Ecuador, Quito, 07-10-1990, I'm leaning against the entrance of the Gran Casino Hotel panting and not bothering to unleash my bulky old travel partner from my aching back, its strings painfully biting into my shoulder blades. Hating taxi drivers the world over I decided to walk the six kilometers leading me through the old historic centre of Quito, through the hustle and full of life cobblestone streets, feeling a strange ambience of the past invading my mind, weary after nearly twenty hours of near non-stop flying... Not yet a full hour on Ecuadorian soil and already my gray brain mass is [View Full Entry]

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QUITO 1.-4.10.2009 Täällä 3000 metrissä on aika jylhät maisemat. Ilmeisesti kärsin pari ensimmäistä päivää vuoristotaudista, koska minulla ei ole mitään muistikuvaa siitä, että olisin tutustunut Elisabethiin ja Ianiin (Washington DC:stä). He kuitenkin tiesivät minusta aika paljon. Oli aika outo olo, kun en yhtään muistanut keitä he olivat. Quitossa on ihanan viileää, melkein kuin Suomessa syyskesästä. En hikoile vaikka tänäänkin kapusin auringonpaisteessa vuoristoisia katuja neljä tuntia. Karibialla kaksi kuukautta kestänyt hikoilu kulutti varmaan loppuun kaiken kykyni hikoilla. Kenties en hikoile enää koskaan. Ecuadorilla ei ole ollut omaa valuuttaa 90-luvun talous- ja pankkikriisin jälkeen. Täällä käytetään US-dollareita. Omituista on kuitenkin se, että kaikki [View Full Entry]

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Så er jeg tilbage i Quito! Jubii!!! Da vi fløj ind over byen kunne jeg mærke sommerfuglene i maven, det skal så også siges at det er en speciel oplevelse da lufthavnen ligger midt i byen og man flyver meget lavt ned over bygningerene. Ankom igår efter en laaaaaang rejse. Blev modtaget i lufthavnen af Karin som er damen der skal administrere mit internship her. Hun kørte mig og mine tasker ud til El Cafecito hvor jeg blev indlogeret i et såkaldt "dorm-room" dvs. der er plads til at 4 forskellige mennesker kan sove her. Bor så på værelse med en [View Full Entry]

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I totally forgot to tell you guys that I have been teaching English for the past two weeks. I joined a program called Ingles Para Todos where university students teach English to the employees. I’m not going to lie; it is a lot of pressure. Teaching is not just talking. You actually have to make sure that the students understand. So give your teachers a break, okay? I got the worst shift ever - Saturday mornings at eight. I don’t know if I have already mentioned this in a previous entry, but I have to take two buses to the [View Full Entry]

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So today (Tuesday) I told one of my adult women that her birthday was on Thursday, and she had NO idea that it was her birthday, that she was going to be 44… I asked her what she wanted to do and she said she had no idea because she had never celebrated her birthday before. I told her that I was going to take the whole class out to dinner. The smile on her face throughout this whole conversation was priceless! Then Thursday rolled around and the birthday girl didn’t even show up to class! I saw her around 4 [View Full Entry]

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Hi - here is the first set of photos. Only some minor arguments at the internet cafe over doing this. . . . . Blog site very slow so not too many pics this time . . . . sorry! [View Full Entry]

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Good morning friends, family, acquaintances and. . . stalkers, It's 5.30 am and having not gone further than the end of the street for the last twenty years I'd forgotten that long haul can play havoc with your sleeping patterns!! Ian is of course fine, fast asleep etc etc, I was awake most of last night but slept from 9pm to 4.30 so I feel great and can see no reason to stay in bed when I could be speaking to all you lovely folks! Photos, photos - yes there will be photos - perhaps later today - though don't hold [View Full Entry]

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So I havent found time to update in ages…I haven’t found time to do any of my work either. Nowe I have an elective project hanging over my head and an MTAS application to write {if you can call it writing} I am finding any excuse not to do it… The following weekend The week after that This past weekend And the little bit of this week that has been Well I have a gym class to do so I will prob only get as far as the week after Otovalo. Mum was still here, On the Monday we went to [View Full Entry]

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So The week that mum left was emotional for me..I felt like I was going to be left and so the homesickness and the hating of the hospital grew! There wasn’t much remarkable about Monday but Tuesday was our trip to the hot Springs... I was apprehensive because I thought it was going to involve a hard hike at altitude a bit like Chimborazo. I was worried mum wouldn’t make it but actually it turned out to be lovely. It was about 2 and a half hours from Quito. Lovely drive in yet another landscape. Green but not forest. Mountains everywhere [View Full Entry]

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After a busy and fun summer, sailing, trips to Scotland and Turkey, 4 weddings, (including our own!), a brief ‘honeymoon’ in Hampshire, and months….. well no, weeks….. actually a few hours planning (never knowingly overplanned), it was time to pack our bags for the real honeymoon: 6 eagerly anticipated months in South America and a trip back via Down Under to see some friends. Our outline itinery will take us to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile - with the key highlights being a trip to the Galapagos Islands, to school to study Spanish, Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail, Lake [View Full Entry]

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