and many families bring theirs kids here for the cable car ride (lower-left and lower-right), and the open-air museum at the top of the hill (middle and right-top). We purchased a bottle of Makemake, made in the Rapi Nui methods of Easter Island.
We did stop for lunch here, and that was outstanding.
Emiliana Winery
We started our third day of wine tours in the Casablanca Valley at Emiliana, which is billed as the world’s largest organic winery. This tour focussed on the vineyards rather than the production process, since the production is actually done at a different property. Various insects, such as lady bugs act as natural pesticides, and guinea fowl and chicken also play vital roles. We learned a surprisingly amount about organic farming, from a lively guide (upper-left). We bought a bottle of their Coyam, which is a blend of nine different grape varietals. This vineyard produces only 45,000-60,000 bottles a year.
Bodegas RE Winery
The last winery that we drove to was Bodega RE in the Casablanca Valley, which is another very small boutique winery. We were told the “RE” stands for “re-invention,” since the owner wanted to re-invent wine making in Chile. This was the oldest winery of all those we visited in Chile, and we learned that it was one of the first on the Chilean coast, and one that developed the first methods to deal with the coastal frost that had been so devastating to earlier vineyard attempts. Each wine is an experiment, often using old clay pots used to make wine as they did during the days of the Etruscans. We bought a bottle of Doble, a wine made from vines that had two different varietals growing on a single root — Garnacha and Carignan,
In addition to wine, they also make several varieties of fruit liquor and balsamic vinegar (lower-right). All these are experimental though, being made in just six kegs holding roughly 10 gallons each.
WineBox Hotel and Winery
Our last winery was perhaps the most unique of all. It was actually our hotel while in Valparaiso. This was the WineBox. The owner and creator is Grant Phelps (second row-left), a young man from New Zealand who came to Chile 19 years ago, fell in love with it, and stayed. He is great to talk to, and we informally learned the history of how he decided to make his hotel from 25 recycled shipping containers (upper row). The drinking glasses are made from used wine bottles, chairs are made from used wooden wine barrels and sofas are made from recycled bath tubs. He produces only 3,000 bottles a year, and stores the barrels down in his parking garage.
I must admit I was a bit skeptical about staying in a shipping container for four nights. I quickly became a convert though, and we will likely stay here again when we return to Valparaiso for the wine crush in some future year. His guests are sometimes invited to participate in the wine production and crush. The container was amazingly spacious (second row-right was our room), with lots of whimsical wall murals (the zombies third row-right were in our room, and from a famous zombie movie I never saw…).
Grant is actually a winemaker, and sells his wines only to his hotel customers and some local restaurants. He gives a great wine tasting event featuring unique small family-owned wines (second row-left again) on his upper terrace bar (third and fourth row-left). We were already over our limit on the number of wines we could bring back to Ecuador, but his presentation broke down our resistance and we bought three more bottles from him!
After leaving the WineBox, we headed back home to Cuenca. We had 12 bottles of wine, and the customs limit is 8 for the two of us. hmmm… We spread them out among our luggage and “took our chances.” Passing through customs, they only asked to examine one suitcase that had five bottles. The limit per person is four bottles. The Customs officer told me I was over the limit, but when I asked how much the duty was on the extra bottle he had found, he just said (in Spanish), “nothing this time, but next time remember that you are only allowed four.” Thus, we got them all back home with no extra Customs import fee. That was a rather sweet ending to our trip. ☺
Tomorrow, we will continue with a series of blogs describing our time in Valparaiso.
What do you think of when you think of Chile? According to one walking tour guide, the answer is “Atacama Desert, Patagonia, violent politics, earthquakes… and wine.” We were on the edge of the desert while watching the eclipse. It is far too cold this time of year (July is the middle of their Winter) to go to Patagonia. Their violent politics is mostly in their past, and I hope not to experience one of their 9+ magnitude quakes.
That leaves wine… so we visited a total of eight wineries to make up for skipping the rest! ☺ Having lived near the Napa Valley vineyards in California for most of our lives, we thought we knew what to expect in Chile. Surprisingly though, each winery was different in the unique way they presented themselves, and we learned a lot. There were two common elements though — all tours required an advance reservation, and all tours were expensive, generally costing between $25 and $35 per person.
Our first winery was Viu Manent, in the Colchagua wine valley. The tour itself was pleasant, and included a horse drawn carriage taking us from one part of the property to another. Because it is winter, all the vines we saw during these days are naked and ready for pruning. Unfortunately, our English speaking guide had a soft voice and a thick accent, and I missed much of what she said. They then concluded the tour by letting us taste only their lowest quality wines. This was one of only two wineries where we left without buying any bottles.
Montes Winery
We next toured Montes Winery, also in the Cholchagua valley. This tour was led by a very personable young guide who made everything quite enjoyable. At the end, we were given four reserve (premium) wines to taste, and chose to buy bottles of their Outer Limits Sauvignon Blanc. After the tour, we ate lunch at their restaurant, which was truly excellent. We were introduced to a new grape (for us), carménère, which was introduced from the Bordeaux region in France and is prevalent in this wine valley. We were told that this is the most famous varietal of wine produced in Chile.
Clos Apalta Lapostolle Winery
We did three wine tours that first day… which is something we do not recommend. Our hotel owner had suggested two, and he was right — two is a good limit for a single day of Chilean wine touring. Our third stop this day was at Lapostolle. However, upon following our Google Map, we found only a small wine store, where the owner told us that the tours were actually at their partner winery, Clos Apalta. We arrived a few minutes late, but since we were the only English speaking people taking the tour, the guide was waiting for us. This was the case at all but one winery — this is their off-season, but even so, English speakers rarely visit these wineries.
This boutique winery has a very unique architecture, being similar to an iceberg, in that 90% of it is underground. They produce only about 45,000 bottles of wine each year, and machinery contact with the grapes and wine is kept to an absolute minimum. The wine proceeds to each new stage via gravity, to the floor below, and then to the floor below that, until it is placed in kegs on the bottom of six floors. Actually, there is still one floor even lower, but that is where the owner’s wines are kept, in the wine cellar seen down the stairs in the bottom-left image, while we did our tasting at a table covering that staircase.
These bottles start at $150 per bottle, with some reaching much higher than that. Though we enjoyed the tour and the tasting, the wine was still young and needed several years to age. Since our apartment does not have space for long term storage of wines, we left without buying any bottles here.
Montgras Winery
The next day, we headed out again, but limited ourselves to two vineyards. The first of the day was Montgras. This was the largest winery we visited, producing 8 million bottles of wine per year. Everything here was on a massive scale, with everything clean and as organized as you might expect is needed to run such a massive operation. The barrel room alone (upper-right and middle-right) holds 30,000 barrels of wine. We enjoyed the tour and the tasting so much that we bought multiple bottles of Antu Cabernet Sauvignon / Carmenere, Reserve Carmenere, and Amaral Brut sparkling wine.
Our tour of wineries will continue with tomorrow’s blog post.
We spent two days in Santiago — one at the start of this trip, and a second later when returning from Easter Island. On both days, we used “Tours 4 Tips” free walking tours. Their guides dress as “Wally,” playing off the “Where is Wally” cartoon (known as “Where is Waldo” in the US and Canada, but “Where is Wally” in South America). We enjoyed the morning tour enough that we also took the afternoon tour, and later signed up for the same pair of tours in Valparaiso (a future blog). It is easy to spot the guides, as they all wear the striped red-and-white shirts of Wally in the cartoons. Highly recommended!
Seafood at Mercado Central
One of our stops was at the fish market. We often like to wander through the aisles of fish markets around the world, and this one lived up to expectations. Fresh fish with an immense variety, mostly from the local waters, brought in by fishermen that morning.
Fruit and Vegetable Market
We also like wandering fruit and vegetable markets around the world, and watching the vendors and customers. The area near Mercado Central is where immigrants who work hard can make a living. Many operate out of shopping carts or unauthorized food stands, and continually move around when the police come.
Cemetery General
Many cities have very old cemeteries with long and fascinating histories. Our Wally guides kept us crowding closer to hear the various stories they told. This Santiago cemetery shared a characteristic we have seen many places in South America with the condo-style of burials (center). People here are inserted head-first into a small space just large enough for their body, in a structure half a dozen bodies high and a hundred or more long. Burial plots can be purchased (the body is kept there for perpetuity), or rented for a limited period, and then moved into a mass grave if rent is not paid.
Highlights Tour
The Highlights Tour brought us to the more touristy locations, including the Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral (top-right and middle-left), the GAM Cultural Center (La Corporación Centro Cultural Gabriela Mistral) and The Chilean Fine Arts Museum. One building was demolished and rebuilt after Pinochet died, and is now dedicated to openness, visibility, and the arts. There were numerous small groups practicing various arts, as with the dancers shown lower-right.
Fire in the sky
What better way to leave Santiago than with one of the more colorful sunsets. This was one of the evenings when the clouds and temperature orchestrated a Fire In The Sky sunset — our favorite kind.
We went out for a sunrise shoot again this morning. Kim did some modeling for us at one site (lower-left), and as we were leaving the crater, Marc (our guide) posed for a quick shot (lower-right). This was another morning where we were lucky to get some color in the sky (top-middle and top-right). Also, a bit later, I looked up and saw my first “sunbow” where a rainbow completely circles the sun (upper-left).
Men as they come into the harbor after fishing all night at sea
The next morning we went down to two wharfs at sunrise, in search of the fishermen. Instead of always focusing on the statues, we opted this morning to focus on the people, which is what we usually remember the most after trips like this. These workers leave in the early evening, in the small boats seen on the top row here. They then fish by hand and poles in small vessels about 23 feet long (artisanal) where no nets are allowed, all night long. They don’t return until the early morning, shortly after dawn. We were told that the fish used to be found only 10 minutes out from shore. They now have to fish hours away from shore. Congril (moray eels, second row-right) and octopus are regular catches every morning.
The result of that long night’s work is typically two or three bins, holding no more than 150 medium sized fish. However, one morning, when we were photographing moai at sunrise, our guide got an excited phone call from his father-in-law. He had just landed a 95Kg (210 pound) tuna! That was worth as much as a week’s haul of the fish we saw come in this morning.
Sunset on the coast of Rapa Nui
On our last night in Easter Island, we walked down the coast to a restaurant that had been recommended. Along the way, we stopped to photograph the sunset. We rarely get in front of the camera ourselves, but Marc did shoot this one image of us overlooking the Orongo crater (upper-left).
Orongo Crater on Easter Island
The Orongo crater itself was rather hard to photograph in a light that really showed the size and shape of the volcano caldera. This one panorama was as close as we could come. This really called or a drone to give an aerial view, but alas, this is another location that the Rapi Nui have outlawed drones in recent years.
Milky Way at Anakena Beach
We tried on several nights to capture the Milky Way over the moai. Unfortunately, almost every night was either raining or cloud-covered. This one shoot was the only time we had clear skies… and then only for about 10 minutes before it clouded over again.
We have mixed feelings about the weather in Easter Island. We can count on the weather changing every hour, so we were warned to always wear layers and to be patient. We would wait for the right forecast for clear night only to get clouded over a half hour later, then a howling wind would start or a squall would past over. Such is the beauty and mystery surrounding Rapa Nui.
The people were genuinely nice, speaking a blend of Spanish and Polynesian language, and always with a friendly tone ready to help at any time. People are always smiling. Businesses open after 10 AM, take off during lunch, then reopen after 3 PM. Eating out is expensive here, since everything is shipped from the mainland, yet we found some favorite restaurants — Mamma Nui for pizza and Tataku Vave for seafood. We loved staying for a week in our cabin by the sea, listening to the waves crashing every night, watching the skies change every hour. The cabin was constructed for little people, as Burt hit is head on the beams every night, yet the location was easily walkable into town.
A little known factoid: Easter Island is called that because a Dutch explorer, Jacob Roggeveen, encountered it on Easter Sunday (April 5) in 1722.The island is called Isla de Pascua in Spanish and Rapa Nui by the Polynesians.
After viewing the total solar eclipse last week, we decided to spend a week on Easter Island, which was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995. Since this island is owned by Chile, it is considered a domestic flight, despite taking 5 hours to reach this Polynesian island. Chile is the nearest landmass, but at 3526 km (2191 miles) away, Easter Island is the most remote populated land mass in the world.
We spent the entire week with Marc Ross Shields from Green Island Tours, going out at least once per day (other than the day we were rained out). Marc was easy going, relaxed, and made the entire week feel like we were visiting a long-time friend who lived on the island and knew his way around. If you visit Easter Island, we recommend using his tour company, which also specializes in star gazing. Marc is a photographer who has published two books on the island.
The island is most famous for the numerous stone statues (moai) carved by the Rapa Nui people that appear mysteriously over the entire landscape. The Moai are stone statues that represent the spirits of chieftains or high-ranking male ancestors, with most being placed facing inland with their backs to the sea. The official count is 887 moai, though we were told that the historian who established that number has since revised it to over 1100. with scores of them still located at the quarry. Many of the moai are broken, fallen over, underwater, or in hard to reach places though, so the typical tourist probably sees closer to 100 or so.
Many of the moai at the quarry show only the exposed heads, with the torso still unexcavated below the surface. When we asked how a massive stone statue could be half buried, we were told that the sculptors would carve the head, then dig a hole next to it. They would then tip the massive piece of stone into the hole, giving them access to carve the back of the statue, before rolling it down the hill to its final location, where it was to guard the village. The statues range from 13′ in height, to the largest of over 30′ weighing more than 80 tons each.
Groups of Moai at the Quarry at Rano Raraku
Rano Raraku volcano is the quarry where the moai were produced, being carved out of the hillside from Lapilli tuff (a solidified volcanic ash). The monolithic statues were all carved between 1100 and 1500AD, though it appears that several dozen were being made at a single time when all production suddenly stopped. Those are the ones scattered in various states of completion here at the quarry. In 1862, large numbers of Rapa Nui males were captured by Peruvian slave traders. The dozen that managed to return to the island brought smallpox, which dramatically reduced the remaining island population. Between 1774 and 1830, most of the moai had been toppled, possibly due to internal tribal warfare. Many of those were restored in the 20th century by European archeologists.
There are also many wild horses on the island. As we left the quarry late in the afternoon, we came across a small group of them backlit by the setting sun (lower-right).
Sunrise with the moai
We got up several mornings before sunrise to capture the morning light behind the moai. Our first sunrise was at Ahu Tongariki, where we saw 15 statues lined up, with the sunrise colors a phenomenal bright orange. We had overcast weather for most of the week, and only got “fire in the sky” colors a couple of times. Fortunately, sunrise occurs pretty late here, due to some timezone gerrymandering to keep Easter Island only two hours apart from the mainland (to make business between the island and mainland easier). Thus, sunrise occurs at a leisurely 8AM or later. ☺
Aerial views from a drone
We brought along our drone for some aerial views of the island. The Rapa Nui (local ancestral tribe) that rule the island have recently forbidden drones over most of the landscape, though they had been allowed a few years ago. The flight above was made over a part of the island rarely visited by tourists, and is one of the few legal places to fly.
Watching the sunset
Most days we also went to view the sunset at Ahu Tahai, Anakena Beach or along the Polycarpo Toro road on the island, usually with moai in the foreground. We had some settings to ourselves, but the more popular locations were shared with others there for the same reason (top row).
Kari Kari dance
We have found the “local traditional dance” shows to be hit-or-miss. Some are tired and purely tourist come-ons. But then, there are some that we have enjoyed, such as the one on Sri Lanka, and the one we saw tonight in Hanga Roa on Easter Island. There are several such shows here, but we were told that Kari Kari cultural ballet was the most authentic, and that the dancers appeared to be quite spirited. They were right, and the show was quite enjoyable.
Total Solar Eclipse Sequence in Vicuña, Chile, July 2, 2019
We have both experienced partial solar eclipses a few times when they happened to occur where we lived. This year we decided to “chase” an eclipse, and traveled to Vicuña, Chile to experience our first Total Solar Eclipse. To do so, we joined an exploratory trip being set up by Loren Fisher — the tour leader we used to show us the Fall Colors of New England last year. The long range forecast was for 60% chance of cloudy skies during the winter in this location. We got lucky though, and had 100% clear skies that day.
The sequence above is a composite of images we captured during this event, from normal sun on the right, through occlusion by the moon, until totality is almost reached and the “diamond ring” effect appears for a brief moment. Totality is then reached, where only the outer corona is visible — a period that lasted 2-1/2 minutes at ground zero, where we were. In the middle of totality, I shot 15 images with a 30 f-stop exposure range, from which I created the detailed coronal image in the center (and shown again in more detail at the end of this post). As the moon passed, the entire process was repeated until we had the full sun again. (Actually, that last image is a bit of a cheat, since the sun had actually set behind the hills at that point, so I substituted an earlier full sun to complete the sequence.)
There are many technical aspects to photographing an eclipse. First you have to find the proper location to see the entire sequence from C1 to C5. Special filters must be made to protect the camera sensors, and another set to protect your eyes. Then you must learn the correct speed and aperture settings for the proper exposures. The 30-stop HDR is particularly tricky. Timing is difficult to capture Baily’s beads (third from center on entering and leaving totality above). The filter must also be removed from the camera at just the right time, and then replaced at a specific time too. Finally, there is a lot of specific task-learning to process the sequence in Photoshop (which took three days to complete).
It is not just a simple process of aiming a camera lens and shooting.
Ls Serena at Sundown
We arrived early in the region of the eclipse, so that we would have time to scout around for a good location to set up the cameras and relax a bit. We were staying in La Serena (where Loren had booked a condo a year earlier in anticipation of the Eclipse), and decided to photograph the lighthouse one evening before dinner. When we arrived, we discovered there was major re-construction going on, with heavy machinery around the base. Walking around, we found angles that would hide the equipment (lower-left and lower-center).
A bit more exploring found some dilapidated walls nearby that had interesting graffiti and murals on them. As we watched the sun lower, we also realized there were plenty of photographic opportunities in the beach sunset.
Third Millennium Cross (Cruz del Tercer Milenio) and Local Fish Market (Coquimbo)
We continued to explore the area the next day, and visited the “Third Millennium Cross” (upper-left quadrant), which is a cross that was built to commemorate year 2000, which declared the beginning of the third millennium since the birth of Jesus. This location provided a panoramic view of the city, although it was covered in plexiglass, making for poor photography.
We then decided to go down to the wharf in Coquimbo to have lunch. This is a colorful small-town fish market, where three of the vendors are captured above. The vendors enjoyed posing for photographs, and our waitress in the restaurant was singing and dancing with the local musicians while we ate a delicious meal.
Mamalluca Observatory Where Scientists Viewed Eclipse
We had ideally wanted to shoot the eclipse from the Mamalluca Observatory. Discussion on Facebook had indicated that it would be available on a first-come, first-served basis, so we headed there early the day before the actual eclipse. We found an array of scientists and graduate science students set up with advanced equipment on the grounds. We were told that the entire observatory property had been reserved for such scientists, and that we would not be allowed there on eclipse day. Bummer…
As we drove down from the observatory, we passed a small campground with a sandwich board showing food for sale, just yards from the entrance to the observatory. There were no signs indicating it had any available parking spaces nor rooms for rent. What the heck? What have we got to lose? We drove in and asked.
It turned out to be the perfect location for an unobstructed view of the entire Totality phases. Not only did they have parking spaces available for rent, but they had just finished a new cabin that day and had not rented it out, not being sure if it would be ready in time! They started asking $900 for the night… Yeah, a bit steep. Hum, Hah, Well… and the price dropped to $300 with two bottles of wine tossed in. OK. Deal was struck! We would not be camping and using the nearest cactus for a restroom. Instead, we would be in the lap of luxury (well… in a two bedroom basic cabin for four anyway) with lounge chairs, Chilean meals from their restaurant, a refrigerator for cold Coke Zero and beer, plus a flush toilet. We were blessed, and were within a stone’s throw of the observatory we had first wanted.
Starry Night Over Our Cabin in Vicuña, Chile
On the night before the eclipse, we went outside our cabin and attempted to capture the Milky Way. We rarely get a chance to shoot the night sky in a cloud-free dark-sky environment, so we stayed up most of the night photographing what we could. Our cabin can be seen as foreground props in the photos on the bottom row.
Eclipse Day!
Eclipse Day Came! Everyone had two cameras running. I can be seen controlling the long lens camera that created the composite on both top and bottom of this post from the comfort of our cabin (top-middle). Loren is seen setting up one automated camera (lower-left) and manually controlling another (center). Others who gathered at our location to see the event are seen lower-center (taking group photo) and lower-right (using a solar glass to photograph with his point-and-shoot camera).
The Peak Result From Chasing an Eclipse
Some people report “life changing experiences” during solar eclipse totality, though I can’t honestly say I felt that. During the period of totality, the birds did begin acting strangely and the color the sky was quite eerie, not like the colors you see at sunrise nor sunset. It is easy to understand why so many people chase eclipses around the world. We met people who have seen totality nine times, and one couple that has already lined up their hotels for the next five total solar eclipses around the world.
I did take the brief time during totality to do a 15-exposure, 30-stop photographic image of the total eclipse. That was later processed in Photoshop to create this image of the corona of the sun — a scene not normally possible to see because of the extreme brightness of the full sun.
Couple outside our cabin watching the eclipse develop
Mark and Kerry, our niece and nephew on Evelyn’s side, both visited us in Cuenca in June. When they graduated from the university, we offered them a trip to South America as a gift. Mark actually graduated with a BS in Biology four years ago (and again with an MBA this month), while Kerry graduated a year ago (and is now a PhD student at University of California at Berkeley — our alma mater, which is also ranked #1 in the world in her field of Chemistry and Organic Chemistry). Busy young lives kept them from accepting our offer until this year, when both asked if they could travel to the Galapagos Islands with us, followed by a couple days in Cuenca. Afterwards, they went onward to Chimborazo, the Quilotoa Crater and the center of the world in Quito. The Galapagos portion of the trip was documented in part one and two, while this shows some highlights of their trip to Cuenca.
They were interested in sampling local Ecuadorean food, so we found a great restaurant in Centro called Guajibamba that delivers fully cooked cuy to your home, so we were able to introduce Mark and Kerry to that local treat (upper right). Evelyn then took them to the Piedra de Agua spa in Bańos to relax in the red and blue mud treatment (lower-left) and steam (lower-right) baths.
Corpus Christi celebrations with Vaca Loco at Parque Calderón
They were fortunate enough to be here during Corpus Christi week, and Parque Calderón (where the main fireworks with “castiles” occur) is only three blocks from our apartment. As such, we went down one night to see them up close and personal (never wear nylon clothing to these events, because “personal” means the fireworks will probably land on your clothes!) Mark has a good eye and shot several photos from the celebrations above.
Celebrating Kerry’s 23rd Birthday and Mark’s Graduation
We rented out the Jazz Society for one night, to throw a surprise party for Mark and Kerry. We invited some of our friends to meet the two graduates, of which about 40 were able to attend. To our delight, we had managed to keep the surprise until the moment they arrived in the room.
This happened to also be Kerry’s 23rd birthday, so we had three reasons to celebrate — two graduations plus a birthday!
Musical Talent in Cuenca, a UNESCO city designated as the cultural capital of the Americas
Jim Gala, owner of the Jazz Society, was gracious and played piano for the first half of the party (lower-left and lower-middle). After that, many of our musically talented friends took over the mic to serenade our visiting nephew and niece. Thanks to Jan Wallace, Rick Berke, Marcos Uyaguari, Estefi Ortiz, and Santiago for providing the music, and Sandy Kraft for organizing the food and decorations.
Our 5-day tour of the Galapagos Islands continue (read part 1 here). There are both Blue-Footed and Red-Footed Boobies on the islands, though we only visited islands with the Blue-Footed variety. From prior trips, we found them the more interesting anyway, and this time we visited shortly after the chicks had hatched (right-middle and left-bottom).
Again, many of the photos on this post were contributed by Mark and Kerry Jones, our nephew and niece who accompanied us on this trip.
Frigates were also in full mating form with their red throat pouches fully inflated (center and lower-middle). Since the frigate mating cycle does cover several months, there were also some female frigates still sitting on their newly hatched chicks (upper-left), and other chicks recently freed from the nests (upper-center and upper-right).
There were a few types of lizards on the islands (upper-right and lower-left), but the dominant ones were the land iguanas (upper-left and upper-center) and the marine iguanas (center, lower-center and lower-right).
The marine iguanas have the interesting habit of frequently sneezing, with a white substance coming out their noses. That is actually salt that the iguana is expelling after eating underwater sea plants.
Sally lightfoot crabs have always been a favorite of ours to see and photograph. This time we were able to get video of them too, as they scurried over the rocks. These are bright red and yellow tiny crabs, anywhere from the size of an American quarter to the diameter of a tennis ball at their largest. In nature, bright red and bright yellow generally indicates that the individual is poisonous (the poison creating the animal’s color), which keeps predators away. In the case of the Sally Lightfoot crab, they have mimicked that color, so that they are mostly immune to predators, though they actually carry no poison.
Our boat was a luxury yacht (Grand Queen Beatriz — upper-right) built in 2018 and holding a maximum of 16 passengers and 12 crew. We moved between the anchored boat and land using two Zodiaks (center-left and lower-right). When on the island walks, Roberto would give nature talks about the biology of the island.
As a lifetime biology teacher turned island guide, he was full of information and always had an upbeat, comical way of presenting the information — which assured that everyone huddled close to hear his latest story. On one island, some carcasses of animals that had died naturally were laid out for our inspection and education.
There were a total of 11 guests on this boat trip, so we were not at full capacity. We were lucky in that everyone was compatible and enjoyable, and all combinations of table seatings produced great conversations. Most of the group can be seen following Roberto from a small lake (lower-right), and half out group on a Zodiak as they prepared to land (upper-left).
We went snorkeling several times, and at one location Kerry had her portrait taken with Galapagos penguins in the background (center).
On our last night on the islands, several of us stood on a hillside at sunrise watching the blue-footed boobies diving for their dinner. (Kerry is second from the right).
Kerry (our niece who was here celebrating her 23rd birthday and university graduation) bought a new GoPro Black7 for this trip, and took it snorkeling. While in the water, a penguin started to peck on the mask of Mark (her bother). Watch the video above to see the encounter that followed. (Note: this video seems to show in higher resolution if you follow the link and watch it on YouTube directly).
Many thanks to both Mark and Kerry for contributing images and videos for this blog, and coming down and spending the week with us.
Our niece Kerry, and nephew Mark Jones came to visit us for the past week. Both are from Evelyn’s sister (Pauline) side of the family. We told both that we would pay for a trip to South America when they graduated college. Mark actually graduated three years ago, and Kerry one year ago, but young lives and jobs kept them from accepting our offer until this year.
Mark actually just graduated last week with his second degree, an MBA from University of Calif at San Diego, and starts a new job next week as a Production Planner for Thermo Fisher Scientific. This trip was squeezed between the two events. Kerry is now in the PhD program at University of Calif at Berkeley (our alma mater). UCB is currently ranked #1 in the world for Chemistry and Organic Chemistry.
Our trip together kicked off with a 5-day cruise through the Galapagos Islands. Though we (Evelyn and Burt) had been there twice before, this was Kerry and Mark’s first time. The two of them contributed many of the photos used in the blog posts of today and tomorrow, covering this trip.
We toured 5 islands: Santa Cruz Island, North Seymour/Mosquera Islet, Black Turtle Cove/Dragon Hill, Chinese Hat/Rabida Island, and Baltra.
We started the first day walking around Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island. Most of the island waterfront consisted of souvenir shops and (expensive!) restaurants. We were directed to the “fish market,” and walked right past it the first afternoon, not seeing anyone or anything of interest.
When we returned the next morning though, we found fishermen selling their fresh catch, by the fish or by the pound in blocks from larger fish. Though on a much smaller scale than most fish markets we have visited, this one was unique in that the pelicans crowded the small area, waiting for pieces of fish dropped or discarded.
While on Santa Cruz island, we visited the Charles Darwin research station. This is where scientists try to rebuild the population of Galapagos animals that are on the brink of extinction, and to also decide how best to deal with non-native animals and plants that are adversely affecting the Galapagos ecosystem.
Darwin Station was famous for many years for housing “Lonesome George,” the last Pinta Island Tortoise known to exist. We saw that tortoise alive here at this station in 1999 and 2009. He died in 2012, and his taxidermied body was displayed in a New York museum until suitable quarters could be built for his body at the Darwin Station. We saw his taxidermy body there in New York in 2016, and now saw it again in its permanent location in a specially constructed building at Darwin Station.
The new tortoise star is Diego (brought from San Diego), who has already fathered more than 800 offspring.
Pelicans were abundant on these islands. First showing up for us at the fish market (second photo-block on this page), we frequently found them roosting on rocks or bushes, or flying low — often as they were about to swoop down for a fish catch.
Sea lions are on almost every island in the Galapagos. Though we are asked not to approach any animals closer than 6 feet, the sea lions do not have the same restriction. One young sea lion decided that Burt’s tripod would be tasty (center and top-middle), and insisted on trying to take a bite out of it. Since it is a carbon fiber tripod, the teeth made no mark, but the sea lion didn’t stop trying. When Burt raised the tripod to move away from this sea lion, the pup then took the leg down his throat! If the tripod had not been quickly moved out of his reach, the pup would have probably choked on it.
Another young sea lion pup waddled over and started to nibble at Roberto’s leg (our boat biologist / naturalist guide — bottom-middle). Roberto tried to walk slowly away, but the pup continued to follow and nibble. One final step and the pup decided to see what we were doing (bottom-right).
As we were ready to call it a day and return to the boat at sunrise, a swarm of several hundred blue footed boobies flew overhead and out to the ocean. Racing back to the shore, I caught several images of the birds swarming and diving for fish. You can see two birds diving on the right, and another two on the left of this image.
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