Colombia for Christmas

Last Christmas we left Ecuador to visit the UK and it took three days to get there. Snow, closed airports and booked up flights. It really is the worst time of year to travel. So this year we stayed on the American continent, using our three-week long break from work to visit Colombia.

First stop was Bogotá, the capital city. Some say it is a dangerous place to visit, but I’ve been living in Quito for over a year, and it didn’t feel any worse than Quito. That is in terms of general crime risk. If anything it felt a little safer in the Candelaria district where we stayed, due to the high of volume of security personnel. Because of course there is a long simmering civil war going on in Colombia, in fact the FARC are now in their 47th year of guerrilla combat with the government.

As a tourist in Bogotá, the risk of being caught up in this is very small, but there are many reminders that you are in a country at war. Firstly there is a lot of political graffiti. A lot. Secondly, there is a huge amount of security, around the presidential palace in La Candelaria bags are searched at check points and cars are checked for bombs with mirrors on sticks. And there are a lot of dogs, sweet-as-candy looking golden retrievers sniffing out drugs and explosives, hard-as-fuck looking rottweillers for ‘security’. They are the real winners of this drawn-out war, canine employment is at record levels.

Soldiers with rifles and Christmas lights in the colonial centre of  Bogotá , Plaza Bolívar, La Candelaria 

Shoe shines and graffiti in  Bogotá: "In the land of the blind, those with one eye don't reign, but those that see  with their hearts"

We left Bogotá a couple of days before Christmas and flew to Medellín. It was actually free to fly as Bogotá was technically just a stop over on route to Medellín, this was also the cheapest route. However, it is worth noting that had we wanted to fly only to Bogota, that cheapest route would have involved a stop over in Medellin. It makes no sense.

So we stayed in Medellín for Christmas. It has a reputation for being a good Christmas location, its festive lights, for example, are said to be the best in South America. High praise. Although, in my opinion they would be a bit shit if compared to those in Blackpool. Bogotá was relatively cool, with a climate similar to Quito, i.e. you need a jumper in the evenings. Medellin by comparison is pretty tropical. To me it looks tropical too, with lots of Palm trees. Though Helen says it looks like Sheffield.

The Christmas lights of Medellín. Said to be the best in South America.

This city has two famous sons, the artist Botero (painter and sculptor of fat-arsed ladies) and Pablo Escobar (the now deceased kingpin of the now dismantled Medellín cocaine cartel). The two come together in some of the works in the main museum in Medellín, as shown below. So that was it, Christmas 2011 in a Medellin hotel. Tomorrow we leave for Cali, ten hours south by bus. Colombia is a big country, and bus travel is the only affordable option. On the upside, the scenery is said to be fantastic. Hope I get a window seat.

 Painting by Fernando Botero portraying Pablo Escobar's death, photo taken in the Museo de Antioquia

Easter Island / Rapa Nui / Isla de Pascua

This isn't current news. I visited Easter Island (also known as Isla de Pascua in Spanish, and Rapa Nui in the indigenous language) in April this year. The reason I've not blogged this sooner is that it is difficult to know what to say about it. It is the most interesting and mystical place I have ever visited, and I've been around a bit.

Easter Island is officially territory of Chile, however, it is far, far from the mainland, in the middle of the South Pacific ocean. Indeed, it is of the most isolated places on Earth. The indigenous population, the Rapa Nui, originally came from one of the islands nearest neighbours, Tahiti, over 2,000 miles away. However, they found themselves stranded on a small island, isolated from the rest of the world. Under these conditions they developed a fascinating religion and culture, personified by the hundreds of stone statues they produced. It is the highly iconic statues that make this small island one of the most important archaeological sites on the planet. However, its isolation means that it is not besieged with tourists.

Easter Island's nearest neighbours are Tahiti (4249 kilometers away),  Pitcairn Island (2,083 Kilometers away) or Chile (3,278 kilometers away). 

There are plenty of good sources of information on Easter Island, I recommend  'Island at the End of the World: The Turbulent History of Easter Island' by Steven Roger Fischer. I'm not going to give my cack-handed summary here, just some annotated photographs.

There are hundreds of moai (statues) on ahu (sacred platforms) all over the island, in fact nearly 900 moai have been catalogued. The ones in this image are located close to Hanga Roa, the only town on the island.

The ahu and moai near Hanga Roa are close enough that you can walk there in the evening to watch the sunset behind them.

Ahu Tongariki has the most impressive collection of moai. There are 15 on the ahu and they are some of the largest on the island, one weighing 86 tonnes.

Two of the 15 moai of Ahu Tongariki.  The one on the left is wearing a top-knot.  These are made from red scorcia, and came from a different quarry to the bodies. Originally many would have had white eyes made from coral too.

A broken moai in the foreground Ahu Tongariki in the background. This broken one was probably damaged in transit and abandoned. 

It is important to consider the position of the sun when visiting the island's many ahu, get it wrong and you can't see any detail. This picture was taken at Ahu Tongariki just after sunrise.

Ranu Rarako is the volcano where most of the moai were made. When it was abandoned, 397 moai were left unfinshed, untransported or broken. The large number of statues on the hillside make this the most visually mysterious place on the island.

Most of the moai at Ranu Rarako are only visible from the chin up, the bodies have become buried with time.

Many people dwell on the mystery of how the moai were moved, but really that isn't such an interesting question, given that we know that they were moved. Far more interesting is what led the Rapa Nui people to destroy their statues. Every single one was toppled and many deliberately broken between the first contact with the West in 1722 and a later visit in 1868. The majority, like this one, remain in their toppled state.  These are perhaps the more poignant sites, compared to the spectacular sites re-erected for tourists, such as at Ahu Tongariki.

The archaeology and history isn't all about moai and ahu. The volcanic crater at Ranu Kao was the home the Bird Man Cult, a religious practice in which an annual leader was selected based on a dangerous expedition to climb down cliffs, swim to an islet and find a sooty tern egg. The village of Orongo on the edge of the crater has numerous stone houses and petroglyphs, many of 'Makemake' the god of the time.

Department of Fatherland Security

I made a return trip to the UK recently, my route between Quito and Manchester involved flight connections in Miami and New York. Flying via the USA was the cheapest option, but not the simplest. Just to make a flight connection on their soil, you need a visa. On checking in for the return to Quito, I was issued my boarding cards, each had ‘SSSS’ printed on the bottom. This is the code to alert airport staff that I’m to be given extra security checks. Travelling by air in the USA is a hassle as it is. Since 9/11 security has gone through the roof. Many years ago, but post 9/11, while waiting to board a flight in San Francisco I noted that everybody in the queue without a US passport was pulled out and given extra checks. So on this trip, as on that one, I was to be frisked, swabbed and questioned, a lot. To add to the suspicion, I had a sword in my checked baggage. Legal to travel with, but a red rag to already paranoid airport security.

Whether you are covertly singled out for additional checks or not, you can expect to be mildly bullied by little men in uniforms, who can be as surly as they wish. They represent an unpleasant mix of bureaucracy and authoritarianism. One such official that I noted in Miami, had his stamp for approving passports ready on his right hip and on his left hip a pistol. But for him daily work is not just a matter of stamping passports and presumably shooting the odd foreigner. Just to transit at a US airport you have to consent to being photographed and also have your finger prints taken. This is routine. While you are going through this pseudo-arrest procedure, they will bark odd questions or commands at you, and combine it with a surreal politeness: “Sir, did I say that you could move? Well don’t move then, I’m busy at the moment, Sir, I will tell you when I am ready for you to move”. I’ve never seen this arrogance in border guards anywhere else, and I’ve visited about 40 different countries.

On arrival in Quito, I found that in transit one of my bags had been ripped open by US security, this was the one with the sword in it. A small sticker informed me that under US law they have the right to damage bags during inspections. The bag wasn’t locked, it just had zips, but they didn’t use the zips, because under US law they don’t have to. Tossers.

'Embrace the red, white and blue reich'

Dogs of Ecuador

There are lots of dogs in Ecuador. Here are a few of my photos, of dog related activity which seems strange or curious to me as a Brit.

1. Police dogs are not just Alsatians. At a show for the public in Quito I noticed this Saint Bernard cop-dog. I've no idea why the dog is on the copper's back, but he seems to be enjoying the ride.

2. Dogs are very popular here. Puppies are sold on street corners, or even to commuters in their cars at busy junctions. Only a complete arse would impulse purchase a puppy, and an incomplete one whilst waiting at traffic lights. This picture is of puppies on sale at Otavalo Animal Market.

3. The middle class don't usually walk their own dogs. They pay dog walkers to sort that out for them, in large but well-behaved dog gangs. You tried that in the UK you would just end up with the mother of all dog fights.

4. At least in Quito, dressing up dogs in clothes is considered perfectly normal behaviour, and not in the slightest bit pathetically anthropomorphic. The second photo is from the clothing section of a pet shop near my house. Notice the black leather gimp-dog manikins.

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5. Dogs attend university in Ecuador. Where I teach, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, students regularly bring their dogs to classes. They also bring hamsters sometimes. This picture is of Loba, who lives in the university. She is a snob, I gave her a dog biscuit and she spat it out, glared at me and sauntered off. This university has a reputation for having brat students, a brat dog too apparently.

The British Riots, the Views of a Psychologist

British rioting youths attacking and robbing a Malaysian student

Here I give some of my observations of the recent events in the UK. This is based partly on my experiences as a psychologist. In the last ten years I have spent a great deal of time researching individuals on the edges of British society, including homeless adults, drug addicts and criminals.  However, it is also partly based on my experiences of living in Birkenhead, which was one of the towns that experienced the rioting, and is a town with more than its fair share of anti-social young men. 

From my apartment in Quito, I’ve been watching the ‘riots’ on the streets of England, via BBC news.  These are apparently quite different to the British riots of the past. They used to be based on political unrest, but now the underlying theme appears to be nothing more than stealing tacky consumer goods. The main targets have been sports clothing shops, mobile phone shops and consumer electronics outlets; added to this has been a substantial amount of violence and arson. There is no political motive here. It is true that anarchists and those with an anti-globalisation agenda sometimes use these direct action tactics. But they attack the symbols of big business, the banks, the huge commercial chains. In the recent unrest many small community businesses have been destroyed.

So who are the rioters? To those outside Britain, these gangs must be almost unrecognisable as a part of modern Britain, but they are there in many towns and cities and have been for a long time. They are maladjusted and do not fit into society. In Merseyside, where I grew up they are called ‘scallies’. They are young men who dress mainly in sportswear and shave their heads, this style appears invariable. They don’t really have gangs such as you might see in the Americas, but they always stay in groups. They are very dangerous people, simply because they are so maladjusted. Some of my friends in Birkenhead have been badly beaten by scallies in unprovoked attacks. Their tactic is frighteningly simple, they pick a lone individual who will be easy prey and find a reason to savage them, often they ask for a cigarette, if you agree and reach into your pocket, that is when they strike. It is very much an exploitive mentality; they want to bully these who can’t fight back. They move in large groups and attack weaker individuals.

A couple of years ago some scallies in Birkenhead town centre came across a man incapacitated by drugs, he was on a mushroom trip. Unluckily for him it was early November, bonfire night. The scallies dragged him onto a fire and watched him burn to death. In this single act of violence you can see the mentality of the scallie, if you can exploit a situation to cause harm, then do it. In the last week they have realised that if they organise into groups of 100+ then they can create these exploitive situations which overwhelm the softly-softly British police. 

As a research psychologist I have met many of these people, and have had the opportunity to delve into their emotions and thoughts. They are indeed scary people; they exude confidence and street-wisdom. However, talk to them and you find that they are the least worldly members of society, and of generally low IQ. Their experiences are extremely limited, they know very little about modern life. Their interests are very shallow, really nothing more than having consumer goods, and then this is limited mainly to mobile phones, fast cars and branded clothing. All things that are very visible and can indicate ‘success’ to their peers. Their showiness extends to choice of alcohol consumed on the street corner, they have to be seen with the in vogue alcopop. Nor are they truly confident. Tell somebody that you are a ‘doctor’ and they will open up and tell you about the most private inner experiences. Many of the scallies are incredibly lonely. They can’t trust any of their companions. They don’t have an honourable gang structure, just loose associations of bullies that regularly result in them exploiting, attacking or even raping each other. They have no best friends, or real friends at all.

They are likely depressed, quite possibly with past suicide attempts. Family life is almost invariably broken. Most will have been raised in situations that would be considered as abusive by the middle class. This may be just beatings as a child, loosely based on discipline, or it could be out and out rape by their parents. These are not the confident hustlers they may appear to be, they are scared and damaged. When you read the case notes of troubled children you read of drugs, family violence, alcoholism, sexual abuse and the like; truly horrific contexts. Drug use by the youths is of course widespread, and this is primarily self-medication, not hedonism. The drugs are often used to stop them thinking about their current situation, and in particular their past.

So why are they so dangerous? The public hear expressions such as personality disorder or psychopath and associate it with sort of intelligent warped but charming criminals. They also think it is incredibly rare, that they you won’t ever meet one. Wrong. They are all around us. The people rioting at the moment are the same people who populate the criminal justice system, and the majority of them have personality disorders. In fact about one fifth of people in prison are psychopaths. About two thirds have a personality disorder of some sort, usually what is called anti-social personality disorder, a tendency for violence and crime in adulthood, but starting in childhood with bullying, cruelty, theft and arson. Do these sound familiar?

This is who we have running around the British streets at the moment. Profoundly maladjusted youths, the majority have been or will be in the prison system. The majority will have screwed up backgrounds and nascent personality disorders. Their psychology is exploitive. The solution is actually quite simple, it is to stop creating maladjusted youths. This is the role of efficient social services and mental health services. But this never happens, the screwed-up go to prison, their mental health deteriorates and they have children. And so on, and so on. 

That, in a nutshell, is what is happening in the UK at the moment. So if you feel extreme anger at these people, remember that they are depressed, damaged, and lonely. They are destined for terrible lives. Does that make you feel better?

Santiago

We have been in Chile for a week now, but four days of that was on Easter Island, a blog about which is to follow. So the last three days of this holiday have been spent in Santiago, we return to Ecuador, and work, tonight.

Santiago is a typical South American capital city; large, cosmopolitan, rich, poor, polluted. Yet it lacks much of the charm of other Latin American cities, there is very little indigenous presence, and not so much colonial architecture. It is also relatively expensive, e.g. a two hour bus tour costs 18,000 pesos (about £27 or 36 US$). Everything is significantly more expensive than Ecuador, probably around the same level as UK prices. We are staying in the Plaza de Armas Hostel, which is located in the historic centre of the city (an apartment for 3 people is costing US$70 per night). In many other world cities, you just wouldn’t have a hostel in such a location. This place has one of the best ever window views, over the plaza.

The view from our window in the Plaza de Armas hostel

In many countries, a location like this in the splendid colonial heart of the city would be highly prestigious. But not in Santiago, the middle classes have moved out of the city and despite its grandeur, the Plaza de Armas is considered a ‘poor’ area.

View from the Plaza de Armas, the building where the hostel is located is in the background.

A feature of many Latin American cities is the grand cemeteries. Traditionally, the rich have been represented by huge structures that are often architectural works of art. The accumulation of these in the cemeteries creates bizarre miniature cities, often the most aesthetic features of the cities in general.

There are hundreds of these structures in Santiago cemetery, laid out out in streets

I’ve visited similar cemeteries in Havana and Buenos Aires, often off the average tourist’s radar; these are definitely worth a visit. In addition to the vain follies of the rich are large monuments of national significance, often there will be a huge structure, for example, to commemorate firemen who have died protecting the city. In the case of Santiago cemetery, probably the most important of these is the monument  to President Salvador Allande and the 2,000 Chilean ‘desaparecidos ‘ (missing). All victims of the right wing dictator Pinochet.

During Pinochet's presidency around 2,000 Chileans went missing, i.e. were arrested , tortured and murdered by the state security. Margret Thatcher was a friend of Pinochet.

Lima

I've only been here in Lima for two days, but I've packed a lot in. I had been expecting a crowded, dirty and polluted city. But in fact Lima is surprisingly pleasant, at least in the areas I reached. I've been staying at a hostel in Miraflores, a suburb of the city. It is very different from Quito, there seems to be no significant crime problem and the place is very developed. Also it is on the coast (with a long malecon) so there is a refreshing ocean breeze. Overall, a very pleasant place to stay.

Copies of ´Nazca Lines´ designs on the malecon, Miraflores, Lima

Miraflores is about 15 kilometers from the historical centre of Lima, but it is easy to reach on the modern bus service. In fact the public transport is better than anything I've seen in the UK. I understand that Lima, like Peru overall, is still a divided place, divided between riches and poverty. There are also huge squatter camps in the greater Lima area. Nevertheless, the capital city is impressively developed in general.

Plaza Mayor, Lima

A dog sleeping under an armored vehicle, near the government palace, Lima

Well, now my stay here is finishing, I'm at Lima airport awaiting a flight to Santiago in Chile, and then on to Easter Island.

Of Gringos and Goats

I went on a chiva ride last week. Chiva means (female) goat in Spanish, but I wasn’t riding an actual goat, the reality of chiva riding in Ecuador is somewhat less dignified than mealy mounting small farmyard mammals. A chiva is what they call a sort of flat top lorry that has been converted into a travelling disco. Not a travelling DJ, but the whole disco; dance floor, bar, light show, mislaid handbags, the whole caboodle.

Mobile disco, complete with lazer show, disco ball, pole dancing, and rope to hang on to

It was Tony and Alyssa’s leaving party, they are a couple of English teachers from the USA. They have been friends since we arrived in Ecuador. These are nice gringos, but many other gringos just aren’t.  The majority of proper gringos (i.e. from the USA) are not necessarily the opposite of nice, nasty, but are at best useless. The problem seems to be that they come here to pep-up their resumes, but have absolutely no concept that things could be done any differently to how they are in Pigsknuckle, Arkansas. They object to the public breast feeding, because this should be taboo, as it properly is at home. They travel to remote towns to experience the culture and then complain that there are no KFCs or Burger Kings. They really do, they whine about this and multiple other differences all the time.

A nice looking vehicle, seriously pimped

The chiva ride was a shining example of gringos abroad. A group I spoke to were here to do ‘charity work’. The resourceful but poor Ecuadorians must be so bursting with glee that some naive rich college kids from the USA have come down to explain to them how to live. Essentially these kids are allowed to hang around, for a fee, until they have enough fodder for their resumes and a return to corporate fascism at home. So these charity workerss on the chiva, showed there respect for the host culture by flashing their arses off the side of the disco/bus. At police cars. After a police warning they switched to a new technique of showing their affection, pissing off the side of the disco as it careered through the city centre.

Blurred arse to the cops

Pissing on Quito

I suppose British people do the same thing to mainland Europe, some Spanish towns have been culturally ransacked to provide ersatz British style retirement and holiday resorts. It’s almost a national preoccupation for the British to do this. Perhaps it’s a good thing then that the majority of people from the USA don’t have passports, only a minority ever venture abroad. The rate of cancer spread is limited.

One of the chiva-pissers sent me a Facebook friend request the following day, yeah right, that’s going to happen. When Hell freezes over, or a person from the USA comprehends why Ecuadorians are Americans too.

University life

The Universidad San Francisco de Quito is possibly the most pleasant place to teach in Ecuador. It is built in a mixture of classical styles, but was actually constructed within recent years. The main campus of the university is located in Cumbayá, a town, twenty minutes by bus from Quito.





Although, it is only twenty minutes from the city, it is 2,000 feet lower in elevation. This means it is significantly warmer than Quito.  Although virtually on the equator line, elevation above sea level makes all the difference here, this can be between sweltering heat at the coast to permanent snow on the Andean peaks.  But at 7,200 feet, Cumbayá has it just right. This climate, combined with the neoclassical architecture, gives it a very Mediterranean feel.






I teach English at the university. Luckily for me some academic classes are taught in English, so I teach Psychology too. In fact, I was able to design my own classes and curriculum, and the students generally speak good English so the language barrier has not been a problem.





This is the most expensive private university in the country and has the richest students. It is expected that many will want to go and take postgraduate courses in the USA. Hence, courses taught in English are valued by the students and management. However, this may not be the case in less privileged private or state universities, were teaching in English may not be common.

This dog, lives on the campus. He is described as 'sometimes friendly' though I've never met him on any of those times. I gave him a dog biscuit once and he spat it out and walked off. He seems to resent the presence of humans on his campus.

Bag Arrived

My luggage eventualy arrived last night, God bless Continental Airlines, less than two months.

Back in Quito

I'm back in Quito and the weather is fantastic, a nice change from the British freeze. My suitcases didn't seem to make it back though. That is the third consecutive intercontinental trip in which my bags have gone travelling independently. We flew with Continental this time, they really are crap. For one of the legs, a five hour trip, you had to pay $7 with a credit card to active the in-flight entertainment system. Our stewardess chewed gum throughout the flight.