Back to Quito

During the hike yesterday to the waterfall, there were little flies of some sort, biting us on the legs. Well, last night they got sooo itchy, all three of us were scratching like crazy. And it they continue to itch today.We got up around 8:00, had breakfast and walked to the bus depot and caught the next bus back to Quito. About a 2 hour bus ride, then took a taxi back to Hostal Marsella. The hostal is located between the old town and the new town, so it's a great location.We walked to the Old Town part of Quito. Very cool, small streets, not unlike you'd see in older towns in Europe.We saw La Basilica del Voto Nacional, the tallest church in Ecuador, done in a neo-gothic style. It was awesome.We had lunch at a restaurant in Plaza San Fransisco and saw lo9ts of old architecture on our tour.I hit a bank and too0k out $500 for the Galapagos trip. Back to hostal around 4:15.I used the internet, Kirsty and Lisa went to the SAE clubhouse to use the internet, but it ended up closing 5 minutes after they got there.At 6:30, we went back to the astronomical observatory, but the security guy told us it's only on Tuesdays-Fridays it's open to the public. Foiled again. Maybe when we get back from the Galapagos!We headed (via taxi) to La Marsical area for some dessert and coffee. It's the very touristy area of town, clubs and restaurants. Expensive!
What I learned today:
Leche
Bano (squiggly over the n)
Puedo salir?

Seeing Condors!

Slept in late, 9:30. Could hear the fiesta music all night long from various festivals.After breakfast, walked to Peguche, supposedly a big weaving village, but there was nothing going on when we were there. Everyone was probably in church.Walked to La Cascada de Peguche, a quite nice waterfall as far as waterfalls go. It's a popular place for locals on weekends, but we got there before noon, so wasn't quite that busy yet.Walked back to town for some lunch, then a 5km walk to Parque Condor, a rehabilitation centre for birds of prey. It's run by a Dutch guy, and we lucked out by arriving shortly before a fying demonstration, which was AWESOME! To see huge hawks flying just over your head and in front of you, over an amazing view of the land was sooo cool. They never capture any animals, they only take in injured or donated animals, and then release them back into the wild when they are ready. The first hawk had been found with all his feathers removed, so he was just learning to fly again. It was quite windy, so he was having some troubles. But some of the other birds were soaring. He had a few Andean Condors, and they are HUGE!!!!!!!!!The flying demonstration was in Spanish, so Lisa and Kirsty kept translating for me.We started walking back, and a local who was at the Parque Condor offered us a ride in the back of his pickup, so we rode in the back, to the main highway. He was going to a different town, so he dropped us off, and we caught the next bus back to Otavalo (20 cents).We went to a pizza place for supper. While we were waiting, the families kids were playing, one girl and boy were playing with a balloon. The girl was screaming, really excited, and the mother came and grabbed her, presumably because she was being loud for the guests in the restaurant. She went back to the kitchen and pouted. So the boy kept playing with the balloon, and started playing with some other gringos with it. After a bit, he got bored with that, so he hid in the kitchen and started throwing peas at us. There were peas all over te floor. After we got our pizza, the grandmother (I think) picked up the balloon, walked up the little boy, popped the balloon right in front of his face, then walked away. No words were spoken by her. The little boy started balling and balling for like 10 minutes in the corner, but everyone (mother, grandmother, older sisters) completely ignored him. After about 10 minutes if crying his eyes out, he decided he wasn't getting anywhere, he stopped, and went up front to where his mom was and started crying again, to no avail. It was hilarious.After that, went back to the hostal, I read, then to bed.What I learned today:
Con
Una mas
Otre

Off to Otavalo

Up about 8:00, breakfast and took a taxi to the bus depot. Took a bus to Otavalo, $2 for a 2-3 hour bus ride. Otavalo is famous for a huge Saturday market.Arrived around noonish and found a hostal (Hostal Valle del Amanecer) for $9/person. After checking in and paying for two nights, we headed to the market. It's huge, it starts at the central square and goes in all directions for blocks and blocks and blocks.Lisa and Kirsty are starting to force me to fend for myself when it comes to Spanish. They tell me the words, then I have to order food and ask for the bill and whatnot. I'm learning fast!BTW, the weather in Quito and Otavalo is quite nice during the day. When we arrived, it was low 20's, but the last couple of days it's been hitting the high 20's. Around 4:00-ish, it starts to really cool down, as you'd expect in a mountainous area, and a sweater is a definite must. Long pants are even needed in the evenings, after the sun goes down, it gets quite chilly.We had a late lunch, then back to the hostal and lounged until about 7:30. There's a huge festival in Otavalo right now, Fiesta del Yamor, that goes for the first two weeks in Septiembre. So, we walked to the festival grounds and experienced yamor (a drink made from seven types of corn and prepared over 12 hours), Ecuadorian hot dogs (not that good), choriza (sausage) on a stick (very good!), aquardiete (spirit made from sugarcane) with blackberry juice, and huge bottles of Pilsener for $1.Lisa and Kirsty were very disappointed in the fiesta, finding Ecuadorians very reserved. They expected the locals to be hooting and hollering and dancing around the streets, but that was certainly not the case at the festival.Finding Ecuador cheap. Food & drink are a bit cheaper than Thailand, but accomodations is more because you pay per person, not per room.Back to the hostal around 10:30pm.What I learned today:
La quiente, por favor?
Este
Cuanto cuesta?

First Day in Quito

Slept great last night, we got up around 9:30. I went to have a shower, turned on the hot water, and it was cold. So I waited. It got a bit warm, I had hope, then it got ice cold again, and my heart sank. So, I let it run some more, and finally, after about 2 minutes, hot, hot, hot water!We had breakfast, then walked to the astronomical observatory, about a block and a half from the hostal. It's the oldest astronomical observatory in South America, the telescope was installed in 1875, and it´s still used today. The guy told us that we can come back between 6:30 and 7:30 tonight and see the stars, it's open to the public.We walked through a couple of parks, looking for the South American Explorers Club, apparently a great resource for backpackers travelling through South America, and you can sometimes get discounts on tours or food or hostals or whatever. Kirsty and Lisa bought memberships ($60/year).We walked to a couple of travel agents, trying to plan out our Galapagos Islands trip. The second one we went to was on the list of travel agents that would give a discount for SAE members. We ended up booking an 8 day Galapagos Islands trip for about $1500 US, includes return flight from Quito. We´re also going to fly out two day early, so I can do some diving and we can bum around the island and see things that we won't be seeing on the trip. It's going to be AWESOME!! In the end, Lisa and Kirsty didn´t get a discount because the tour was already low season price, but she did offer us a free pick up to the airport Sept. 15, when we fly to the Galapagos.When we went to the first travel agent, Lisa and Kristy did all the talking in Spanish, so I had no clue what was going on. Every once in a while, one of them would update me on what they were talking about. At the second travel agent, we sat down and Lisa asked the girl (in Spanish) if she spoke English, and if so, we should, because I didn't speak Spanish. The travel agent chick said, in Spanish, something like 'Let's do it in Spanish, us three women can decide what to do, we don't need a man.', and they all started laughing. I knew they were laughing at me, so I started fake laughing along with them. It was funny. Then one of the other guys in the office said something like 'Women being the boss, that's the way it always is.' or somesuch thing, and everyone who spoke Spanish laughed again. Poor me!After booking the trip, we had two days left before we had to fly to the Galapagos, so we decided to head up to Otavala for two days, as there's supposed to be an awesome Saturday market there.Quito is just like any other third world city I've been in. Infrastructure in need of repair, tons of buses, horns going crazy, crazy traffic, crossing the street is taking your life into your hands, etc. I feel right at home!When we were booking the Galapagos trip, Kirsty realized that she didn't even book her bathing suit. So, we headed to a mall and she bought a bathing suit.We got back to the hostal about 6:00 and hung out and headed to the astronomical building at 6:30, but it was all closeed up. We asked the security guard, who said 'All the physicists, they all went away.' No telescope tonight.There's a Norwegian guy staying at the hostal, so he came with us. We then headed down to the main night/bar area for supper, and the Norwegian guy, Pol, started telling us about his trip. He's doing a year long trip, and making a tv series of his trip for Norwegian television. It's called 'Around the World in 80 Dates', and he has to travel around the world and go on 80 dates (with the local women) in all the countries he visits. As we were eating, this very attractive Ecuadorian chich sat at a table near us. After a few beers, he decided to chat up this girl and try to get a date with her. It was funny to watch. She was 19 (Pol is 35), and she kind of shot him down in the end, she was going to school, and was going to be leaving to visit her parents very soon, but said she may be able to go on a date Monday morning with him. So, he got her phone number, but he said he has about a 10% chance of going on a date with her, he figures. Haha.

Off to Ecuador!

Up at 4:30am for the taxi to the airport. Taxi came at 5:00. We're working on 3 hours sleep. On the way to the airport, I started feeling very sickly, like vomiting, dizzy, fainting. That's what I get for going out the night before. When we got to the airport, I seriously was on the verge of throwing up and fainting. I was not in a good state, sweating profusely, really dizzy. I started to think I got like swine flu or something. I tried to walk to a bathroom, but had to stop numerous times to prevent myself from falling on the floor. I drank some water and started feeling a bit better. Plane ride to Toronto was uneventful, at Toronto we had some lunch and waited for our flight to Bogota, Columbia. When we were boarding, there were lots of drug enforcement officers and a dog checking passengers for drugs. I had to stop and let the dog sniff me, I guess I looked like I might be harbouring some drugs. The dog didn't detect anything on me, so I was able to board. They were searching a lot of Columbian passengers, though, going through their bags and such. Got to Bogota, the airport isn´t anything special. Not too nice. On the flight to Quito, as we were coming in for a landing, the plane suddenly jolted. I seriously, for a fraction of a second, thought that we had crashed. I looked outside, the wing of the plane was shrouded in clouds, then the plan jolted a bunch more times. Bad turbulence, but we landed fine. We left the airport around midnight, and got a mini-bus to our hostal, hoping it would be open! Kirsty booked it online, but when she emailed back to confirm that it was ok that we'd be arriving after midnight, she didn't get a reply. We should have took a taxi, it would have been one-third of the cost. The mini-bus was $12. When we arrived at Hostal Marsella, it was all closed up. We rang the doorbell, and no one came. The mini-bus dude waited, and we rang again, and finally the owner came and let us in. He was in his pyjamas. We told him we had a reservation under Kirsty Neill, he was looking in his book, he had no reservation. He finally found it, for the following night, Kirsty had booked for the wrong night!

South America Bound!

Hi everyone.Tomorrow I'm off to South America for two months of backpacking bliss!I'll be updating my website with stories of my travels.  I fly out of Calgary at 7:10am on Thursday, Sept. 10 and I return Nov. 12.I'll be traveling with two friends, Lisa and Kirsty.Stay tuned!

Why I Don't Use Sunscreen

I almost never use sunscreen. Then I burn. Then everyone harasses me..."Why didn't you use sunscreen?"..."You're going to get skin cancer!"...and the like. I get a burn at the start of summer, then it peels and fades to a tan, and I'm good for the rest of the year. Humans have been living under the sun for thousands of years. We need the sun to survive. Then the ozone hole appeared, and the sun was prortrayed as this galactic killer, that would strike you down with skin cancer. Of course, pharmaceutical companies pounced on this. I've never been a fan of drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are in business to make profits. Without a profit, they wouldn't be in business. Naturally, sunscreen makers are making massive profits from us by pointing to all the studies showing that the sun is BAD for us! Slather on that sunscreen, wear long sleeves clothing, get out of the sun during the midday! Bah!!! It's a total scare tactic, in my humble opinion! I don't trust pharmaceutical companies. I don't trust that they're looking out for my best interest. They are looking out for their shareholders and profits! I've never been a fan of sunscreen for various reason. It started with "gut instinct". Here they are: 1. The chemicals in the sunscreen can be good for us. 2. We *need* the sun. We've been living under the sun for thousands of years, and it hasn't done us any harm. 3. The body is an amazing piece of work and is capable of remarkable things without the help of drugs. Now, for some resources to back up my beliefs

• Wikipedia has a great page on the sunscreen controversy.


• Another interesting site that points to lots of various studies, including studies that show skyrocketing rise in melanoma in countries that have heavily promoted sunscreen.


• Skin cancer rates have not increased for young men in the past 30 years, but have gone up dramatically in women. Lethal skin cancer rate rises in young women. Women, in my humble opinion, are much more likely to use sun screen and go to tanning salons.