Last Updated: 07/22/03

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June 9, 2002:  Hello Ecuador

We said goodbye to the family and caught the noon flight to Quito, Ecuador.  Our flight made one stop in Guayaquil (huge port town southwest of Quito - in fact, more populous than Quito itself) and didn't arrive in Quito until after 3:30pm.  We took a taxi to a hostal we found in our guide book and decided to stay there for one night even though we thought it was overpriced because it had a phone (web update!) and it was easy.  After we got settled, we went out to scout new hostal options for the longer term.  We walked around the entire area of Mariscal Sucre and got a pretty good feel for the area.  One - We learned that Quito is beginning to fill-up with tourists as we are moving into the official high season.  Two - it's a bit more cosmopolitan and thus more expensive than we thought it would be.  We'll be lucky to get our own bathroom and double bed (cama matrimional) for under $25 a night.  Three - on the upside, this part of town is really cute with lots of fun interesting places to eat!  We had Thai food this evening and it was so great to have some different flavors and atmosphere.  We think we'll like it here.

June 10, 2002:  Monday

We used the phone this morning to make some updates to the site before we checked out.  Then we were off to gather information on a Galapagos tour.  We were a little surprised about how few options we had based on availability, boat type, and itinerary.  Every tour is/was set up with a standard itinerary with no variation unless some group or company charters a boat and guide.  For example, they have 3, 4 and 8 day tours.  Our guide book recommends spending two, even three, weeks there... but this seems practically impossible based on the standard tours and the requirement to have a guide and be on a "tour."  Around 4pm we stopped in one agency that told us about a boat leaving the next day (tomorrow) which met most of our criteria.  Although it seemed really sudden. we decided to jump on the opportunity... one - because we were pretty sure we were going to find anything better (or different) unless we went for a chartered option and two - because we were positive we wouldn't be able to beat the bargain basement price for booking LAST, LAST minute.  Within the hour we pulled all the money we could from ATMs in order to pay for the trip and rent snorkeling equipment.  We did some last minute shopping to get the essentials we needed - like film and sunscreen - and finally let it sync in that we were unexpectedly leaving for the Galapagos in the morning.

June 11, 2002:  Galapagos - Boobies and Frigatebirds  (Day 1)

This morning started off in a bit of a panic thinking we wouldn't be able to go on our tour because we weren't able to get any more money from the ATMs.  This would be a big problem because we needed $200 to pay the Galapagos National Park fee at the airport and we only had $75 in cash between us.  Last night we had maxed out our withdrawal limit for the day and didn't realize that since it was after hours on Monday the transactions would not be posted until today - Tuesday - therefore, we were not able to pull any more money out today.  We headed off to the airport, and then off to the Galapagos, still not really sure what we were going to do... but all ended reasonably well.    When we arrived, our guide talked with the officials who have kept our passports until we can get a cash advance from the only bank in the Galapagos Islands in Purto Ayura tomorrow.  We are keeping our fingers crossed... one that we'll be able to get money and two that they'll have our passports!

As for the tour, we jumped into full swing as soon as we left the airport.  We boarded the Samba, our motor yacht, had lunch and then headed straight for our first stop.  We landed on North Seymour Island and immediately saw swallow-tailed gulls will their tiny chicks, playful sea lions, huge beautiful sally lightfoot crabs and blue footed boobies.  The boobies were everywhere!  We practically had to walk over them on the trail.  Their feet really are blue and they seem to be doing their courting or love dance all the time.  They work in pairs (or couples) lifting their feet slowly up and around.  The males pick up sticks or twigs to offer as presents to the females and then whistle very loudly while lifting their wings.  Females quack in response.  This whole show really works as we saw more than one couple getting it on - making woopie!  The other main bird on the island was the magnificent frigatebird (magnificent is actually part of the official name which distinguishes it from the other type of frigetbird which is called the great frigatebird -- don't ask us to try to tell the difference).  The adult male frigatebird (10 years+) have a huge red flap of bright red skin hanging under their necks that they can puff up, or inflate, to football-sized balloons to attract females.  We saw several great examples - a few sitting in trees and other flying. 

When we got back to the boat we were a reminded a little of our Antarctica trip... as the wildlife was so close and fascinating... but we are missing our Aussie friends, Melinda and Polly, to share a drink with in the evening.  Our group for this tour seems to be a good group and surprisingly all quite young.

June 12, 2002:  Galapagos - Sea Lions and Giant Tortoises  (Day 2)

We went out this morning for an early morning walk on a tiny island called South Plaza.  The light was just beautiful as the sun was coming up over the horizon.  There were tons of young sea lions, including many pups, playing in the water near the shore right where we docked the boat (using small dingy to get to shore).  We had to "shew" them out of the way so we could disembark.  On the island we saw lots of big land iguanas.  In the air we saw lots of gulls, red billed tropic birds and huge brown pelicans.  Later in the morning we went snorkeling and met up with a bunch of sea lions.  The came to check us out.  There were so playful and curious.  They swam right up to us and then would turn quickly and swim away... almost like they were "buzzing" us.  We still can't believe we were swimming so close with sea lions!  In addition to sea lions, we also saw plenty of colorful fish and even a white tipped shark.  The shark was probably 4-5 feet - good size - but swimming near the bottom of the ocean so nobody was really frightened. 

In the afternoon, we visited the Darwin research station on Santa Cruz island.   Santa Cruz Island has a small town and population living there -- this is where we went to the bank to get money to pay our park fee so we could get our passports back... which we did with no problems.  They even had an ATM so we didn't have to pay any cash advance fees.  At the research station we saw giant tortoises... and they are GIANT!  Really huge... can barely even describe them.  It seemed like they had such difficulty even lifting their own shells to walk they were so big and heavy.  One tortoise, Lonesome George, is the last remaining tortoise of his race.  They have been trying to cross breed him with other tortoises so at least a portion of his genes will survive, but he hasn't shown any interest.  They are now discussing artificial insemination... hopefully they will be successful soon.

June 13, 2002:  Galapagos - Rays, Shark and Waved Albatrosses  (Day 3)

This morning we went to Gardner Bay on Espanola Island for a couple hours.  It was basically just our free time to walk along the white sandy beach amongst the many sea lions, or lay on the beach next to the sea lions, or snorkel out from the beach with the sea lions.  The setting was like a post card and it is still exciting to be "that" close to the sea lions - sometimes no more than a foot away.  Pretty crazy!  After the beach we went snorkeling around Turtle Rock (named for the shape - like a turtle).  We got the digital camera working in our marine pack under water and had a blat taking pictures of everthing we saw.  The highlights include sea lions (within inches this time), spotted eagle rays and a white tipped shark.  The shark was more than 6 ft long sleeping on the bottom near a coral shelf.  Karen dove down to take a close picture and once down there wondered what in the world was she doing - this was a big shark! 

In the afternoon, we did a long walk around Suaraz Point.  There we saw tons of marine iguanas, masked boobies, and the Galapagos hawk... but the main attraction was the waved albatross.  As one of the smallest in the albatross family it is still a huge bird with a wing span over 8 ft and can spend years at sea without touching land.  They are heavy birds which makes take-offs and landings particularly awkward for them.  It was funny to see them get a running start and then jump off the cliff of the island in order to get airborne.  But the real show came later when we stumbled upon two albatrosses in the middle of a fantastic courtship dance.  It was so complex with huge almost choreographed movements -- it really looked as if they were performing a staged routine.  They moved their heads from side to side and then smacked their bills together extremely rapidly until one would stop and lift its head extremely high with its beak open - pause - then smack its beak closed making a big sound.  The other would follow and repeat.  Really amazing.  Our guide book said it is one of the most memorable sights of the Galapagos... and it was.

June 14, 2002:  Galapagos - Sea Turtle and Post Office Bay  (Day 4)

Early morning walk to see flamingos and an unexpected green sea turtle finish covering her nest of eggs with sand and then lumber back across the beach into the water.  She was a big turtle... maybe four feet across.  This was a rare treat as even our guide has only seem this a couple times before and it was really late in the season for this turtle to still be laying eggs up on the beach.  She won't be back for at least another year when she will return to lay new eggs in the same nest.  Later that morning we went snorkeling and saw loads more fish.  To round out the morning, we landed at Post Office Bay where an old tradition is carried out to deliver post cards.  Nobody lives on this island and only a wooden box exists that holds post cards and messages of all sorts... all unstamped.  The process works like this:  You go through the existing cards and find one in your area to take back and hand deliver if close enough, or post in same country.  We found one addressed to Palo Alto so we took it and plan to hand deliver it when we get back.  We also left a card addressed to ourselves.  Let's see if it makes it to Palo Alto before we do.  After visiting "the post office" we walked inside the island to a lava cave or gas chamber created by a huge bubble of gas when the lava cooled.  We had to climb down a small hole via latter and through a tight tunnel or tube before we came to the huge bubble or chamber.   The real fun began when we continued on through a cave that was filled with water from an under ground passage - kind of spooky and exciting at the same time.

June 15, 2002:  Galapagos - Lava and Sea Turtles (Day 5)

This morning we went lava field walking.  Isabella Island, one of the biggest and western most islands, is also one of the youngest.  Only 800,000 years old and it has lava fields on it that are only 100 - 200 years old.  Walking on the hardened lava was one of the strangest things to walk on.  It was extremely hard and course.  When some of the pieces moved under foot, it sounded like plates breaking.  In fact, its probably best described as walking on ceramic.  Amidst the harsh black lava a few cactus are able to survive.  In some holes or creators in the lava ocean water has made its way through underground channels or fissures to form small lakes or ponds.  Some birds use these holes - we saw a pink flamingo feeding there which was a very stark contrast between the pink feathers, black lava and green mangroves that also manage to grow in the water collected here.  After our walking, the captain took us snorkeling to his favorite or secret spot where we were able to seim with huge sea turtles.  There were dozens of them.  They moved slowly through the water like angels and did not seem to care about us at all.  It was fun to float in one spot and let them swim under and all around us.  Fantastic experience!

In the afternoon, we took a dingy ride around Elizabeth Bay a little farther north on Isabella Islands.  We navigated through shallow bays surrounded by lava with huge mangroves.  We saw lots more turtles swimming near the surface around our small boat as well as playful sea lions who watched us as much as we watched them.  But the main attraction on this ride was the Galapagos penguins.  Yes, penguins almost at the equator!  We got several pictures with them resting on the lava rocks with a cactus nearby.  Very strange that penguins are able to survive in the same location as cactus!

June 16, 2002:  Galapagos - Marine Iguanas and Sea Loins (Day 6)

Today we continued our journey around Isabella Island.  In the morning we went out for a walk to see giant tortoises in the wild... but we did not see any really GIANT tortoises like the ones at the research center.  We did see one baby tortoise about the size of the Stalla's tortoise, Speed, and another a bit bigger.  On our way to our snorkeling location we ran across a school of dolphins.  There had to be at least twenty of them.  They swam so close to the boat you could completely see them underwater.  When they got a little further away a few jumped completely out of the water sort of putting on a sea world show.  Snorkeling got underway shortly after.  We saw marine iguanas feeding on algae under the water.  They were really neat... looked like little monsters.  The sea lions were also with us under the water again.  We played with one young pup for probably 15 minutes - doing circles under water; arching backward underwater; and blowing bubbles.  We would have played longer but a huge male sea loin came along... so we decided that play time was over.  Really unforgettable experience!  We know we keep saying things like this... but not sure what else to say.  If you like animals you should definitely visit the Galapagos if you can.

June 17, 2002:  Galapagos - Penguins and Dolphins (Day 7)

After breakfast we went for a morning walk on Santiago Island, which at one time was inhabited but no longer.  Huge lava flows spill into the ocean and created a fascinating seashore with tunnels, holes and tide-pools for wildlife to swim around.  In this area, we saw fur sea lions which are a little smaller than the common Galapagos sea lion and they have a smaller snout; but bigger eyes as well as of course more fur.  Snorkeling in the afternoon was great with penguins.  We kept seeing what seemed like the same penguin feeding on the schools of thousands of small fish near the coral.  We would not want to be one of those fish when the penguin came around because the penguin was so incredibly fast.  It was neat to watch it dart around so effortlessly when we know how they struggle on land.  The late afternoon was the real surprise, when after we had walked to the top of Bartolome Island for a great view we saw a school of dolphins swimming close to shore.  We all hurried down the mountain and got back to the boat and changed into our snorkel gear in enough time to get out in the ocean and swim with the dolphins!  The visibility was not very good... but it didn't matter much... there were loads of them (probably 40+) and several of them came really close to check us out... plus we were actually swimming with dolphins!!

June 18, 2002:  Galapagos - GoodBye (Day 8)

Our last day on the boat we woke up slowly and went for one last dingy ride in small bays created by lava and lined with mangroves.  This protected area had calm water that the turtles, sting rays and sharks must have liked because we saw a ton of them... golden rays, spotted rays, white and black tipped sharks.  Most of the sharks were very small (couple feet), but we had a couple that were good size (4-5 ft).  After the dingy ride it was pretty depressing as we went back to the Samba (our big boat) to pack and wait for the bus to the airport.  When we got back to Quito and got resettled in at our hostal, we met up with a few people from the tour for dinner.  Henry from Northern Ireland (British now living in London... we now understand this geography and political divisions a bit  better), Alan from England (British now living in Houston) and a couple, Max and Satu (Israeli and Finnish respectively).  The group was really fun and we decided to meet up again for drinks tomorrow night.

June 19, 2002:  The Bites!

Karen has had some problems with a couple bites that she received in the jungle back in Peru a month ago.  We have debated putting them in the journal off and on... but today takes the cake and we've decided they must be written about.  The squeamish should stop reading here. 

When we first noticed them (on the back of her upper leg... upper, upper hamstring... OK practically on her rear end!), they presented as huge red swollen itchy bites.  We thought this must have been the biggest mosquito in the world.  A week or so later when the bites started causing extremely intense shooting pain down her leg we realized we probably weren't dealing with a mosquito and some spider bite theories developed.  As the pain continued for almost two weeks off and on making Karen practically nauseous whenever they would strike, we decided she should see a doctor in Lima.  By the time the doctor's appointment arrived, the bites had gone down some so Karen canceled the appointment thinking they were on the mend.  Mistake!  Once we got to the Galapagos, salt water and/or the strong tatoo-like band-aids she was using had an interesting effect as we found something white, sort of tail-like, protruding from one bite.  We decided right then that we'd have to go to the doctor back in Quito no matter what.  For the rest of the Galapagos trip they seemed rather benign as the "tail" turned black and retracted.  This brings us to today at the doctors... can anyone guess?  Yep... the doctor removed one worm from each bite!  YUCK!!  They were small, a few centimeters, but definitely worm like with stripes... and basically disgusting!  Can you believe it?!?  Oh well... this is one of the risks for "adventure" travel... right??!?

The technical term is "myasis" -- no pun intended considering the location of the bites :).  A big black fly must have bit Karen a couple times (probably while swimming or playing around in the mud shores of the river in Manu) leaving some eggs or larvae with each bite.  Lucky girl!  The pain was caused as the larvae burrowed into deep tissue hitting several nerves.  Apparently it could have been worse because the doctor said the worms can get much bigger... but they were already dead when he extracted them.  We must have killed them in the Galapagos either by drowning them while snorkeling or suffocating them with the super tight tatoo-like band-aids.  Whatever the cause of death, Karen was relieved because it turns out removing dead worms was much easier than removing live worms.  We're sure this was probably more information than anyone wanted to read... but thought it should make the journal anyway.  

June 20, 2002:  Thursday

A little slow this morning as we recover from having a great time last night out with Henry and Alan.  We laughed a ton, had the bartender make us interesting drinks, and even tried to learn new bar-related vocabulary.  We stayed out until at least 1:30am... which is quite a change from our current average 9:30pm bedtime.  We finally made it out of our room around 11am.  We found a McDonalds and a movie theater which suited us perfectly.  A lazy day with some American creature comforts, like junk food and a movie, was just what we needed.

June 21, 2002:  Otavalo

After a good night's sleep last night, we were well rested and ready for a trip to Otavalo -- a small town about two and a half hours north of Quito.  We took the trolley to old town Quito to catch a bus.  The bus station was huge and we must have looked lost or had "gringo" written all over us because we can't count the number of people that wanted to help us out... from finding the correct company which goes to Otavalo to finding the correct exit gate and actual bus to even helping us pay the exit tax (getting the correct change and putting the coins into the machine for us).  Not sure if all the help was necessary, but it was kind-of funny and a nice guesture from the people.  They really were just trying to be helpful. 

Otavalo was a bit bigger than we expected with several plazas and quite a few blocks (say 15) to navigate before we got to our hostal... which was a bit nicer than we expected.  Nice surprise.  For only $4 a night per person we had a big room with a double bed and a clean private bathroom with hot water.  Later that afternoon we ran into Alan in an internet cafe and decided to meet for drinks and dinner.  Right before we left, Henry phoned us... so we told him to join us.  We had a nice dinner but called it an early night this time so we could get up early for the live animal market tomorrow.

June 22, 2002:  The Markets

We got up around 5:30am this morning so we could make it out to the live animal market by 6am.  The animal market held every Saturday starts very early with farmers and families bringing their animals to an open field just outside of the town.  Here prospective buyers can walk around and inspect the pigs, cows, horses, sheep and even a few chickens.  The pigs were definitely the nosiest.  From huge hogs to tiny piglets squealing any time someone wanted them to go somewhere they didn't want to go.  Some of the bulls were huge... we definitely needed to watch our step!  The whole affair seemed pretty laid back and it was difficult to determine when actual business or deals were taking place.  We spent about a half hour or so walking around, but we didn't stay too long since we figured the locals knew we weren't really in the market for a live animal.  In the afternoon, we hit the artesian market for which Otavalo is famous for.  This weekend there was also a festival in Otavalo so not sure if this Saturday's market was bigger than other Saturday's... but it was huge!  They filled almost every street of the town with stalls for vendors.  Some of the things were really nice and we couldn't help but buy some.  Even though the festival here in Otavalo is going on with events like music groups in the evenings, etc. through Monday, we decided to head back to Quito after we finished shopping and after we relaxed over a long lunch on an outside balcony cafe because we want to try to catch a train trip from Quito that leaves only on Sundays.

June 23, 2002:  Train to Cotopaxi

We left our hostal about 7am this morning to take the train south of Quito about two and a half hours to Cotopaxi National Park.  Cotopaxi is named after its center piece - a huge volcano (almost 5900 meters) permanently capped with glaciers and snow.  It is an impressive site.  Around the volcano, the park stretches out with trails for hiking and lots of places to picnic and even camp.  Although we enjoyed a picnic and a short hike around the trails, the real reason we went was for the train ride itself.  The train is configured with old dilapidated box cars with little or no seating inside... but no one is concerned about the lack of luxury because the real seats for this trip are on top of the train or box cars themselves!  That's right... you can climb up the outside of the cars and sit on the roof for the whole trip.  It is freezing up there... but once bundled up with jackets and hats, it's well worth the wind and the cold for the great views of the country-side and simply for the experience of sitting on top a moving train.  On the way back, even the conductor walked the length of the roof while the train was moving in order to collect the tickets.  The other fun thing about the trip was seeing mostly Ecuadorian families enjoying this outing.  Many of the places we visit we are mostly surrounded by other gringos... so this time it was nice to have us in the minority and see Ecuadorian families with lots of children taking advantage of their own National Park to picnic and play football (that's soccer to us).

June 24, 2002:  Old Town Quito

Not too much action today.  We visited the "old town" of Quito filled with historic buildings, plazas, churches, etc.  We walked around the area taking in the sites.  One site, or major landmark, is a huge statue of "La Virgen de Quito", with a crown of stars, eagle's wings and chained dragon atop the world.  The statue is on top a rounded hill with great views of the city.  We would have loved to climb the hill to visit the statue but recent robberies and safety concerns along the steps leading to the statue prevented the climb and we hired a taxi to take us up there instead.  The views were marvelous and the statue wasn't bad either.

June 25, 2002:  Tuesday

Today we got up with plans to visit the equator, or Middle of the World as it is referred to here, but instead we spent the day in an internet cafe.  We brought in our computer and made backup CDs of all our pictures and data.  We had always wanted to do this "just in case", but were never exactly sure how to get it done and never really felt that comfortable taking out our computer in public.  We found a great shop near our hostal where the manager spent all day helping us and actually ended up connecting our PC into their own network so we could burn CDs from their machines.  All that took much longer than anticipated (but then things like this always do)... so it turned out we didn't have time for tourist activities today.

June 26, 2002:  La Mitad del Mundo

Today we went to "The Middle of the World," a.k.a., the equator, to stand in both hemispheres at the same time.  Very "tourist-y," but we had a good time.  They have a monument built there with a pretty good little museum inside.  The museum has exhibits depicting the different regions in Ecuador from the Galapagos to the Amazon Basin (called The Oriente) and from the highlands to the coast.  The photography and displays were good quality.  In addition to the monument/museum, they have marked the equator with a big yellow line.  The line stretches from the monument through a shop and restaurant area.  They even carried the line through a little church about 150 yards away which was fun.  Before heading back to Quito, we stopped in at an even smaller museum called Museo Solar Inti-Nan which again had some exhibits covering different regions of Ecuador as well as some experiments set up to take advantage of the sun being directly overhead at the equator.  We had fun practicing with a blow gun from the jungle (El Oriente) to shoot darts into a cactus target.  Turns out Karen may be the better blow gun hunter! 

Once we got back to Quito, we went to arrange plane tickets to leave for Panama tomorrow.  We were a little frustrated to find all the economy flights were sold out until Tuesday (and even the full fares sold out until Saturday), especially because we had specifically asked the agent a week before if we needed to book ahead and she said no.  We decided to try another agent who was able to get us on a flight on Monday for less than the first agent quoted (in addition she could have booked us on the full fare flight tomorrow).  So... we are now set to leave on Monday and just need to find something to do for the rest of the weekend.

June 27, 2002:  Mindo - El Monte

Last night we decided "to kill" some time by visiting the cloud forest west of Quito.  This morning we caught an 8am bus to Mindo - a small town about two and a half hours from Qutio.  We called ahead and made arrangements to stay in an upscale nature lodge, El Monte, that includes a guide during your stay and all your food.  There are plenty of budget places to stay in Mindo, but we wanted to do something special (and John really liked there website :).  El Monte was really nice, but run a lot "looser" than expected for the amount paid.  We were surprised that no one really spoke any English (even the guides) considering this place is almost solely marketed toward English speaking tourists.  We got along fine with our guide with our limited Spanish and his limited English, but it would have been pretty difficult or frustrating if we didn't speak any Spanish.  All that said, we'd definitely still recommend it.  The accommodations (two story A-framed riverside cabins with open seating areas; beautiful wood floors and furniture; palm roofs; open aired community lodge; hammocks; etc.) were fantastic and the food was incredible.  The "chef" could not have been older than 15, but he made and presented some fantastic meals.  In addition, one might visit El Monte just to ride the tarabita, described as a handpowered cable car but more like a swing suspended pulley system, they use to take people over the river to get to the lodge.  It was really run to cross the river with your feet dangling free.

June 28, 2002:  Mindo - The Cloud Forest

Yesterday after lunch we visited the butterfly farm right next to the lodge. The breed 25 different species for research and for release into the wild. some butterflies are kept in an enclosed garden area where we were able to walk around as long as we wanted taking pictures and holding butterflies on our fingers. They had placed dishes with opened mushy bananas on them around the garden for us to rub our fingers in which helped attract the butterflies and keep them sitting on our hands sucking the banana juice.

Today we woke super early to meet our guide at 6am to go bird watching on the trails around the lodge. While we continue to be surprised by the good time we have looking and identifying birds with our binoculars (never were much into birds before but was so many with such bright colors its hard not to be impressed)... we still doubt that we will ever become really dedicated "birders" -- probably something about the early AM hours and patience required. After breakfast, we took another hike with our guide up the mountain on a great trail. The high light was that we actually saw a couple of toucans! We really didn't think we'd see them in the wild. They were not as large as Toucan Sam... but definitely lots of bright colors and big, big beaks. In the afternoon, we visited an orchid garden which was basically a family in town growing lots of orchids in their backyard. They were the tiny variety like we saw at the base of Machu Picchu in Peru... still impressive. We walked back to the lodge along the river and spent the rest of the day relaxing.

June 29, 2002: Saturday

Today we headed back on the 6:30am bus back to Quito. Sort of a mistake on our part because we didn't get a package mailed off before we left for Mindo and we needed to get back to Quito in the morning before the post office closes for the weekend. We definitely did not want to be lugging stuff from the Otavalo market around with us to Panama. Made it in time and got the package sent home with no problems. Funny part was that instead of creating a sticker indicating the amount of money paid to mail the large package, the post office worker just used about a 1000 stamps placed all over the package until she added up over $50 dollars with 40 cent stamps. Interesting...

The fun part of today was meeting up again with Mette. This is our 4th country together. It was really great to catch up on each other's travel stories since we last left each other in Cuzco. It was even sort of spooky, or maybe comforting, to learn that we've both been a little homesick around the same times especially as traveling through small towns start to wear on you. In fact after Ecuador, Mette will go back to Mexico City where she has a "home base" with a friend there and will then continue to make trips around Central America from there. We are sure to meet up again as we move into Central America as well. We ended the day by all going out to dinner together at a really fun and funky restaurant/bar. We had a couple bottles of wine over a long diner and lively conversation -- everything from travel observations to politics were covered. We were having so much fun, we continued our night at another night spot and had a traditional hot Ecuadorian drink. We didn't get in until after 1am. Mette had to catch a 7am flight to the Galapagos in the morning... hope she doesn't need much sleep!

June 30, 2002: Sunday

Slow day spent working on website and journal so we could use our friendly internet cafe to update through their network before we leave Ecuador tomorrow.

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