Ecuador: stuck in the mitad with you!

Ecuador (all at once)
Sorry for the lack of updates in the last two weeks or so: we´ve been traveling willy nilly with Tori´s parents throughout Ecuador and haven´t had any time to post on the blog. Right now we´re about to leave Ecuador and go to Peru for Christmas, but there´s a lot that has happened since we last posted.

From Panama City, we flew to Colombia and then to Quito, Ecuador. This was momentous because it signified the end of Central America and the beginning of South America. Also, we got really good plane food and Stew talked his way into an extra meal. Plus, we tried all of Colombia´s beers on the plane for free, so it´s almost like we´ve been there.

We met up with Tori´s parents in the immigration line in Quito. It was pretty thrilling to see family after such a long time, plus we got to cut in line. It was probably the most joyous celebration to happen in a 30 minute immigration line at midnight. The next day we took a tour of Quito with the weirdest hippie-spiritual- new age- Incan hating -Ecuadorian ever. He also showed us the equator, and told us some weird hippie stuff about it. Still it was really fun and we loved Quito.

The next day we flew to the Amazon. We stayed in a lodge that was quite a trek from Quito: we flew, took a bus, took a boat, took a hike, and then took a final canoe. It was great, and secluded. From our lodge, we could see big rat like animals named agouti, caimans, tamarinds, pygmy marmosets, and lots of other cool stuff. Like birds, but who cares. Birders are lame-oids with pocket protectors. We went on daily excursions in which we saw anaconda tracks, river otter, big trees, giant smoked toads, tiny poison frogs, crazy lizards, sloths, a gajillion monkeys of a half dozen types, tarantulas, insects, whip snakes, and Austrians. It was a heckuva good time.

Next, we hit the Galapagos, because we hadn´t seen enough animals yet. We found them. More marine iguanas than you could in a stew, more sea lions than you could ever possibly cuddle, lots of land and sea turtles doing it, blue footed boobies (also doing it, but dancing better), frigate birds (trying to do it), penguins swimming cutely, fish doing their thing, flightless cormorants not flying, dolpins playing, and natural formations. These include lava, beaches, giant stone outcropppings, darwin´s toilets (places where the water rushes onto stone beaches and then flushes like a toilet), and others that instead of flushing, shoot up like a whale spout. Also, the cruise director chose our family to lead the Neptune Day celebration as we crossed the equator: Tori´s dad was King Neptune, God of the Sea, and Tori´s mom was Queen Neredia, his beautiful wife. We were pirates, along with Tori´s brother. We got free drinks. It was riotous. Stew, apparently, also knew the cruise director from his days as a sailor on the Pacific.

We returned to Quito, where we saw museums, an orchid farm run by a crazzzzzy senile old dude, the wonderful pool and spa at the hotel, and bar district known as Plaza Foch. It was fun and we recovered from our hectic travels and prepared for some more hectic shopping.

Early the next morning, we hit the road in our familiar van with our weirdo guide through the mountains to a town called Otavalo. Along the way, we met with some of the top weavers and leather makers from Ecuador. We did a lot of shopping and came away with some amazing deals on leather goods. Stew got new boots, Tori got a new jacket, and everyone got christmas presents. The next day we hit up the real market in Otavalo proper, and the shopping was taken to a new level. Anyone who didn´t get a present in leather, got one the second day. We bargained our pants off and got some new pants for 3 bucks a pop. Word.

On the way back, we stopped at a shaman and got rebalanced. There are, we suppose, some advantages to having a weirdo tour guide. Tori´s mom got a cleaning ritual, which entailed getting spit on and fire balls blown around her. She handled it like a champ, and came out smelling good if damp. Due to the snow storm, Tori´s family was stranded in Quito for an extra day, which we thought was great. We had a fantastic time with Tori´s family and miss them already. Stew can´t wait to see his parents in a couple of weeks in Chile. Anyone else want to come visit us, too???

Since they left, we flew to Cuenca where we stayed in a hotel room sick for two days. We did manage to get out and see a great museum run by a bank (sidenote: is the phenomena of great museums run by banks unique to Latin America or does it exist elsehwere?) situated next to huge incan ruins on a hill over the city. Today, we managed to get out of Cuenca (Ecuadorean Andes: lusher and quainter than a farmer´s daughter) and are now heading south to Lima. We´re six hours into our 30 hours bus tour and are taking a break at an internet café in a bus station until our next bus leaves at 11 p.m. Yay buses! Soon we´ll be in Lima and ready to celebrate Christmas.
Merry Christmas, Happy Channukah, and maybe we´ll updated before the New Year!
Love,
Tori and Stew