Sitting here back at Bahia Caraquez. It's been a week since we came back from our moutain excursion inland. It didn't start out as I had planned, geeze....really.... We had gotten our bags packed, and brought along a big plastic garbage bag to put them in for extra protection. They were going to be put under the bus, with our smaller bags in our laps. As we got to the dingy dock, Robin simply threw the bags onto the dock, we picked them up and headed for the bus terminal. My plastic bag was in the front of my big backpack [View Full Entry]

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In our quest to view humpback whales off the coast of Ecuador, we changed our flights to alight in Guayaquil. Thence we took to the buses to arrive in Puerto Lopez, further north along the coast. The bus journeys were hair-raising; conducted at breakneck speed, at every stop, vendors leaping on and off to sell their wares - kebabs, patties, juices, water, coconut and, bizarely, live crabs. All but the latter seemed to be doing a roaring trade. Our attention was taken by the prospect of a ginseng-based miracle cure that could prevent cancer, cleanse the liver, purify the blood, support [View Full Entry]

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Quito is the capital of Ecuador and is high up in the Andes mountain range at 2800m. The altitude took my breath away when I arrived on 19th June feeling a bit dizzy for a few seconds when leaving the plane and for around three days the symptoms were shortness of breath when walking around or up stairs, feeling tired and a slight headache. The medical experts say to literally do nothing for a day which was not difficult and to avoid alcohol and take asprin if required. A taxi from the airport is USD 5 from the little taxi kiosk [View Full Entry]

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i know we said we wouldn´t post again until sunday, but we´ll have plenty to talk about then, so we figured we´d go ahead and update a bit more about our time in quito this past day. we haven´t even left the hostel.. we got back close to dark (which is about 6pm at the equator) so we just settled in and went to dinner. last night was ecuadorian night, so they made ecuadorian food (which, i must admit, we´ve had plent of) but it was really nice. but we were shocked when a local band came up, that apparently comes [View Full Entry]

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June 4, 2008 - Atlanta, GA - Dekalb County Courthouse - Courtroom 7B - 9:00am - Calendar Call The judge sat in his seat looking down analyzing schedules and scribbling notes. Attorneys on all sides were requesting dates for their cases in a somewhat systematic, orderly manner. Dekalb County prosecuter, Jill Polster, stood up and re-emphasized to the Judge that the State needed to get their case on the June 16th calendar because one of their key eye-witnesses would be leaving the country the following week and would be inaccessible for an indefinite period of time. Naturally, Judg [View Full Entry]

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It was 5am. I had already been hiking for an hour through the heavy darkness of the forest, my glasses fogged with the thick humidity, my boots almost lost to sucking mud on several occasions - and then my headlamp decided to die. We still had an hour ahead, up and down steep, muddy ravines, over fallen trees. I would only have the weak light of my guide Edison's flashlight to navigate. I would have to try and not think of ten inch millipedes or earthworms wide as a child's wrist. Was that a leech that dropped onto my collar? I [View Full Entry]

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Seven Days in Ecuador - Part Two Tue 13/05 - 15/05/08 I spend my first full day in Quito wandering around, getting my bearings. Quito is the capital of Ecuador, with a population of roughly 1.5 million. The historic centre is a World Heritage site, full of churches, monasteries, plazas and museums. It's a pretty stunning place - just as you think you've seen it all, you spot something else around a corner or in the distance, poking out over the rooftops. From just about any point in the old city, you can see the Mirador El Panecillo looking down upon [View Full Entry]

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Seven Days in Ecuador - Part One Sun 11/05 - Thur 15/05/08 I leave New Zealand after five weeks of frustration, financial ruin and wasted opportunity. I look at my flight schedule. Shit. I know I'm in for an ordeal. My journey to Cuba to attend the wedding of one of my oldest friends will be long and hard. First, I have to get to Ecuador, where I'm due to stay for a week. A long time ago, when I began planning my travels, the idea behind this short detour was to see Galapagos, but this is now impossible. Tours are [View Full Entry]

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Ja faz quase 1 semana no Ecuador... acho que ja dà pra dizer algumas coisas daqui... Sair do Brasil atè que foi fàcil, nunca tinha feito viagem internacional, achei que a burocracia fosse muito maior. Check in pela internet, tive apenas que despachar as malas (pelo visto o limite de peso è bem de boa), e partir. Comida de aviao, pra variar, aquela mesma coisa sem graca... Ate que depois de um tempo chegamos à Lima. Escala. Como o voo tinha atrasado um pouco, nem deu tempo de passar no free shop do Peru (por sinal... free shop è uma dessas [View Full Entry]

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Although I had read about this in advance, somehow the use of the US dollar as the currency in Ecuador has been vaguely disconcerting. Have I truly left the US? Am I in some strange transition zone between the north and south? Not really here nor there? Thus begins my South American journey. I arrived in Quito late at night on Wednesday, amidst a crush of international flights that disgorged at one time - a crowd that the three immigration officials could barely handle. My travel weariness, coupled with the thin air, made my bones ache, my legs shake. I crashed, [View Full Entry]

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