The Asphalt Jungle

Original airdate: February 5, 2009

Two Crazy Chicks Productions is pleased to present The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Panama, an epic journey of discovery fraught with peril.

And now, Episode 1: The Asphalt Jungle…

Our intrepid heroines face the first test of their courage immediately upon their emergence into the sticky Panama City night: the taxi ride to the apartment where they are staying. Panama City drivers are, in a word, insane. Stop signs are merely suggestions to be ignored, as are speed limits and lane lines. Eden loses count of the number of times she thinks, We're gonna die. 

The next morning's jungle boat adventure on Gatun Lake brings sightings of howler and white-throated capuchin monkeys, green iguanas, crocodiles, basilisks (known as "Jesus lizards" for their ability to walk on water), toucans, and sloths. It's interesting and informative, but doesn't generate the same adrenaline rush as the ride through rush hour traffic.

Perhaps because they seek that rush – or perhaps because they simply don't know when to call it quits – our heroines venture out again into the sweltering afternoon heat and hail a taxi. Using a combination of gesture, guidebook Spanish phrases, and English, Yumiko and Eden manage to communicate their desire to go to Miraflores Locks, where they watch gigantic cargo ships and oil tankers transiting the Panama Canal go through the locking process.

Be sure to tune in for Episode 2, when Yumiko and Eden head into the rainforest in search of avifauna and other jungle critters.

Remember: fan mail is not only appreciated, it's expected!

© Eden Feuer

Galápagos: The Slideshow

Close Encounters of the Interspecies Kind

June 21, 2002

Welcome to Episode 4 of The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Galápagos… 

Sea lions bodysurf alongside the panga as it pulls up to the rocky landing site at Punta Suárez. A Galápagos hawk and several Española-variety marine iguanas observe our intrepid heroines as they jump ashore.

Española, home of the critically endangered waved albatross, is not on every Galápagos itinerary. Located at the extreme southeast of the archipelago, the island is a 10- to 12-hour boat ride from Isla Santa Cruz, the Mistral’s previous (and not all that interesting) stop.

Wrinkling their noses at the stench of sea lions, Eden and Miko make their way along the trail. Blue-footed boobies, those comical-looking perennial favorites, honk and whistle. (To hear the blue-footed booby, click here.)

Bolivar leads the group to a cliff.

“This is the ‘Albatross Airport,’” he explains. “Thanks to their enormous 7-8 foot wingspan, albatrosses can soar for hours and can travel great distances, but they need some help getting airborne.”

One after another, these ungainly-looking birds – the largest in Galápagos – use the steep cliff as a runway and take flight. In the air they are graceful, agile, and adept.

But as engrossing as the waved albatrosses’ take-off tactics are, their lengthy and elaborate courtship rituals – a complex series of repeated, orchestrated displays involving bill-fencing, sway-walking, sky-pointing, gaping, preening, and bill-circling – are even more so.

Eden has to be dragged away from the spectacle at the nesting area and back to the Mistral. She broods through breakfast, sulks through putting on her wetsuit, and scowls through the panga ride to a snorkel site well offshore.

She stops pouting the moment she enters the water and finds herself right in the middle of a giant school of pompanos and surrounded by more than a dozen sea turtles. Hammerhead sharks and spotted eagle rays are visible in the blue depths.

Eden and Yumiko are grinning when they emerge. They smile through a much-needed shower, laugh through lunch, and beam through the panga ride to the afternoon’s landing site.

Gardner Bay Beach is awash in sunning sea lions. Most of the Mistral’s passengers set towels down wherever there is space and simply relax among them. Eden takes photographs while Miko keeps an eye out for protective mother sea lions that might chase an unsuspecting photographer down the beach (as occurred on day two, when Eden got too close to a pup).

Our fearless females watch in amusement when a sea lion ambles over to where Jake, a redheaded Homo sapiens, is catching some rays.

“Wha…?!” Jake yelps, scrambling to his feet as the sea lion takes over his blanket.

This latest interspecies encounter strikes our heroines as a particularly apt end to their expedition to the Enchanted Isles.

“Only in Galápagos,” Eden says, digging her toes into the white sand and shaking her head. “Man, I love this place!”

© Eden Feuer

HIgh Speed and High Excitement on the High Seas

June 19, 2002

Welcome to Episode 3 of The Adventures of Yumiko and Eden in Galápagos…

Isla Santiago’s fur seal grottos are bustling. Dozens of the marine mammals, smaller and darker than sea lions and with big eyes adapted to nocturnal feeding, play and rest. A lava heron preens. Oystercatchers, bright bills tucked under their wings, sleep standing. Two yellow-crowned night-herons hunt.

“We’ve got to move on.”

“Already?” Eden pulls her eye away from the camera’s viewfinder to look at her watch. She notes with surprise that more than an hour has passed.

“C’mon. Let me show you Darwin’s Toilet.”

Curiosity piqued, Eden scrambles to her feet and joins the others.

“That,” Bolivar points to an old lava tube, “is Darwin’s Toilet.”

Our intrepid heroines watch in fascination as the action of the sea moves water in and out of the vertical cave. It looks – and sounds – just like a flushing toilet. (To see and hear Darwin’s Toilet flush, click here.)

Making crappy jokes the whole time, the audacious adventurers hike back to the beach and don their snorkel gear.

Puerto Egas’ waters are bustling. A sea lion glides by nonchalantly. Colorful fish dart to and fro. A shark prowls the shallows. A sea turtle swims alongside Eden, who is thrilled and awed.

“Everybody in!”

“Already?”

As our fearless females rest and refuel, the Mistral cruises past lava islets sprouting giant opuntia cactus to anchor at Isla Bartolomé, where a hot, sweaty schlep up 370 specially built wooden steps rewards the dynamic duo with a fabulous view of iconic Pinnacle Rock.

They return eagerly to the landing site to board the “photographer’s panga,” which lingers long amongst the penguins and white-tipped reef sharks that dwell along the coast.

“We’d better get back,” Bolivar says, revving the engine.

“Already?”

The race is on to return to the Mistral before the last of the light fades from the sky.

“Whoowheeeee!” the panga’s five passengers holler gleefully each time the little craft hits a wave and goes airborne.

The Mistral’s decks are bustling. Fernando, the cook, serves another mouth-watering meal he miraculously manages to make in the ship’s tiny, rocking kitchen. Eden and Miko chat comfortably with their fellow travelers. Bolivar briefs the group on what to expect tomorrow.   

Another glorious day in Galápagos comes to a close.

Yes, already.

© Eden Feuer