Diverse Ecuador

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

ECUADOR | Sunday, 13 January 2013 | Views [287] | View Larger Image

Fig 4. Concrete Jungle - Parque de las Iguanas, coexistence. A small park in the busting city of Guayaquil is home to hundreds of breeding South American Green Iguanas. An explanation from a local depicts that this “parque de las iguanas” previously known as “el parque seminario” was donated by a wealthy individual a hundred years ago or so, on the one condition that the Iguanas were to be allowed to roam free amongst it. These rather tolerant vegetarian reptiles can be found in their juvenile stages climbing amongst the parks treetops, while much larger and more dominant iguanas are seen wherever they choose to rest, eat flowers & leaves and absorb the ground-stones evening warmth.

Fig 3. On the Ecuadorian coast lies the small fishing village of Puerto Lopez, where beaches are lined with small wooden fishing boats resting on logs while magnificent frigate birds are ever circling for an easy meal. I watched this larger vessel haul in a net for over 45 minutes, at one stage the two young deckhands struggle to release a Green Sea Turtle from their nets indiscriminate meshing.

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5. Jorge Santi, the tribal leader and Shaman of Kichwa people in the Pastaza region of Ecuador finds a moment alone to reflect on the political future of his region. This marks the end of a long day of political promises and final votes. His headdress is made from the skin of a peccary head. When asked what it means to him, I was told that after taking part in a spiritual ritual involving the ingestion of a powerful psychotropic, Ayahuasca, he had visions of a sounder of Peccaries foraging in the valley below. The following day he and his hunters slaughtered some of the herd and now the taxidermied skin serves as a symbol of he and his peoples connection with the nature that they have depended on for over 10,000 years. To me, he represents archaic balance cornered by the fleeting-but-permanent change of the new world.

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Diverse Ecuador

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

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