Where did all the hippies go?

I just recently returned from a trip to Colorado Springs, CO.  When I first started planning the trip, I thought, “how exciting, I’m going to CO.”  Then as I started planning my trip, I started wondering, “what is there to do in Colorado Spring?”  Of course, there is the natural beauty of the area, i.e., mountains!

Well, my buyer’s remorse about going to Colorado Springs was unfounded.  There a lot to do and more to see.  Colorado Springs is not Denver and the town is not really worth exploring, but the area is.

So, where did we go …

 

• You can not visit without going to the Garden of the Gods.  If the weather permits, definitely hike!
• Then there is there is the Royal Gorge scenic train ride in Canon City … opt for the lunch in the vista dome. 

• Manitou Springs is a cute small town at the base of Pikes Peak.  It’s mostly shops, many interesting one, but worth the stop.



• Needless to say, you have to take the cog railway to Pikes Peak, regardless of whether you are a hiker or not.  You should at least take the railway either up or down … there are only a couple of cog railways left.

Unless you are a hiker or skier, you don’t need to spend a lot of time in Colorado Springs.

So, where did all the hippies go … I think they are in Colorado Springs.

Cruising Alaska

One of my possible holiday trips this summer is a 7-day Alaskan cruise on Royal Caribbean.  Deciding which cruise line to take can be difficult, as it was in my case.  I’ve been critical of travel agencies and their cookie cutter service, which is one of the reasons why I painstakingly make my travel arrangements myself, usually online.  I like to customize my holidays the way that I want too.  Of course, there are some travel agents that do this … I don’t know who they are though.  But as I was trying to plan my holiday, it finally dawned upon me that I needed help.  I called Royal Caribbean and Holland America.  What a difference in the representatives.  Although both representatives were sales people, Royal Caribbean was a sales representative/travel agent.  The representative was knowledgeable and helpful.  He knew his ship, at least he appeared to know his ship, and all the services that Royal Caribbean offered … like the off-ship excursions.  Holland America on the other hand was a poor sales person without and travel agent skills.  Of course, I could have just been lucky or unlucky in the case of Holland America, but I may be rethinking my perception of travel agents altogether.

Doomed to success? Visiting the Galapagos …

When is a good thing too good?  Each year the Galapagos Islands seem to get more and more popular.  At one time, there were only 60,000 visitors to the islands, but it has grown by tens of thousands.  Recently, a five star hotel opened, appropriately $400 – 500 per night the last time I checked, which is about the cost of the Explorer II.  This is just one example of how the islands may be doomed to their success.  A five star hotel takes a lot of construction and creates more traffic and pollution … you can only be so eco-friendly.  This cannot help but change the islands.

One thing that I learned on my trip was the islands were not always protected.  In fact, they have a storied past.  After Darwin’s  discovery, there were several attempt to colonize and exploit the islands.  Mainland animals like horses and goats were imported and competed with native animals.  You would not believe how the islands got rid of the goats … they herded them and shot them!  What about taking them back to the mainland?

This time, instead of trying to colonize the islands, are we going to tour it to death?  Not to sound like a hypocrite because I have already been to the island, but I was glad to hear that Ecuador was going to reduce the number of visitors to the island.  My compliments to Ecuador.

By the way, despite earlier attempts to colonize, I was glad to see that islands appeared pristine … mostly.  There were no toilets, waste bins, or anything human that stayed on the island … other than footprints.

What if the US owned the Galapagos?

I’ve been back a couple of months from my visit to the Galapagos Islands and I kept thinking, what if the United States owned the Islands?  At one point, the Islands belonged to no one and Ecuador claimed them, but what if the United States had foreseen their worth and said we want the islands.

Well, here are my predictions:

• There would be many more visitors to the Islands … more American visitors.
• There would be more than the one 5-star available.
• One would be able to put tissue paper in the toilet.
• Security would be tighter … no more casual taking of volcanic rock.
• Each island would have a gift shop that visitors would have to pass in order to leave.
• The fee to enter the park would be more than the current $100.
• Inside the gift shops, you would have an opportunity to adopt a specie.
• The paths would be paved so that there would be no injuries.  No need to get the lawyers involved.
• There would be many more excursions, including night visits for the adventurous types.
• The islands would also have mini-restaurants where one could order blue-footed boobies burgers, sea lion salads, and iguana soup.  (Popular food items would be named after animals … we would not actually eat them.)
• You would not have to go all the way to the Galapagos to see their animals, you would just have to visit your local zoo.
• And finally, Disney would be the official tour operator with fun rides and all.

My compliments to Grayline tours

One of the hardest decisions to make when traveling is what to do when you get there.  Do you explore on your own or use a tour company?  Well, it depends.  On our trip to Ecuador where language was an issue, we decided to use a tour company, but which one?  I’ve used Grayline for several other tours and learned that they have a presence in Ecuador, so I went with them.  The tours were wonderful.

Our first tour was a City and Equatorial Tour.  Here, we toured by bus and foot the wonderful cathedrals and churches of the city, including there Notre Dame and the famous San Francisco.  Several, we were able enter and marvel at the architecture and ornateness which belie the wealth of the country.  Throughout the tour, we are getting a history lesson.  We conclude the city part of the trip with a spactaculous view looking down on the old city.  While not part of the equator trip itself, our guide took us to the actual location of the equator in addition to the equator monument.  At the actual location is a small museum (and fee) where there are experiments and archaeological digs.

We also used Grayline to visit the Indian market Otavalo.  We took a private tour, because group tours are only offered certain day.  Along the way to Otavalo, we made several stop at local markets and scenic outlook.  While the day that we visited the market was not busy, it seemed not to deter the vendor.  This is a must visit place in my opinion, even if you don’t like to shop.  After Otavalo, we visited a small town known for its leather goods.  Advice … take a lot of money, while the products are not expensive by United States standard, you really get caught up in the bargaining.

The last tour was  to Cotopaxi and an hacienda.  While we had no intentions of climbing the volcano, the natural beauty of the area is incredible.  We were lucky in that we got to see the snowy tops of the volcano.  Because the day was somewhat clear, we drove to the base parking lot for climbers.  This was not part of the tour.  You better be adventurous and trusting.  A good part of the drive is quite foggy and the rode is curvy and not paved and there are no guard rails!  A word of caution for those who suffer altitude sickness … I thought that my head was going to explode.  The choice of hacienda was excellent.  Too bad it was raining.

Last word, while we could have explored these places on our own, there were lots of places on each tour where we stopped that we would not have known to do.  Also, we learned a lot about the history and culture of the places we visited.  Our guides made the experience personal and enjoyable.  All were professional and seemed to like their jobs.

Clubbing sea lions to death

Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that 53 sea lions in the Galapagos Islands had been clubbed to death.  The deaths were reported as having to have been caused by humans.  Having recently visited the Islands, I can certainly attest that these animals are not afraid of the world’s most dangerous predator and were easy targets, but why and who?  The Ecuadorians are investigating the killings; however, I am not optimistic that we will learn who committed the crimes, unless someone reports that they know who killed these sea lions.  The islands are open and accessible by boat with some islands inhabited by people. 

Why such a senseless and cruel act?  Was this an insane effort to hurt the tourism business which is criticized for changing the ecology of the area?  Just some random lunatic?  How do you protect the Islands without changing them?

Truly a horrible story.

My favorite Galapagos Island

Trying to determine which of the Galapagos Islands was my favorite is really difficult.  While there is a lot of similarity between the islands, they are also unique too. 

So, on our trip, we visited 6 islands:  Bartholomew, James Island, Fernandina, Isabella, North Seymour, and Santa Cruz.  We would visit one island in the morning and one island in the afternoon.  Our last day, we visited the islet, Mosquera.

Bartholomew, the first island that we visited, was probably the best view that we had where we climbed to the top of the island.  We saw few animals like lava lizards, iguanas, crabs, sea lions, and supposedly there was a dolphin sighting.  So, during our hike, our naturalist pointed out native plants and talked about the island formation.

Later that afternoon we visited James Island where we saw abandoned structures and the remnants of salt mining.  The island has much more vegetation than Bartholomew and we saw much more wildlife … sea lions, iguanas, crabs, a hawk, and several birds.

The next day we visited Fernandina Island.  This is the island of iguanas.  At our landing we had to carefully navigate through a multitude of iguanas, sunning on the rocks.  We actually got to see a dispute over territory (an iguana fight).  We also got a close view of flightless cormorants.  Sea lions and crabs are ubiquitous.  We also learn about lava flows, which are identical to the ones found in the Hawaiian island chain.  We also unexpectedly see a sea turtle.  The wildlife is active and varied here.

Isabella was our afternoon island where we took a dingy tour and did not actually land on the island.  I was a little concerned about the dingy tour and what we would see, but this tour was really interesting.  We even visited a cave.  We saw a multitude of blue-footed boobies perched on the cliff walls.  There were several sea turtles and stingray sightings and other birds.  Of course, there were sea lions, crabs, and iguanas.  It is amazing that sea lions are as adept at climbing as they are.

Our last full day in the Galapagos, we started the day by visiting North Seymour Island … one word incredible.  The main wildlife was birds:  blue- and teal/green-footed boobies and frigates who were mating and nesting.  There were active sea lions too.  The island also have quite colourful vegetation.

No visit to the Galapagos would be complete without a visit to Santa Cruz to visit the giant tortoises and the lava tunnel.  Pictures do not do these animals justice.  Depending on your perspective, we visited at the right time.  The tortoises were mating.  They are a little skittish, but you can get quite close like centimeters.

Our last day, we take a dingy tour to the islet Mosquera.  The highlight was a mating frigate and the geology of the islet.  Along the ride, we saw sea lions and crabs.

I suppose I would have to say North Seymour is my favorite because the birds were so active and plentiful and didn’t fly away when they saw us.