Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 655

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South America » Ecuador » North » Quito August 1st 2005

Los Amigos de Quito and multilingual tongue twisters We came to Ecuador expecting to pop our heads in the door and leave soon afterwards, but somehow have managed to spend a month or more here! Before leaving England we had an offer of accommodation from Nancy and Christina who live in London and who also have an apartment in the capital, Quito. And so we find ourselves on a flight, clutching a piece of paper onto which we have carefully copied their address. The taxi driver seems to know where he is heading and in no time we come to the gates of the housing estate in which Nancy and Christina have their apartment. Security formalities dispensed with, the gates are opened, the taxi drives in and we meet our new neighbours Soledad and Eistein and ... read more
Nancy's fab apartment
The view from the apartment
a curry in the making

South America » Ecuador » South » Cuenca August 1st 2005

Yo! after a long break, (you´ll get the pun shortly), its Jen signing back in. Ola! We have been busy studying Spanish here and to be honest we are doing pretty well, for a Brit anyways. But what a stroke of luck we have had lately. Firstly, the camera goes swimming. so we get one sent out cos they are about 3 times the price here. And when it arrives by courier, it contains a grand total of 1 plug. Thats it. And did I mention we got our bag stolen? Containing our only other item of interest, the archos mp3 glory, in addition to all our books, and other fun stuff. So, we are thinking, bad luck comes in 3´s and that should be it, right? Wrong. Last Thursday was the grand one year Jen ... read more
Shoe shine boy
Scrubadub
Cuenca´s Cathedral

South America » Ecuador » West » Guayaquil July 31st 2005

Can it be real? Is the trip actually over? Yup. It is amazing how something that is so absorbing as a multi-month trip, just ends so suddenly. We are back in Simi Valley, now. In a few days we head down to San Diego to look for an apartment. For those of you who do not know, Ryan is going back to school to get his Master´s in Geography at San Diego State University. That is the reason that this trip came to fruition. We had to quit our jobs at some point, might as well be in March instead of July. We actually had a Day 8 in the Galapagos. It just wasn´t exciting enough to warrant it´s own blog. We had another very early start (5:30 am) to catch the fast boat to San ... read more
Ana in Banos
Parque de las Iguanas
Guayaquil from Cerro Santa Ana

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos July 29th 2005

Back on main island again briefly today to visit the Darwin Research Station, where they keep the giant tortoises (and boy were they giant, apart from the babies, some of which were very small). Boring for you maybe, but I need a record of what I´ve seen. Now let me think: When first arrived at harbour to go to boat, sea lions and pelicans all lying around/standing on peoples´boats. Funny black seagulls. Then we went somewhere, an island, and on land for lots more sea lions (always one lying on the jetty as you approach), many feeding. Blue footed boobies, saw a female take over from a male in incubating the eggs but they didn´t "dance". They had no fear of us. Lots of red and blue crabs, the young ones are black. Then, some snorkelling. ... read more

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos July 28th 2005

Now, I can only be away from the sea lions and iguanas for a minute but I had to come on-line quickly to rave. I´m scrapping my no saying "You Have to come here" or "This is the Best ever" rule to say both those things and also would anyone like to sell their possessions, bar snorkelling masks and underwater cameras, and come and live against a cliff here with me? We can eat turtles and boiled bright red and blue crabs, and snorkel all day long. Then chat about how evolution is The best and most interesting thing there is. I have been centimetres from the face of a sea lion who bared her teeth in my face. Things are going to get better, too, I bet, especialy now I´ve bought tablets for the darned ... read more

South America » Ecuador » West » Puerto López July 27th 2005

After our trip to Banos we decided to head for the Ecuadorian coastal town of Puerto Lopez where off the coastline it is currently mating season for the humpacked whale. So with a spring in our step we set off on our first overnight coach journey in Ecuador. Now, although Ecuador is in most respects more upscale than Peru, this doesnt apply to the buses and arriving at the terminal we boarded our bus “Carlos Aray” to find the seats to be hard as iron and stuck in a rather uncomfortable recline positon. This was going to be a long 8 hours. The first couple of hours passed without incident as we wound our way up the Panamericana toward Quito. The trouble started as we turned of toward the coast and decended through the cloud forest ... read more
Beach geese at  P. Lopez
Isla de la Plata
Nice boobies

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito July 26th 2005

Bright and early tomorrow morning, I´ll be hailing a cab to take me to the airport, clutching my binoculars and butterfly catching net. (I wish I had either of these, it would make me look so much more authentic. I´d like to do the whole thing in the style of a 19th century lady naturalist, actually, with fifteen men to carry my boxes of captured animals, and a parasol.) I have ludicrously high hopes for the trip. I´m expecting it to be more successful than my last couple of days of tourism, at the very least. Yesterday was a bit of a flop, you see. I´m exagerating; I went round the cathedral, La Compania and another church whose name escapes me, all of which were stunning. I also did loads of walking round the pretty Old ... read more

South America » Ecuador » North » Quito July 24th 2005

Well, school's out for me and, if the truth be told, I haven't actually achieved complete fluency. I still get people asking me if maybe I spent some years out of Ecuador as a child and that sort of thing. And I guess it may deteriorate to the point that when any of you see me again I know just a little bit more than the average traveller and have to rummage round in my notebook or dictionary for most words and tenses. Straight from school on Friday night, I went to the bottom of a volcano near Quito with four others (including one weird German guy who gave the rest of us something to talk about whenever he was out of the room or lagging behind or just facing the other way). The Germans (because ... read more

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos July 24th 2005

After difficulty waking (Ana) up the next morning, we headed out to South Plaza Island. Ana (and Carlos, of course) napped on the bus and on the boat (good thing the boat had eight beds). Jorge was marginally easier to understand this time around as the group somehow convinced him to give explanations in Spanish at least part of the time. His behavior, though, was perplexing. Especially for a trained guide in the Galápagos National Park. Our group was enjoying the walk along South Plaza Island. The foliage formed a red carpet over much of the island. Cactus, land iguanas, and sea lions were plentiful. Then Jorge started explaining a bit about the land iguanas´diet. They eat the reddish vegetation and supplement their diet with cactus (for water). The iguanas do not climb and must wait ... read more
South Plaza Island
Land Iguana
Colors on South Plaza

South America » Ecuador » Galápagos July 23rd 2005

"Hello! Everybody ready?! It´s George, your guide. It´s time to go to Bartolomé! The bus is waiting!" boomed a man with an Ecuadorian accent. It was only 4:45 am. It was still dark out. We hadn´t even heard any roosters yet (they usually start crowing way too early in the morning). Though, our alarm had just gone off. No, we were not ready yet. We had been told that the bus would would pick us up at our hotel at 5:00 am. We had packed up our stuff the night before. All we had to do was get dressed, grab our daybag and head downstairs. Most of our group arrived downstairs at the bus at the same time. Except Carlos. Had anyone woken up him yet? How could he not have heard George? Wow, he´s a ... read more
The peak on Bartolomé Island
Cactus on Bartolomé
Mike and Caroline




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