November 29, 2007

Return to Quito

So we woke up at 0 dark something to finish getting ready to grab the "movil" back to Itabaca Channel in order to get to the airport in Baltra. Once there we were able to get emergency exit seats. Unfortunately, they were bulkhead seats and G was not that comfortable. Aside from the "unexpected" 60min delay, we arrived in Quito tired, but with good spirits.

Once in Quito, we were met by G's uncle Manuel. He drove us around Quito a bit and then took us to his "finquita" in Tumbaco. G had been there 15 years ago when there was only some small one lane cobblestone roads and almost no neighbors. Sadly, Tumbaco has grown beyond belief, from a small rural getaway to a busy suburb of Quito. The hill that used to overlook only farms now is covered with houses. There we had dinner with the rest of Manuel's family, including his wife Maria Elena. All four boys; Manuel, Andres, Pedro, Daniel, were there as well as Manuel and Pedro's wives and offspring. We had a great dinner. Towards the end of the night, Danny drove us back to Heide's.

November 28, 2007

1.1 Tortuga Bay Beach - Lisa
1.2 Gordon Rocks Scuba Diving - G
2.0 Highlands

After breakfast at the hotel the guide met me at the hotel and we walked to Tortuga Bay Beach. The walk was about 6 km total. Along the walk I saw finches, mocking birds, lava lizards, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, and a sea turtle. After walking we stopped at a lagoon and waded around looking for white-tip reef sharks, but did not see any. We then walked back to the hotel.













Before breakfast G headed out to Itabaca Channel to catch his ride to go diving at Gordon Rocks. The gear was new and there were only 3 other divers plus the divemaster on the trip. The water was very choppy but still a lot of fun. On the first dive he saw some sting rays and some moray eels, a school of some fish and some interesting marine life living in the lava formations. After getting back on the boat and contributing his breakfast to the well being of the marine life, he went for his second dive. Alas, no hammerhead sharks on this dive either, but some fun time with a sea lion, albeit too short. Then it was time to head back to shore and dock in Puerto Ayora.

G met me in the outdoor cafe where we had lunch before heading out for our highland tour. We drove to some lava tunnels that we walked through. We saw an owl resting in the tunnel. From there we walked through many different fields full of wild turtles. They were huge! Also found out the hard way that if you get too close they kinda hiss at you and then retract their heads.













We then returned to the hotel where we packed before meeting Katja and Charlotte, two German ladies we met, for dinner. We then walked to the docks and caught the water taxi to Angermeyer Point where we had a lovely goodbye dinner.

November 27, 2007

North Seymour Island and Bachas Beach

After a quick breakfast at the hotel we again boarded a bus for the Itabaca Channel. Today we were on the Española yacht. Once on board we headed north for Seymour Island. Travel time today was about 1 hour. When we arrived getting off on the island was a little more difficult due to the rocks, but we all arrived on the island dry.

We walked for about 1.5 hours over sand and lava rocks and saw magnificent frigatebirds, sea lions, marine iguanas, and blue-footed boobies. The blue-footed boobies were whistling for mates and doing their mating dance. It was fun to watch.
















While waiting for the boat to raise anchor we saw manta rays flipping over outside the water. It was cool to see them smack the water. Again we had lunch as we travel to Bachas Beach. This time lunch was rice, green salad, cooked califlower with sauce, and fish for G. When we arrived at Bachas Beach we took the dingy ashore and hopped off. G tried to snorkel, but the water was too murky. He only saw one fish. On land we saw the pink flamingos and a colony of sally light-foot crabs.

We returned to port and took the bus back to the hotel. We did some pre-dinner shopping and headed up to the Darwin Center, but were still unable to get a good picture of Lonesome George.

November 26, 2007

Plaza South and Punta Carrión

We woke up early and grabbed breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We then met the bus outside the hotel and drove 45min to the Itabaca Channel between Baltra Island and Santa Cruz Island. When we arrived, we put on life jackets and hopped into a dingy, which took us to the Santa Fe II Yacht. During our trip, a group of magnificent frigatebirds kept us company along side the boat.


















After a 1.5hrs trip we arrived at the Plaza Islands. We again boarded the dingy and docked at Plaza South, where we were met by a colony of sea lions.


















We walk for 1.5hrs around the island and saw both land and marine iguanas, lava lizards, red-billed tropic birds, magnificent frigatebrids, swallow-tailed gull, lava heron, cactus finches, some pacific green turtles mating and the sally lightfoot crab. It was quite the enchanting walk.


















We went back to the boat and had a lunch of rice, califlower and potato salad, cabbage salad and G had bacalao (catfish) as we sailed to Punta Carrión. As we arrived at Punta Carrión we cahnged into our bathing suits and went for a swim. G went snorkeling and saw some white-tip reef sharks, a school of blue and silver fish and another school of cool black fish with yellow and blue accents.

After we made it back to the dock, we drove back to the hotel making a quick stop at "Los Gemelos", which are two sink holes in the highlands. We then had dinner in the outside café of the hotel.

November 25, 2007

Galapagos

Happy Birthday to Me! Woke up at 0415 and made our way to the Quito airport to grab our flight to Baltra Island in the Galapagos.














After a 45min layover in Guayaquil, we landed in Galapagos.

We than had to take a bus to make our way to the ferry to take us over one of the main isles, Santa Cruz, where our resort, Hotel Silberstein, was waiting for us.


















After checking-in and having lunch at the hotel, we took a quick nap before meeting our guide and walking to the Charles Darwin Research Station. She showed us the giant land tortoise and iguana areas.











After the CDRS tour we hit the town of Puerto Ayora. We shopped and looked around. Then headed back to the hotel for a good size dinner.

November 24, 2007

Conocoto/El Tingo

A day of nothing, but enjoying hanging out with G's cousins. We did some laundry in anticipation for the trip to Galapagos early the next morning. In the evening we went to Heide's favorite restaurant, ZaZu, for a belated birthday dinner.

November 23, 2007

Return to El Tingo

After a very loud night in Baños, we woke up and met for breakfast. After checking out of the hostel, we again headed to the French restaurant for a quick meal for toast, blackberry jam, pineapple juice, and hot chocolate. We were then off for the drive back to el Tingo.

Along the way we saw the lava flows from Tugurahua, an active volcano. The flow was from the most recent eruption about eight years ago. We also stopped for ice cream in Ambato and saw the jean manufactures in Pelileo. We were then back at Mucki’s in time for lunch, where I had a portabello and zucchini gratin and G had Cornish game hen breasts. For dessert I had the Apfel Strudel with Ice Cream and homemade whipped cream and G had a homemade cedrón ice cream. Everything was delicious.

After hanging out at Mucki’s for a few hours we had a delicious pizza dinner made by G in Mucki’s kitchen. Even the restaurant staff enjoyed it.

November 22, 2007

AmaZOOnico/Baños

Again we woke up and had breakfast before meeting our guide for the tour. Today our group was seven after we added a couple from Spain. We picked up our rubber boots and inner tubes before heading to the canoe.



We canoed up the river about 20 minutes and stopped at AmaZOOnico, a wildlife reserve. Most animals brought in they try to rehabilitate and return to the jungle, but not all. We walked around the zoo for about an hour and saw capibaras, tigrillos, a jungle mini bear, and spider monkeys among other primates. The cabeza de mate cat was one that cannot be returned to the wild. His fangs had been filled down by a resort owner, so he cannot defend himself any more in the wild.







After the walk, G and I changed into our bathing suits and we all headed down the Arajuno River for a little bit. Then we got out of the canoe and into our inner tubes and floated down the river. It was a lot of fun and was a lot warmer because it originates in the Amazon. There were a couple of quicker moving areas and made it so much fun. For some reason I was lagging the group, so I need G to help me float down faster. Once we arrived at the Napo River we got off our tubes and got back into the canoe for the ten minute trip up river to the hotel.

Once we arrived we took a quick shower, packed, and met for lunch. After lunch we took the canoe back to the car and drove to Baños. Along the way we saw many waterfalls and went through some amazing hand carved tunnels. G even drove for a while along the rough dirt roads. We stopped in Puyo for some arts and crafts where Toby and I spend some hard earned money in souvenirs. While there, G had some sugar cane juice with a shot of firewater made of sugar cane. I could smell the alcohol a foot away. I refused to try it because it was a horrible green color.



In Baños we found a hostel and checked in. Then we headed for a French restaurant across the street. G and I shared a cheese fondue and mushroom spaghetti with a cream sauce. It was then time to turn in after our long day on the road.

November 21, 2007

Jungle/Quichua Trips

We woke up and met at breakfast. After a quick meal of breads, fruit, yogurt, eggs, and cheese we meet our guide, Iván, at the reception desk. Our party of four was augmented by one when a German lady joined us for the tour.



We went and changed our shoes for rubber boots and got into the canoe. Along the way we grabbed some long balsa wood logs. We then headed into the jungle and walked for about two hours. Our guide showed us the different tropical plants and talked about the Indian medicinal uses. He made me into the queen of the jungle.



It was a very interesting tour. We even got to swing on a rope in the jungle.



After our walk, G and I quickly changed into our swimsuits in the jungle and we all hoped onto the handmade balsa raft and floated down the Napo River on the raft to our hotel. G and I got into the water for a bit, but it was super cold as the Napo River is a glacier fed river. It was still a lot of fun to hang on to the raft though. After we arrived back at the hotel we all headed back for a quick shower before eating lunch.

Lunch was rice and beans, tropical fruits, salad, and mashed potatoes. We then met our guide and headed to the butterfly pavilion. We received a tour of the butterfly tent. It was neat to see all the different species in the different gestational states.





We then walked through the town of Ahuano and went to three different cultural areas. The first was a Quichua family where we received a demonstration on chicha. After she was done we each drank a sample of five day-old chicha. One to ten day fermented chicha is drank by everyone, but after ten days it an adult only beverage. But I thought the five day drink was quite strong.

We then headed to a Quichua pottery maker. We received a demonstration on how they made pottery with the local river mud, and paint it with different rocks to achieve the coloring. They also have a tree bark that acts like a natural glaze and makes it shiny. It was very interesting process.

Afterwards we headed to a balsa carver. He makes all kinds of balsa animals by hand in the wood. He carved a Papagayo bird for us. It was then back to the hotel and G and Thomas headed off in a canoe to do some fishing down river. Once it got dark they returned and we headed off to dinner. Another tasty buffet of local typical foods.

November 20, 2007 cont.

Ahuano

G, Thomas, Toby and I piled into Toby’s car and headed off to Ahuano in the jungle. We drove about 6 hours over paved roads, dirt road, and super rocky roads. Before the government started improving the roads the drive would take 14 hours.

Along the way we stopped for habas, melloco (a root vegetable), queso tierno and mote (corn) with ají. We munched on it while we continued on our journey.

We stopped and had lunch in Tena at Chuchicas. It was a good restaurant on the river. The view was great and the food was good. I had tostones (fried bananas), rice, potatoes, and grilled veggies with ají. I really like the hot ají made here.

We made a quick stop in Misahualli to see the square with the monkeys. I was posing for a picture when a monkey came up behind me and slapped my butt. I turned around and then he stole my sunglasses off of my forehead. While G and I were trying to recover them, Toby went back to the car to get a bag of ovitos (tropical fruit) to distract him with. When she was trying to hand one out, another monkey stole the bag out of her hand. Luckily a loud noise distracted my bad monkey and G was able to grab my glasses. We headed back to the car only to find a monkey inside of the car. He grabbed my container of tostones and headed out of the car with them under his arm. Such sneaky little creatures. ☺



We then arrived at the Napo River. We got out of the car and grabbed our luggage and headed to a canoe. We took a ten minute canoe ride down the river to our hotel, La Casa del Suizo in Ahuano. The view from the canoe was amazing.



We checked into the hotel and then headed down to the river so G and Thomas could fly fish. I gave it a few tries, but was not very good.

After fishing, we headed to the pool and G and I swam for a while. Afterwards we headed back to the room to clean up before meeting for dinner. All food at the hotel was included and was buffet style. I had cream of yuca soup, various veggie salads, fruit, rice, and flan for dessert.

November 20, 2007

Welcome to the Jungle.....

After a quick breakfast at Heide's, we drove to the restaurant to get ready to head out to the Orient for a few days of what G calls "monte y culebra", which means "weeds and snakes".

The plan is to drive to "Las cabañas del Suizo" and spend some time doing jungle tours and then hit Baños on the way back.

November 19, 2007

Thomas' Farm in Lasso

Heide, G and I woke up and headed over to Thomas and Toby's place for breakfast. We had fresh squeezed orange juice, omelettes, and yuca bread with cheese. We then piled into Toby's car, including two of Heide's dogs, Meike and Melchor, and headed toward Thomas' Farm. Along the way we stopped at the SuperMaxi grocery store to pick up some food to cook.

After driving for about an hour we arrived at Thomas' farm. It was beautiful. The farm is set right below Cotopaxi Mountain.



When we arrived Thomas gave us a quick tour of the farm. We saw the gardens with fresh califlower, which we picked for lunch, the area for the ostriches which was not completed yet, and the chicken coop with a fence 8 feet high. Two feet were added to try to keep the wolf out. We then headed to the straw cabin to make lunch. The cabin is quite cozy. Thomas then made a fire in the stove to heat up the grill. He cooked the meat, including lamb chops, blood sausages, and Argentinian beef, while Heide cooked the veggies, califlower, zucchini, tomatoes, and mushrooms. Toby made some guacamole that was very good.

After lunch the women and dogs relaxed near the cabin and pond. It was a tad too windy to hang outside for too long, while the guys headed out to shoot the 9mm Austrian made Glock. After a few hours we headed back to town. We left Thomas and Toby at home, while we headed to the mall to pick up a few items.

After arriving at Heide's place we made some pizza and asparagus for dinner before retiring to bed exhausted.

November 18, 2007

Quito

After waking up and having breakfast with Heidi, G and I fed her ducks. It was so much fun watching the climb all over each other trying to get the corn feed. We then drove the 15 minutes to the restaurant and had some juices. The fresh juice here is amazing. My favorite is mora (blackberry).

Then Heide, G and I headed to Quito for some sightseeing. We first drove by HCJB, Hospital Vozandes de Quito, and my elementary school, Alliance Academy. It was so cool the see where I attended and how much has changed. They now have a walkway over the street for the students to cross the street.

We then drove to Pichincha where we caught the TeleferiQo, the cable car up the mountain. Pichincha is an active volcano right in Quito. The view is amazing. We then walked, with me panting all the way, up to the viewing platform. Once back to the staging area, G bought a coca leaf tea and I had a hot chocolate. It is quite windy at 4100 meters, which equates to about 3 miles high.













Once back in the car we drove to El Panecillo. The Virgin Mary is a huge statue on the top of the hill. We then stopped at Pib's for lunch. I had Yllapingachos (potato pancakes), locro, Spanish tortilla, and salad for lunch. G and Heide shared some steak and chorizo along with the locro and Spanish tortilla. It was quite good and the view of Quito was great.

We then drove thorough old town taking pictures of the churches and old buildings. It was so much fun to drive thorough the old cobbled streets.




















Then it was time for some souvenir shopping before heading back for dinner at Thomas and Toby's house.

November 17, 2007

Lazy Day

We woke up about 0900 and had a breakfast of bread, butter, cheese, and cold cuts for G. Then we called Toby and made arrangement to have someone come pick us up. After waiting for a while one of the workers picked us up and we stopped at the SuperMaxi grocery store for some ice for the resturant and while there I bought some soups.

At Mucki's we had lunch. For the main course I had a vegetarian crepe while G had Beef Rouladen in wine sauce. The green salad with a light yogurt sauce was wonderful, as were all the sides: spaetzle, creamed spinach, potatoes, red cabbage, and beets. We were too full to even have dessert. We then hung around the resturant for a few hours. Late in the afternoon we had a dessert of apple strudel and chocolate crepe.

Once the restuarant closed, Toby came by and we all headed to Cumbaya for sushi at Sake. It was quite good. I had a vegetarian green salad with lettuces, bean sprouts, avocado, carrots, asparagus and a light ginger dressing. I then had fried rice and tofu. Everyone else had the mixed sushi platter to share. We then followed the meal with tiramisu (made with sake), tempura apples, and a mount fuji which was flambed at the table.

We went home stuffed.

November 16, 2007

Cayambe/Otavalo

Today we woke up at 5am to be out of the house and meet everyone at Mucki's Restaurant. Unfortunately, Thomas was able to meet us because he was not feeling well. All the trucks were loaded and all 15 of us headed out to Cayambe. We took the Panamerican Highway so we could pick up Anita along the way.

Once there we started to set up for the event at a Dutch flower farm. The roses on display were gorgeous. They had seven different types on display. I took pictures with my two most favorites; the Taboo and the Cool Water.



A little bit before lunch G and I borrowed Heide's car and drove to Otavalo. We parked the car and then started walking to the center of town. We found lots of fruits and vegetable stands and stopped to buy pineapple and mamones for 75 cents. We then walked through the market and enjoyed checking out the vendors. The fruits were just amazing.

We stopped for a quick lunch at a vegetarian restaurant, where we were able to both eat for $3.00. After lunch we headed out to the tourist market, stopped along the way to buy strawberries and empanadas (meat, cheese, and pineapple). I then went shopping (with G following behind) and looked at the paintings, textiles, jewelery, and pottery. I bought myself a cool platter and G bought me a bracelet.

After a few hours playing tourist we headed back to the farm and hung out with everyone until after dinner. We then headed back home only to be greeted with congested roads due to the festival that is happening in El Quinche, El Festival de La Virgen del Quinche. Lots and lots of people walk or drive to the cathedral for the festival. The side of the roads that were empty on our drive there were now full of vendors for the pilgrims. Talk about an amazing site.

Once home we skipped dinner on the account of us eating all day and headed to bed.

November 15, 2007

Cayambe

After just a few hours of sleep, we were up by 0800. Heide feed her dogs and cat. She has six dogs and one cat. The are so much fun. We then got ready and headed over to Mucki's, the restaurant that Thomas and Heide run and is named after their mother. We then met Thomas, who is also G's cousin and Toby, Thomas' wife.

After a quick breakfast of bread and butter and fresh mandarin orange juice, we went with Thomas and two of his employees to a flower grower in Cayambe, Schreurs, that they are catering for tommorrow. The drive took us about 2 hours, but we were able to stop at the middle of the world marker. The correct one as determined by the Indians, not the tourist landmark. We took some pictures.

After arriving at the rose farm, they started putting up the chairs and tables. G and I went for a walk to check out the greenhouses. The roses were amazing and there were so many types of them.

Thomas, G and I then headed out for lunch at a local resturant. I had empandas de verde, which are ground green bananas stuffed with cheese made in the shape of traditional empanadas, cream of asparagus soup, caprese salad, french fries and fresh blackberry juice. Delicious.

We then took lunch back to his employees where we completed setting up for the event. We then drove back to the resturant where we met up with Heide and headed over to Thomas' for dinner before heading to bed for some much needed rest.

November 14, 2007

Maryland to Quito

After waking up at 6am and getting ready, G and I drove to his brother's house. His brother drove us to the airport where we checked in with Delta. Our flight was slightly delayed taking off, but we landed in Atlanta with plenty of time to catch our flight.

The Quito flight was on time, although the aicraft was very run down. The flight was scheduled to take 4.5 hours. When we got to Quito the pilot said we had arrived at Quito, but were at 25,000 feet. There was not enough visibility to land. We were going to circle hoping for the fog to lift.

The pilot came on saying we were preparing to land, but instead of Quito we were landing in Guayaquil. He said that the decision on how to get us back would be made once we landed. After landing, we waited about 15 minutes before they allowed all passengers whose final destination was Guayaquil to de-plane. About 15 minutes later, the pilot said the other passengers could leave the plane to make phone calls and get food. G was one of the seven who was able to make it off before they stopped that said everyone must get back into their seats. That the weather had cleared and we were trying to get ready to take off. After waiting for all the passengers to return and then just waiting another hour the Guayaquil to Atlanta passengers got on to go with us to Quito. The flight was re-routed. We then waited another 30 minutes before we could push back, and then due to flight plan issues we waited again to take off.

Our 10:30pm scheduled flight landed at 1:30am. We made it through immigration and customs with no issues and walked out into the mass sea of people. Luckily G is tall and Heide, his cousin was able to find us. She then drove us to her house in Conocoto on the outskirts of Quito.

It is so cool to be back. So much is the same, but the freeway system is all new.