Arrival in Quito – “tempo doeloe” at La Cienega

6/2. In the airplane we didn’t speak spanish yet. But I met a french couple (physicians, amateur bird-watchers and experienced travellers) who knew about La Condamine. Telling them about our journey, they asked how frequently such a tour was organized….. They had experience with mosquitos and gave some good advices about “votre seule ennemie”.

When we flew back from rainy Guayaquil to Quito, the wheather cleared but the clouds remained: we couldn’t see the high volcanos. At the airport we were welcomed by our host Sebastian. He saved me by walking véry slowly and offering us a good cup of colombian coffee. 

Downtown Quito reminded us of Bogotá, with its big malls, the taxi's and huge buildings.

Driving out of Quito reminded me of Jerusalem, also built on mountains with in between large roads full of traffic. It took Sebastian quite some time to get out of the town in the pouring rain.

The road south went slowly up, until there were no large trees anymore. The agricultural landscape now reminded me of the Golan Hights where we drove a month ago (see blog of December 2009). But here, we saw our first lama! It took some time before Sebastian accepted our pronunciation: "dzjama".

Finally the road went down again and we reached Lasso and at the end of a side road there it was: La Ciénega. How impressive! It stimulated Hilbert to draw.

Entrance and rear view of La Cienega

In every aspect this Hosteria reflected the atmosphere of "Tempo doeloe". We dined like kings, with Chilenian wine and with a servant standing at our table ready to help or answer questions.

Tempoe doeloe at one of the many fire places in the Hosteria

7/2. Exactly at 8 o'clock the guide Alex Cadena (born in Latacunga) came to fetch us in his 4-wheel drive for a trip to the Cotopaxi (5987 m and still active). The vulcano was hidden by heavy clouds and at the desk they wished us good luck...But we were véry lucky and while driving around this magnificent mountain we saw the top for more than an hour! For the first time now we walked over the Páramo, the vegetation Antoine Cleef had told us about. 

The cloudless top of the Cotopaxi

The car brought us to 4500 m. It would take us at least an hour to walk to the refuge, 300 m higher up. Luckily (?) we were wise enough not accept the invitation.

Hopefully my colleagues at UvA will be able to give some names....

Just outside the entrance of La Ciénega was a stone comemorating the visit of La Condamine to this magnificent place, now 300 years old. At that time there must still have been a "ciénega" or swamp which was dried by the now huge eucalyptus trees on either side of  the entrance road.

La Condamine visited this place one year before leaving for the Amazon

Preparations 8 - A guide to the Pongo!

One week to go and to make the last preparations!

Also La Condamine did not go unprepared down the Amazon river. Already 5 years before his actual departure on 11 May 1743, he was considering the route home along the Amazon. In August 1742 he obtained his Portuguese passports (see A. McConnell, 1991. “La Condamine’s scientific journey down the River Amazon, 1743-1744.” Annals of Science 48: 1-19). From this paper: “Other letters from the Spanish missionary province of Mainas brought the news that the governors of Pará and the Portuguese forts along the lower river had been ordered a year previously to give him all possible help and to safeguard his passage, and were now awaiting his arrival.”

Likewise, we have been looking for assistance, for a guide to the Pongo: Thanks to my colleague, Antoine C., who visited Loja last autumn, we came into contact with Eduardo T., director of tourism in the province of Loja. After showing him our plans he expressed his interest in our La Condamine-journey. Offering his help in guiding us along the route through Peru until the Pongo de Manseriche, he also asked our cooperation in promoting the “Eja Vial #4”-project. We were delighted and, of course, immediately said yes.

Antoine (left) showing Hilbert on the laptop his photographs of the Páramo near Loja. La Condamine, climbing up to ~4000 m (~2000 toises), must have seen this landscape without knowing how special it was…..(páramo is tropical, high-altitudinal grassland above 3000 m).

In his “Voyage sur l’Amazone” La Condamine writes (p.52) about deserted towns that were richly populated with Spaniards less than a century ago. As a reason he suggested that these places were lying too isolated, too far away from the ocean and from the Carthagena-Lima highway (the “Camino Real”). Now, some 270 years later, it appears that this is still the case and that governements are making serious plans to change this situation.

The planned road Eje Vial#4 from the Pacific Ocean to the Amazon is almost identical to the route taken by La Condamine in 1743.

Politics

Eje Vial#4 is a joint project of Ecuador and Peru and intends to connect the Pacific coast (Puerta Bolivar) with the Amazon river (port at Sarameriza). Such a road connection of some 630 km (“Una via Trans Oceánica Binacional”) is considered important for the economical development of the north of Peru and the south of Ecuador. The road will pass along a disputed border region north of the Marañon river called the Cenepa drainage basin. Here, to the east of the Cordillera del Cóndor, the army of the two countries fought each other in 1995 with heavy arms and fighter-jets. The Ecuadorian army used Kfir-jets: In 1975 I attended the first demonstration of the Kfir in the Negev desert south of Be’er-Sheva, where I was then working…

In this Cenepa war mortal casualties amounted to a total on both sides of around 500. In October 1998, the presidents of both countries agreed that the demarcation of the frontier should remain as decided in the treaty of Rio de Janeiro of 1942. Now, 12 years later, both countries seem to prefer to build roads instead of army outposts.

But what does this imply? Exploitation of forests and mines, development of oil and gas fields, increased tourism, expansion of agriculture, industries, villages and towns. All the things we have been doing in Europe during the past few hundred years, resulting in our present prosperity. And now, we do not want that the same things happen in Amazonia, because it threatens the biodiversity and the life and culture of indigenous people. From our prosperous position we demand that the biodiversity and the indigenous cultures of the Amazon will be preserved for the future. With what right can we make such a demand? When we are there I hope to come back to this question.

Preparations 7 - Places mentioned by La Condamine

The departure date is coming nearer! We are talking about vaccinations, insect repellants, flashlights, extra memory cards and batteries, etc. Nothing compared to the heavy instruments La Condamine and Maldonado took with them!

When looking at all the places La Condamine mentioned in his book “Voyage sur l’Amazone” (see map and legend with 46 locations below) it is remarkable that most of these names still exist on modern maps. How many of them will we be able to visit and what will we find there now?

Places mentioned by La Condamine:

1. Cuenca; 2. Tarqui, salida 11-5-1743; 3. Zaruma, 17-5-1743; 4. Loja, 23-5-1743; 5. Malacatos, 27-5-1743; 6. Yangana, 3-6-1743; 7. Loyola;    8. Valladolid;  9. Rio Chinchipe;  10. Jaen de Bracamoros, 23-6-1743;  11. Tomependa; 12. Rio de Chachapoyas; 13. (Rio) Chuchunga, embarcacion cerca el puerto actual de Nazaret, 4-7-1743; 14. Cumbinama; 15. Escurrebragas y Guaracayo, 9-7-1743; 16. Sant-Iago de las Montañas, Jibaros indigenes, 10-7-1743, Maria de Nieva no mencionado; 17. Pongo de Manseriche, 10-7-1743; 18. Borja, 14-7-1743, “un nouveau monde”; 19. Pasada Rio Morona, 15-7-1743; 20. Pasada Rio Pastaça, 17-7-1743; 21. Pasada Rio Guallaga, La Laguna, reunión con Don Pedro Maldonado, 19/23-7-1743; 22. Pasada Rio Tigre, misión Yaméos, 25—7-1743; 23. pasada Rio Ucayali, 26-7-1743; 24. Saint-Joachin de Omaguas, 29-7-1743; 25. pasada Rio Napo, 31-7-1743; 26. Pevas, ultima misión espanola; 27. Saint-Paul, primera misión portugese, 5-8-1743; 28. misiones Yviratuva, Traquatuha, Paraguari y Tefe, 10-8-1743; 29. Pasada Rio Japurá; 30.  Coari, 12/20-8-1743; 31. Pasada Rio Purus, 22-8-1743; 32. Pasada Rio Negro, Manaus, 23-8-1743; 33. Pasada Rio Madera, Tupinambara, 24-8-1743; 34. Pasada Rio Nhamunda, 28-8-1743; 35. Fortaleza Pauxis (Obidos), 2-9-1743; 36. Fortaleza Tapajos (Santarem), Rio Tapajos, 3-9-1743; 37. Pasada Rio Xingu, fortaleza Paru (Porto de Moz?), 6-9-1743; 38. Curupa, 9-9-1743; 39. Pasada Rio Tocantins, Pará (Belem) 19-9 hasta 29-12-1743, salida Maldonado por Lisboa;  40. Isla de Marajo, 1-1-1744;  41. Punto Maguari, 11-1-1744;   42. Fortaleza Macapá, 18/19-1-1744; 43. Pasada Rio Arawari, Cabo Norte, 1-2-1744; 44. Pasada Rio Oyapoc, Cabo Orange, 23/24-2-1744; 45. Cayenne, 26-2 hasta 22-8-1744; 46.  Paramaribo, 28-8 hasta 3-9-1744, salida La Condamine por Amsterdam.

Preparations 6 - Map of Israel

While preparing our La Condamine&Maldonado-trip it was difficult to find on the map the border between Ecuador and Peru. But this is nothing compared to the map of Israel (Carta, Jerusalem; www.carta.co.il) with its many lines indicating “international boundaries”, “separation of 1974 forces”, “planned borders”, “security fence” and lines between annexed areas and occupied areas under partial or “complete” control of Palestinian Authority. This complexity only increases when taking into account that many of the people let themselves be guided by rules of family-pride and -honor or by a God that “gave them the land”.

Some dutch politicians like D. van Agt and J. van den Broek (like myself not Jewish) think that Israël has the duty and capability to solve the problem (The Rights Forum). However, they seem to forget that the many neighbours (millions) living along these complex borders simply refuse to be practical and prefer to continue the fighting which, they apparently think, gives them more advantage in the future (see also the blog "Israël Palestina Info"). 

New building: here, in the far distance, the building of Hadassah Hospital;

view from Alyn Hospital in Kiryat Hayovel

Driving through the country, from Be’er-Sheva to Jerusalem, HaZorea and back, I cannot say that the Israeli's are wrong: Two years ago I was impressed by all the building that was going on: new roads (e.g. Route no.6), hospitals (Hadasah), malls (Jerusalem), hotels (Golan), villages and whole towns (Jewish Ma'aleh Adumim and Ariel). And it has been going on as if there has been no war. It seems that everywhere the country is developing itself.

New roads: here, the road to the Golan Heights

And the Arabs? I was told in HaZorea (HM) that not only Jewish towns but also Arabic cities and industrial areas (e.g. near Revava along Route nr. 5 to Ariel) have expanded and have profited from the way the Israeli economy was able to deal this year with the economic crisis. But what do they gain by rejecting every compromise (since 1948) and by refusing to be practical? This time, I only spoke with the same person whom I met two years ago in the guesthouse Mishkenot Sha'ananim, where we stayed. And he still complained that it took him so much time at the border of East-Jerusalem to get to his work. Of course, this is not enough to understand the behavior of the Arabs.

View on Jerusalem from Jaffa Gate.

In the center the guesthouse Mishkenot Sha'ananim

According to a Hamas leader one of the obstacles in peace negotiations is that Israel wants to be a “Jewish state” with no separation between state and religion. But is there an Arab state where such separation exists? And don't we (the EU) recognize the countries with no such separation? I was reminded by a friend (NBG) that when European countries recognized each other more than hundred years ago there was also not much of a separation. 
What about the Bedouin and Druze communities in Israël? Driving from Be’er-Sheva north one now sees a huge town in the desert, with green-lit minarets: Rahat (green is the color of Mohammed and has nothing to do with the new green Climate-religion). Driving over Mount Carmel to Haifa we were impressed by the extension of the Druze cities of Daliyat el Karmil and Isfiya. Are these (religious) communities just more practical than the Arabs in the Westbank and Gaza?

And what about Jordan? We went to a place, an old power station at Nahara’im, where Jews and Arabs came to a practical agreement after the disaster in 1997 of 7 girls shot dead by a Jordanian soldier. King Hussein came to express his grief. I wonder what the Jordanians think of the Israel-Palestine conflict. And the Egyptians? They seem to fear the Hamas in Gaza. 

 

Trying to be practical: here, the Israeli and Jordan flags on a dam of the Rotenberg-power station in Naharaim

When observing the people in the streets of Jerusalem or the students on the University campus of Be’er-Sheva (apart from the many Arabic students!) I find the diversity of the people remarkable. They are all Jews, but clearly from many different parts of the world! Is this mixture of “tribes” the reason for the many beautiful people I see? It must be difficult for any enemy to fight such a heterogeneous population. And, for an outsider like me, some of the Jewish "tribes" very much resemble Arabs.... 

So many different people: here, on a wedding party in Jerusalem

Preparations 5 - Surinam poster, Golden monkey and La Cienega

Studying the maps, reading books and e-mailing people that know about Ecuador, Peru or the Amazon becomes more and more exciting. What a pity that our sons, Hilbert-Jan and Marius cannot accompany us; hopefully there will be a next time.  The two of us now have our tickets for Quito!

Although Surinam still seems far away we already paid for our flight back from Paramaribo to Amsterdam. In contrast, Maldonado and La Condamine could only hope that in the mouth of the Amazon they would find a ship to bring them home again. Due to the wars in Europe La Condamine could not join Maldonado on a ship to Spain. Lucky for us, he had to travel to Cayenne, finally returning via Paramaribo and Amsterdam.

Hilbert and Sebastian studying in Naarden the map of Ecuador: “Where is the Rio Chinchipe?

When preparing our journey it seems that every post should again express our motives or justification for this long trip. Remember that it all started with the poster of Paul Woei (Paramaribo). In its legend Hilbert and I read for the first time the name of La Condamine. The legend stated:

“…The trees stand so close together it is impossible to see the sky from the ground,…This world could really be compared to a huge, dark sea…” words of Gonzalo de Oviedo, explorer of the New World in 1526. Maria Sybilla Merian, one of the earliest naturalist (1699-1701), to observe first hand the plants and insects in the tropical New World, published the results in her book “METAMORPHOSIS INSECTORUM SURINAMENSIUM”. Fifty years later the Swedisch botanist Carl Linnaeus classified specimens from Suriname, e.g. quinine. In 1744, La Condamine made a stop in Paramaribo after a long journey from the Andes down the Amazon river. Botanical specimens  which he had lost on his way were replaced. 85% of Suriname land area is still covered with the rainforest. Biologist and naturalists continue to be attracted to study the exotic species in this “haunting green hell”. A journey through the rainforest is an intensely, overwhelming experience for all the senses. The sounds, colors, fragrances and sights reveal to the open mind the complexity and dynamic diversity of life and the amazing adaptation of each organism; it heightens perceptions and understanding of the fragile interdependence of all species, including the human.”

It was this description found in 2005 that initiated the idea of making this journey “in the footsteps of La Condamine and Maldonado” 5 years later.

The poster by Paul Woei, Paramaribo, Surinam (2004). In its legend the name of La Condamine.

In his book “Measuring the New World”, Neil Safier described how La Condamine receives, at the end of his journey, a “golden monkey” from the  governor of Pará (Belem). I wondered what monkey this was and whether we would still be able to see such a beautiful creature. Even with the help of my friend, Henri Wijsman, we were not able to find the name of this golden monkey. My friend, however, had met thé primatologist of the Amazon, Marc van Roosmalen in 1976 at Foengoe Island in Surinam, when van Roosmalen started his studies. See his book “Blootsvoets door de Amazone” (which will appear in an english edition). Upon my request he immediately answered that it was the Amazon marmoset Mico argentatus, previouslay named Callithrix argentata. Now an image was readily found on Wikipedia!

La Condamine described the monkey as follows: “a golden-haired monkey reputed to be the sole representative of his species. The monkey’s tail, in contrast to a body whose sheen radiated like “the color of  the most beautiful blond hair” was of a dark and lustrous brown, almost black. But most impressive of all were the bright red tints with which his ears, his cheeks, and his muzzle were adorned, “a vermilion so vibrant,” in the words of La Condamine, “that one could hardly be persuaded that the color was natural.” (p. 238 in Neil Safier’s book).

Left: Image on page 264 in the book of Neil Safier “Measuring the New World – Enlightenment Science and South America” (University of Chicago Press, 2008.

Right:  Mica argentatus. Image from

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvery_Marmoset.

Sebastian found a nice hotel for us in the center of Quito. However, looking for hotels ourselves, we found the Hosteria La Cienega, where according to the description on the website La Condamine has been visiting:

“The hacienda has played host to a number of important historical, social, political and scientific events on a national and international level.  The wise French intellectual Carlos Maria de la Condamine arrived in Quito with Luis Godin y Pedro Bouger in 1736.  Six years later, after two hundred years of inactivity, Volcano Cotopaxi erupted, provoking the scientists to move closer to the outskirts of the volcano.  Carlos Maria took up residence in La Cienega, resulting in the beginning of a long and meaningful friendship between the academic and Marquez de Maenza.  “

Later, in 1802, Alexander von Humboldt stayed there. Perhaps, as residents of the city of Naarden, we also have to stay a night there because La Cienega and our town bear the same double-headed eagle in their arms.