It{s Been A While

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June 27th 2006

Published: June 28th 2006

Sorry it´s been so long since our last update- travelblog hasn´t been working so well and we´re only now able to get on and tell youi what we´ve been up to.

June 17th: We woke up early to get to the airport to catch our flight to Quito, only to find thatour flight was overbooked. Initially, TACA wanted us to takea flightthe next day- problematic since we had to catch a flight to the Glapagos on the 18th. M and I were both mortified that our trip to the Galapagos might be ruined. Thankfully, TACA put us on an afternoon flightwith Copa, another airline, and put us up in a hotel for the morning-afternoon. We got free breakfast and lunch and a $150 travel voucher out of it too and got to watch the CZech Republic lose to Ghana (wow, did they play badly) and the US´s draw with Italy as well. Then we caught our flight, with a brief stopover in Panama and finally got to Quito in the evening. Our first impression of Quito was immensely positive- the people were friendly, our cabbie chatty and informative, the city, stretching 40 kilometers and only a couple of miles wide was beautiful and strange and our hostel, Casa Helbling, was cheap and clean. We went to bed early- we were being picked up for our flight to the Galapagos at 6:00 in the morning.

June 18-22: We spent the next 48 hours in the Galapagos. Since we flew TAME, the Ecuadorian airline, we weren´t bumped! Yipee! Once we arrived at Barta ( the only Galapagos island not part of the national park- it´s controlled by the military and it´s igunanas evacuated to nearby North Seymour Island), we were met by our indigenous guide, Champion and quickly ushered from Bus to boat to Bus and finally to our yacht, the Rumba, where we would spend the next four nights and days. Champion was part teacher and part entertainer- reminding us of the rules (stay 2 meters away from the animals, never stray from the paths) then pulling a practical joke. M and I didn´t know whetehr we liked him or wanted to chuck him from the boat. There was also our captain, a sympathetic man who had a knack for finding rare sea life on snorkiling trips, our fantastic cook (the meals were amazing), a prodigal engineer (the engine on our dinghy died on one snorkeling trip), and a brusk, crew cutted man who served as pilot.

Besides M and me, there were 8 other passengers on the boat. A dutch couple on their honeymoon, a doctor and his wife from Wyoming )who had some unkind words to say about Dick Cheney- supposedly he was once a rather approachable, normal man but since gaining the vice-presidency, he´s stopped saying hello to people in his home town and the airspace is completly close while he´s in residence, even for emergency medical flights), an Austrian couple of about60 who spoke little English, and two lone travellers, a swiss woman and an australian woman.

We were on a tourist class yacht, which meant it had good food, our guide spoke heavily accented english and we had low pressure, cold water showers (I can´t imagine what economy class must be like!) and could feel every wave of the ocean. And Martina has motion sickness! The first few hours on the boat were a bit testy, but after landeing in Sanata Cruz and vising the turles atthe Darwin center we found a pharmacy and got M some pills. THey worked wonders and made the next 4 days bearable for her.

Every day was basically the same- visit an island in the morning, snorkel, visit a second island, snorkel again.

At some point, I´ll get our photos up but a short list of animals seen include: flamingos, land and marine igunanas, sea lions, frigates, finches, sharks, rays, sea turtles, albatross (I don´t know whether to quote Coleridge or Monty Python), lava lizards and more sea lions. I{m not sure it was worth the money, but we had a great time and enjoyed the company of our fellow passengers. I promise, pictures will come soon.

June 22: We see one last island (North Seymour) and then catch a plane back to Quito. We arrive early, check into our hostel and head tothe old town where we see old colonial buildings and some lovely churches. The interiors are very different than what we´re used to' more ornate and the paitings and statues are VERY colorful and graphic- blood everywhere and leaving little to the imagination of Jesus´suffering.

June 23: We wake up late and decide to go to Mitad del Mundo, the center ofthe World, a monument built right on the equator. We go searching for the bus and with our limited spanish we embark on what turns out to be a rather Quixotic quest. We ask around but can{t get an answer that we understand. At one point we leave a gaggle of college girls giggling until one volunteers to lead us to the bus stop. We are forever in her debt. The ride takes one hour and we gotto mitad del mundo around 12:00.

The monument, built in the 1800´s, is impressive but there´s one problem. It{´s built in the wrong place. THe French misidentified the spot and now with GPS it´s been determined that the equator is actually 250 meters to the south. Oops. We walk up the monument, visit the museum of the sun, a fascinating place dedicated to undertsanding the ancient cultures´understanding of astronomy and discovering and excavating old cities based on the sun cycles. Turns out the people of Ecudaor didn{t need to build pyramids because they had mountains. I´m not doing it justice, but it was fascinating. You{ll have to take my word for it. Unfortunately, the government doesn{t like the organisations political activism and the museum will be removed next year.

We then walk to the museum, unadvertised (the government is still upsetthattheir park-monument is not in the right place) that is built in the equator. The demonstrate how you can balance an egg on the head of a nail, water spins clokwise south of the equator, counter clokwise north of the equater and straightdown at the equator. THe museum also has a couple of exhibits about the lives of the indigenous poeples and a real shrunken head. A must see.

June 24th: We take a bike trip to Cotapaxi, a volcano outside Quito. Were driven to the moutain, some 4600 meters above sea level, and then mountain bike down. The road is very techinal and one of our group takes a fall. The area is beautiful beyond word- Cotapaxi is snow capped and severe, the area around is covered in wild flowers and all very much unlike the ROcky Mountains. Biking at that altitude left us breathless (literally and figuratively) and was a great way to experience the area.

June 25th: We watch Ecuador lose to England (on an unbelievable penalty kick by David Beckham) atthe HOstel and then head out to the streets. Despite the loss, the pople of QUito were very upbeat, even celebratory, with car loads of people waving flags and honking horns. Down with English holliganism! Everyone should treat sports the way Ecuadorians do. Then it{s off to the airport to catch our flightto Lima. And guess what? TACA bumps us again. This time no food, no hotel, no voucher, just a flight on LAN. Im beginiing ´to believe that TACA doesn´t actually own any planes- they just fill the empty spaces on other airlines. Thankfully, we only have to spend a couple extra hours atthe airport. In Lima we{re quickly hustyeld to a prearranged ride and sped off to our hostel, a compund syurrounded by a high fence in Miloflores. We head to our room believeing that Lima is as unsafe as its reputation suggests.

Uh oh' we have cable tv. It{s mafter midnight, but we watch an hour of bad american sitcoms (Kitchen COnfidential and How I met your mother) and swore we´d get rid of cable as soon as we got back to new york.

June 26th: We visit San Francisco, a large complex in the center of Lima. Our guide speaks only spansih, butwe enjoy the the tour anyway. There´s a library with centuries old texts, a 1.5 ton stand that was carruied around by forty people at celebrations and even a catacomb. We walk around the area some more before having lunch and a Pisco Sour (the peruvian national drink) atthe Gran Hotel.

Back in Miroflores, we walk to LarcaMar, a mall built into the cliffs overlooking the sea and have dinner on a precepice. Then it{s home for more bad television (the wedding planner!) and sleep. We have to be up at 3:15 to catch our 6:00 flightto Cuzco. With Taca. Uh oh.

June 27th: Taca doesn´t bump us and we arrive in Cusco around 7:30. After taking painfully long to make up our minds about how toget from the airtpot to our hostel, we get in at around 8:00. We eatbrekafast and sleep till 1:00. THen we wander. Cuzco is beautiful. More later.

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