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Published: February 17th 2011
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Miami SOBE
starting the trip off right Hello all, we are back at it !
We started our trip off in Miami, where we stayed at a typical Miami style Art Deco hotel just steps from the beach. Let me just start off with I LOVE MIAMI !! The beach is is gorgeous with white sand and clear blue water, the art deco theme is such a cool back drop, the happy hour and restaurant choices are ridiculous! We ate Brazillian, Cuban, Bavarian ( Hofbrau ) and Argentinin. We rented bicycles and cruised around the city over bridges that linked man made islands, boardwalks on South Beach, and marinas. We would definitely visit again.
Our flight from Miami was a short 4 hour jaunt to Quito, Ecuador. The city is located in the Andes 2800ish meters above sea level. You can feel the altitude right away, which is kinda interesting, mainly in the way you breath, its easy to get winded climbing a flight of stairs. It takes just a couple of days to adjust. The city of Quito has an jaw dropping city scape of Andean mountains with misty clouds that constantly shift and shape throughout them. One minute you can look up to the
hill and see buildings and moutaintops and the next second a thick cloud swoops in. The weather changes the same way, in a day you will see sun, wind, cloud, rain ect. The trick is dressing for that confusing situation!!
The biggest adjustment so far is the language. Most people don´t speak english, or don´t bother to, and rattle off in their native tounge regardless of your understanding. Which we kinda like because within 24 hours we learnt a bunch of words and sayings just because we were forced to! Its wierd how you can somehow understand the jist of what someone is saying by recognizing a few words and picking up on expression, body language and hand motions. I finally now understand why people say learning in immersion is the only way to pick it up. Its SO hard though, I learn a word and forget it, I have to repeat it like a mantra for it to stick and even then unless I use it again in a real life situation its gone. We are shopping around for spanish classes right now, and are going to attempt to do 4 hrs a day and really dive in
South Beach
Man made island neighborhoods and take this bull by the horns !! Its been goal of mine forever to learn, and nows the chance!
A few facts about this city
·Quito was the first city in the world to receive World Heritage Site status from UNESCO in 1978
·According to a pre-Inca legend, the city of Quito was founded by Quitumbe, son of the god Quitu, in honor of his father. The valley that would eventually cradle Ecuadors capital was originally occupied by the Quitu tribe, which united with the Cara from the north to form the Shyris nation around AD 1300.
·The city´s weather is often described as eternal spring, meaning balmy days of 8 -21 degrees celsius, warm direct sunlight, steady breezes, and almost painfully picturesque clouds that usually gather for an afternoon shower, all capped by a cool-but not cold-darkness. The saying goes that the city can experience all four seasons in a single day
We are staying in an area of Quito called La Mariscal, or el Gringolandia as there are many turistas here, but we are still out numbered significantly by locals which is awesome. There is tonnes of bars, restaurants, galleries and internet
Bikes on the boardwalk
best decision ever, biking around and about miami cafes. We are taking spanish classes everyday for a few hours at a school near by, we´ve learnt so much already, but that just makes us realize how much more there is to know!!
Breakfast usually consists of bread, eggs, instant coffee with more milk than actually coffe ( gross ) and fresh juice, usually 2 $. Its so hard to find a decent cup of coffee around here, its acutally quite ridiculous! Its one of Ecuadors main exports, but all the good stuff goes and the remainder is expensive and hard to find. I´ve actually become quite the connosuer of the realm of instant coffee, its a strange world.
Lunch is called Almuerzo, again around 2 $ consisting of a soup first, then a plate of chicken, rice and salad, not too bad eh!
Dinner is usually random, we go wherever our nose takes us, there are tonnes of italian places, burgers, tapas ect
We moved to Old Town, about 10 minutes from the entertainent district of ( think Granville st ) Quito, into a cute hotel for 20 $with an amazing view of the city. Its a much different vibe here. Lots of steep, narrow roads, cars
barely fit in lanes that were originally designed for horse and foot traffic. There is a tonne of old Catholic churches and museums, and plazas. The city is back dropped by ¨El Panecillo¨ or little bread loaf hill, with a 30 meter statue of the Virgin of Quito.
There is also this one street in old city that is amazingly charming called La Rhonda. A stroll through this area is a good way to get a feeling of what traditional life was like in colonial Quito. Within only two blocks, you can find artisians working on traditional handicrafts such as candles and embroidery, many ¨tiendas¨or small stores and bakeries. Back in the day La Rhonda was home to several musicians, poets, historians and other important figures of Quitos history. Every night we were there, wandering musicans would stop in and out of restaurants playing a song or two. They also have this hot drink called Canelazo made with orange, cinnemon and suger cane liquor. It would boil in these huge cast iron pots and you could get a wee drink strolling by for 50 cents or so.
All in all quito was a great experience, but we are
sunset from plane
I think we were flying over cuba? looking forward to moving on to new places!
( there are 3 pages of photos, so scroll down and hit next )
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dick enns
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nice
love your blogs Dad