Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 651

South America » Ecuador September 16th 2005

10.09.05 Wir mussten frueh aufstehen. Gegenueber dem Hotel war schon ein Restaurant offen, dort holten wir uns kurz einen Kaffee. Gegen 08.00 Uhr trafen wir unseren Tourguide und ein Australierpaerchen bei einem Hotel in der Naehe. Nach einem kleinen Halt bei einer Baeckerei fuhren wir etwa 1,5 Stunden bis zum Vulkan Chimborazo. Vom ersten Refugio (Uebernachtungshaus) liefen Volkan und ich etwa eine halbe Stunde weiter bergauf bis zum zweiten Refugio auf 5000m. Als wir wieder beim Auto waren, erhielten wir unsere Fahrraeder, Helme, Handschuhe und Schoner. Die Abfahrt konnte losgehen. Die Australier waren extrem langsam, Volkan und ich warteten zwischendurch wieder auf sie, doch das dauerte immer eine Ewigkeit :-). Zuhinterst fuhr der Guide mit dem Auto. Die Abfahrt war sehr windig. Deshalb mussten wir sogar ab und zu beim hinunter fahren in die Pedale treten, ... read more

Volcanoes, Jungle and Clouds

South America » Ecuador September 15th 2005

Valley view near Cotopaxi

andyrooheavens

Mountaineering Hangover Arriving back in Quito after the Galapagos Islands i had itchy feet. Spent a day organizing some travelling to Cotopaxi and Cuyabeno. Met with Lars and Matt for some quality rum at Lars' place. Given that i would be heading up to an altitude of 4800m during a hike the next day, i think the drinking we did till close to 6am was a bad idea for me, but then, anything can seem like a good idea after half a bottle of rum. Waking up to somebody banging on my door, i jump up, check the clock, shit! It's 8:45am and i was meant to be meeting the guide at 8:30, i'm still somewhat inebriated. I open the door and say "ailbethersoon" and quickly finalise my pack and head off in the time you ... read more

Galapagos Islands

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos September 15th 2005

Booby and baby

Mark and Lorna

What an amazing place! Our trip to the Galapagos has more than exceeded our expectations. We had debated long and hard about the expense of this trip but it turned out to be worth every penny. The week was spent onboard the Aida Maria, cruising around the islands. Our guide was a local and also a qualified marine biologist, who was very knowledgeable and had an uncanny ability to make the wildlife ‘perform’ for us. Every day we were blown away by close encounters with the wildlife, which before this trip would have seemed unbelievable. We experienced enough in this week to take near enough 600 photos!! Unfortunately we can’t fit them all on our blog! On our first day we visited Ochoa beach and went swimming. In the water we saw turtles and some friendly ... read more

Ecuadorian Marketing 101 or Why Didn´t We Think of That?

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito September 14th 2005

Leaving on a jet plane

Weez n Wife

As we are preparing to say farewell to Ecuador, we didn´t want to end this portion of our blog without sharing some of the wacky Lost in Translation experiences we´ve had here. We now chalk it all up to cultural differences or sometimes just shake our heads.....but nothing surprises us anymore here. Ecuadorian marketing 101: Sex sells. A lot. It´s everywhere in ads here, from Doritos to garbage bags (not kidding) to pirated CD covers...everywhere you turn there´s a half-naked (or completely naked) woman staring back at you trying to sell a product or service....strange considering what a Catholic country this is. No product is immune. Even one of the restaurants in Riobamba was called, we kid you not, "Orgasmo Total". We asked one of the Ecuadorians what "orgasmo" signified in spanish, and his answer wasn´t ... read more

Galapagoin´

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito September 13th 2005

Chimborazo ... most of it, anyway

jonovision

We´re back in Quito, ready for our 8-day cruise in the Galapagos. We just picked up our tickets, etc. and found out that, although our flight is now very early in the morning (we leave the hotel at 6 AM), we have been upgraded to a bigger, nicer sailboat for our cruise! The Diamante is having mechanical problems, so we were upgraded, for free, to the company´s flagship, Sagitta (see http://www.angermeyercruises.com/. I suspect it will be the most luxurious experience of my life, but I´m more interested in the wildlife. It should be good times! Mike friends Nick & Sarah just got back from theirs (thier blog is on this site, too) and said it was "the best impulse buy of thier lives". Definitely excited. I was worried about running out of memory on my digital ... read more

Acclimatising!!

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito September 12th 2005

Mark and Lorna

After a 2 day tour of Madrid, where we did very little other than drink sangria and snack on tapas, we arrived in the capital of Ecuador, Quito. The most striking feature of Quito has to be its setting, with every view framed by the imposing slopes of the Andes. Feeling fairly spaced out, we ventured out on a walk of the city and began to find our orientation. Quito has 2 main parts, known as the Old Town and the New Town. The Old Town is far more attractive, with old colonial buildings and public squares in which to watch the world go by. However, it is also located adjacent to the poorer housing and on most of the street corners there are beggars. This is not an area you would want to stroll around ... read more

Sick in Riobamba

South America » Ecuador » Centre » Riobamba September 10th 2005

jonovision

We are now taking a break from travelling and spending about a week in Riobamba in the house rented for Mike's project. The nice thing about this setup is that we don't have to pay for nightly accomodation, and the food is cheaper, although we have to cook it ourselves. And, we can watch movies, and TV shows I brought down with me, on the computer in privacy. The plan was for me to get free room & board in exchange for helping process samples (floatation, cleaning artifacts, etc.). Unfortunately, after my 3rd night here, I haven't been much help. I guess it was bound to happen: I got a little careless, and got sick. The first night I was hit by what I think was an allergic reaction to all the dust in the house, ... read more

Shoving a Cheek in the Galapagos

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos September 10th 2005

Sailing past the Equator at Isabela island

Weez n Wife

Hey, back from the Galapagos Islands and we must say it was the best trip we´ve had so far. We hadn´t done much previous research on the islands since we didn´t decide to go until a few days before we left...it was the best impulse buy ever. We were on a 14 passenger boat called the Beluga, which toured most of the islands for eight days straight. Nick thinks he´s just about to get his sea legs any time now, while Sarah keeps complaining that the land is rocking. Two things we didn´t think about before we left: that the islands would be volcanic and desolate despite the wealth of fauna, and that we would be on a boat that was rocking 80% of the time....oh well, nothing a little gravol and booze couldn´t cure. (Psst...don´t ... read more

Lateinamerika - Woche 40 (Ecuador)

South America » Ecuador September 9th 2005

Guayaquil

Otane

03.09.05 Um 09.00 Uhr checkten wir aus, liessen das Gepaeck aber noch im Hotel. Dann gingen wir zur ersten Agentur von gestern, um noch ein paar weitere Fragen zu klaeren. Leider war diese aber noch geschlossen. Volkan musste noch auf die Post, deshalb liefen wir dorthin und dann weiter bis zur anderen Agentur ausserhalb. Doch auch diese war noch geschlossen. Wir entschieden uns, eine Weile zu warten. Gegen 11.00 Uhr kam dann auch endlich eine Person. Diese gab uns eigentlich recht gute Infos ueber die Inseln und einen guten Preis. Nach etwa zwei Stunden hatten wir unsere Tour gebucht sowie alle Belege und Unterlagen erhalten. Viel Geld haben wir natuerlich auch abgeliefert. Nun mussten wir nur noch die Flugtickets reservieren, damit wir diese in Cuenca bezahlen koennen, denn bis wir bei der Fluggesellschaft angekommen waeren, waere ... read more

Boobies and Volcanoes

South America » Ecuador September 8th 2005

Galapagos Greeting

Carl and Nicola No Fixed Abode

Only a few minutes after arriving in Ecuador we knew we would like this country, partly it was the beautiful night view we had flying in to Quito, partly the friendly customs people and taxi driver, partly the lack of military presence after Venezuela but mostly it had to do with the tiny people in traditional dress with their smart green hats. They look so wonderfully cute. FIRST DAYS IN QUITO Our arrival was late in the evening and Quito was supposed to be a dangerous place, so we thought we had booked a hotel with a taxi pick-up, but unable to get to internet café due to political rally in St Elena I was unable to confirm the reservation. Thus the taxi was not there, “No hay problema” as there was a friendly lady at ... read more

Brief history of Ecuador

The "Republic of the Equator" was one of three countries that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830 (the others are Colombia and Venezuela). Between 1904 and 1942, Ecuador lost territories in a series of conflicts with its neighbors. A b...more history

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