We've been back from Ecuador for three months already, and Dennis and I are STILL wearing our cloth Ecuadorian bracelets that Oscar gave to us. Hard to believe they're STILL hanging on our wrists and haven't broken off.
Maybe it's because I've been focusing my free time on completing the 2+ hour DVD production of our trip? And now that it's DONE (Dennis and I will watch the completed project tonight), maybe our bracelets will miraculously fall off. Or ... not.
Either way, I'm happy to share this wrap-up video that highlights our Gate1 Travel bus tour through the interior of Ecuador. What a fun week we had celebrating THREE Sexy Sixty Birthdays.
I'm so grateful I was the "Young Chaperone"!
I hope you enjoy ~
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Up Close and Personal ...
... with the animals of The Galapagos.
I really didn't believe it, even though I'd seen hundreds of pictures of animals in The Galapagos. And of course I'd read about their lack of fear towards humans. But no book or documentary really prepared me for what it would feel like to stand right next to a wild animal and realize they truly were not threatened by my presence.
I had the experience with many, many sea lions, iguanas, tortoises, penguins, turtles, birds ...
Of course one must respect their space and not get right up in their face, but the TRUST they exhibit is extraordinary.
Besides, we don't have a fancy digital camera with a long lens. The majority of these pictures were taken while standing right next to the animal.
These magnificent animals deserve our respect and protection ~
I had the experience with many, many sea lions, iguanas, tortoises, penguins, turtles, birds ...
Of course one must respect their space and not get right up in their face, but the TRUST they exhibit is extraordinary.
Besides, we don't have a fancy digital camera with a long lens. The majority of these pictures were taken while standing right next to the animal.
These magnificent animals deserve our respect and protection ~
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Galapagos Archipelago and our floating home, The Cormorant
The islands are 600 miles west of Ecuador, in the Pacific Ocean, right on the equator. They’re constantly changing and evolving due to being formed by volcanoes. The currents of the ocean bring diverse and unusual weather patterns and animals to this unique place. In 1831 at only 20 years old, the naturalist, Charles Darwin, visited these islands himself, and 30 years later he published his theory of evolution and natural selection. My head was overflowing with history and information during our week-long visit, and I now understand how one could make their life’s work out of studying and understanding this one place on the planet. There’s no other place on earth like it.
Obviously, one can’t explore the islands without a boat, so that is where Dennis started his research. Thank goodness he found the newly launched (in June 2011) Cormorant, a 110 foot Catamaran, with a 40 foot beam. She has 8 cabins which hold 16 passengers plus accommodations for 12 crew members. She has 4 decks, and our cabin was on the main deck, starboard (right) side, in the front. We were blessed with one of the two suites!
In addition to the friendly and capable crew, and the abundantly delicious food, I loved the fact that we NEVER wore shoes on the boat! Due to the strict preservation laws of the islands, the shoes we wore exploring never left the back deck of the boat. Once we stripped them off and they were rinsed by the crew, we never put another pair of shoes on our feet. Even for dinner! Now you KNOW us barefoot desert dwellers LOVED that.
Another favorite memory was the exquisite service and attention to detail lavished on each of us. Case in point, EVERY TIME we’d return to the boat after a snorkel, we’d be handed a fresh towel and a mug of THE MOST DELICIOUS hot chocolate you have EVER tasted. And after a hike? Always a different fresh squeezed juice and a snack ~ including home-made PIZZA! We were told that they NEVER repeated a meal or snack, but upon request, we got the pizza twice. In our house, that would have been DINNER. But no … we always had 3 fantastic meals each day in addition to all the snacks. But of course pictures can more fully explain The Cormorant, so please click here to see our images of this excellent boat and crew.
Please Enjoy!
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Interior of Ecuador Wrap-up
The week with Robb and Anabel seemed to go by quickly, especially with moving to a new hotel almost every night. But we truly had a great time and I feel like we received a good overview of the beauty of Ecuador.
It was hard to say good-bye to them, but at the same time we were very excited about the second part of our trip ~ visiting The Galapagos.
We all boarded the same plane, early on a Sunday morning, and flew to Guayaquil. We said good-bye as they disembarked, and we stayed on the flight for another journey which took us 600 miles west of Ecuador.
Please click here to see the wrap-up pictures of our first week in Ecuador ~
It was hard to say good-bye to them, but at the same time we were very excited about the second part of our trip ~ visiting The Galapagos.
We all boarded the same plane, early on a Sunday morning, and flew to Guayaquil. We said good-bye as they disembarked, and we stayed on the flight for another journey which took us 600 miles west of Ecuador.
Please click here to see the wrap-up pictures of our first week in Ecuador ~
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Bus Tour Peeps
I'm always fascinated with the people we meet while travelling. I don't believe in coincidence, so I'm always intrigued by the people who cross my path.
There were 30 of us on the bus, and everyone was friendly and happy ~ except for the people who didn't receive their luggage. Ecuador doesn't have freeways where luggage can easily catch up with its owner. The lesson we learned from that is to PACK LESS and never check essential items. I still want to go on a trip someday and take nothing but the basics and buy as I go. Wouldn't that be fun? Well, it would be if you PLANNED on doing that ...
Of the 30 people, one couple was from Snowflake, Arizona, so that made 6 out of the 30 from Arizona! There was also a large group of therapists from Dallas, a couple from Canada, and other Americans. Everyone spoke English.
Since we've never been on a bus tour before, I was afraid it would be "a little old lady bus tour". But it was far from that ~ all baby boomers and younger. I'm so grateful that us boomers will NEVER be considered "little old ladies". :-)
Probably the most stressful part of the experience was not having "facilities" on the bus. Oscar learned quickly that with a bus full of boomers, we needed to make bathroom stops more frequently than he anticipated. And we're not getting older? Hmmmm ~ I stand corrected.
Personally, I also had times of being a little claustrophobic in my seat. We did change seats everyday, but the seats were all the same size, except for the back of the bus. But while sitting there, one would bounce on EVERY bump in the road. They were popular seats.
Would we do a bus tour again? Yes, I think we would if we again went with friends and it was to a place that we just wanted an overview of the location. Like being on a cruise ship, you never get much time to REALLY explore. However, I will admit that it's wonderful having everything handled so we could just relax and go with the flow.
Please click here to see our pictures of The Bus Tour Peeps ~
There were 30 of us on the bus, and everyone was friendly and happy ~ except for the people who didn't receive their luggage. Ecuador doesn't have freeways where luggage can easily catch up with its owner. The lesson we learned from that is to PACK LESS and never check essential items. I still want to go on a trip someday and take nothing but the basics and buy as I go. Wouldn't that be fun? Well, it would be if you PLANNED on doing that ...
Of the 30 people, one couple was from Snowflake, Arizona, so that made 6 out of the 30 from Arizona! There was also a large group of therapists from Dallas, a couple from Canada, and other Americans. Everyone spoke English.
Since we've never been on a bus tour before, I was afraid it would be "a little old lady bus tour". But it was far from that ~ all baby boomers and younger. I'm so grateful that us boomers will NEVER be considered "little old ladies". :-)
Probably the most stressful part of the experience was not having "facilities" on the bus. Oscar learned quickly that with a bus full of boomers, we needed to make bathroom stops more frequently than he anticipated. And we're not getting older? Hmmmm ~ I stand corrected.
Personally, I also had times of being a little claustrophobic in my seat. We did change seats everyday, but the seats were all the same size, except for the back of the bus. But while sitting there, one would bounce on EVERY bump in the road. They were popular seats.
Would we do a bus tour again? Yes, I think we would if we again went with friends and it was to a place that we just wanted an overview of the location. Like being on a cruise ship, you never get much time to REALLY explore. However, I will admit that it's wonderful having everything handled so we could just relax and go with the flow.
Please click here to see our pictures of The Bus Tour Peeps ~
Friday, December 30, 2011
La Comida en el Ecuador
Ahem ~ did you catch that Spanish title? Thanks to our trip, I am sooooo fluent in Spanish now. NOT! We had such aspirations of learning Spanish during the months leading up to the trip ~ I bought 6 weeks of Spanish lessons, I had a Daily Spanish Word coming into my EM, and I even bought a translation app for my Crackberry! But all to no avail ~ we never used ANY of it. Thank God for Google Translate!
But I digress ~ let's talk about food. Ecuador seemed so much like Mexico to me, that for the first couple of days, I kept asking for SALSA. But they don't DO salsa ~ they serve Aji sauce. With POPCORN next to it! We became Aji aficionados because we all (except Anabel) like really hot food. And we discovered that Aji sauce is good on EVERYTHING. Even on things that aren't SUPPOSED to have Aji, evidenced by the crazy looks we got when inappropriately asking for it. Oh well ~ we're Gringos.
Ecuadorian food is DELICIOUS. Lots of soups, empanadas, potatoes, plantains, cheese, fish, pork, and chicken. The beef was not so good, and we tried it several times. My personal favorite were the soups and empanadas ~ especially the CHEESE empanadas. My pants KNOW I liked them a lot.
As for the boys, their favorite food was their BEER. Ecuadorian Pilsener to be precise. There was NO substitute for that!
But I digress ~ let's talk about food. Ecuador seemed so much like Mexico to me, that for the first couple of days, I kept asking for SALSA. But they don't DO salsa ~ they serve Aji sauce. With POPCORN next to it! We became Aji aficionados because we all (except Anabel) like really hot food. And we discovered that Aji sauce is good on EVERYTHING. Even on things that aren't SUPPOSED to have Aji, evidenced by the crazy looks we got when inappropriately asking for it. Oh well ~ we're Gringos.
Ecuadorian food is DELICIOUS. Lots of soups, empanadas, potatoes, plantains, cheese, fish, pork, and chicken. The beef was not so good, and we tried it several times. My personal favorite were the soups and empanadas ~ especially the CHEESE empanadas. My pants KNOW I liked them a lot.
As for the boys, their favorite food was their BEER. Ecuadorian Pilsener to be precise. There was NO substitute for that!
So I've put together a collection of us eating and drinking ~ please click here to view those pictures.
And yes ~ we ALL stayed Healthy and Happy the whole trip!
Monday, December 26, 2011
Our Hotels in Ecuador
I must begin by giving full credit to Gate1 Travel gate1travel.com for their excellent choice in hotels. Since this was a package bus tour, and we had ZERO experience with travelling on a set bus tour, we had no control over where we'd be staying, and really didn't know what to expect. Websites CAN be deceiving ... But we were very pleased!
The only change that we'd make is to stay at a place longer than one day. It's not as relaxing having to pack up and move every day ~ yes, we'll admit that we're spoiled!
It's also hard to REALLY see all of the different sites because the time is so controlled. However, doing a bus tour is a great way to get a nice overview of an area and then know where you want to explore further in the future.
In case you want to really check out the places we stayed, here are links to the hotel websites ~
Hotel Quito: http://www.hotelquito.com/
Cabanas del Lago in Otavalo: http://www.cabanasdellago.com.ec/english/pages/index.php
Termas de Papallacta in Papallacta: http://www.termaspapallacta.com/
Casa del Suizo in Punta Ahuano (Amazon): http://www.casadelsuizo.com/eng/hotel.php
Hacienda Manteles in Patate: http://www.haciendamanteles.com/
The only change that we'd make is to stay at a place longer than one day. It's not as relaxing having to pack up and move every day ~ yes, we'll admit that we're spoiled!
It's also hard to REALLY see all of the different sites because the time is so controlled. However, doing a bus tour is a great way to get a nice overview of an area and then know where you want to explore further in the future.
In case you want to really check out the places we stayed, here are links to the hotel websites ~
Hotel Quito: http://www.hotelquito.com/
Cabanas del Lago in Otavalo: http://www.cabanasdellago.com.ec/english/pages/index.php
Termas de Papallacta in Papallacta: http://www.termaspapallacta.com/
Casa del Suizo in Punta Ahuano (Amazon): http://www.casadelsuizo.com/eng/hotel.php
Hacienda Manteles in Patate: http://www.haciendamanteles.com/
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