Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 630

...or as they call it here, dinner. Well, they don´t, ´cause that´s English... So I guess that should be cena. Anyway, Guinea pig is known here as Cuy, and it makes a very tasty streetmeat treat. You see them everywhere along the roadside, at little eateries, spinning away on spits at a surprising pace. It´s really quite greasy, but has a really nice strong flavour which I can´t really compare to anything, even Rabbit. It definitely doesn´t "taste like chicken" though! Anyway, I had my first taste of household pet in Latacunga, capital of Cotopaxi province. Stopped there on the way to some leather market in Ambato with my homestay family, where had I wanted to, I could have bought a nice leather jacket for about $40. Not really my thing though, and anyway, there wouldn´t ... read more

So, for the next two days, you are back to entries by Matt. After our trip down south, the boat was pointed north for the period I will be covering, crossing the equator along the way. After Floreana, the schedule required a trip back to Santa Cruz. I´m not sure this was so much for seeing sights as picking up a new set of guests. Another bumpy, rolling night on the high seas brought us back to where we started, Santa Cruz Island. Since we would be exchanging passengers at 9 am, the day got off to an early, 5:45am start a Caleta Tortuga Negra, or Black Turtle Cove. The main attraction was, of course, to be the green sea turtles. The black refers to the cove, not the turtles. The panga sped into the cove ... read more

Espanola Island 3-29-06 Matt and I are going to switch back and forth for these entries, so Sara will be your interpreter for this section of the Galapagos. Our overnight boat ride to Espanola was a bit bumpy but the Bonine was in full effect and we slept well with no nausea. We woke up to our usual fantastic 7 am breakfast (fruit, toast, eggs, cheese, tea/coffee, juice, and meat for the carnivores) and then we headed to Punta Suarez for our early day hike. The landing was dry but the docking point was covered with sea lions and brightly colored pink and green marine igaunas. The sea lions were so prolific that a mama thought I was a bit close to her baby and she chased me back onto the dock. There are 4 species ... read more

In order to prevent excessive eyestrain on the part of those reading, we have decided to break down the Galapagos into several entries. When last we spoke, Sara and I were preparing for dinner at the Secret Garden and, like any good bedtime story, we will pick back up at that point. Dinner at the hostel was excellent, with a set menu of marinated chicken for Matt and marinated vegetables for Sara, with a starter and dessert to boot. This was followed by watching a pirated copy of 'Madagascar'. All over South America, 99% of the DVD are pirated, $2 a pop, with greatly varied quality. This particular title, however, was on the low end of the quality scale, with the run time less than 30 minutes and skipping ahead every minute or two. On the ... read more

Well, it´s amazing what an effect the weather can have on a place!! I managed to wake up at a reasonable time today, and the weather was really quite nice, so I decided to return to the Old Town and have a proper wander around. Well, with mainly blue skies and sun shining, it´s really quite a nice place to walk around, lots of lovely old buildings and interesting Architecture, with the odd splash of colour too. There was some kind of event on, which meant that apart from the pedestrians there were absolute swarms of cyclists. Anyway, it meant that the City streets were full of people, there was live music in a number of places, and also music blaring out of various shops. On a Sunday. Quite a contrast from Good ol´ Santiago!!! Unfortunately ... read more