Travels – Page 2 – Here and Abroad

Visit to a Maasai Village and School

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Curtis

The Maasai are a semi-nomadic ethnic group of people living in southern Kenya and northern Tanzania. (Wikipedia: Maasai People)

Village Map Diagram

We visited a family unit in their village one afternoon after a game drive through the Ngorongoro Crater. The family consisted of a man, his 15 wives, and their dozens of children. The village we visited was located just outside Ngorongoro Crater at -3.129148, 35.681014.

Upon arrival just outside the village we were greeted by the chief’s eldest son. I paid him $50 to allow unfettered access to the village and permission to take photographs of the people and structures. When we first arrived in Africa our guide explained that people here are generally very private and do not like their photo being taken. But, they are willing overlook this for a little cash, and $50 goes a really long way in a remote village like this.
Read more →

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I Don’t Like Bugs…
Wow, Those Are Cool Bugs!

Posted on August 20, 2014 by Kathy

Bullet Ant

I don’t like bugs. OK, let me clarify; I don’t like normal, everyday bugs. June Bugs are nasty. Flies and mosquitos need to be banned from the earth. Beetles are only good for crunching under your shoe. Cockroaches…well, nobody likes cockroaches. And don’t even get me started on brown spiders; I’m scared to death of them. All of them. Even daddy long-legs. But Black Widows don’t bother me…go figure.

But show me a bug that is different than those I normally see and I think they’re cool! That’s one of the reasons I liked the Amazon so much…the bugs are pretty darn amazing. Read more →

Indigenous Amazonia – The Kichwa Part 3

Posted on July 4, 2014 by Curtis

This is a three part series on the Kichwa people living near the Yasuni National Park in the eastern Ecuadorian Amazon Basin along the Napo River. In Part 1 of the series, we discuss the village, schools, and infrastructure. In Part 2 of the series, we visit a Kichwa farm. In Part 3 of the series, we visit a cultural center and see how the Kichwa women are working to preserve their culture.

Part 3 – The Cultural Center

During our recent trip to the Amazon, we have several opportunities to visit with the local indigenous population. We were able to visit a Kichwa community, a Kichwa farm, and a Kichwa cultural area.

The Kichwa (or Quechua) are an indigenous people in South America. They speak the Kichwa language, which is also the same language the Inca’s spoke. They are found primarily in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. Total population of Kichwa people is between 10 and 11 million people, with about 2.5 million of them in Ecuador.

In Part 1 of the series, we looked at a village commune and visited a school.

In Part 2 of the series, we looked at a farm.

Our third visit was to an Añangu Kichwa Cultural Center. Read more →

Indigenous Amazonia – The Kichwa Part 2

Posted on June 30, 2014 by Curtis

This is a three part series on the Kichwa people living near the Yasuni National Park in the eastern Ecuadorian Amazon Basin along the Napo River. In Part 1 of the series, we discuss the village, schools, and infrastructure. In Part 2 of the series, we visit a Kichwa farm. In Part 3 of the series, we visit a cultural center and see how the Kichwa women are working to preserve their culture.

Part 2 – The Farm

During our recent trip to the Amazon, we have several opportunities to visit with the local indigenous population. We were able to visit a Kichwa community, a Kichwa farm, and a Kichwa cultural area.

In Part 1 of the series, we looked at a village commune and visited a school.

Our second visit was to a Kichwa farm. Read more →

Indigenous Amazonia – The Kichwa Part 1

Posted on June 25, 2014 by Curtis

This is a three part series on the Kichwa people living near the Yasuni National Park in the eastern Ecuadorian Amazon Basin along the Napo River. In Part 1 of the series, we discuss the village, schools, and infrastructure. In Part 2 of the series, we visit a Kichwa farm. In Part 3 of the series, we visit a cultural center and see how the Kichwa women are working to preserve their culture.

Part 1 – The Village Commune

During our recent trip to the Amazon, we had several opportunities to visit with the local indigenous population. We were able to visit a Kichwa community, a Kichwa farm, and a Kichwa cultural area.

The Kichwa (or Quechua) are an indigenous people in South America. They speak the Kichwa language, which is also the same language the Incas spoke. They are found primarily in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina. Total population of Kichwa people is between 10 and 11 million people, with about 2.5 million of them in Ecuador.

Our first visit was to a Kichwa commune. Read more →

Rain. As in Forest.

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Curtis

I’m going to write about rain. Specifically, rain in the rain forest. During our trip to the Amazon Rain Forest in eastern Ecuador, we expected rain. After all, it is a “Rain Forest”. And we experienced rain. Not very much, but it was there. And it was different.

The time of year was late February. This is the end of the dry season. Upon our arrival aboard the Manatee Amazon Explorer, we were told the river was very low. They were expecting the rains to come any day now. Once they came, it would rain until June. Glad I’m leaving in a week.

The dry season comes with many benefits. For instance the river is low, so that means the forest is very open to hiking, as it is dry. During the wet season, the forest floods, and you must take canoes into the forest. The dry season also means fewer mosquitoes. I can’t think of any time during the whole trip we were pestered by insects of any type. Don’t get me wrong, there were plenty of bugs, but they were for observing, not for swatting!

Sunset over a sandbar

The dry season also comes with issues. Since it is dry, many trees and plants are not flowering or producing fruit. Because of this, there is a lot less animal activity. Less activity means less encounters and fewer animals seen. Although we saw a fair share of wildlife, our guide said there are many more during the rainy season.

A Trip Down Memory Lane…
Cologne and the Rhine Valley, Germany

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Kathy

Our Trip to Germany and Czech Republic

Cologne and the Rhine River

Part 2 of the Series

At the Hauptbahnhof

After a great nights’ sleep in Frankfurt, we headed to Cologne (Köln for you German-speakers). We were able to leave most of our luggage at the hotel in Frankfurt and just took what we needed for an overnight trip. We walked to the main train station (hauptbahnhof) and bought our tickets for the ICE (intra city express) to Cologne. This particular train travels at 150 mph…pretty darn cool!

The Cologne bahnhoff was very busy and crowded, much more so than Frankfurt. We checked our one bag at an automatic luggage machine; you put your money and your luggage in the machine and it gives you a baggage claim card that you’ll need to retrieve your luggage. The luggage is taken downstairs via a little elevator inside the machine.
Read more →

A Trip Down Memory Lane…
Frankfurt, Germany

Posted on April 5, 2014 by Kathy

Our Trip to Germany and Czech Republic

Part 1 of the Series

Red LIght District

We flew from D/FW to Frankfurt, Germany and arrived at 7:30 am. We took the train from the Frankfurt airport to the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhoff (main station). From there, we walked to our hotel. As is our custom when staying in hotels, we booked the first night online before we left the states. We had chosen the hotel because it was close to the train station. We soon found out the hotel was in the red light district, directly across the street from strip joints and brothels. Read more →

The Kāpŏk Tree

Posted on March 27, 2014 by Curtis

To properly set up this adventure, I am going to describe to you a little about the area we are in. We are on the Napo River, a major tributary of the Amazon River’s headwaters. The time of year is the end of the dry season. The rains are expected any day now. Further upstream and in the Andes Mountains, it has already started raining. Because it is the end of the dry season, the water level is very low. Our boat, The Manatee Amazon Explorer, has had some difficulty navigating the last couple of days. Although the Manatee’s draft is only 4 feet, in some places that has not been enough, and several times we could hear the boat dragging along the sandy bottom. Captain Dali has had his hands full on the bridge, safety navigating the boat to each day’s destination.

At various points during our excursions, I would take out my iPhone, allow it locate us on PocketEarth, a great mapping app that does not require Internet access. Once a GPS fix was acquired, I would then take a screen shot. Now, I had our Longitude, Latitude, Time, Date and a map which I could compare against the various pictures we had taken, to know where they were taken, and generally recreate each day’s adventure in more detail. This map is the end result of that record keeping, and would have been virtually impossible otherwise.

Map of the Kapok Tree Adventure
Link To An Interactive Map

This is a story of one amazing day in the Amazon. It was a Saturday. Read more →

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We’re the cannibals!?!

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Curtis

Curtis holding a Huaorani Spear

On our recent trip to the Ecuador Amazon Rainforest, we learned about the indigenous peoples living in the area, mainly the peaceful and very populous Kichwa, the Huaorani and un-contacted Tagaeri tribes. Most of the modern history of the indigenous people only goes back a few decades. Prior to that there was some westerners, or outsiders, who traversed the area in the 19th century, mainly to capture the natives and ship them off to be slaves in the rubber production camps downstream along the Amazon. Those who were captured were never heard from again by the local indigenous population. This lead to rumors about the “outsiders” actually being cannibals. This in turn caused the locals, like the Huaorani tribes, to become very aggressive and violent and fight outsiders fiercely. They just didn’t want to be eaten. Read more →