Faithful readers, we're halfway through our Galapagos week, but the internet is either extremely slow and spotty, or nonexistent on these islands and our boat. But we're having a fabulous time, taking lots of photos, and keeping a pretty good log so we won't forget stuff. This will probably be my last post before we head for home on Friday, after which I'll collect our photos and do a blow-by-blow story with pictures.
In a nutshell, this part of the world is beautiful, fascinating and warm/hot. Great guides, food and accomodations (a luxury yacht sleeping 48). I've been bumped into by sea turtles, had a sea lion play chicken with me twice (all underwater), been stung by a jellyfish, faced down very large tortoises, chased 3 baleen whales, ate and drank way too much, hiked a lot, and been a part of strange and beautiful wildlife and plants.
More later when we get home, unless the internet suddenly improves. I've been able to post a few notes on Facebook, but no capacity for the blog here.
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Saturday (March 8) -- Roaming about Cuenca; climbing to top of "New Cathedral"
Yesterday (Saturday, March 8) was another perfect day in Cuenca, spent walking around, sightseeing, shopping and eating. This was our first full day in Cuenca.
After breakfast we met Roger and walked over to Calderon Park (3 blocks), my favorite spot in Cuenca. Didn't get more than 100 yards before stopping at a pastry shop for coconut balls covered in chocolate. The park was full of people at 10 am. A political rally was going on in one corner, with some pretty good singing. We relaxed on some benches and were approached by some local high school students who wanted to have some experience having an English conversation. Mary obliged them (see photos).
We left the park and wandered through a nearby flower market, clothes market, and crafts shop complex.
We wanted to see the inside of the cathedral, then climbed up and inside winding staircase to the roof of the cathedral, where we saw the city from above, sprawled all around us. After another round of shopping, we had lunch at an outside table just across from the cathedral.
We walked down to the edge of the old city, overlooking the Tomebamba River, which we hope to walk almong later. Our afternoon walking and shopping trek was interrupted by a cloudburst that forced us into a tiny restaurant for unusual coffee, tea and mediocre pastry.
When the rain quit we abandoned our double-decker bus tour and went back to the hotel for some rest.
We walked about 5 blocks to our dinner spot, a Columbian restaurant that's one of Roger's favorites. We ate there last year. We had a good, full dinner, with beer all around -- cost for 5 people was $33
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| The "New Cathedral" viewed from Calderon Park, about 3 blocks from our hotel. |
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| These high school students wanted to hear some English spoken, so they asked to talk with us. |
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| English students listening intently to Mary's questions |
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| Mary at work, practicing her English skills |
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| Some beautiful native dresses at Calderon Park in front of the cathedral |
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| Inside the New Cathedral |
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| On the roof of the New Cathedral |
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| Part of Cuenca from the top of the cathedral |
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| Cathedral domes |
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| Cuenca, the valley and hills |
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| Vendors in front of cathedral |
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| Morning flower market |
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| Snack on the street |
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| 3 great slogans! |
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| Lunch spot at cathedral |
We left the park and wandered through a nearby flower market, clothes market, and crafts shop complex.
We wanted to see the inside of the cathedral, then climbed up and inside winding staircase to the roof of the cathedral, where we saw the city from above, sprawled all around us. After another round of shopping, we had lunch at an outside table just across from the cathedral.
We walked down to the edge of the old city, overlooking the Tomebamba River, which we hope to walk almong later. Our afternoon walking and shopping trek was interrupted by a cloudburst that forced us into a tiny restaurant for unusual coffee, tea and mediocre pastry.
When the rain quit we abandoned our double-decker bus tour and went back to the hotel for some rest.
We walked about 5 blocks to our dinner spot, a Columbian restaurant that's one of Roger's favorites. We ate there last year. We had a good, full dinner, with beer all around -- cost for 5 people was $33
Plenty of free cultural events in Cuenca
Last night (our last night in Cuenca) was a good reminder of the large variety of cultural events here, at little or no cost. We stopped in at the Ecuador Jazz Club (suggested donation $5 to pay for instuments for music students who lack resources) for an otherwise delightful musical evening.
The performance was in the second floor of an excellent Italian restaurant, above a street corner in Old Town. I sat next to a gentleman who moved to Cuenca from Canada 10 months ago. He was very pleased with the large number of free, high quality cultural events in town. I asked him what got him to move to Cuenca; his response was telling -- "I'm an economic refugee." I need to expand on this concept, as well as the tragedies caused by our country's foolish immigration and tourism policies, in later posts.
The performance was in the second floor of an excellent Italian restaurant, above a street corner in Old Town. I sat next to a gentleman who moved to Cuenca from Canada 10 months ago. He was very pleased with the large number of free, high quality cultural events in town. I asked him what got him to move to Cuenca; his response was telling -- "I'm an economic refugee." I need to expand on this concept, as well as the tragedies caused by our country's foolish immigration and tourism policies, in later posts.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Don't despair - more posts coming
I haven't posted about our daily activities for most of the week, due mainly to our full schedule and slow hotel internet. But we've been taking lots of photos and are keeping a written log so we won't forget where we've been. Off to Quito now for the first leg of our journey to Galapagos. What a fabulous first week!
I will update the blog as soon as I can, with stories and photos.
I will update the blog as soon as I can, with stories and photos.
Friday, March 7, 2014
How important is it to speak and understand Spanish down here?
After our trip last year, I decided to learn some Spanish to enrich my next experience in Ecuador. I got along fine without any knowledge of Spanish, but a least half of the trip was with bilingual gudes.
This year I started basic conversational Spanish lessons through Coastal Carolina's OLLI program, about a month before leaving on this trip. We have a great teacher in Luz Greene, and very good resource matrials. I can already tell a difference from last year, but I've got a long way to go.
Mary had 6 years of Spanish in high school and college; she says that much of it is coming back to her.
Today we had lunch in a restaurant that I remembered from last year. The menu was entirely in Spanish (no English anywhere), and only one of the waiters spoke English. And we had left our handy dictionary at the hotel. We struggled a bit but still had a good lunch. All I had to remember was "Pilsner" (the local tasty beer) and I was happy. Our biggest problem was figuring out what "glass" was, as in "glass of wine." It's "copa."
This year I started basic conversational Spanish lessons through Coastal Carolina's OLLI program, about a month before leaving on this trip. We have a great teacher in Luz Greene, and very good resource matrials. I can already tell a difference from last year, but I've got a long way to go.
Mary had 6 years of Spanish in high school and college; she says that much of it is coming back to her.
Today we had lunch in a restaurant that I remembered from last year. The menu was entirely in Spanish (no English anywhere), and only one of the waiters spoke English. And we had left our handy dictionary at the hotel. We struggled a bit but still had a good lunch. All I had to remember was "Pilsner" (the local tasty beer) and I was happy. Our biggest problem was figuring out what "glass" was, as in "glass of wine." It's "copa."
Altitude sickness
In 24 hours we have gone from sea level in Myrtle Beach to 9,000 feet in Quito and almost 8,000 feet in Cuenca. We have to keep from overdoing our activities for the first day or two at this altiude. We noticed today in our walking about town (entirely flat) that we feel unusually tired. Even climbing 2 stories to our room is a bit harder than we expected.
We had the same experience last year in Quito, but we eased the transition by not moving around much during our first 3 days in our convention hotel and touring entirely by bus and minibus. This trip we'll just have to be careful until we get used to our new environment.
Carolyn has taken ill in the last hour, which may be aggravated by the altitude. We hope she recovers quickly.
Photos from our first morning in Ecuador
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| NOT our guide for the trip, but met him at breakfast |
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| Outside our room at Cuenca hotel |
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| Two ladies that we met at breakfast -- we asked them to join us for the trip |
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| Courtyard outside our room this morning in Puembo |
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| Walkway to our room in Puembo |
Made it to Cuenca; already tired
We got to the Quito airport after 11 last night, then took a cab to the town of Puembo near the airport, for our hotel -- Rincon de Puembo. Beautiful spot, reminded me of the fancy governor's hacienda in the old Zorro TV episodes. Very nice, relaxing morning before catching the plane from Quito down to Cuenca.
We checked into our hotel -- Casa San Rafael -- in the heart of old Cuenca, and spent the afternoon wandering around and people watching. Needed our Spanish dictionary, but got along OK.
After lunch we wandered over to the huge food market, where Carolyn was toally grossed out by the meat section. Finished the afternoon eating ice cream at my favorite park and watching the folks strolling and playing.
Pefect weather, cool, gentle breeze, plenty of sun.
I'll try to get some Cuenca photos tomorrow.
We're resting now, waiting for our guide Roger to arrive.
We checked into our hotel -- Casa San Rafael -- in the heart of old Cuenca, and spent the afternoon wandering around and people watching. Needed our Spanish dictionary, but got along OK.
After lunch we wandered over to the huge food market, where Carolyn was toally grossed out by the meat section. Finished the afternoon eating ice cream at my favorite park and watching the folks strolling and playing.
Pefect weather, cool, gentle breeze, plenty of sun.
I'll try to get some Cuenca photos tomorrow.
We're resting now, waiting for our guide Roger to arrive.
Thursday, March 6, 2014
Good restaurant in Atlanta airport
While waiting in the airport for our flight to Quito, we tried an excellent restaurant for lunch -- "1 Flew South" -- quiet, tasty food, really good service. Rest of the journey so far has been frustrating, with our electonics not working so well. Don't buy the wireless service in the Atlanta airport -- it stinks.
Time to shift the mental outlook to vacation mode from being tied to office email. Plenty of online books to read.
Time to shift the mental outlook to vacation mode from being tied to office email. Plenty of online books to read.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Leaving freezing drizzle in Myrtle Beach for Endless Spring of Ecuador!
We're all packed, enjoyed a brief family dinner at or hotel home. Ready for a good night's sleep before a flight out in the morning. Scrambling to do a few things before we leave, and our internet connection at home failed, as well as our connection to my office email, just when we needed both. And it's too late to fix either before we leave. Finally found a working connection in the lobby to get this post done. I hope it's not an omen.
My unresolved challenge as we leave is to figure out how to upload our camera photographs to this blog as we travel. Any of you that need to get me a message can use this email address -- oajeffcoat@gmail.com -- instead of my now nonworking office email.
My unresolved challenge as we leave is to figure out how to upload our camera photographs to this blog as we travel. Any of you that need to get me a message can use this email address -- oajeffcoat@gmail.com -- instead of my now nonworking office email.
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Off to Ecuador this week!
Good morning, friends and family! Our voyage to Ecuador begins this week. I've made a few tweaks to the blog to make it more reader-friendly and accessible to more folks. Please give us feedback as we continue with this experiment.
Our trip begins this Thursday with flights from Myrtle Beach to Atlanta to Quito to Cuenca (with an overnight in Quito). In Quito we'll meet up with Mary's sister Carolyn and her husband Ashley, our travel mates during our Canadian Rockies trip several years ago. In Cuenca we'll join our guide for the week, Roger Lurie, who was one of our guides in Ecuador last year and who helped make that trip so memorable. We plan to spend several days in and around Cuenca, including a Sunday side trip to the towns of Gualaceo, Chordeleg and Sigsig, as well as a trip up to the ruins at Ingapirca and hiking in Cajas National Park.
At the end of the week we will reluctantly leave Roger and board flights to the Galapagos Islands (through Quito), where we will spend a week aboard the deluxe but small cruise ship La Pinta. This will be the expensive part of the trip. At the end of the week we will fly to Quito to catch our flight back home.
Our trip begins this Thursday with flights from Myrtle Beach to Atlanta to Quito to Cuenca (with an overnight in Quito). In Quito we'll meet up with Mary's sister Carolyn and her husband Ashley, our travel mates during our Canadian Rockies trip several years ago. In Cuenca we'll join our guide for the week, Roger Lurie, who was one of our guides in Ecuador last year and who helped make that trip so memorable. We plan to spend several days in and around Cuenca, including a Sunday side trip to the towns of Gualaceo, Chordeleg and Sigsig, as well as a trip up to the ruins at Ingapirca and hiking in Cajas National Park.
At the end of the week we will reluctantly leave Roger and board flights to the Galapagos Islands (through Quito), where we will spend a week aboard the deluxe but small cruise ship La Pinta. This will be the expensive part of the trip. At the end of the week we will fly to Quito to catch our flight back home.
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