You are receiving this notice because I have added you to my Ecuador - Galapagos Blog posting notices. If you do not wish to receive these emails please let me know and I will remove you. This is my second try at posting this entry, please forgive me for getting so many posting emails. I've had a bit of challenge with the travelblog website and internet connections. ~Sue Getting There We started ar 1230 am Wednesday morning and flew to Dallas and then to Miami and then to Quito. We arrive in Quito at 730 pm and got to the Hotel [View Full Entry]

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12 Dec 2009 - Looking around Quito - Started off walking to 1 of the central parks (La Carolina) and had a picnic with our own tour guide ´Mo´. Heaps of activity going on - music, football, volleyball - for us a little rest (nice). - After this we caught our first public transport (trolebus) which was crammed - holding onto your pockets. We made our way to the south of Quito for $0.25 to go to the top of El Panecillo (lookout) to take some photos of Quito. Very dodgy - we were walking up steps and a kid told [View Full Entry]

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Having just stayed in La Paz for the fifth time, I think I'm ready to leave it behind me now. Just as well, for today is the day we travel back to Quito, and make some real strides in a homeward direction. For the first time on this journey, I have finally been afflicted by Montezuma's revenge. It isn't pretty. My stomach has been cramping all day, and visiting the toilet has been a less than positive experience. Just one week from the finish line, and I get ill. Marvellous. The thought of two flights tonight then isn't a good one. [View Full Entry]

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So we arrived in Quito on the 14th of November. Quito is the capital of Ecuador and is at an altitude of 2800 meters. My main plan for Ecuador is to climb a mountain (Volcano) called Cotopaxi which is a couple of hours south of Quito. We figured that the altitude training would help. On arrival in Quito we made friends with a spanish couple (Martin and Layla) and we decided to stay in a hostel called the Secret Garden. I did not realise how touristy this Hostel would be but it proved to be great fun. The hostel itself has [View Full Entry]

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Nous avons décidé de passer plusieurs jours sur Quito, histoire de s'habituer à l'altitude, Quito étant à 2800 mètres. Dave avait en tete d'escalader le volcan Cotopaxi, qui est le plus haut volcan actif au monde, donc le 1er jour, nous avons fait le tour des agences de voyages pour connaitre les prix et les arrangements pour l'escalade du volcan. Au départ, on pensait prendre un guide particulier, louer l'équipement (crampons, piolet...) mais au final cela revenait plus cher que de passer par une agence. Et puis avec l'agence, tout est inclus et elle s'occupe de tout! A l'auberge, nous avons [View Full Entry]

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So after the four day tour,I had 10 days left at the station. Our group was slowly departing, the loss of Phil being the first. More drinks at the station bar for Nush´s leaving do,too many games of Ring of Fire for my liking and the loss of Mel at the weekend lead me to think that I wanted to leave a couple of days early,headback to Qutio and do some sightseeing around the area before the beginning of my next tour. Only it hasn´t really worked outlike this. My intention was to leave Thursday or Friday 12or 13th of Nov. [View Full Entry]

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Apologes for the major tardiness with the blog. It´s been a crazy couple of weeks but thats why I love it here. Firstly, celebrations for Alycat´s birthday took place on the weekend of the 24th Oct, many a mojito consumed with the final destination being Iguana Rock (where else!!) and an unfortunate meeting with Notorius PIG and his mate Vin Doll, you know who you are boys!!! Antics on the station remained the same as ever, fabulous, with an excellent hike to the Mirconia forest above the station where wide horses were witnessed running freely round the foothills. Orange collecting, mora [View Full Entry]

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Buses buses and more buses. Also some trolleys thrown in, for good measure. Not stopping, heading straight to Otavalo to escape the big city. [View Full Entry]

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For the last month or so, I’ve been eating dinner with the people every night at the downtown Center in my break in between classes, and it has been such a blessing. In the beginning, I thought it would drain me, and granted I am tired by the time I get to 6pm, BUT it is definitely one of my favorite parts of the day. Tonight, I sat with a few of my first grade girls and some other kids. One of my first graders, Evelyn, had a lollipop ring on her finger and was sucking on it with a smile [View Full Entry]

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Sorry that I haven't written in a while but nothing really has been going on here. Oh, expect for the lights are turned off everyday at random times. The eletricity here is generated through hydroelectricity. No rain = no power. It hasn't rained for a while so there is a power shortage. They cut the lights off in random parts of the city for about four hours at a time. It is kinda annoying when I am doing something on the internet and the electricity goes out. I'm making all A's in my classes except for one. I'm at the point [View Full Entry]

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