Boom! and more tortoises for Genevieve

We spent Wednesday at the zoo in Banos.  We arrived, started up the zoo stairs when we felt, then heard a boom!  We thought it was a construction incident, but then saw the ash cloud - so cool.  Tungurahua, the local volcano, is a type of volcano known as stromboli, which erupts not infrequently, seldom causing anything more problematic than a bit of ash fallout.  And tourist panic.  There were a few other "eruptions" over the day, nothing much.

Vulcan Tungurahua, erupting.

The zoo had moderately well cared for Ecuadorean critters -- condors, jungle birds, tapirs, monkeys, a few sad medium-sized cats, and some turtles and tortoises.  The small tortoise pen included Tortuga Mordedora, labeled a "fierce turtle".  Its a snapping turtle, which can be fierce. 

As the sign says, it "eats the dead".

The tailed one is the fierce one -- behaving companionably while we watched.

The next day we took a little trip out of Banos and the Andes into the "jungle" including an indigenous Quichua village.  For me, these tourist things are always uncomfortable, although I understand helpful and necessary, income generating, educational and awareness generating.  It's hard to be the rich observer, hard to see their poverty and need, hard to be the voyeur, to step into their lives and back out.  We blew their poison darts, held their birds, met their shaman, bought some of their stuff (required?), and watched their tortoises (best part!).  

Steve, talking with the parrots.

The tortoises loved these lotus leaves!

Trust they're fed other than while they're being watched.

The tortoise wrangler.  

On the walk back to town, we passed this diskoteck sign:  Skalibur, complete with a drawing of the sword still in the stone.  I love the occasional Spanglish.

We travel to Cuenca  tomorrow and start our month-long apartment rental there.  Finally, what we'd been planning to do all this time -- hanging, living in a community -- we'll be doing it!   Home, sort of.