We've been unpacking and visiting and resting since we've arrived in the US of A and it feels good. Here are just a couple of things I'm noticing...
Everyone can drink the sink water, yet doesn't. Why is that America?
The pots and pans are so much heavier and more substantial.
Every time I go to light the stove I look for the matches and every time I'm in the bathroom I look for the garbage can.
It's amazing to have a yard!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Our Week of Fun!
We're back from a whirlwind tour of the South of Ecuador! We left Sunday morning (Ryan's Birthday) and took the bus to Ambato. We wanted to eat the traditional dish from Ambato but it was late and we ended up eating chicken and rice. Then we hopped on the overnight to Cuenca.
We arrived in Cuenca Monday morning around 5am. We were tired, hungry and crabby. We navigated to the hostel but it was 5am and so we crashed on some couches in the living room until around 8. Then we spent the day exploring about 50 churches and museums in Cuenca. We went out for dinner and then back to the hostel for the night.
Tuesday morning we got up and got ourselves together and left for Loja. We didn't really spend any time in Loja, just changed buses to Vilcabamba. We arrived in Vilcabamba around 6 and had dinner in the little town. We decided to splurge and stay at a more expensive place outside of town. IT WAS AMAZING. We were really sad to leave Vilcambamba. So we got to the place and crashed. Then Wednesday we got up and hung around the hotel for a while until about 10:30, when we checked out and got ready for a nice 4 hour hike on the ridge line. Well the first couple of hours of the hike were great but then we got extremely lost. We ended up hiking for something like 6 hours, not on any particular path. In fact a machete would have been nice to create a path. Anyways, there was a while when I was pretty sure we might not make it off the mountain by nightfall but then we did and it was fun, when it stopped being scary. After the craziness of the hike we decided to stay another night at the nice hotel and have a big meal with wine! Which is exactly what we did. We made friends with a Dutch couple and spent the night eating, drinking and chatting with them. There was a bonfire and a sunset and just general merry making. Then on Thursday we got up and... get this... got massages! 75 minutes for $18. One of the best massages I've had. Still doesn't beat the little lady is Martinique but pretty amazing. We went swimming, laid out by the pool, played chess, ate dinner and then left again for Loja and another bus around 8pm. We went back to Loja and caught the overnight to Guayaquil.
Friday morning we arrived in Guayaquil around 6am and then changed buses to get to the beach. We arrived at the beach around 10 and found a place outside of town to stay. Montanita is a crazy beach town with infastructure, which is nice, but it is pretty loud at night so it was a great relief to not be staying in town. We walked around a bit, ate, and then napped. After our nap we did what everyone does at the beach... nothing. We walked a bit, sat on the beach, swam, you know. We were exhausted and so we made dinner at the hostel and went to bed early.
Saturday Ryan had an upset stomach so I spent a good part of the day on the beach by myself and walking around town picking up things he wanted (bread, pepto, water, etc). I got a nice little sunburn but of course went back for more! Saturday night we watched an AMAZING sunset. The kind where you see the sun as a big red circle sinking into the water. It was pretty awesome! We had some snacks on the beach and then went back to shower and get ready for dinner. We went out for dinner to a delicious italian place. I had linguini with all different fresh seafood and Ryan had ravioli with seafood. It was yummy!
Sunday we got up and went to buy our bus tickets in the morning but they were all booked for the day. EEKS! The bus guy told us we could just keep hopping city buses until we eventually got to Guayaquil, which was really our only option because we had to be back today so we can take Chuki to the vet and the airport. But that didn't matter because we had SURF LESSONS to deal with first. We've learned a lot of things in Ecuador and now we can add surfing to the list! IT WAS SO FUN! Seriously so fun! We both managed to surf! We need lots of practice but now we know how you do it. I can't wait till the next time we're at a beach and we can rent surfboards! Let me just say this, it's exhausting! I understand why surfers usually have great arms and why they only go out for like 30 minutes at a time. After our surf lesson we went back to the hostel, packed up, showered, and feasted! We had bought a pound of fresh shrimp and one side of a tuna fish the day before and we were going to have both for lunch! We made rice with cilantro, a big salad, shrimp in garlic and seared tuna steaks with cilantro. It was SO good and SO much food. We put what we couldn't eat in a bag and gave it to one of the million dogs roaming around Montanita. After lunch we cleaned up and headed to the bus station. It was great because there was like a minibus (15 passenger thing) that had two more seats to fill. We threw our bags on top, hopped in, and off we went. Then we got the 7:30 night bus from Guayaquil to Quito and we were home in our own 'bed' (read : super thin mattress on the floor) by 3am.
It was a great trip! Lots of fun! More to come but first, we've got so much to do! Pack, take care of Chuki, sell the rest of our things, celebrate Ryan's birthday/going away with our friends, shop, go to the park, stop by one last time at inlingua, etc!
We arrived in Cuenca Monday morning around 5am. We were tired, hungry and crabby. We navigated to the hostel but it was 5am and so we crashed on some couches in the living room until around 8. Then we spent the day exploring about 50 churches and museums in Cuenca. We went out for dinner and then back to the hostel for the night.
Tuesday morning we got up and got ourselves together and left for Loja. We didn't really spend any time in Loja, just changed buses to Vilcabamba. We arrived in Vilcabamba around 6 and had dinner in the little town. We decided to splurge and stay at a more expensive place outside of town. IT WAS AMAZING. We were really sad to leave Vilcambamba. So we got to the place and crashed. Then Wednesday we got up and hung around the hotel for a while until about 10:30, when we checked out and got ready for a nice 4 hour hike on the ridge line. Well the first couple of hours of the hike were great but then we got extremely lost. We ended up hiking for something like 6 hours, not on any particular path. In fact a machete would have been nice to create a path. Anyways, there was a while when I was pretty sure we might not make it off the mountain by nightfall but then we did and it was fun, when it stopped being scary. After the craziness of the hike we decided to stay another night at the nice hotel and have a big meal with wine! Which is exactly what we did. We made friends with a Dutch couple and spent the night eating, drinking and chatting with them. There was a bonfire and a sunset and just general merry making. Then on Thursday we got up and... get this... got massages! 75 minutes for $18. One of the best massages I've had. Still doesn't beat the little lady is Martinique but pretty amazing. We went swimming, laid out by the pool, played chess, ate dinner and then left again for Loja and another bus around 8pm. We went back to Loja and caught the overnight to Guayaquil.
Friday morning we arrived in Guayaquil around 6am and then changed buses to get to the beach. We arrived at the beach around 10 and found a place outside of town to stay. Montanita is a crazy beach town with infastructure, which is nice, but it is pretty loud at night so it was a great relief to not be staying in town. We walked around a bit, ate, and then napped. After our nap we did what everyone does at the beach... nothing. We walked a bit, sat on the beach, swam, you know. We were exhausted and so we made dinner at the hostel and went to bed early.
Saturday Ryan had an upset stomach so I spent a good part of the day on the beach by myself and walking around town picking up things he wanted (bread, pepto, water, etc). I got a nice little sunburn but of course went back for more! Saturday night we watched an AMAZING sunset. The kind where you see the sun as a big red circle sinking into the water. It was pretty awesome! We had some snacks on the beach and then went back to shower and get ready for dinner. We went out for dinner to a delicious italian place. I had linguini with all different fresh seafood and Ryan had ravioli with seafood. It was yummy!
Sunday we got up and went to buy our bus tickets in the morning but they were all booked for the day. EEKS! The bus guy told us we could just keep hopping city buses until we eventually got to Guayaquil, which was really our only option because we had to be back today so we can take Chuki to the vet and the airport. But that didn't matter because we had SURF LESSONS to deal with first. We've learned a lot of things in Ecuador and now we can add surfing to the list! IT WAS SO FUN! Seriously so fun! We both managed to surf! We need lots of practice but now we know how you do it. I can't wait till the next time we're at a beach and we can rent surfboards! Let me just say this, it's exhausting! I understand why surfers usually have great arms and why they only go out for like 30 minutes at a time. After our surf lesson we went back to the hostel, packed up, showered, and feasted! We had bought a pound of fresh shrimp and one side of a tuna fish the day before and we were going to have both for lunch! We made rice with cilantro, a big salad, shrimp in garlic and seared tuna steaks with cilantro. It was SO good and SO much food. We put what we couldn't eat in a bag and gave it to one of the million dogs roaming around Montanita. After lunch we cleaned up and headed to the bus station. It was great because there was like a minibus (15 passenger thing) that had two more seats to fill. We threw our bags on top, hopped in, and off we went. Then we got the 7:30 night bus from Guayaquil to Quito and we were home in our own 'bed' (read : super thin mattress on the floor) by 3am.
It was a great trip! Lots of fun! More to come but first, we've got so much to do! Pack, take care of Chuki, sell the rest of our things, celebrate Ryan's birthday/going away with our friends, shop, go to the park, stop by one last time at inlingua, etc!
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Traveling
Sorry there haven't been many/any updates as of late. We've been traveling and busy finalizing things here. Since the last update we've...
-Sold most of our belongings. We still need to sell baking trays, cutting boards,glasses, a vase, two pitchers, some tupperware, the coffee pot, a french press, an electric griddle, pots, a small desk, a small bed, two plastic shelve things, a side table and a tv stand. It sounds like a lot, but considering that we're selling all of it for around $100, it's not that much.
-Gone to the jungle. We spent four days in the Amazon. THE. AMAZON. It was pretty great! They had had a lot of rain lately so everything was luscious and green. We saw lots of birds, some snakes, lots of bugs, lots of monkeys, some caimans, spiders, and more. We went to a native community and made yuca bread. We saw a shaman. We spent a lot of time riding around in boats.
-Climbed Cotopaxi. Well we didn't actually summit but we got pretty darn close. The way was impassable. Well, probably not impassable but there was a high chance you would die doing it, so we decided not to. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. The half marathon didn't even compare and I don't think the full marathon will either. This mountain is famous because it's a perfect cone and we basically just chose a side and climbed up the cone. UP. Straight UP. We spent the night in the refuge, not sleeping, so we were exhausted from the start. After about an hour and a half I didn't think I could go anymore. 4 hours later we sat and watched the sun rise just below the summit. We had to get going before the sun was completely up because there was a fear that the sun might melt some of the passes we had crazily gone over. It was crazy and if I hadn't been so tired and it hadn't been so dark I probably would have said I wasn't going to keep going. But I did and I'm impressed no one got hurt. With all of that said, it was SO fun and there's a chance I might even try it again.
-Celebrated a birthday. Well, actually we're celebrating it today. Ryan turns the big 25 today! We'll be celebrating by packing up and heading out on a week long trek across Ecuador, to the south first and then to the beach.
We probably won't write while we're gone. Check facebook for photos. I'll upload some to the blog once were home, but that will be a while.
MULUB,
Taylor
-Sold most of our belongings. We still need to sell baking trays, cutting boards,
-Gone to the jungle. We spent four days in the Amazon. THE. AMAZON. It was pretty great! They had had a lot of rain lately so everything was luscious and green. We saw lots of birds, some snakes, lots of bugs, lots of monkeys, some caimans, spiders, and more. We went to a native community and made yuca bread. We saw a shaman. We spent a lot of time riding around in boats.
-Climbed Cotopaxi. Well we didn't actually summit but we got pretty darn close. The way was impassable. Well, probably not impassable but there was a high chance you would die doing it, so we decided not to. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. The half marathon didn't even compare and I don't think the full marathon will either. This mountain is famous because it's a perfect cone and we basically just chose a side and climbed up the cone. UP. Straight UP. We spent the night in the refuge, not sleeping, so we were exhausted from the start. After about an hour and a half I didn't think I could go anymore. 4 hours later we sat and watched the sun rise just below the summit. We had to get going before the sun was completely up because there was a fear that the sun might melt some of the passes we had crazily gone over. It was crazy and if I hadn't been so tired and it hadn't been so dark I probably would have said I wasn't going to keep going. But I did and I'm impressed no one got hurt. With all of that said, it was SO fun and there's a chance I might even try it again.
-Celebrated a birthday. Well, actually we're celebrating it today. Ryan turns the big 25 today! We'll be celebrating by packing up and heading out on a week long trek across Ecuador, to the south first and then to the beach.
We probably won't write while we're gone. Check facebook for photos. I'll upload some to the blog once were home, but that will be a while.
MULUB,
Taylor
Friday, April 15, 2011
This and that
Our friends, Grant, Pablo and Eddie, came last night to take the desk, the couch, a set of plates and all of the kitchen utensils.
There are two other projects that I want to do in the apartment (fix the hinges of the door and fix the window that Chuki broke). But Ryan thinks we don't need to because she (the landlady from you know were) has $400 to pay for all of that.
Today is our last day of class! We have to go into inlingua this afternoon and drop off books and reports.
Tonight we're going to a dinner party. Tomorrow we're going to Otavalo. Sunday we're hiking to the refuge at Cayambe. Then Sunday night we're off to the jungle.
We're watching an insane amount of LOST. We're halfway through Season 5. WHAT? We just started watching Season 3 a couple of weeks ago. We're lame, we know.
MULUB,
Taylor
We noticed under the couch that there are some scratches in the wood floor. Any ideas on how to remove them? I'm going to see if I can find some wood polish at Megamaxi today. Wish me luck!
There are two other projects that I want to do in the apartment (fix the hinges of the door and fix the window that Chuki broke). But Ryan thinks we don't need to because she (the landlady from you know were) has $400 to pay for all of that.
Today is our last day of class! We have to go into inlingua this afternoon and drop off books and reports.
Tonight we're going to a dinner party. Tomorrow we're going to Otavalo. Sunday we're hiking to the refuge at Cayambe. Then Sunday night we're off to the jungle.
We're watching an insane amount of LOST. We're halfway through Season 5. WHAT? We just started watching Season 3 a couple of weeks ago. We're lame, we know.
MULUB,
Taylor
Thursday, April 14, 2011
What's in Your Pack?
So we've been hiking these last two weekend and it's been fabulous. I could go on for ages (and I might in a later post) about all of my gear envy and ESPECIALLY my camera envy that I've been having within our hiking group. But I won't do that right now. Right now, I thought you might want to know what we take with us in our packs. Usually when we're just hiking in Metropolitano, or taking a pack for a day trip, we share one. There's no use in both of us carrying a 1/2 full pack. But yesterday when we hiked Illinizas we both took our own because we needed a little more stuff. So without further a do...
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| Ryan's Pack |
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| Chapstick with sunscreen |
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| Headlamp |
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| Garbage bag... can't leave it in the forest |
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| Extra bags |
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| Snacks |
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| Dry and clean change of clothes |
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| Lots of water |
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| Warm layers |
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| Rain layer |
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| First Aid |
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