Blogs from Ecuador, South America - page 657

Yay! It´s finally here. Our cruise in the Galapagos. Or so we thought... We arrived at the airport in Quito at 7:20 am to pick up our plane tickets from the travel agent. We had arranged to meet her there when we visited the office the week before. We found her smiling at the entrance. She handed us the tickets. Then, the surprise. She pulled out an itinerary and said, "I´m sorry to have to tell you this. The boat is broken. There is no cruise." Was this just a bad dream? A joke? Nope. Neither. The Sarah Dayuma, our ship, was no more. It had almost sunk, or broken down, or make up your own reason (everyone seemed to have their own story). The point is, it wasn´t working. We were told we would be ... read more

Antligen pa catamaranen!! Vi stortrivs fran forsta stund! Segling 7 timmar norrut fran San Christobal till en liten o soder om Bartholome som heter Sombrero Chino. Det var lite tomt vid middagsbordet..due to sea sickness. (Halva ganget). Annars var allt stralande. Njut av bilderna. Kram Kram!... read more

We started this trip in Ushuaia at the end of the world. Now, after four months, we´ve finally reached the middle of the world. On the 13th, we visited the Mitad del Mundo monument north of Quito. It is a super-touristy "mini-city". But we went to take pictures on the equator. Yes, we took an hour long bus ride to take pictures of an imaginary line. Very cheesy, we know. But we figured, "When´s the next time we´re going to be this close to the equator?" The next day (a Thursday), we headed for Otavalo to beat the hoards of other tourists that would be pouring in for the famous Saturday market. This also gave us a couple extra days to shop. We knew at the beginning of our South American travels that we´d be here ... read more

Ecuadors hoegsta topp!!! Den snoeklaedda vulkanen, 6310meter,Chimborazo. daer var vi igaar!! Vilken kick! vi tog bussen tidigt fraan Quito, aakte soederut i 4 timmar till staden Riobamba. Kaend ocksaa som ¨Sultan of the Andes¨. I staden bor 126.000 personer, en ganska traditionellt gammaldags stad med Ecuadors stoersta ¨tjurfaektningsarena¨. Vaelframme i Riobamba ringde vi vaenner till Luis och Susanna som lovat att ¨ta hand om oss/visa oss¨the highlights. Det som vi verkligen ville se och uppleva var Chimborazo. Saa efter telefonsamtalet saa var vi helt ploetsligt hemma hos Junior Daniels familj paa familjemiddag. Fick mumsig potatis/kycklingsoppa somfoeraett och kyckling och ris&pasta daerefter. Tur att vi aat ordentligt! .....foer sen bar det ivaeg mot toppen av Chimborazo! En aeventyrlig faerd uppaat bergen med Daniels 4 wheel drive jeep. Det blev allt sandigare, dimmigare och ... read more

Yo yo, tis Rich. Jen and I decided to celebrate the theft of our day sack (along with my MP3 player, damnit) in style. It was clear after Cuenca got through the quarter final on agregate (see entry GOOOOAAL) that we would have to track down the semi final against the frankly much better Liga Quito, and watch the plucky Cuencan team get the sound thrashing that was coming to them. Fortunately, we didnt have far to go, it was in Cuenca again. Along with our school buddies Addie and Mora, we decided to go in style this time, and get hammered. Half a bottle of rum each later, washed down with some rum from bars along the way, we finally made it to the stadium. What can I say? Brilliant, that´s what. Fuelled heavily with ... read more