Ecuador and Galapagos Islands May 6-17th 2012

Ecuador and Galapagos Islands May 6-17^th 2012

On way to DFW airport, I stopped at a roadside rest center before Canton, and there was this dog that looked intensely into my car to see if I was the one who had abandoned him there.  You could tell he had been there for weeks, patiently waiting for someone to return.  A couple in an RV brought him some food and I told them they were kind but wondered what we could do.  They said they would call DPS and get him a good home…hope that ended well.  He had kind eyes and watched every car and truck enter the rest stop to see if the horrid owners were returning…..

Nice United Airlines employees—praised my new leg/ankle/foot—saw the x-rays with my passport and told me I could paint in them and not worry about it. 

My plan was to go ‘offline’ for two weeks…but I had about 45 minutes before my flight, went online ATT and added an international plan before I boarded.

Flight to Houston, hot and humid—I despise leather seats on airplanes—all that sitting still on heat producing leather…so I carry a blue round pillow and NO, not for hemorrhoids thank you very much but for aeration. 

My iPhone battery seems to be going down immediately after charging….and with the international plan added….great.

Five hour flight to Quito, Ecuador, was great and beautiful city, tiny airport. Customs told me they needed me to come into a private room and meet with their boss.  They were very serious and told me I had left something in my left pocket…a peppermint…I felt down for.  They were professional and serious and left me no other thought than that I was in serious trouble upon landing in Ecuador, a peppermint smuggler…I did not claim that I was bringing food into the country, could that be it?  Iphone dead.  Scared.

Boss came into room and said, “Dr. Goddard, my staff tells me that you are one of a kind. “ 
“Oh, really?” I said trying to sound like James Bond.  “Yes, they tell me in the 22 years they have worked here, that no one has had such stylish and wonderful shoes! We commend you for having the best, most unique shoes of all time in Ecuador”, and he laughed with this infectious-out-of –place-nervousness-going-away-ok-this-is going-to-be-a-great adventure kind of laugh. 

The women in Ecuador are all beautiful with flawless bronze skin.  The men have the best hair—no graying, no baldness, just thick black hair—some with great curvy hairstyles….again my wavy hair felt at home but everyone would look at my shoes, look at my hair, look at my shoes, look at my hair….

I forgot my claim that the first day of vacation and the last day of vacation ARE NOT A VACATION.  They are torture so that you enjoy the sandwiched days of vacation.  The man behind me on the flight messed his Depends and turned his air onto me…I kept putting clean linen scented hand sanitizer up my nose.  I was practically snorting lines of it. 

Guide Sophia met me about 10 p.m. at the crowded Quito airport.  She said Sunday nights were always very crowded and took me to the Hotel….wait for it…Quito.  Woke Darin—thought they were awake worrying about me getting to Quito safely.  Darin and Maggie came in a day early to acclimate to the 9,000 foot altitude.

The bellboy said, “Whatever you do, do not drink tap water—only bottled water—even when you brush your teeth….”

“Yeah, Yeah, tell me….what TV channels are in English?”  Next morning, as I drank my coffee from the tap water and Foldger’s crystals—run the water as hot as it will get and add the instant coffee—after finishing cup number two, I recalled the bell boys warning….by noon, I was in huge problemo (which everyone says ‘no problemo’)…got Cipro from Pharmacia and all was no problem after that…and waited for coffee in the hotel restaurants afterwards!

Total Infantile.

First meeting with tour group.  Comments from/to Maggie.  “That guy from Maryland is a killer.”  “No, sex trafficker.”  The people from Romania are sex traffic smugglers.  Or kidney stealers.  No one is REALLY from Texas—all liars—about 15 people said they were from Texas.

Baños = Bathroom

Vamoose = Go

Saluad = Bye

Equator = Ecuador (how it got its name)

Center of the World -0” 0” 0”

Volcano in 1999

Country is same size as Nevada but has 24 provinces and gave one to Peru recently.  Just gave it away.

Known for roses….Banana Republic…Chiquita Bananas from here.  Galapagos (117 islands = one province)

Anyone’s salary is about $500 a month, no taxes, 12 sales tax plus 10% property taxes.

Old Town of Quito = 1500’s

Pray to get in; pay to get out (church tour)

Airport is in city—10, 15 minutes from hotels

Building an airport 1 ½ hour drive from city.  (?) and will make a park a la Central Park in NYC in middle of city.

Panama Hats are made in Ecuador, not Panama. Light weight are about $180; cheap heavy hot ones about $10-$17….I bought the cheapie but wish….

Tornadoes in northern hemisphere rotate clockwise; Typhoons in southern hemisphere rotate counter clockwise.  (AS water drains from sink as well).  On equator, no typhoons or tornadoes due to pull of the equator.  The sink water drains straight down.

What is Spanish for “foreigners”?  Got called that often.

Traveled on the Pan American Highway—this highway ends at the tip of the hemisphere in Argentina—just across the pond from Antarctica.

Great soccer player from Ecuador is named Valencia but the ‘V’ is pronounced like a “B”.  He plays for Manchester England futbol team—but national soccer team and Olympics for Ecuador.  But not sure if Ecuador qualified for Olympics.  Canada beat United States, then Mexico beat Canada, so they are the Northern Hemisphere’s contender for men’s soccer—or is all this World Cup?  Get so confused.  But, Ecuadorians are fans for Manchester team because of home boy V”B”alencia.  They love another team who is sponsored by Pilsener Beer—the Ecuadorian beer.  Think it is El Salvador team.

Flotilla or hydrilla has taken over lots of lakes where the women wash their clothes—sad, but was told America was helping Ecuador get rid of the plant.

Grade School 6-11 years old; high school is 12-18 years old—no middle schools. 

They have ‘no kill’ bullfights; all the pageantry but no killing of the bulls.  However, they have many ambulances on standby for the bullfighters who die often!  They have rodeos where drunks get in a ring with bulls and play goofy with them and often die.

Iphone forgotten at about 3^rd hotel—warm springs spa—with my blue round pillow!  Might get it back before I leave country…..

And that dang International Data Roaming PLAN—learn to go with first instinct!

Gentle rain (we are in a rain forest) with steam from hot springs and all in cedar wooden cabins.  Nice.

Llamas have long necks and not fluffy.  The other kind is the fluffier—Alpaca—so warm, bought several sweaters for our ten minute winters in Tyler and this amazing throw from Alpaca wool which is so warm—all the cover you need….will be great for football games.

Some days we were on the bus all day.   With comfort stops in very uncomfortable bathrooms. They do not have paper in the bathrooms but if you buy a dollar souvenir they wrap it over and over in toilet tissue….we all carried our own, or as you left the bus, took what you needed…no privacy or modesty.  One bathroom I was at the urinal and a man came in and stood way too close to me and ‘went’ in the sink….creepy and germy…

Ecuador is socialist government and makes money on oil, shrimp, cocoa, roses, and tourism—in that order.  We were definitely pioneers for their tourism….they really stretched for things for us to do…like we just went to people’s houses and once a girl got on the bus (7 months pregnant) and sang a song and sold 50 cent bracelets…all while the bus was barreling through the mountainsides…was that smart for a pregnant woman?

Amazon Basin Rainforest.  Walk in Jungle in a loop; Home visit, butterfly colony and homemade raft trip….uh…I took the day off, read a British whodunit book and napped.

Ecuador uses American Dollars and love the $1 coins with who is it on it?  Satchewan? 

To be a tour guide in Galapagos, you must have been born there or marry someone who was born there….seems like there is tension between Ecuador and Galapagos…and lots of malfeasance.  We all paid $100 visa fee and all the cash was to go to the Darwin Center.  We visited it on the last day and it was just a junk pile with some old turtles…someone is stealing big time.

Cosanga River….we crossed Andes on way to Amazon Rainforest Basin….driver honks on blind curves….inches by the parked cars in cities, and make these impossible turns….

Soft calming rain drops at night on cabin roof.  Wish I had brought a fan and hair blow dryer (humidity = frizzy hair!) 

Rainforest is a continual misting condition; all is green.  Donkeys carry milk cans on each side of their saddle from the dairy to the village processor.  Quaint and frequent sight. 

Is a hectare an acre?

Brought a Flat Stanley for the Kindergarteners at Dixie and I did a horrible job—his head tore off and he was crumpled and took pictures with alcohol in background…must delete!

Guinea Pigs run loose throughout the house. On special days, the mama will scoop up the guinea pig and roast it, teeth, eyes, and all…if a person is ill, they will rub the guinea pig all over the person—guinea pigs are sensitive to germs and infections so when the g. pig dies, they autopsy and determine what is wrong with the patient…like shadows on its lungs…etc.

If a baby is sick, rub an egg all over the baby and egg pulls illness from child.  Crack the egg and it is red if it worked to heal the child.

Dragon’s Blood—healing potion from trees; kind of like ‘monkey blood’ when we were kids….I really thought mercurochrome was from monkeys.

Happy moment of trip = Maggie waking up always in a puddle with her mouth open and salivating in her sleep.

Shamans—good and evil; use plants, colognes, alleviates bad energies.

Avocados—in potato soup, ice cream, spaghetti, spread on grilled pork.

SANDWUCHE—Kind of lived on ice cream sandwiches.

Avenue of the Waterfalls.  Due to ankle problems, unable to do.  Jungle walk—so much trouble with inclines; 1^st major trip with new titanium ankle.

Used cane often.

So held back in Ecuador.  Did not go to wildlife refuge—we are headed to Galapagos—why go see injured animals here?  Ecuador was really too much time; not much to see other than waterfalls; best event was the caged sky lift that really moved towards twin waterfalls.  Pleasant lodges—no TV; very limited Wi-Fi….best to use Internet in villages/hotel business internet….weird keyboard….for the @ symbol, you number lock, ALT, and do 6 and 4 at same time….or copy @ sign from bottom of Yahoo log on page.

No a/c most places.  Sometimes no hot water (always try it in reverse; what is marked cold is sometimes hot)

Food was good but the same at every stop.  Lot of potatoes.

Prices are very low; groceries next to nothing; Mojitos so good—get doubles. 

No phones so prepare for wake up ‘knocks’ on the door.

Great seafood.

Great epinatos.

Active volcanos with puffs of ash.

Roads are treacherous.

Saw family of FIVE Condors and they only have 44 alive in existence.  They don’t have claws and just eat already dead animals.  Huge ugly turkey buzzard like birds but they have them on their national flag.

Up early to drive to old Hacienda (ranch) house which is now a hotel.  Nice, great, animals, best place for woolen items.

Galapagos

Upon landing