Hotel Plaza Grande Quito

... three thousand meters altitude is making breathing difficult, watching the crowd I see mostly indios whose small and stocky frames I remember so well from last winter during my trip with James in Central-America....no latinos here but full blooded indios...

Getting my act together and my lungs full with thin air I walk into the Gran Casino Hotel - aka the Gran Gringo Hotel - for a free room...

... view but a trickey climb down. After we had climbed above the clock and across the roof we went to look inside. We were give an English tour by the man who ran the church and he informed us that under the church were thousands and thousands of tombs that are still used today.

We had dinner at the hosel and made plans for tomorrow and for the four days in Cotopaxi National Park. Tomorrow we are going to the middle of the world!!

... to cry and exercised our best bowel control. Julieann would like to emphasize that she crawled further away from the ladder than I did, and closer to the open window. I would like to point out that I weigh more than her and was bending the wire mesh much more. After having as much fun as we could glean while fearing for our lives, we began our descent. One or two ladders down, we saw what we presume to be an Ecuadorian local clad in a nice sundress and ...

... s bag. He (canīt remember his name, sorry); disappeared for a moment and returned with a īspareī harddrive which he hooked up and I before I knew what was happening everybody was crowded around the computer taking turns singing - I in English and the others all in Spanish.

Thereīs something about being in a situation where nobody can understand a word of what you are saying that really releases your ...

Day 15 (Friday)
Day 15, Friday we went to class until about 11 and then we got to go on a field trip with our Spanish professor. We went to a really big church whose short name is The Basilica. It was really neat. We got to go up to the very top which offered great views of Quito. The trip up to the top was a bit scary however. We crossed this rather rickety wooden plank and climbed 3 sets of ladders (2 of which were outside the church so that you could see all the way ...

... wonderful things in South America having been run out of Canada (apparently if you have the power to cure Cancers and AIDS (oh yes?) then you really throw up the question about the business that IS healthcare.. apparently...
I know the whole thing is hugley debateable but I really enjoyed meeting them and their weird hippie ways.
Was chatting to them about how low in energy I had felt for the 6 weeks (I had put it down to age) but they ...

... in Ecuador pretty much all planned. Here is our tentative itinerary. Staying at Hostel in Ecuador (nights 1-3): L'Auberge Inn: www.auberge-inn-hostal.com Yanapuma Spanish School on the North coast of Ecuador (Week 1) Living with an indigenous family in Platanos de Estero, near Atacames. http://www.yanapumaspanish.org/index.ht m Simon Bolivar Spanish School in Coca, Ecuador (Amazon Jungle)(Week 2 ...

... airport, I checked into my first class and realized that I also had the ability to go to the Admirals Club (VIP) prior to my flight. Never been there before, I walked right up there, had my mamosa and danish, while looking out the window at my snow covered plane. Strange to see 6 inches of new snow when I am taking off to a place that is so hot. The gentlemen next to me in first class was a large business man ...

... with science based experiments showing the effects of being in the right place. Monuments are not my thing, especially French ones in the wrong place, so i joined the tourists at the real one site. Surprisingly most of visitors were Ecuadorians. And despite what some people say, the water does drain in different directions either side of the equator...and straight down when youīre on the line!