Pedestrian Friendly Streetscape in Santa Cruz

Greetings one last time from Quito! Our flight leaves at 9 this evening from Quito to Lima, and we will be spending the next few days in Miraflores on the coast of Peru.

I wanted to write another post that I hoped to write prior to getting sick, and this one is all about Landscape Architecture.

As a Landscape Architect, and my wife will attest to this, when I travel I notice things that others may not. For instance at the Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World), the very touristy location of the equator dividing the Northern and Southern Hemisphere, I took note that there was a lot of curbing separating lawn from the street, or sidewalks, but behind this curb was planted a row of flowers, a nice and simple touch.

Flowers Behind the Curb
Mitad del Mundo

So when we were in Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island I was immediately taken by the impressive streetscape improvements to the main streets in town. Puerto Ayora is the most developed and populated of the towns in the Galapagos, and is a major jumping off point for dive cruises, and day trips to the other islands. The town boasts a population of 12,000 people and tourists are everywhere! It was my favorite place in the Galapagos, that we visited, aside from everything below water!

The mayor of Puerto Ayora is allotted a certain amount of money each year for various projects and if he doesn't use, he loses it. He decided to construct some pretty awesome streetscape improvements to give back to the residence and visitors of the town.

I was able to (crudely) recreate a plan and section to denote what the extent of the proposed improvements was to be.

Puerto Ayora Streetscape                                     

As this project was currently under construction there were several posters of renderings illustrating the before and after. As the group from the boat walked around the town looking for dinner one night it was neat to give them an idea of what landscape architecture actually is!

                       

There were also parts of the project that had been finished and I was able to get some pictures of these areas. I was very impressed at the craftsmanship, and was a little jealous we couldn't have a little more of this type of thing in Buffalo. However, due to snow and other hinderances a streetscape of this exact design may not be best suited for Buffalo. In Puerto Ayora, it works just fine!

Left Side of Improvements
(Left to right: Sidewalk, Bike Lane, Curb/ Planters, Vehicular Travel, Pull Off, Sidewalk)

                       

Right Side of Improvements
(Left to right: Sidewalk, Bike Lane, Curb/ Planters, Vehicular Travel, Pull Off, Sidewalk)

Looking Back at the Start of the Improvements

I took note of a few interesting construction practices. I noticed that they used several base courses, and their lowest base course is volcanic rock which is readily accesible to them. I was curious if there was a NYS DOT Item number for that, as well as a documented compressive strength. Ha! It was also impossible not to notice that the entire construction site was not blocked off except to vehicular traffic. This means that locals and tourists alike were walking through the limits of work right as the workers were cutting and laying pavers, spreading and compacting the base course and demolishing the existing streets. Not only was this a little dangerous, but if I was working there, this would drive me nuts!!

It was very cool to see a project of this type being constructed right in front of us as we walked through town. What do you think?

See you in Peru!

The Galapagos and Garbage?!

Backing up a little to our entrance into the Galapagos.  I, as I believe most, had the idea that all areas inhabited or not within the Galapagos would be clean, beautiful, and pretty close to perfect.  Although this is the case in a lot of the National Park many areas where people are living are plagued by waste.  It appears as though tourists are more educated and have more respect for the fragility and beauty of the islands than those who live there.  For instance on our 2nd day on San Cristobal we saw discarded beer bottles along the waterfront promenade and a baby sea lion walked right through them.  It was a heart wrenching site.  In addition local men seated near a restaurant where we ate one day opened beer after beer and threw the bottle caps into the street, extremely sad.  I can't stand seeing people litter, and in a place as pristine and unique as the Galapagos, this disgusts me even more.

While in San Cristobal, we had a decent amount of rain.  These rain storms really showed the extent of the garbage and the impact on the adjacent coast and wildlife.  As the storm systems in the islands are not equipped to treat stormwater before runoff meets the ocean, any and all waste that is on the streets and sidewalks finds it way into the storm structures into the pipes, and consequently right into the ocean.  It is extremely sad to see sea lions, turtle and crabs wading around through muddied water filled with debris.  As sea lions are incredibly playful, when they see things floating in the water they automatically assume it is a toy. This can prove harmful when this item is a paintbrush that has fallen off of a boat, or as in the picture below a colorful shopping bag that has become stuck around the sea lions neck.

Shopping Bag Stuck around Sea Lion

On our dive trip the crew told us they had a 'surprise' for us one day.  This turned out to be an hour stop for us on the nastiest beach near the Coast Guard station while the boat refueled.  We arrived to the beach via two dinghy's and the people in the first dinghy literally pulled a sea lion free from a giant plastic sheet that was floating in the water.  There were several sea lions on the beach and a couple in the water, so despite the fact that there was as much garbage floating in the water as you would find in a Wal-Mart dumpster we were all about snorkeling with the sea lions (possible source of ear infection?).  You can get an idea of the garbage from the pictures below, but to see it in person is truly sad.

Sea Lion in Garbage Laden Water

                         

Sea Lion and Garbage on the Beach

                         
In closing, if more, or better yet all, of the local people could be better educated of the fragility of the ecosystem they live amidst the security of this pristine place would be much better off.

Back to the 'Grind'

Hola chicas y chicos. It has been awhile, and the trip has been amazing thus far.  Upon arrival in the Galapagos we had two nights in San Cristobal, the aforementioned (amazing) live aboard to Darwin, Wolf, and Bartolomei Islands, one night in Puerto Ayora on Santa Cruz Island, 3 nights on gorgeous and quiet Isabella Island, and 1 last day and night on Santa Cruz. Tomorrow we take a taxi to the small port on the north side of Santa Cruz before boarding a small ferry to cross the Itabaca Channel to Baltra Island board the bus and fly to Quito. Needless to say we have been covering some ground and used almost every mode of public transport available. I have been mentally compiling a couple of blog posts and hope to share them with you soon.  Tomorrow as we move from literally sea level to 2 miles above sea level I will have some downtime to acclimatize!  Until then I will leave with a couple of photos of friends we have made along the way.

A Couple of Our Seal Friends
San Cristobal Island

Frigate Bird Hitching a Ride
Aboard the Humboldt

Friendly Neighborhood Green Sea Turtle
Isabella Island

'Pals'
Pair of Tortuga Bay Marine Iguanas
Santa Cruz Island