Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 649

24.09.05 Am Fruehstueckstisch versammelten sich heute nicht alle. Volkan hatte wohl einen Riesenkater. Dafuer sass eine neue Person auf der Bank gegenueber und wir dachten zuerst, dass es nur ein Wassertaxifahrer sei. Es stellte sich jedoch heraus, dass dies unser neuer Guide Victor war fuer die letzten beiden Tage. Der andere Guide hatte anscheinend ein persoenliches Problem, hatte sich aber nicht einmal verabschiedet. Victor stellte sich vor, praesentierte seinen Guidenachweis und erfragte unsere Namen und Herkunft. Dann mussten wir auch noch ein Formular ausfuellen. Alles ganz professionell. Und lustig war er auch noch. Nach dem Fruehstueck besuchten wir die Darwin-Station, ein anderes Schildkroetenreservat. Zuerst mussten wir eine Weile laufen, ein Bus lag bei dieser Tour nicht drin. Im Park waren etliche Schildkroeten zu sehen und der Guide erzaehlte viel darueber. Auch der Lonesom... read more

Recently I received a great email from my aunt Charissa. She responded to my language-barrier frustrations by pointing out that the reasons for my frustrations is that I am accustomed to communicating as an adult but am now reduced to the level of a 2 year old. (She also provided a great deal of encouragement, and seemed more confident than I in my abilities to pick up the language, which was good to hear.) I was reminded of her email today during my first Spanish lesson at Vida Verde. After my instructor and I had gone over the alphabet and some basic vocabulary, she pulled out a puzzle -- the kind with large pieces, designed especially for small hands -- with all the letters of the alphabet on it. Fortunately I was far more entertained than ... read more

After one failed attempt to get to the Amazon, failed because the local agency we booked through decided they couldn´t take us at the eleventh hour, it took a nightmare 13 hour bus journey to even arrive at the edge of Cuyabeno. Cuyabeno is an area of primary rainforest located along the northeast border of Ecuador and Columbia. An area we later found tourist groups had been advised to stay away from! We should probably have realised this when on arrival we sat down to breakfast with the Ecuadorian Army. From the edge of the national park we ventured 3 hours downstream to our lodge. On the journey we saw kingfishers, electric blue giant butterflies and 3 types of monkey. We had been warned that the lodge was basic, but it really was basic! It consisted ... read more

We have found a place to live! If all goes well tomorrow, we'll move into our lovely three-bedroom place, complete with kitchen, living room, dining room and view. The location is not ideal -- it will be a bit of a walk to get to La Mariscal -- but we're happy with it nonetheless. There's talk that we might get a cell phone, too, (mis amigos are a bit addicted to phones and internet), so I'll let you know if that does occur. The plan right now is to live in this apartment for at least a month and then decide whether we want to stay in Quito or go explore other parts of the country. My vote is to leave -- nothing against Quito, of course! -- but we'll cross that bridge when we come ... read more

Sadly, we only had one night available to spend in Banos. Once again, I wish I had more time to explore and visit a location, but it was nice to visit nonetheless. The way people described it previously, I had expected a town dominated by hotsprings, etc., but I was pleasantly surprised by the number of parks and natural areas around the town. Too bad we didn´t have time to explore them more, but we did see plenty of other tourists preparing for, or heading out on some wilderness adventure tours. With our limited time, instead we took in some of the local comforts: a 1 hour full body massage, followed by the spa in the hotel. One of those things that felt a little ridiculously indulgent at first, but was definitely relaxing. Mike had an ... read more