Dec 19, 2009 - Arrival in Ecuador

We've arrived in Ecuador as of about 3am this morning. Customs took a couple hours because they redflagged the bag containing all of Gabby's wedding party gifts and we had to wait for everbody else on the completely full 767 to clear customs. We ended up paying import duties on the stuff but we got out of there and Gabby, Pete, and Chalo were waiting for us, bless them. So far our trip is customs and sleeping, more later...just wanted to let you know we arrived safely. Patty wrote (added later): Okay, well I am going to give you a little...

Nov 8, 2009 - Fly to Ecuador

i knew that it would be a whole day of travel, but who knew that the day would stretch till 3:00 am???? Everything was going along as planned, and we were on the plane in Miami, when the pilot discovered that a lock was missing on a medicine cabinet and we had to wait for maintenance to repair it. in 45 minutes they had found a lock. in another 45 minutes they had installed it! so we arrived in Guayaquil at 1:00 am. got to the hotel at 2:20 and THREW stuff out of our suitcase and crashed in bed by 3:00. we had to be up at 7:30 the next...

Nov 2, 2009 - Miserable journey south

Life on the road again. UGH. I took off from Montanita with Nitzan and Ran, two of my new Israeli pals early Sunday morning. We were hoping to make it Guayaquil early enough to catch a direct overnight (24 hour!!) bus to Lima. We arrived at the main terminal and were greeted with a scene of complete chaos. Since it was a four-day holiday weekend it seems that every resident of Ecuadors largest city was all present trying to get on a bus to go somewhere. Fighting through the crowds up and down the bus terminal for about an hour finally ended...

Aug 20, 2009 - Guayaquil

Our initial foray into Ecuador definitely left a bad taste in our mouth. The actual crossing into Ecuador went fine as far as the border paperwork was concerned. But as we got further into the country the bus got fuller and fuller as we stopped to pick up school kids and others along the way. Just when you thought it couldn't get any fuller, they added another five people. As I was sitting in the aisle seat, I got a constant whack in the head from bags, elbows, etc. and people leaning their butts against you. (Brad loved it. He ´s just...

Jul 6, 2009 - End Chile, start Equador

HI EVERYONE, FINISHED CHILE WITH VISITING A CHARMING PORT TOWN IN VALPARAISO. REALLY NICE ARTY BOHEMIAN PLACE THAT HAS CUTE LITTLE SHOPS,HOUSED WITH EXPENSIVE DESIGNER CLOTHES MADE FROM LOCAL PURE WOOLS AND COTTONS SILKS ETC, ALSO HOME MADE PASTRY SHOPS DIVINE, LOCAL ARTS AND CRAFTS AND LOCAL FOOD PRODUCE, HOME MADE CHEESE, JAMS AND CONDIMENTS OF ALL SORTS ALL THROUGH THE HISTORIC SIDE. THE HOUSES ARE PACKED IN ON THE HILLS ... GORGEOUS TERRACE HOMES AND COBBLESTONE STREETS...LARGE HOMES AND OTHERS QUAINT WITH HIGH CEILINGS. THE HOSTEL WE...

Jun 12, 2009 - Ecuador: Galapagos Islands

With much anticipation we hit the Galapagos Islands for our 8 day cruise. We were pleasantly surprised with our boat as we had booked an economy cruise so weren´t expecting much. There were 14 other people with us, mainly from Holland with a few from the UK and Ireland. Each day the boat would visit a different island - we checked out Santa Cruz, Santa Fe, Bartolome, Floreana, Espanola, Seymour and Genovesa. Only a few of the islands were inhabited and the different geological formations of each island was facinating. We had been expecting...

Jun 12, 2009 - Ecuador: Galapagos Islands Diving

We stayed on in the Galapagos after our cruise to do some scuba diving. We had arranged one day only but when we arrived found that the site we had booked was a beginners dive and we were keen to see large marine life after everything we had seen on the cruise, specifically hammerhead sharks which is what the Galapagos is famous for. Amazingly we were able to change our flights easily and without charge (why can you do this nowhere else?!) to fit in more diving in different areas. The first day diving was at Mosquera and Daphne Bay and...

Mar 9, 2009 - Cuzco - Lima

Mon Mar 9 - Up at five, breakfast at hotel and to airport at six for eight departure. Less than two hours to Lima but could not check into departing flight as AAL not open until six PM, long wait in food court. Finished book and bought three more, almost finished another. At six checked into AAL and went to their VIP lounge, nice, comfortable, appetizers, drinks until departure. Scheduled to leave at 11:50PM but did not leave until about 1AM and into Miami at 7AM. Had to rush to make the AAL flight to Orlando at 8:30AM and then to NWA...

Mar 8, 2009 - Inca Sacred Valley - Cuzco

Sun Mar 8 - Good leisurely breakfast and Julio came from Cuzco to pick me up for a tour of the Sacred Valley, starting in Urubamba. There are Inca ruins all through the valley but some impressive ones at Urubamba, much climbing and walking for most of the morning. We then continued toward Cuzco, stop at a local market in Cinchero and then to a nice restaurant for a big buffet lunch, very good, but the complimentary Pisco Sour was not as good as the one in Cuzco. Food was excellent, however. After lunch we continued toward Cuzco along the...

Mar 7, 2009 - Machu Picchu - Ollanta

Sat Mar 7 - Explored some more of the pueblo of Machupicchu, checked the route to the train station, about 15 minutes, all up hill. Walked to the Machupicchu museum, which Julio said was about half a kilometer each way. It was more like two kilometers each way, good walk but the museum is well done and it was worthwhile. Lunch in town, onion soup and coffee, so so. Walked to the train station for 3:50PM departure but my ticket was for seat #1 in Car B and there was no Car B. Got the attention and help of one of the conductors, a very...

Mar 6, 2009 - Cuzco - Machu Picchu

Fri Mar 6 - New guide, Julio, took me to train station and accompanied me to Cuzco, beautiful train ride on PeruRail Hiram Bingham cars. Hiram Bingham is the Yale professor who discovered the Machu Picchu site around 1911. The train follows the Vilancanta (sp?) River to the bridge at Urubamba where it changes its name to Urubamba River that flows into the Amazon and 7000 kilometers later into the Atlantic ocean. The ‘bamba’ in Urubamba means “flat” and there are many pueblos with ‘bamba’ on the end, kinda like our ‘berg’ or ’ ville’ and the...

Mar 5, 2009 - Lima - Cuzco

Thur Mar 5 - Up at three to catch ride to airport at three thirty, flat on the way but we made it in plenty time. Roberto showed me the ropes in Lima airport for when I came back. Nice flight on another Airbus to Cuzco, impressive landing in narrow valley with mountains close by on all sides with Cuzco airport at 11,000 feet and these mountains up around 15,000 feet. Met by John from Travel Group who took me to hotel, free day in the city. Explored, had lunch and dinner at the hotel, complimentary Pisco Sour, very good, good Internet...