Tag Archives: wildlife

Europe, Spain

Montserrat

Squatzi Montserrat
Squatzi likes Spain!

Side trips and small excursions from major hubs can be the best part of any vacation.  They’re usually off the beaten path, and a little less touristy.  On our third day in Spain, we decided to visit Montserrat,  a Benedictine monastery in the heart of Catalonia.

The trip is about one hour by train from Barcelona, and includes your choice of air tram or railway to get to the top.  Of course, we chose air tram–the Aeri de Montserrat.  Once at the site, there are a few funiculars to other view points and stops of interest.  And we all know how I feel about funiculars!

Aeri de Montserrat – cable car to the monastery
Aeri de Montserrat closer view of cable car
What you need to know:
  • There’s a pretty dark history of the monastery.  During the Spanish civil war dozens of monks were killed as a violent attempt to suppress Catalan culture.
  • The monastery has one of the oldest and most renowned boys choir.  The choir sings through the day, and they’re an impressive bunch of little kids!
  • Montserrat is one of the most important pilgrimage destinations in Spain.  The main buildings and courtyard are overrun with people.  Thankfully, the hiking trails are not.
  • The Black Madonna statue (claimed to be from 50AD, but carbon dated to the 12th century) is patroness of Catalonia.  “La Moreneta” is the soul of Montserrat.

Imagine a super religious Banff, A.B. or Whistler, B.C. with a lot less winter sports retail, and less party boys, and you’ve got the atmosphere of Montserrat.

Montserrat
These little guys were out for a hike too.

The rock formations,  “serrated mountain” (mont serrat), that give the monastery its name are filled with hiking trails and paths that are fairly easy going.   Along the way there are some lovely view points, shrines, and sculptures.

Subirachs sculpture at Montserrat
Subirachs sculpture at Montserrat

There were sculptures by Subirachs that completely echoed the figures of the Sagrada Familia.  There is also the Ramon Llull’s Escala de l’enteniment.  This translates to me as “scale of understanding” or “ladder of being.”  From bottom to top the steps are Pedra, Flama, Planta, Bèstia, Home, Cel, Àngel, Dèu.  Which to me is Stone, Flames (Hell?), Plants/Earth, Animals, Man, Sky (Heaven?), Angels, God.  Not being a Catalan speaker, I hope that’s close!

Ramon Llull's Escala de l'enteniment
Ramon Llull’s Escala de l’enteniment

The courtyard of the Basilica of Montserrat is beautiful.  I’m a sucker for religious iconography, so I found it particularly interesting.  The fountain of youth/life was ridiculous, but the pilgrims were buying into it whole heartedly.  They were also lined up forever to touch the statue of La Moreneta/the Black Virgin.

Montserrat Insignia
Magic Fountain of Life Montserrat
Montserrat Prayer
Basilica Courtyard, Montserrat

Just look at all the tiny, intricate  details from top to bottom of the Basilica façade–seriously, how long would it take to make something like this?!?

Jesus & The Apostles at Montserrat
Jesus & The Apostles. Montserrat Basilica Façade built in 1900 to replace the 1500’s original

And, here’s why iconography super interesting.  Why is the fourth person holding a massive saw?  Or, the eleventh person holding a battle-axe?  At first glance, I know which one is Jesus, but the rest can’t justifiably be lumped together as “the Apostles” without me knowing who they are.   Well thanks to some research, I know much more about the Apostles lives and deaths, most of which were pretty gruesome.

So, my best guesses, from left to right are:  Matthias with a sword, Philip with a cross and basket, Thomas with a spear, Simon with a saw, James the Lesser with a club, Peter with the upside down cross and keys, Jesus, John with the bible, James with the scallops on his shoulders, Bartholomew with the flaying knife, Andrew with the X cross, Matthew with the battle-axe, and Jude with sails, but I can’t really see his outfit or what he’s holding.

If anyone can offer more insight, I’d love to know!

~j

New Zealand, Oceania

Why You Should Visit the Otago Peninsula

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Sea Lions, Otago Penninsula

The Otago Peninsula is one of the few places to see the endangered Yellow Eyed Penguins, and one of the only mainland Albatross habitats in the world.  This is probably one of my favorite vacation days in recent memory.  When we were looking for a company to visit the Otago Peninsula with, I was asked if I was a “twitcher” because I wanted the opportunity to see penguins.

twitch·er

ˈtwiCHər/
noun
noun: twitcher; plural noun: twitchers
  • a person or thing that twitches.
    British informal
  • a birdwatcher whose main aim is to collect sightings of rare birds.
No, I don’t think I would go that far! However, I’m not going to say no at the opportunity to see Royal Albatross and Yellow Eyed Penguins, Seals, Sea Lions, and tons of other birds!  That’s awesome.  We saw so many more birds than I could have even imagined.  The day wasn’t just about the birds; the Sea Lions were a definite hi-lite of the day.

To see the Albatross, we went to the Royal Albatross Centre at Taiaroa Head on the Otago Penninsula.  The centre is the only mainland place in the world to view these enormous birds.

The teeny tiny Yellow Eyed Penguins were on the opposite end of the size spectrum.  They actually walk up from the beach (near the Sea Lions who very well could eat them!) up the sand bank into the longer grassy areas to nest.  It was quite the trek for these little waddling birds.

If you’re in New Zealand, and wondering whether to visit or not, take the opportunity.  It was fantastic.

~j

New Zealand, Oceania

Charles, you don’t need that!

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So, you might know that I’m taking my dad (Fazh) to New Zealand in a little over 2 weeks. He’s gone a little nutty with excitement. Months ago I gave him Eyewitness New Zealand to read through. He started dog earring corners, and writing notes in the book, essentially making a list of things he wanted to see. This is his trip, so I’ll do my best to make sure as much of what he wants to see is included. Some of the requests created a logistical nightmare. We only have 2 weeks and he’s got about 2 months worth of stuff on the list.

Most important to him was seeing how kiwi fruit grows, seeing a Kauri tree logging harbour, seeing a sheep shearing, going to the glow worm caves, and seeing penguins. He also wants to take the InterIsland ferry and the TranzAlpine train. Then he decided that Milford Sound and the Moeraki Boulders would be good options as well. All of those things I’m alright with except for the logging industry. That wasn’t going to be logistically possible, and was promptly cut. (I also couldn’t make the TranzAlpine work. The Coastal Pacific works just fine though.)

I think the fruit is what he’s most excited for, it isn’t like we don’t have kiwi fruit in the supermarket here, and it isn’t like he has never see a sheep being shorn in Canada either. Who am I to argue?

As the trip gets closer, he gets sillier. Here’s a conversation from last week.

Me: We’re going to have to get you some snacks for the 7 hour bus ride we have one day so you don’t turn into a cranky bitch.
Fazh: Stock me up on marshmallows and licorice, and I’ll be fine.
Me: Uh, maybe we could get you a sandwich and a drink or something to pack with you instead of just sugar.
Fazh: Where are you going to get a sandwich there?

Like he has a steady diet of pure sugar here? Like there are no supermarkets in New Zealand? No bread, no sandwich supplies? Really?!?

And today he calls me at work:

Fazh: I have to go buy a backpack for the trip. I think I’m going to get something camouflage so that I can use it for hunting and fishing later.
Me: Ok, but you have to get something small. 30L or less. It has to be small enough for carry-on. I’ll take you shopping on Thursday after work so you can pick out something good.
Fazh: I have ear plugs for the plane. They have a string connecting them so I don’t lose them. And I’m going to pick up a Louis L’Amour book. They’re all the same–the cowboy will ride his horse around, do some shooting, run around for a while, kiss the girl and they’ll ride off into the sunset together. Those books are all the same. I’m going to buy one right now.

(FYI: He bought FOUR Louis L’Amour books today! Who brings 4 books on vacation? They weigh a fricken ton, and I’m being the luggage stickler forcing him to take only carry-on. Ol’ Louis might just have to sit this one out…or at least 3 of them will. Jeeze!)

And after work:

Me: Did you find a backpack?
Fazh: Yes, I looked at them. I saw one that looked comfortable.
Me: Did you try it on?
Fazh: No, you told me not to buy it unless you looked at it. I also saw some Merrell running shoes that looked comfortable. They had a deal buy 1 pair get 1 pair half off so they could have gotten $200 out of me.
Me: You know you can buy just 1 pair right?
Fazh: Well I didn’t buy any because you told me not to buy anything.
Me: …….

But the best part of the day, and for all of you who get this conversation, I hope you find it as funny as me. (FYI: he’s 62, able bodied, and does not limp.)

Fazh: I don’t want you yelling at me because I’m old. I don’t want you yelling at me because I’m limping around. I don’t want you yelling at me because I’m slow.
Me: I’ll yell at you, you’ve got a 20 minute time limit, move it along mister. I’m gonna yell at you if you so much as think about eating an extra cookie.
Fazh: Then I’ll start calling you JOAN!*
Me: Charles you don’t need that!

Moral of the story, I might go cuckoo.

*Joan is my Grandma’s name. She’s the food police with my Grandpa.

Asia, Cambodia

That’s downhill right?

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On one of the days that we’re in Cambodia we’ve planned to visit the Tonle Sap–a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Yes, UNESCO strikes again!

What’s so interesting about this body of water? Despite having over 400 species of fish, and just as many mammals, birds, and reptiles, the most fascinating feature is the direction of the river flow changes depending on the season. True story.

Tonle Sap MapDuring the dry season from November to May the Tonle Sap is a tributary of the Mekong. The River flows towards Phnom Penh. In June, heavy rain fall backs up the Tonle Sap and creates a large lake, and water is actually pushed from the Mekong into the Lake. At the end of the rainy season, the River changes direction again.

So, what makes this area worth visiting? (Besides being uber-nerdy?!) Well, the wildlife and scenery, the floating villages and stilt houses to name a few things. The sad part is that we’ll only see the region in the dry season, and not the other extreme. The depth of the lake changes from 1m to 10m during the rainy season. Check out the photo at the bottom of the Peace of Angkor page to see both seasons. We’re actually booked in with Peace of Angkor for the day to visit Beng Mealea and Tonle Sap. I hope it is a good one.
North America, USA

Do Not Feed Prairie Dogs

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Do not feed prairie dogsPrairie Dog Town is a real location at the entrance of the Belle Fourche campground. True story. Check out the map. We ended up spending a very rainy night there. The campground was nice enough, but the weather not so much. At least we were able to take some fun photos.

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 These Black-tailed prairie dogs remind me of the marmots at one of the parks here. (photo below) Even though they’re Yellow-bellied marmots–they still look the similar. Yep, Groundhogs, Marmots, Prairie Dogs, whatever you like to call them–the same all over the place. (ps: they really are all from the Sciuridae family, so there’s your mini science lesson for the day.)
gopher

 

 

North America, USA, Yellowstone

Wyoming: The Road Kill State

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I don’t even know where to start with this entry. Maybe with some photos…

After we had driven through miles and miles of corn fields in Montana, the scenery in Wyoming was a welcomed change. Luckily, we managed to take the scenic route to Devil’s Tower which made a lot of difference. Most of these shots were taken from a moving vehicle, so don’t be too sad if they’re off kilter.

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We drive major highways all the time. Every day. Hwy 1, Hwy 5, Hwy 16, Hwy 97, etc etc. Even including all the driving in other countries, the number of times I’ve seen road kill prior to this trip is probably less than 20. In Wyoming, that number is probably about 1500, and I’m not exaggerating. Why the hell is there so much road kill on the I-90? So disheartening.

Bet you really wanted to know this—in many States and Provinces it is legal to collect and eat road kill. Seriously. Animals are collected (if they’re not too smashed up) and distributed to churches, soup kitchens etc to make meals. People can keep the meat they find; different rules apply in different areas though. I suppose it makes sense? At least you know how and where the road kill happened to be if you’re the one who hits it? Is it really different than hunting game? The animal is still being killed, just with a vehicle, not a conventional weapon? But somehow I don’t think I’ll be trying roadkill stew any time soon.

Wikipedia even has a nutritional values chart. Yummy.

Peru, South America

Islas Ballestas: The Poor Man’s Galapagos

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Islas Ballestas Pelican

Islas Ballestas is a nature reserve about a 3.5 hour bus ride from Lima. We had to be at the bus terminal in Lima for 3:30am for a 4:15am departure, which meant we left our hotel at 3am to get there on time. Ugh, getting up early sucks, but it was worth it. (I did an earlier post about part of the bus trip.) One thing I forgot was that before boarding bags are searched, and video footage is taken of each passenger’s face. We initially thought the video was for security reasons. When we got home someone told us it was to identify remains of passengers if the bus is smashed beyond recognition in an accident. That’s always reassuring!

We arrived safely at a bus station in Paracas. The bus station was more like a glorified grass hut, but with plumbing. Check out the security device on the toilet tank.

Bus Station Paracas Peru
Bus Station Paracas Peru
Our guide Luis met us on a tiny dock, we loaded up the boat and were out on the Ocean. We saw (and smelled) a bazillion birds. There were cormorants, gulls, pelicans, blue-footed boobies, and Humboldt Penguins! I heart PENGUINS! We also saw sea lions eating sardines right out of fishermen’s nets. The fishermen were none too happy, but the sea lions were living it up. Luis had never seen a sea lion “con pesca en bocca” in all the years he’s been a marine biologist, so he was super stoked about that.

Blue Footed Booby Islas Ballestas Peru
Humboldt Penguins Islas Ballestas Peru
Seals Islas Ballestas Peru
Cormorants Islas Ballestas Peru
Humboldt Penguins Islas Ballestas Peru
Seals Islas Ballestas Peru
Seals Islas Ballestas
Paracas CandellabraOn the way to the island, we passed the Paracas Candelabra. The huge geoglyph is hundreds and hundreds of years old. No one knows why it is there, or who put it there. (Pirates, Aliens, Sailors, are all theories.) Word is that the candelabra points to the Nazca Lines, but that doesn’t hold out if you google it. The geoglyph is several feet deep of dust. It hasn’t disappeared due to erosion because it is sheltered from the wind, and it never rains in the area. People are not permitted near the candelabra as the foot prints/tracks would remain imprinted on the crust.

The weather of the Paracas area creates also an anomaly for the Ballestas island. Due to the lack of wind/rain, and the island birds’ ability to produce so much guano an industry has been created. The guano is collected every 3 years to be used for fertilizer. It is illegal to set foot on the islands without special guano collecting permits. Not that that’s something I was interested in! Let’s just say you’re lucky there isn’t smell-o-vision to go along with the photos!

ps: I included a few of Jon’s photos. His zoom was better able to capture the birds.

 

Peru, South America

Machu Picchu

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Machu Picchu PeruMachu Picchu was easily the best place we visited on the entire trip. We spent 10 hours just walking around the site and taking photos and chatting with other people there. Photos just don’t do it justice. I could fill your brain with history of the site, but you could google it yourself. We poached some info from the guided tours, and learned quite a bit of stuff. Here’s your few facts:

Machu Picchu Entrance signHiram Bingham III discovered the site in 1911. The switchback highway that you have to take to get to the site (if you don’t do the Inca Trail) is called the Hiram Bingham highway. You can only wonder what state Machu Picchu was like when he arrived almost 100 years ago.

I bet Llamas weren’t at the entrance to greet his expedition team!

There is a carved rock sundial in Machu Picchu–the Intihuatana. The Quechua name translates as “hitching post of the sun.” If you measure the angles of the Intihuatana they are 13 degrees. FYI: Machu Picchu is 13 degrees from the equator.

Intihuatana

The sundial measures solstices and equinoxes accurately. Not that atypical of a sundial, but it proves that the Incans had intricate knowledge of the solar system. The dial is also aligned perfectly north, and a magnetic compass when held to the stone will go all wacky as the rock is magnetized. Intihuatana is one of the only sun dials still existing from Incan times. Spanish conquistadors destroyed all symbols of Incan religion. Luckily they didn’t find Machu Picchu.

The site is extremely organized; it would have been an efficient little city. The people would have been completely self-contained with agricultural terraces growing enough food to feed the population of Machu Picchu. Buildings are believed to be homes, storage sites, prison cells, baths, and communal areas. All of them are built without mortar, and the stones are made to fit together perfectly. ps: Jon tells me that people were imprisoned for laziness.

The Temple of the Condor (left photo) is supposed to look like a condor in flight. The natural rock in the background looks like wings, and the rock in the foreground is carved to look like the head of a condor. Word is that the Incans used this site for sacrifices. Another interesting rock formation (right photo) was pointed out by some dude we ran into a few times. The rock was carved to look like the mountain range behind it.

Spiny WhorltailObviously we saw plenty of Llamas as we wandered, but that wasn’t all. There were little song birds flying everywhere, and so so so many little lizards! (Really, Spiny Whorltail Iguanas if you’d like to get technical and nerdy. Gotta love google!) One of the people we were talking to showed us a photo of a tarantula she’d just taken. We didn’t see any. She was super relieved that it was a tarantula she’d seen and not a lizard. Bizarre!

Everyone at the site seemed to really appreciate the experience. Usually there is at least one jackass story from every site we visit, but here, everyone was just well, normal if you will. People were really nice too, even suggesting to take photos for each other. Seriously, we must have taken 50 photos of other people and been offered just as many times.

Machu Picchu Peru7We ran into Becky and Ryan, a couple we’d me at the hostel. We also ran into everyone we’d met on the train. Craig, Michael and Michael were still going–that’s them in the photo walking on the stairs. We ran into Andy and Angela for lunch. The three, Andy, Angela and Chad, had hiked to the site in the morning to watch the sunrise. All in all, one of the best days of the trip–an absolutely gorgeous setting, great weather, awesome people.

What more could you ask for?
~j

Peru, South America

Cruz del Condor

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Cruz del CondorLet me start this little entry by saying I absolutely LOVE the show Departures. Almost every country featured on the show makes us want to book plane tickets to the destination. Luckily, we had been planning to go to Peru for a while before we saw the Peru episode. I find it funny that when Scott and Justin went to Cruz del Condor there weren’t any birds to be seen. And, I also find it interesting that they left because it was too touristy for them. Because of that I imagined there would be way more people there.  After all, Colca Canyon is one of a few places to see Andean Condors in flight.

Cruz del Condor wasn’t too over populated, but there were several people who were incapable of following simple “do not cross” signs which was hugely annoying and disrespectful. We are standing there on the precipice of the second deepest canyon in the world, why on earth would you cross boundary lines? You know that if you plummet towards the bottom you’re not going to be alright, not to mention that the nearest “hospital” capable of dealing with life threatening injuries was probably hours and hours away in Lima. Dummies!

Still, Cruz del Condor was an excellent afternoon and opportunity to take some pictures of the gigantic birds. I took a lot of photos! Unfortunately, my camera doesn’t zoom as well as I would like it too, so I’m adding some of Jon’s shots to mine for this entry. Note to self…get a new camera before the next adventure!

Peru, South America

Know what I like? Llamas!

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On the second day in Arequipa we were picked up at our hotel for the Colca Canyon and Cruz del Condor tour. Because everything was arranged by the Casa de Avila, we didn’t really know what to expect. Our guide David (Dabeed) spoke both Spanish and English which was handy because we had about half and half for the people on the tour. There were people from Chile, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, USA, and us from Canada. We met a super nice couple from St. Louis – Jill and Jason. David was actually pretty awesome. He knew a lot of information about the people, culture and areas we drove through. I learned more than I expected.

Llama Crossing Sign
For the first day of the tour we drove from Arequipa to Chivay. We stopped several times at handy craft sites set up at strategic points along the route. (Pretty much every where you go there is someone trying to sell something.) We drove through the Salinas y Aguada Blancas National Reserve.

map-arequipa-to-cruz-del-condorThe reserve is home to thousands of Llamas, Alpacas and Vicuñas. Seeing the little camelids in fields on the side of the highway was sweet. I did feel like a total tourist taking photos of them–kind of like people taking photos of Big Horn Sheep on the highway in Banff or Jasper.   FYI:  The novelty wears off if you frequently see the animals on the morning commute.  In total tourist style, I took the photos!

The highest point along the route was Patapampa Pass at 4910m above sea level. (That’s over 16,000ft above sea level for you non-metrics.) We stopped for Coca tea and candies pre-trip. Neither of us had the tea, but both of us ate the candies. I don’t really know how they work, but they help with the altitude. The most we felt was a little short of breath and tight chests. I’m sure the Diamox helped negate any other symptoms we might have had. One poor lady on the tour was barfing from the altitude.  She was not doing well.

Mirador de Los Andes
Translation: Viewpoint of the Andes stretch of the volcanic mountain range in the Central Andes

It was pretty amazing to see all sorts of stone piles, similar to Inukshuk, all along the road. I asked David  for an explanation.  He explained that the  Apachetas are built as an offering to Gods. The people believe that high points are sacred, and try to emulate that with the stones. First they dig a little hole and bury something of importance, maybe their own hair, and then they build the Apacheta on top of the offering. There were literally thousands of Apachetas along the way.

Our stop over for the night was in Chivay, which is this dusty little dust bowl of a town. The Colca Inn was amazingly cute accommodation, especially since we didn’t even select it ourselves. We went out for dinner as a group with everyone from the tour. There was traditional music and dancing. It was all fun and games until we had to participate in the dancing. One dance around the restaurant and I felt as though I’d run a marathon. Score one for altitude that night.