“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.” ~ Michael Althsuler

I am saddened and elated to be writing the last post for our Ecuadorian honeymoon retreat. I am sad mostly because I had so much fun taking all of you with us on this trip and now we are at the end of this adventure together. I am elated to be writing the last post because it was just time for this story to come to an end. Although the trip was wonderful and more than we could have even imagined, I think we were both ready to get back to our new life together and see where it will take us. (You never really know when you get up in the morning what will happen and I just love that part about life!)

The trip went by so quickly but we made use of every moment of every day and other than a few scheduling conflicts I would not have changed a thing. But, for now it is time to say goodbye to Ecuador.

When we went outside at 3:50 AM to wait for our cab, he was already there, sound asleep in his cab. I had to knock on the window to wake him up. He seemed quite embarrassed but who knows what time he got there so he wouldn’t be late. He loaded our bags and we waved goodbye to the security guard in the shack and off we went on the first leg of our journey home. I can’t wait until I have something else to tell you all about but until then, take care, thanks for sharing our travels, we enjoyed telling you all about it!

“An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered.” ~ G. K. Chesterton

OK, well this doesn’t make any sense at all, but, our last day in Ecuador was a 3 mile hike to Ecuador’s one and only Harley shop which just happens to be located in Quito. We were not looking for a Harley shop in Ecuador (we do not own a Harley or any motorcycle for that matter), but, we drove past it a few times during our travels around Quito, so we decided we really needed to go there. If you had asked me, even 2 months ago, I can assure you that a Harley shopping trip was by no means what I had planned for my birthday or for our last day in Ecuador. It just turns out that it was our only free day and we were out of time, it was either go on the 27^th or miss the opportunity.

We wanted to visit this shop simply to purchase a shot glass for Keith and a T-shirt for Tod’s friend Leo who happens to be a die-hard Harley guy. Well, as has been the case for all of our travels in Ecuador, this was truly an experience. It was by far the most extravagant and secured Harley shop I have ever visited and remember I lived and grew up in Wisconsin and have been to several Harley shops all over the U.S. including the Harley Museum in Milwaukee. The entrance was protected by a security guard that signaled someone on the inside to unlock the entry door. The entrance had beautiful wood floors that continued up the steps into the main showroom and store. It was small, but, immaculately clean and extremely tasteful in the décor, including the customer lounge / bar area.

The staff immediately summoned an English speaking person to assist us and answer all our questions. The import tax seems more like a “sin tax” on Harleys and Harley paraphernalia. I am not sure how anyone there could ever hope to afford one. Even the merchandise has a horrible tax imposed. It was all very interesting and I am really glad we made the effort to go there. (We could not even got out of the locked doors without the security guards assistance.) I have never been able to figure out if the crime was so high in Ecuador that they needed such a high level of security enforcement or if the crime was never high because they enforce such high security regulations. Whatever the case, Ecuador always felt safe to me and I never really felt in danger. It was always easy to find a Police Officer to ask for directions. (Isn’t it funny that they have such high security even in grocery stores but for hotel keys they put the room number on one side and the hotel name on the other?)

Photography was not allowed inside the Harley showroom so the photo is from their website.

Not too much exciting the rest of the day except packing up for the trip home – it was a little bit of a challenge because obviously we had more to take home than we had on the way there! We only made it because Tod is an extremely efficient packer and could fit more in an already filled space than I could fit in the same size empty space. (I think it’s a guy thing.)

I have been meaning to ask you, did you ever wonder what happened to all those $1.00 coins they made a few years back? They never were well received in the U.S. and seemed to just disappear after a few years. I found out where they all went. It appears they shipped them all over to Ecuador! They love and use them ALL the time. We got them for change and then keeping with our American instincts, we would try to get rid of them just as quickly as we could at the fruit stands or to pay a taxi driver.

It is nice that Ecuador uses U.S. currency so you do not have to do the “exchange rate” math every time you make a purchase.  They did intermix the Ecuadorian coins with the U.S. coins – mostly fifty cent pieces, quarters and dimes but the bills were all U.S. currency.

Weeks ago we told you about our crazy bus trip to Middle Earth or Mitad del Mundo. We also mentioned that I really wanted to go back to the “new” location, advertised to be the “real” Equator.

Well today was the day and back we went. Our directions were to head past the entrance of Middle Earth and find the dirt road, it would take you right to it. And low and behold it did!

Oh, my, gosh, this place was unbelievable! We had an English speaking guide so could understand everything and ask questions and the best part, we could understand the entire answer! Our guided tour included a discussion of the early inhabitants of Ecuador and some of their habits such as the burial process. The bodies were preserved and placed in a fetal position then buried with worldly possessions to take to the “after” life. If the king of the tribe died, his entire immediate family (wife, children) were knowingly and willingly drugged into a coma state then buried with the deceased king. They would eventually awaken but by then they had already been buried alive. (I am guessing no one wanted to marry a king.) So having no living heirs, a new king would be chosen.

Another interesting thing about early inhabitants is that they did partake in head shrinking. It is a 5 or 7 step process to shrink a head (I can’t remember, I was a little mortified during this part of the tour.) In some cases it was done to enemies and then warn or displayed as a trophy. In other cases it was in honor of deceased royalty or maybe a family member you wanted to honor. It is not really done anymore mostly because it is outlawed in Ecuador. In the 1930s, the Ecuadorian and Peruvian governments made it illegal to sell, own or trade shrunken heads. (Before that you could buy one for about $25.) In the 1940’s, the U.S. followed suit. The sale and purchase were outlawed but it is still taking place in the black market. It is believed that today 80% of shrunken heads on the market are fakes – monkey heads or made from leather. For a period of time the shrunken head trade was a huge business for Ecuador and Peru.

Overall it was very interesting to learn about different Indian tribes and see parts of how they lived and in some cases are still living.  The photo below is of a woman’s house (I cannot remember her name) that lived in this location almost on top of the equator until she died at age 114. It’s her actual house, but, I am sure they refurbished it for tourists. She made Chicha de jora which is basically a corn beer prepared by germinating maize, extracting the malt sugars, boiling the wort, and fermenting it in large vessels, traditionally huge earthenware vats, for several days. Her and her “herd” of Guinea Pigs lived in this house. (Did I mention that Ecuadorians usually keep their Guinea Pigs in the house?).  I guess easier to pluck out of the cage to prepare for dinner.

Finally we were at the exact location of the “real” Middle Earth. This part of the tour was why we were here and as promised, there were several “scientific experiments” that we could take part in. Had the GPS identified the real latitude 0’0’0”? We were about to find out!

One of the experiments was a sink with water and leaves. When the plug is pulled at the center (Equator) line, the water flows straight down – no swirl. When moved 10 feet to the left the water/leaves swirled clockwise – when moved 10 feet to the right, the water/leaves swirled counter clockwise. Another experiment was balancing a raw egg on a nail head – easy at the equator. Other experiments included tests of strength 5 feet off the equator and then exactly on it. It seems that both forces are pulling you when you stand exactly on the equator and it is much more difficult to do simple strength tasks. I could easily pull Tod’s arms down with 2 fingers on the Equator and 5 feet off the Equator I could not do it with 2 hands much less 2 fingers. You have really got to go there and check it out for yourself – it reminds me of a vortex effect.

I am so glad we went back to find this place. I do believe this is the real Equator line in Ecuador and the early French expedition team were really 700 – 820 feet off the mark but again, considering the tools they had to work with I believe they did a remarkable job!

I cannot believe this trip is almost over. The time has gone by so fast and we were having so much fun. Ah well, until the next post, take care. T & M

In one of my early posts I shared the story about the Sunday street market in Old Town and I told you about the cathedral, Iglesia de la Compańia de Jesus. This was the cathedral that took 160 years to build and was under construction from 1605 – 1765. It’s the one that looks like a golden palace or temple on the inside and we could not take pictures. We still could not take photos, however, we happened to get there at the beginning of a service, so were able to attend mass in this awesome and breathtaking cathedral! It was amazing, and even though the mass was in Spanish and we could only understand parts of it, it was still absolutely spectacular! What an unexpected treat. Different Cathedral below, but, I just love these doors.

The streets of Old Town like most of the “Old Towns” in Ecuador are narrow and really not designed with cars in mind. This street is empty only because it is Sunday so the roads are closed to most traffic because of the market.

There were street musicians, mimes, super heroes and of course all the normal vendors.

We were walking along looking for a comic book store we had seen the last time we were here and that is when we saw him. I think we both saw him at the same time. He was in the showcase window of a small little shop, and we said, “That’s it, that’s the one!” We had been searching all over for the perfect purchase and here he was, right in front of us! My first reaction was, “He’s perfect, but, how will we ever get him home without breaking him in a million pieces?” Tod, always the positive can-do attitude said simply, “Oh, I’ll get him home.” So it was settled, we went inside, I told the shopkeeper which of his creations we wanted and asked to have it padded for travel (I didn’t know how to ask for bubble wrap). Anyway after about 15 minutes of wrapping our Gremlin in old newspaper and rags we completed our purchase and were on our way. (We both hoped Jeremie would like it as much as we did because soon it would be his.) He is bigger than he looks in the photo.

October 26 is the trip to the proclaimed “real” middle earth!

October 24^th was a travel day, our taxi picked us up at 6:00 AM so we could get to the Ferry dock in time to catch the 7:00 AM Ferry to Baltra then the bus to the airport (which by the way was not open when we got there, well, it was open so we could get in and stand in line but the workers were not in place. You see many of them took the same Ferry ride over as we did.) But nothing really exciting to tell about traveling today so I will use this post to share a few more photos of Galápagos’ iguanas and crabs and tell you about a great book.

On the sea wall / pier next to Fisherman’s Wharf a group of sea lions seemed always to be lined up at the end of the pier making a semi-circle of sea lions. Not to be outdone, marine iguanas made their own “lizard” ring.

Everyplace along the sea wall or where there were any volcanic rock, there were hundreds of crabs either sunning themselves or trying to scurry away from some unknown threat or to a better sunning spot.

There were so many great memories with this trip, but the Galápagos’ Islands was definitely a highlight which we hope to experience again someday!

Great Read: With my Galápagos’ travels, I started and finished the book “In the Heart of the Sea” by Nathaniel Philbrick. The story is based on the tragic events of the Whale-ship Essex. (The Essex is the Whale-ship that was attacked or rammed by a whale and was the true life event that the fictional book “Moby-Dick” was written about – first published in October, 1851 by the name “The Whale”.)

This true life story really appalled me when I started reading it, primarily because of the cruel and inhuman method they had for killing whales, but, also because of how the young boys (14 – 15 -16 years old), and African Americans were abused and misused when the ship was out to sea. The more you get into the book, the better it gets. It really is very good, once you get past the butchering of the whales and abusive treatment of boys and black men.

But the really cool thing about this book is that I started it on one of our flights (likely to Cuenca) and by the time we were flying to the Galápagos’, I was reading about how the Essex stopped in Ecuador. The final mainland stop for the Essex was in Ecuador for stocking up on supplies and then off to the “uninhabited” Galápagos’ Islands to pick up Tortoises for additional food. The way the Tortoises were abused/starved to death was also sickening but really it is an interesting historical book about whaling and the beginning of the oil industry. I loved reading about historical events that started in the US and passed through Ecuador while we were visiting there.

At this point in time we were back in Quito, with plans to once again attend the Old Town street fair which is held every Sunday. Until next post, be well!

One of the coolest things about a seaside village (well besides the ocean and all the sailboats), is the sale of the “catch of the day” at Fisherman’s Wharf. There were several types of fish, crabs and of course, fresh lobster still crawling around. Mind you this was all disturbing to a vegetarian but it was an experience I would not have missed. This day was particularly fun because a group of pre-school children were there on a field trip. In the photos below the little girl was screaming and giggling as the lobster crawled toward her, and the little boy in the next shot was bravely bragging how he would beat up the lobster (well he didn’t really brag until the lobster was placed safely back on the stack!)

There were pelicans and sea lions begging for the scraps. Nothing hit the floor, talk about recycling at its finest. The sea lions would stand on their tail fins and “belly up” to the counter to get scraps. Some would stand next to the men cleaning fish and nudge them with their noses (just like a dog would do) to make sure they were considered first for the fish innards and skins. (Gross!)

These guys are on the inside with the cleaning crew. Nudging and Begging.

It was really fun to watch the sale of the catch of the day. Some of the people were locals getting dinner, others were local restaurant/hotel owners and many were just tourists like us, taking pictures that they hoped could capture and explain what they were seeing first hand.

The 24^th is a travel day, but, I will use the post to share a few more Galápagos’ memories so until then, be well.

We headed to the Darwin Research Lab in the morning (This was going to be the highlight for me, it is the main thing I wanted to see in the Galápagos!) and on the way stopped to take a few photos of an actual working windmill that was sort of right in the middle of town and of the turtle statue guarding it. I don’t actually know what time it was but you can tell by the closed shop/garage doors that it was before 10:00. (Although, the fish market was open for business and the fishermen were busy cleaning and selling their catch.)

As you get closer to the Darwin Lab there are many shops selling Darwin type merchandise, mostly the usual touristy type items such as t-shirts and coffee mugs.  It was a hike to get there and it was not advertised but the actual tourist buildings were closed for remolding – I was a little bummed about that but we still hiked all the trails and got to see the huge turtles and giant lizards.

Before leaving the airport visitors have to pay a $100 park fee and this gives you free access to all beaches and of course the Foundation for as long as you are on the islands.

The turtles were huge and the giant lizard was 4-feet long.

The trails were cool and a few of them lead out to the ocean where we had an excellent view of the harbor and watched several marine iguanas which are found only on the Galápagos Islands. I had to look it up later because I could not understand what the white tops on the lizard or iguana heads were all about, but marine iguanas often wear distinctive white “wigs” of salt expelled from glands near their noses. Tod has some video footage of the lizards swimming and if I get them cropped enough I will post some.

After hiking all over the Darwin trails we headed back to our hotel and then on to the Ocean. The road to the ocean really was uphill almost all the way. Once we got to the park entrance it was at least a 30 minute hike (uphill) to the beach. The beach was so beautiful / magnificent / wonderful – I cannot think of a word to describe how I felt to be back at an ocean beach. I forgot just how much I loved swimming in the ocean, jumping the waves and having the big rollers crash into you trying to push you back into shore and shortly after the undertow trying to pull you back out to sea. Tasting the salt on your lips and feeling the sand changing beneath your toes as the waves roll in and out. I love the ocean and really hope it is not as long until I can experience it again.

There were some very big waves when we were there but I only saw one surfer catch a wave. The rest of the surfers were just body surfing.

Must have been seeing the fishermen and spending time in the ocean but that night Tod needed a lobster dinner. Lobster dinners range from $18.00 – $28.00 but a steak costs $40.00 (My veggie dinner was $4.00).

At the end of the day Tod said, “How many miles do you think we walked?” I had no idea but my feet were a little tired. Turns out it was a 10 mile day and neither of us had even noticed how far we walked. There is so darn much oxygen at sea level compared to 9000 feet above sea level it felt like a cake walk!

It was a long, fun filled day in the Galápagos Islands and I have so much more to share with you about this trip! Until the next post, be well and God Bless!