Camino de Orellana and the valley of Yaruqui

9/2. The taxi driver looked at the address and promised us that he would "bring us down". And down we went from our hotel in Quito's center to Guápulo, down an old bumpy road named the Camino de Orellana. This was the very road Orellana took when he went on his expedetion in 1581 to the Rio Napo and then down the Amazon.

The Camino de Orellana

The taxi stopped in front of the old church of Guápulo and with a lot of excuses the driver explained that we had to walk back up the road, a good exercise in breathing. But there we were cordially welcomed by a tall, slender figure, the friend of Norbert Vischer, the first couselor of the German Embassy, Raymond Dequin, who had invited us for breakfast at 7:30 h. "Dequin" is not a french name but a Prussian word for dike. Although we first entered a huge but empty room, it soon became clear why he had asked us to come there. The house on a steep slope, was surrounded by balconies overlooking the valley of Cumbaya, where we had been yesterday. Raymond showed us around in this beautiful villa and in his fantastic garden with the highest palmtree of Quito (a "wax palm") and many other interesting trees like the Quito-palm and the "tomato-tree" (see below).

The beautiful house and garden of Raymond Dequin

Raymond agreed that the way Quito was built on many hills resembled Jerusalem. It appeared that he knew a lot about Israel, the Arabic world, where he had lived in his youth and about the Islam. So, while enjoying the delicious yoghourt, porridge and huevos fritos Marguarita served us, we discussed the "legitimacy" of Israel and whether and whether this legitimacy was slowly fading or not. We talked about the Ecuadorian political reaction towards "Copenhagen" and could have talked the whole day, if Raymond did not have to bring us back to the hotel, up the steep Camino de Orellana.

At the breakfast table: Hilbert showing Raymond where to find La Ciénega,

a múst for a German counselor....

Back in hotel Antinea, Sebastian came to bring us again to the University in the Cumbaya valley, where we had an appointment with the geographer Carlos Mena. Because he could only receive us in the afternoon we decided to drive to the valley of Yaruqui, where La Condamine had erected his controversial pyramids, both for his triangulation measurements ánd for the glory of "European science". 

Daniel Carrasco, a friend of Sebastián who had joined us, asked the owner of a house under construction with a high, flat roof, whether we might take pictures from there of the Yaruqui valley. This time we were less lucky, but the friendly owner showed us where the Cotopaxi was lying behind the clouds. But at least we could see the Pichincha!

Sebastián, Daniel and Hilbert on the roof of a house

overlooking the Yaruqui valley

While Hilbert was taking pictures of the panorama, the heat and the noise of the nearby traffic prevented me from having the philosophical reflections Humboldt had when overlooking this valley: "How many things exist that man cannot see" (Chapter 1 of Neil Safier's book "Measuring the New World", Chicago University Press). For us, however, at this stage of the trip, there were too many things we cán see, with too little time to digest.....

Our view of the panorama of Yaruqui valley.

To the left the Cotopaxi behind clouds; in front the Pichincha mountain.

Upper frame: "Vue de la Base mesurée dans la plaine d'Yarouqui, depuis Carabourou jusqu'a Oyambaro" (1751). Note the roof of a house similar to our roof above.

Lower frame: a recent overview taken from the same point, somwhere near the town Yaruqui.

(from "Los Caballeros del Ponto Fijo", A. LaFuente & A. Mazueco(?). Libreria de la P. Salesiana).

Back at the University we were received by an enthousiastic Carlos Mena, who confessed that he would very much like to join us on our trip. He borrowed us a real GPS, the robust GeoExplorerII of Trimble Navigation Lim., 1996. So, finally, we know our position: 0^o 12.2' S; 78^o 29,4' W and 2799 m hight.

Hilbert and the geographer Carlos Mena 
(Director, Maestría en Ecologia Tropical, Universidad San Francisco de Quito), 
who kindly borrowed us his GPS  GeoExplorerII.

Back in the hotel we had a rest before Sebastián came to drive us to his parents house. There we were cordially welcomed by his father and mother, an uncle (painter) and another uncle (silver smith) and their wives. They showed us a movie about indian life in the Esmeraldas, the province governed by Vicente de Maldonado at the time of La Condamine.

We sat at a beautiful table with very colourful and tasty dishes, most unknown to us. Here, we also ate the sweet fruit of the "tomato tree", we had seen at Raymond Dequin's house.

The parents thanked us very sincerely for the way we had received Sebastián in Holland; thanks I accepted also on behalf of Tanneke and Bart who supervised Sebastián in the Molecular Cytology Laboratory. We left the house with the warm feeling of having experienced a South American hospitality so cordial and different from our European one (see also the blog "Bogotan experinece" posted 15-4-2007).

The colorful feast dish. In the center the parents of Sebastián.

Universidad San Francisco

8/2. Throughout the night, after visiting the Cotopaxi yesterday, I heard the full concert of the frogs in the nearby swamps from 10 in the evening till 5 o'clock in the morning. Then the birds took over, a sign that it would soon be light. Apparently, one has to get used to sleeping at a hight of 3200 m. In the morning the Colombian coffee and the fried eggs made us soon feel better.

Sebastian came to bring us to the Universidad San Francisco near Quito. Now the sun was shining and we hardly recognized this road we had driven two days ago in the rain: it was a beautiful road through a Switzerland-like landscape.

The campus with nice gardens and buildings and the many students reminded me of that of Be'er-Sheva, also with respect to (and Hilbert agrees) the many elegant students.

The beautiful campus of the Universidad San Francisco

This would be the "science-part" of our trip: Telling an interested audience how we think that the cells in a bacterial population keep their average size constant, I had to breath deeply between the slides. 

Between the slides I had to breath heavily....

At right our host Sebastian Robalino Espinosa, former student at Molecular Cytology

After the talk we had lunch with Gabriel Trueba, the director of the Instituto de Microbiologia and with Sebastian. As Gabriel was not only interested in the bacterial cell cycle but also in our trip, he kindly introduced me to the geographer Carlos Mena. He explained to me that my new touch screen google-telephone did not have a GPS. He then offered me a real GPS for our trip. We should come tomorrow again to fetch it.

Sebastion Robalino, myself, Gabriel Trueba and Hilbert 

Sebastian brought us to Hotel Antinea, an old villa close to an area in Quito with small pubs and restaurants.

An impression of Hotel Antinea

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.