June 16, 2009

OMG OMG. We’re on a flight from Guayaquil to Quito and the drink cart is doing its rounds. We’re high above the clouds, we look to our right out the window and there in the near distance is the snow capped peak of Volcan Chimborazo. The peak is Ecuador’s highest and due to the earth’s equatorial bulge, is also the furthest point from the center of the earth. It is so crazy to see a volcano’s peak above the clouds. It’s also crazy to think that there are people who climb to that peak!

June 8-15: The Deep Blue - Galapagos Ecuador

Scalloped Hammer Head, originally uploaded by Andrew & Yvette's world travel.

This isnt definitive but these are just some of the things we saw on our Galapagos Live Aboard where we dived at the following islands: San Cristobal - North Seymour - Wolf - Darwin - Bartolome

Red footed boobies, Blue footed boobies, Flightless cormorants, Masked Boobies, Frigatebirds, Brown Pelicans, Land Iguanas, Marine Iguanas, King Angel Fishes, Barber Fishes, Soldier Fishes, Flag Cabrilla Fishes, Yellow Pufferfishes, Regular Pufferfishes, Parrot Fishes, Damselfishes, Seargent Major Fishes, Barracudas, Yellow Tail Tunas, Starfishes, Scorpionfishes, Surgeon Fishes, Stonefishes, (Other Fishes I couldn’t find in the book), Lobsters, Crabs, Octopuses, Seahorses (male and pregnant), Galapagos Garden Eels, Green Moray Eels, Zebra Moray Eels, Albino Eels (a lot of the eels were free swimming!!!), Marble Rays, Eagle Rays (school), Manta Rays, Giant Tortoises, Green Turtles, Sea Lions, Fur Seals, Bottlenosed Dolphins, Galapagos Penguins (so so so cute), White Tip Reef Sharks, Galapagos Sharks, Scalloped Hammerheads, Whale Shark (Yvette didn't see it - wah wah)

Post pics soon

June 6-7: Cotapaxi-Quilatoa Tour

Quilatoa Crater, originally uploaded by Andrew & Yvette's world travel.

Volcan Cotapaxi. Hiking up Ecuador’s second highest peak was to be a highlight of this trip but unfortunately the weather wasn’t cooperating: it was hailing snow, the temperature was in the single digits, and the wind was ferocious. We were at 4500m and the goal was to climb to 4800m, which when comparing apples to apples, is the same height as the tip of the Mont Blanc. After only hiking a quarter of the way up, Drew & I admitted defeat and went back to the cold of the car. Of the 4 in our group, one made it to the refuge only to find it closed. As they say, always beware of yellow ice.

After the hike, part 2 of the adventure began. Although the gravel road was muddy and the wind was still howling, we unloaded the bikes and strapped on our helmets, knee and elbow pads. I have to admit I was really scared and had a hard time shaking what happened to Clarissa when we biked down that mountain in Maui. You have to understand there are no level parts and everything was downhill. However, I couldn’t think about that too long because I was with 3 other Dutch people who biked in every condition imaginable. So, I got on, I didn’t fall, and OMG when you take away the wind, the snow, the autos you shared the road with, it was soo sooo sooo much fun. When you take away all the fear and all you have left is the thrill of going downhill faster and faster, *sigh* what an amazing experience! Of course, Drew will say that I wasn’t going fast at all. That I had my brakes on the whole time while he and the others had “non working brakes” and used the whole lanes for all the curves and that I was at least 10 minutes behind despite all their picture taking breaks. Whatever! It was FUN!

After the bike ride down, we made our way to Quilatoa which is a village along the Quilatoa loop. Along the way, we saw a lot of indigenous villages and passed by numerous chollas and chollos (indigenous men and women, not gangsters) wearing traditional clothing. What was most interesting to Andrew and I, were that all the chollas wore heels! They used heels to walk up and down mountains, carry heavy loads, and every other chore you can think of.

After the long drive, we finally reached our destination: Laguna Quilatoa. We checked into Hostal Pacha Mama which was run by an indigenous Quechua family. This was the 1st hostal we’ve checked into since forever so . . . it was a bit of an experience for Andrew and I. One of the things we loved about it was the 19th century looking fireplace. Huddled around this, we met a woman from Quito who was spending the night here after going to the village of Zumbahua to sell T Shirts. We had a good conversation in halted English and Spanish talking about life in Quito and Los Angeles. We also had a $2.00/person 3 course home-made dinner of soup, chicken and rice, and tomato dessert. What we didn’t like was our room which was super cold, super basic and super loud -- our ceiling was made of tree branches so we heard E V E R Y thing the couple upstairs were doing. Needless to say, it took us awhile to get our shut eye.
The following day, we walked to the rim of Laguna Quilatoa where we were treated to the amazing view of the volcanic-crater lake of Quilatoa. There are no words to describe the beauty of this mirror green lake and Andrew and I are so grateful for having been a witness to this one of Jehovah’s creations. We hiked down the lake to sunny weather and then we took a mule for the upward trek. Our mules were kinda frisky and when we first saw them, they were unleashed and our guide was running after them as the mules ran to the lake to drink some water and eat some grass. By contrast the mules of the other 2 on our trip were really tired/lazy and the guides had a hard time getting them to stand up. Andrew’s mule, which I was behind of most of the time, also had digestive issues and every 10 or so minutes would fart and poop (remind you of someone??). Our mules also really loved the grass on the cliffs and when they had a chance would go to the sides of the cliffs and Andrew and I would tense up and laugh as they tried to eat. All in all, it was a great mini adventure and was definitely a lot more entertaining than just hiking back up.

After Lake Quilatoa, we had another fab downhill bike ride. As it was Sunday, there was also a market in full swing at Pujili. We tried taking pictures but the locals weren’t having it unless we paid them first. One of the Dutch guys took a picture without paying and the lady was not happy and as he walked away, we could hear her screaming at him from behind her stand of cooked beans asking for her benty cinco centabos.

June 5, 2009

Trying to put the past behind us, Andrew and I continued our tour of Quito. First, we went to TeleferiQo and took a sky tram to the top of Cruz Loma (4100M). The air was thin and I was feeling a bit nauseous from the altitude but wow what a sight. Blessed with good weather, we saw the whole of Quito which was flanked by mountains and volcanoes on all sides. Too bad we also saw a wannabe tourist trailing us! Super alert since yesterday, I took a picture of the nerd and also made mean eye contact with him a couple times letting him know that I saw and spotted him. With no more pocket knife, I also picked out a couple of rocks so that if anything happened, I was gonna hit and pelt him with rocks!!!

After the TeleferiQo, Drew and I went to to the equator line at La Mitad del Mundo. It was here in 1736 that Charles-Marie de la Condamine made the measurements to prove that this was indeed the equatorial line. After this, we walked 240m east to the Museo Solar Inti Nan which is actually the site of the real equator. Apparently, the French thought the Ecuadorians too stupid back then and didn’t want them to know the truth. This place was loads of fun. It’s a meandering outdoor exhibition and one of the highlights is the solar chronometer which is an instrument made in 1865 that shows precise astronomical and conventional time, as well as the month, day and season, all by using the rays of the sun.

After all this fun, we met up with some Americans and with their help we saved $6 in cab fare by taking the 2 hour bus ride back to town which only cost 20cents/each!

June 4, 2009

Andrew and I are depressed, livid, angry, outraged, mad to be file number 901. File number 901 is the case number assigned to the police report we filed because we’d been robbed. Yup Robbed. As of 12pm today, we’re now missing the following: Andrew’s camera, his Carl Zeiss lens, flash, tripods, batteries, memory cards, my make-up, pocket knife, etc, etc. We’re in shock and really can’t believe this happened to us. Us??!! I was enjoying my Tiramisu gelato and Andrew was enjoying his Kiwi and Malaga(a flavor that doesn’t exist in the US apparently) gelato inside this cute gelateria at Plaza Grande and within 10 minutes someone came and snatched up Andrew’s Lowepro. Augh. Such a sad moment. It’s so frustrating -- we were having such a nice time enjoying looking at pictures and soaking up the feeling of being somewhere nice and new and then poof, someone came and completely stole our happiness. Grrr! Whoever got it, they’re probably drinking and celebrating the amount of money they got from us. Sigh! So depressed . . .

June 3, 2009

Hi everyone,

Well we’re here at Cuenca’s airport and this time we’re awaiting our flight to Quito which is the capital of the country of Ecuador = ) We’re so very sad to be leaving this absolutely wonderful and beautiful city. Founded in 1557, Cuenca is a charming colonial city of narrow cobblestone streets, whitewashed red tiled buildings, handsome plazas and domed churches. Add in the friendly people and fantastic eats and it’s easy to see why people end up staying longer than planned.

Cuenca is also the center of the Montecristi hat industry. The Montecristi is better known as a Panama hat. Because the hats were used extensively by those who worked in the construction of the Panama Canal, many assumed these hats were made in Panama as opposed to just being exported there. Anyways, I got a superior hat of my own and I love it!
We also went to Parque Nacional Cajas where we hiked for several hours through a diverse landscape of hidden lakes and Inca made swimming pools whose waters shone like jewels against the mist covered scenery. One of my favorite parts of the hike was our time in the quenua forest. The scarlett cherry quenua tree grow at the highest altitude of any trees in the world, and hiking through this dense forest was like entering a scene from a Brothers Grimm fairytale – beautiful, mysterious, foreboding.

We’re gonna miss it here in Cuenca but I’m excited to get to Quito. See you there.

Red alert, red alert! We just checked our email at the Admiral’s Lounge and found out that our previously ticketed itinerary from Africa onwards is invalid due to technical clause section 100-2-A.12 that Andrew & AA agents previously missed. Right now Andrew is having a heart attack and I am using my free drink vouchers to prevent a heart attack of my own.
Keep you posted!


Aaah, sigh of relief! After only 3 hours (Andrew got really lucky and got super AAgent Beth Novak of Tucson) of technical talk (I need flight 9269 from LAN connecting with RJ in AUH at 0900 on 11 Oct *blah blah blah*), we were able to get: our original itinerary canceled, our miles back into our account, a new itinerary ticketed, our miles taken out of our account, the taxes recalculated and credited/charged to our credit cards, and Andrew being offered a job as ticketing agent extraordinaire (in case that engineering thing doesn’t work out when we get back). Life (and Grey Goose Cranberries) is good!


After a long delay due to some thunderstorms here in Miami, we’ve now boarded our plane to take us to Guayaquil, Ecuador and away from the US for the next several months. Crazy! I’m still in shock of this whole trip thing and can’t believe I’m on it. I’m sooo super duper looking forward to Ecuador though. Of all the countries we’re going to, Ecuador ranks high on my list of countries to visit. There is just so much to do from hiking glacier mountains, to river rafting, to hiking through Amazon Forests, and oh yeah, diving the Galapagos. I cannot wait!
Chat soon from Cuenca.

Hello All,

Well, we’re here at the airport again. Today is May 31, and it’s time to say goodbye to Panama, a country we will remember for the amazing engineering feat that is the Panama Canal, our wonderful ride through the forest on the Panama Canal Railway and the many people who identified Philippines with Manny Pacqiao.

To be honest however, we didn’t do too many things on this first stop of our w.t. In fact, we were so drained pre-departure that I would describe our stay as lots of tv watching, internet surfing and snoring punctuated by several hours of touristy activities. Bueno, what we did:
We visited Casco Viejo/Casco Antiguo which was founded by the Spanish in 1519. It’s a city of romantic crumbling buildings, intact, beautiful European embassies, and classic Spanish architecture. The Plaza is where Simon Bolivar held a meeting urging the union of the Latin American Countries. The original city was destroyed in 1671 by Pirate Henry Morgan aka the Capt Morgan whose rum goes so well with my coke. We also visited the Causeway which is only notable for the fact that we were charged $9.00 for a puny bottle of Grolsch that Andrew just had to have because we walked a mile in “sweltering heat & humidity.

We also hiked through Parque Nacional de Metropolitano which is a beautiful park/forest right smack in the middle of Panama city. It was interesting to be surrounded by so much greenery and yet still hear the whirr of hundreds of cars on the highway. This park is also 5 minutes away from the American Embassy and played a very important role in the US invasion/ousting of Manuel Noriega. All along the trails we’re metal debris from the fighting that ensued to “free” Panama.

The highlight of our trip was the Panama Canal. The canal is made up of 3 locks: the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side and the Pedro Miguel & Miraflores Locks on the Pacific Side. Of these 3, the Gatun Locks were our favorite due to the lack of tourists. To get there, we first took a train ride with the Panama Canal Railway Company. The railway just recently became available for passenger transport and is a must. Some interesting tidbits about the railway: 1) the railway was instrumental in the building of the canal for its hauling capacity. Without it, the Panama Canal may not have been built/taken longer than the 11 years it took to build; 2) so many people died from malaria and yellow fever from the construction of both the railway and the canal that the railway company started pickling bodies and selling these to medical school, the proceeds of which were used to build a hospital in the canal zone; 3) the stock once sold for $285 on the NYSE in the early 1900’s.

During our stay at the Canals, we watched several humongous tanker/container ships pass through. The ships pay per container and the ships we saw each paid more than $200,000 ttl for the 1 hour passage through the 3 Locks. The most expensive fee paid was over $300,000 for a French Cargo Ship while the least expensive was paid by the late actor Richard Halliburton who swam through the canal in 10 days and paid $0.36 for the experience. To find out how the canal works, check out the following:

Also check out our Panama pictures at: http://www.flickr.com/amuller396

Next stop: Ecuador!!!

Lesson Learned:

I found out, or rather I noticed something new about Andrew and I on this trip: While Drew is super stingy while we’re in LA, I will wait in the sun and pollution if it means I save a dollar in a taxi ride or the price of a stamp.

Useful info for future travelers:

USD is the local currency. To get from the airport to the city, expect to pay $28 o/w. From the city to the airport, you can haggle down to $20-25 depending on the time of day. This does not include tip.

Taxis are super cheap and unless you are traveling out of the city (approx. 20 miles), you can catch a ride for $3.00. Never pay more than $6.00 for a ride around the city! Always set your price before you enter the cab. My favorite line was: Cuanto cuesto? If you are asked how much you are willing to pay, always say $2.00 and work up. A/C is not extra. Never catch a taxi right outside the hotel. These add $3-5 to the actual fare and when you try to haggle, they get very rude.

Food is cheap and yes, you can drink tap water in the city.
Bathrooms inside malls cost 0.25. Be aware that if you need change, some of it will be Panamanian coins which are valid in Panama but not the U.S.
To get from the Gatun Locks to the Miraflores Locks, you can hire a taxi for a day. We were able to haggle down to $100 for the following itinerary: Hotel – Railway (you take a train, the taxi meets you at the Colon Railway Station) – Gatun Locks – Gatun Dam – Miraflores Locks – Hotel. I believe you can get this price to $90 but I was so tired from the day that I couldn’t haggle anymore. Btw, the rate price is $140 but according to the locals, a taxi should cost $8-12/hour depending on distance. The whole trip took us 8 hours. Our taxi driver was actually willing to take us to the Summit Zoo at no additional cost but I had to get back to the hotel for work.

Those girls in tight, body baring clothes are GRO’s (guest relations officer *wink wink*) and yes, they are a common sight in tourist hotels.