Opinion: Reflections from Ecuador
I just returned from a great trip to Ecuador. I have
never been there before, although I’ve traveled elsewhere in South America,
including multiple trips to Peru (starting with the Peace Corps) and to
Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia. Ecuador is a wonderful place to visit. The
people, scenery, and accommodations are terrific, and the country, at least
from a traveler’s perspective, is well-managed and easy to deal with. And I
have to say that the quality of the meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit and
baked goods was superb — I looked forward to every meal.
The big event of the trip was a climb of Cotopaxi, a
19,347-foot volcano. My wife and I, with the assistance of a guide (mandatory
allegedly) started at 1 a.m., after a sleepless night in a crowded refuge at
just under 16,000 feet. After six-plus hours of mostly headlamp climbing (which
produces its own version of motion sickness) using crampons up a glacier and
through an icefall, we popped out on the sunlight summit to superb views of the
crater, other snow capped volcanoes, and a huge panorama of country. The actual
climbing was relatively easy, and the whole experience was really spectacular.
Quito, the capital, is a big city. Like Boulder, it has
high hills on its western side, making orientation easier. Also like Boulder,
it faces huge traffic issues, a result of growth due to population influx.
Interestingly, their current airport, like Stapleton, is about to be closed due
to encroaching development. The new one, like DIA, will be a long ways from the
center of the city, leading to greater travel time and sprawl.
We also visited Cuenca, an attractive smaller city in
the southern part of the country. Here the historic areas have been very well
preserved, with superb examples of Spanish colonial two-story buildings, some
with French influence, lined up one right next to the other. They must have put
in place some height limits and other constraints to keep these areas intact,
because there was no intrusion of taller or more “modern” buildings.
Cuenca has a river that runs near the center of town,
with a beautiful linear park with bike paths and gathering places. It would be
worthwhile for Boulder’s planners, as they pursue the Civic Center project, to
take a serious look at how this was handled. For example, the area is wider and
more landscaped than the Boulder Creek area, and the nearby streets, bridges,
walkways, etc. are much more attractively implemented. Their use of vegetation,
stonework, tile and color makes us look pretty drab. As there is no building
inside the area, it feels like a refuge from the urban density surrounding it.
A fascinating, if disturbing, aspect was the unmanaged
sprawl that surrounds both Quito and Cuenca. Ecuador has a well-deserved
reputation for the value it places on environmental preservation, including its
national parks, and its focus on preserving Inca and other indigenous ruins.
But development near the edges of the cities appears to have been allowed to
run rampant with no attention to maintaining either agricultural or scenic
values.
Probably the biggest unpleasantness in both cities was
the traffic. As here, there does not appear to have been an adequate effort
made to address the effects of growth on traffic congestion. And, as here, the
impacts have shown up rapidly. Friends who were traveling with us remarked on
the increase in traffic along the street in front of our hotel in Cuenca in the
few years since they last visited. And we all noticed, with some alarm, how crossing
streets felt like taking our lives in our hands. Similar changes are occurring
in many places worldwide, as affluence plus population growth is leading to
massive increases in auto use, with attendant increase in consumption of
carbon-based fossil fuels. Boulder is well on its way to a similar future, and
unfortunately, there is little enthusiasm for taking the necessary and
potentially politically difficult steps now, while there is still time and
ability to address the problem.
Global warming, as evidenced by the shrinkage of the
glaciers and more rapid ice movement on the big volcanoes, is also a concern
there. So even this vacation didn’t allow us to get away from the big problems
our planet faces. But hopefully such trips provide new insights and enthusiasm
for solutions.