Macanao Lodge Isla El Gran Roque

... 2 of them, and I use the term 'nightclub’ very loosely) there was a guy running a portable burrito and burger stand. He seemed to take a lot of pride in his work and happily took on the challenge of crafting a delicious vegan-friendly burger for me. I was very impressed.

We stayed at the very lovely Hotel Gardner for our last night in PA, enjoyed some Latin-American cable TV, complimentary breakfast and then flew on out of ...

So, time for a new blog contribution. A lot has happened since the last, both in regard to my study and to the adventurous experiences of my trip. I will start by telling about my personal fairings and as in the last contribution I will end with my scientific considerations and advancement.

Ibarra and Oatavalo

Friday the 18th September I went with Anita, the sister of Mathilde (my host mom) to Ibarra to spend the weekend there. Ibarra is located North-East from Quito ...

Ecuador, Quito,09-10-1990.

Nothing can disrub my good mood this morning walking through a still foggy Quito devoid of traffic at this early hour. These Ecuadorians are definitely not early risers. I feel a bit like hiking the streets of a past era, a pre-conquistadores time though the whitewashed and red-tiled houses, the many colonial churches reminding me that the times of complete seperations of the American continents from power hungry medieval European rulers are a far ...

... uns im Hostal L Auberge Inn, saubere, halbwegs gemuetliche zimmer fuer 18 Dollar, ich kannte das Hostal noch von meinem ersten Trip nach Ecuador. Das Wetter ist top, 23 bis 25 Grad und Sonne. Die letzten 3 Tage haben wir die Umgebung von Quito erkundet, wir waren auf dem Hausberg Pichincha auf 4100 Meter, von dort hat man einen Superblick auf die Stadt, die sich wie ein Schlauch 40 Km durch ein Tal ...

... flights on-line, to no avail. TAME had availability but you could only use a diners card which, of course, I don’t have. AeroGAL which was the other option had no availability. We spoke to the tour company at Secret Garden who phoned AeroGAL. We were told that there was a flight at 7.10am and there were five seats left, it was suggested that we just turn up at the airport in the morning and buy them then, we opted for that option. We were ...

Ecuador or at least I should say Quito was my first stop in what will most likely be an intimate relationship in the coming weeks with the Andes. Jagged peakes of brown and green dotted with the occasional snow-capped mountain is the norm in these parts. I was able to break from the hostel crowd again and stay with Marco Monteros who I met on the boat to Colombia. Marco began his trip in Miami on motorcycle and was one day behind me when I arrived ...

... transport system ´Él trole´ - the trolley bus. There are even pedestrian crossings! Mind you there´s not a lot of indicating going on and nobody really stops at these - i think they may be there as a guide only of the best place to cross the road... invariably you take your life in your hands when crossing the road and given i haven´t adjusted to the cars on the opposite side yet I´m always looking the wrong way which ups the risk ...

... us that no taxi would ever arrive. We left him behind and got some sandwiches to take-away from the cafe below the hostel, then just hung around for a bit in the general common area. The taxi arrived 5 minutes late, and tedious Pedro accosted Cynthia and started babbling at her; as Cynthia did not understand, she recruited me,and I was i was thoroughly thrown by the fact that all he said was: "Ask how much the taxi will be". I think he was just being nice, but 1) I would have done ...

... old wives tales about the lack of gravity enabling you to stand an egg up etc but despite all that there was a line in the ground and it was fun to stand in the northern then southern hemispheres. Some shaggy dogs were hanging around and there were a couple of stalls selling things but after ten minutes we were off. Its really only a line in our minds! Or a scientific phenomenon. I found out the world bulges at the equator, cute!
As we drove there were heaps of dogs roaming around ...

... gold - the most impressive piece was a solid gold headdress, it looked like it could have been made yesterday and was in perfect condition! After the museum we went to our 4th football match of the trip. This time we went to see last years champions S.D. Quito. It turned out to be a great experience - $5 to get in, ladies get in free & then $2 for a beer whilst you watch the match! English ...