Underwater video Galapagos

This is a link to a movie of my dive in the Galapagos. There are other small videos on You Tube that you can click if you care to.

Galapagos Dive

Quito/Otavalo

I haven't posted for awhile but I figured this is as good a time as any since the memories will soon fade and the photos long archived.  

3.28.2010 Goodbye Galapagos/ Hello Quito

 

Quito is an old city built in the 1500's and it is very beautiful.  It is surrounded on all sides by mountains (volcanos, actually) and sits at an altitude of 9000 ft.   It is a juxtaposition of old and new.  The infrastructure is poor so traffic is heavy and it's slow to get around.  I had a difficult time trying to figure out how we could navigate it on foot, but since we were driven, that was a non-issue.

We spend the remainder of our day at our beautiful hotel, Le Parc, where we enjoy lounging and laziness after a whirlwind 5 days.   The hotel is (in my opinion) the equivalent of a Four Seasons or Ritz Carlton, but boutique style. We have city/mountain views out of all our windows.  They treat us great and we are getting very spoiled.

3.29.2010 The next morning we spent w/Cecilia visiting the old city, several beautiful churches, doing a little shopping and ending with a quiet dinner in a old style French restaurant.  The restaurants here are not very veggie friendly but I get by with salad and soups (and potato and bread, LOL.)

 Iglesia San Francisco

Next we visit the Equator.  Who wudda thunk it would be cold and windy right there on 0-0-0.  I always thought it would be blazing hot, but at 9000 ft.  It is not.

WE ARE IN DIFFERENT HEMISPHERES! 

3/30/2010 The following day we are on our own (somewhat)  where we visited "The Chapel Of Man" built by Ecudorian artist Guayasamin.  The chapel is dedicated to worldwide peace and an awareness of the violence and man's inhumanity to man.  Guaysamin was influenced by Picasso and Degas.  The museum is moving and the art is beautiful.  

We continue to explore Quito and visit the Panecillo and the "Virgin of Quito."  The views are spectacular from there and on a clear day you can see the snowcapped peaks of Cotopaxi and others.  

3/31/2010  Otavalo

Today we are again with Cecilia as she takes the time (in the middle of her move) to take us @ 2 hours north of Quito to the small town of Otavalo.  Otavalo is known for it's famous market and although it's primary day is Saturday, it is open all the time. It's chilly and rainy today, which makes it good for us as shoppers but not so great for the vendors. They sell hand-made alpaca sweaters, blankets, embroidered items,  rugs, hammocks, hats, pants, jewelry and on the weekends they have veggies and grains and other food.  I only wish I had a bigger bag to purchase twice as much, but I'm satisfied just the same.

After we shop-out, we head to a special place Cecilia wants to take us for lunch, but on the way Larry and Cecilia spot an antique store so we stop.  It was unbelievable, but I didn't venture all the way in since I was nursing some very large bug bites and was a bit fearful of getting more.  The two of them were ready to buy the whole place... lock, stock and barrel!!

Lunch wasn't a disappointment was we enter the gates of Hacienda Cusin, a 30-acre restored hotel.  The grounds are gorgeous, full of flowers and plants (and a Llama) and the interior is out of a museum.  All the food is made from local resources and the veggie dishes all prepared from the garden.  We had green plaintain soup that was outstanding.  I plan to make it when I get the recipe.

And so, we end our day happy and satisfied ready for the long ride back to Quito and to prepare for our trip back home the next day.  Thank you Cecilia for showing us "your Quito."  We can't wait to come back to see more.

 

That's it for this trip.  Hasta luego!