Interesting course in Mexico
DIPLOMADO ARQUITECTURA BIOCLIMÁTICA
FECHA DE INICIO: VIERNES 17 DE JULIO DEL 2009
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A course will be taught in urban agriculture at the Universidad de la Tierra starting July 11th in Oaxaca.

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Just got back from Galapagos where we saw lots of birds: albatross nazca booby, blue footed booby, swallow tail gull (like in SF), greater cactus finch, galapos dove, Galapagos hawk, yellow warbler, brown noddy (tern), a tern with read beak and black head, Galapagos mockingbird, frigate bird, heron. We saw baby frigate birds, masked boobies and blue footed boobies. The parents regurgitate their food into the babies beaks. Pretty interesting. We also saw courting behavior for the boobies and the frigates and the albatross, but didn’t see the red throat inflated for the frigate birds.

In terms of animals we saw, lava lizards, sally lightfoot crab, marine iguana, sea lion, (more…)

Ecuador is amazing–one third of the world’s species live here. And there are very passionate environmentalists here. We stayed at Rio Palenque, a biological reserve which is the last stand of tropical forest (and only 50 acres) in the hills between the mountains and the coast. For 250 miles there was nothing but banana plants and African oil palms. It isn’t enough for large mammals. We talked to the staff there. We also got a referral to an ecology teacher at Universidad de Espiritu Santo in Guayaquil. So we talked to two of her classes. In the meantime we talked to three classes at the University of Azuay in Cuenca, and with two chemistry professors at the University of Cuenca. They have the best educational materials in Spanish we have seen, and we are going to see what we can do to help them get them republished. Yesterday I talked to 2 bilingual 11th grade classes and a group of medical students at the Universidad Catolico. Whew! Lots of energy in those students. And lots of passion in their teachers. It has been a wonderful week.

I have been offering $1000 rewards for the first person to (more…)

Ecuador is incredibly beautiful. We spent a night at 9000 feet at the Reserva de la Vida Silvestre Pasochoa, in an extinct volcano valley. It is one of the last stands of humid Andean Forests in Ecuador. There are over 100 varieties of birds, and with a great illustrated book, we were able to see several of them, Mirlo Grande, bright yellow Flycathers, Reinita, Crestinegra, Mirlo Grande, Candelita Anteojos, and the pale legged Hornero. There are 150 varieties of hummingbirds in the Americas (they aren´t in other continents) and 125 of them are in Ecuador. Judy Lumb who is travelling with me in Ecuador, published a book on the birds of Belize and has really enjoyed all the birds we are seeing. The picture of the man is Luis, whose grandfather started the Reserve. Although the government gave them protected status, Luis and his dad run it on the park entrance fees.

We couldn´t walk to Santo Domingo because (more…)

There are periods in our lives that seem more real than others, either becuase of trauma or big lessons or great emotions of some kind. I was 21 when I went to Colombia with a round trip ticket and $100 to my name. Two of my friends from International House at UC Berkeley said I could stay with their families, and I did end up living with the Lopez Rico family, a very liberal family. Nixon was president, and they would blame me for what he was doing. I was so frustrated to not be able to say I didn´t agree with all that he was doing, that I actually was fluent in about 3 months. I haven´t seen them for 25 years, and so it was wonderful to see Carlos and wife Margaret, Paco, Clara and Elizabeth Lopez.

They are from a slice of my life that was very important in my developing a different kind of world view-especially that (more…)

Well, the best laid plans…

We were going to ship the car from Panama to Ecuador, but it wasn’t feasible. It was going to go to four countries or there might be direct service starting sometime in the next three months. Not wanting to try to find my car in four different countries, the board agreed that we should ship to Cartagena, Colombia. I won’t be walking in Colombia because of security reasons, but will drive across it.
It was pretty hairy dealing with the port in Colon. I was the only woman out of about 40 people. After 3 hours, I finally told them I had (more…)

Panama City is called the Dubai of Central America, and with good reason. There are only 450,000 inhabitants, but there are several dozen sky scrapers here. There are also terrible slum areas, where it is not advised to walk. In fact, it is not advised to walk anywhere in the port town of Colon on the Carribean. Many people who live there worked for the canal, and their families get by on retirement checks they got from the Canal Authority, but there are no more jobs. There are mansions behind gated communities of Arabs and Chinese in shipping, who break larger shipments down at the canal to send to northern South America. It is such a stark contrast between wealthy and poor.

There was a presidential election here, and Martinelli won. He owns a chain of supermarkets. Someone leaked he had suffered from depression, and his response was to say we are all a little bit crazy. So there were bumper stickers saying “somos locos”. Very folkloric.

Panama has lush vegetation almost everywhere but in the Azuero Penninsula, which is dry tropical forest. We stayed at the Canopy Towers hotel, which is the old radar station for the canal. The dining room is on the third floor, at about the top of the tree level, and we could sit and watch (more…)

Quedamos en un hotel ecologicol cerca el canal de Panama. El numero de pajaros era increible! Esto es una lista de los pajaros y animales que vimos.

We stayed at an ecolodge near Gamboa, Panama. The number of birds we saw was incredible! Here is a list of the birds and animals we saw.

Birds of Canopy Towers Panama April 10, 2009 near Panama

Tropical Kingbird Tirano Tropical
Mangrove Swallow Golondrina Manglatera
Yellow bellied Seedeater Semillero de vientre Amarillo
Black bellied Whistling Duck Pato silvador aliblanco
House Wren Soterey Casero
Rufescent Tiger Heron Garza Tigre rufa
Bluegrey Tanager Tangara Azulejo
White Egret Garza Blanca
Smooth billed Annie Garapatero Picolizo
Green Heron Garza Verde
Rusty Margined Flycatcher Mosquero Alicastano
Social Flycatcher Mosquero Social
Thick Billed Seedfinch Pico Grueso ?
Yellow Crowned Euphonia Eufonia corona Amarilla
Orange Chinned Parakeet Periquito Alirufo
Variable Seedeater Semillero Variable
Gray Headed Chacalaca Chachalaca de Cabeza Gris
Masked Tytira Tytira Enmascarada
Ruddy Breasted Seedeater Semillero de pecho Rufo
Black Striped Sparrow Gorillon listado
Common Toady Flycatcher Espatulita comun
Wattled Jacana Jacana ?
Greater Annie Garapatero Mayor
Barred Antshrike Tucans
Copibaris

Costa Rica is one of the most advanced countries in environmental
terms. 95% of their electricity comes from renewable sources, 70% from
water and the rest from geothermal and wind. This year the dry season
wasn’t so bad, so it may be 100%. There are five countries in the
world which have a goal of carbon neutrality, and Costa Rica is the
only one outside of Europe or Asia. One quarter of the country is
parks or protected areas. They have doubled forests in some of the
areas, and have an office of Peace with Nature in the Presidential
offices.

In San Jose we went to a speech by Presidente Tamare Vazquez Rosas of
Uruguay, whom I talked to briefly about the walk. He said they would
be happy to see me in Uruguay. I talked to the Quaker meeting here,
which included Gabriela Urbina, artist and singer who took me to her
exhibit at the national museum. Francisco Cordero took me to talk
with various national legislators and I attended the inauguration of
the Legislative office on Women’s Rights. I also talked with (more…)