Blogs from Historical Center, Quito, North, Ecuador, South America - page 4

Your correspondent has returned from a rum soaked few weeks and is ready to blog again, this time solely fuelled by beer. Travelling in Ecuador requires a level of drunkenness so I complied. After the Galapagos it is quite a culture shock to return to Quito. Sprawling is an apt and properly spelt word for the place. We had many tales of terror about it and you certainly need your wits about you and 360 degree vision. We did not have any untoward moments, but our friends had loose stools thrown at them followed up by people rushing over to them with towels to offer a cleaning service while emptying their rucksack. Quite nasty. Anyway, our plans were to see Cotopaxi, the middle of the world and other delights that are only available in Ecuador. To ... read more

Boing! We made it to Quito late last night and were ready for some rest, so we took it easy at the Magic Bean Hostal which was really nice and right in the heart of the Mariscal district. It´s New Years Eve and easy to tell everyone is getting ready for a party tonight. It was pretty crazy but on our flight down here we sat next to a fellow Kohler High graduate Duncan Olson (Allison Olson´s older brother) who is here for 6 months to volunteer at a hospital....so that was cool and we had a safe trip...everything was smooth. El espirito de rojo is all around us....and we actually saw a mural as well as a billboard with a picture of Aaron Nonhof on it this morning while we were exploring the city. We ... read more

The main bulk of the trip was planned for South America where I wanted to spend at least a couple of months in Ecuador including XMAS and also visit the other countries I’d missed on the 2008 trip (Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Bolivia and Chile). I arrived on Santiago on 22nd November and after three days headed up to Quito with Lan airlines (the same route as I’d done on the 2008 trip so it was a bit weird at Santiago International airport as nothing had changed!). It was great to see Marilu and her family again and also my Goddaughter Mady who was growing fast!!. Some of the highlights of Ecuador were (1) Going back to my favourite Pollo restaurant (2) Lagunas de Mojanda near Otavalo and having a barbecue (3) Centro Historico and the pigeons ... read more

Diebe, Räuber und Ganoven...können meinem Urlaub nichts! Nach mehreren, aus Zeitgründen fehlgeschlagenen Versuchen, einen neuen Blog zu verfassen, versuch ich es heut erneut... mal schaun, wie weit ich diesmal komm... :) Die letzten Wochen vergingen einfach super schnell und waren vollgepackt mit Ausflügen, Urlaub und abendlichen Unternehmungen in Quito, so dass ich es gar nicht groß an den Laptop geschafft hab... und wenn, dann musst ich auch ab und an mal Unterricht vorbereiten, denn mittlerweile mach ich wieder an der Schule, aber dazu später noch mehr... jetzt spul ich noch mal eben 4 Wochen zurück, um euch zu berichten, was seitdem so in Ecuador passiert ist... Also, nach meinem letzten Blog hab ich mich ja auch auf den Weg an den Strand gemacht, mit dem Nachtbus nach Salinas und von dort aus nach Montanita, wo ich ... read more

This is my second trip to Centro Historico. Both times I wanted to do a walking tour but none was to be found...maybe because I was there both times on the weekend? I prefer the Old Town to Mariscal because of all the historical buildings, fantastic people watching opportunities in Plaza Grande and all the wonderful and cheap restaurants on the side streets. Plus there are more opportunities to have authentic interactions with people. ... read more