Kicker Rock
Up very early today for a 7 am zodiac ride to Kicker Rock. The rock towers out of the ocean, formed by ejecta and ash from a volcanic explosion eons ago. Called Leon Dormide in Spanish, sleeping lion, it is a resting place for boobies, frigates, crabs and other wildlife. Ed and Cathy were up way too early, don’t know what they were thinking, but they set the alarm for 6 and then had a lot of time to kill before the ride. So, up to the Beagle grill they went – coffee and croissants (not for them…croissants, that is, but coffee – yes!) in the dark of the aft deck. The morning was warm with a nice breeze, portending another beautiful day. Maggi and Richard arrived close to 7 (smart!!!0 and they all waited on deck for the zodiac call.
As they lined up for the zodiac, it dawned on them that 1st may not be best. Waiting until last to load meant that possibly they might have a zodiac with less than the full load of 16. Duh! So last out – and – what do you know? Only 8 people in the zodiac. Cool!
Riding around Kicker rock was worth getting up early. The rock formation is incredibly majestic rising up out of the ocean. The boobies and crabs competing fro space, clinging to the sheer rock walls was a sight to see. The formation has a couple of splits that are very picturesque and will show up in our tabblo! Don’t worry!
Rode around for about 45 minutes, soaking in the sheer enormity of the formation. On the way back to the ship, we came across a sea lion “fishing” for breakfast. He was flipping his tail and slapping it on the water to kill the fish. Then it would grab the fish in its mouth and bit and toss it hard on the water, maybe even slapping it again to cut it up into small enough pieces to eat. All this is going on less than 10 feet from the zodiac!
Back on board, we feasted on made to order eggs, pastries, bacon, chicken and pork sausages – neither of which tasted like chicken or pork! (Obviously food will not be a problem on this trip!!!)
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
2/24 Evening on the ship
Back on the ship, we all headed to the cabins for hot showers and freshening up. Ed exercised for a bit (the machines are outside on the top deck of the ship – a treadmill, bike and a weight machine), Cathy freshened up in the relative cool of the cabin (no where on this ship is it very cool – except for the dining room – but we’re skipping ahead). Met Maggi and Richard back in the Discovery lounge for the Captain’s welcome and evening briefing. First time ever, the staff was brought champagne but the guests were not! Guess they figure since the cruise is all inclusive and we can get anything we want – why bother with champagne?
Briefings are nice, short little synopsis of what the next day will hold. After the talk, everyone signs up for what they want to do and then we head to dinner. First night dinner was good – and no Hake – which made Ed very happy!! (Celebrity serves Hake for the first night dinner on all their other ships!) Everyone had Red Snapper, except Cathy who had Veal Marsala with mushrooms and ham (the ham is very pale, almost white! Since virtually everything has to be sourced from Ecuador, it must be a local thing.)
After dinner, drinks in the Discovery lounge bar capped off a great first day!
Briefings are nice, short little synopsis of what the next day will hold. After the talk, everyone signs up for what they want to do and then we head to dinner. First night dinner was good – and no Hake – which made Ed very happy!! (Celebrity serves Hake for the first night dinner on all their other ships!) Everyone had Red Snapper, except Cathy who had Veal Marsala with mushrooms and ham (the ham is very pale, almost white! Since virtually everything has to be sourced from Ecuador, it must be a local thing.)
After dinner, drinks in the Discovery lounge bar capped off a great first day!
2/24 North Seymour Island Excursion
At the end of Jorge’s talk, we all signed up for our first afternoon excursion. We signed up for the high intensity walk around North Seymour island. It’s survival of the fittest just to get on the Zodiac! First come, first served; old people do well at pushing – let me tell you! But all 4 of us managed to get on the first zodiac with Manuel, who is really great. Off we motor to the island – a very smooth crossing – but boy is it hot! And there’s no shade – anywhere!! Took only a few minutes and we were greeted by sea lions on the rocks and a male sea lion who was really angry and screaming at us! Welcome to the Galapagos.
We scrambled out of the zodiac and up the rocks to the path, where we began to wind our way along the shore. Low scrub and short brambly bushes and trees cover the interior. Rocky inclines lead to the shoreline. Colors are extremely vivid – blues, greens and browns. Manuel told us that with the rain last week, the vegetation is now green – it was brown and gray before that. Good timing on our part (like we had anything to do with it!) We started down a rocky path on the shore, picking our way along the sea lions and lizards. Rules are to stay in between the guide posts that mark the trail to avoid hurting possible egg lairs (of course some folks listened, some did not!) and stay together. Ok – groups of 16 sticking together? Actually, it worked pretty well – almost too well. There are always some people who have no concept of space and/or their surroundings. So picture taking – even in the “wilderness” – can be a challenge. You get good at shooting over people’s shoulders and between their legs!
Here’s where I will try not to bore everyone to death with the wildlife stories – needless to say – there’s WILDLIFE! Amazing – and of course the objective of the trip, but still! The preface to the ensuing lists of sights, sounds and senses, is that none of these animals are afraid of humans – so they pose quite nicely. And of course you can get close up. The photos – we hope – will be fabulous – but eh experience of just being there, of course, trumps it all!
So – back to North Seymour – one-half of the walk is along the beach – sea lions, black iguanas, hiding under business to keep cool (coz remember – it’s HOT HOT HOT!). Frigate birds all over – Grand Frigates, Magnificent Frigates – the difference? Ahh, hard to really remember (that’s another preface here – we are so overwhelmed with information – we’ll never get it all right – so you’ll probably end up with more misinformation than not!!!). With Frigates, anyway, one of the differences is the sound they make – one of them makes a sound like a drum or basketball dribbling, the other one makes some other sound – and darned if we can remember which is what! One species (the Grand Frigate?) has a red ring around her eyes. The male Frigate has a red “balloon” type pouch on it’s next that he blows up to indicate he’s ready to mate. He will sit on a perch until a female comes to join him. There were many red breasted/necked Frigates on our walk. The rain must be working!!!
As we rounded the side of the island and began our inland trek, we began to see many more blue footed boobies – along with their young. The babies are furry, fuzzy little adorable things. Also saw a grown iguana climbing up on a tree/bush. Manuel said this was most unusual for a full grown iguana to climb – he/she/just have been looking or had seen some food. Many, many, many more pictures of the BFB’s (blue footed boobies) later, we founded the corner to the zodiac landing area.
As we were getting ready to don our life jackets and climb down the steep hill to the zodiac, the male sea lion that was angry before charged us. The guides used the life jacket bag to block it and try to scare it back away. It made these incredible screaming noises as it tried to protect a baby from what he perceived as a threat – us. Pretty scary – but – hey – it’s nature and that’s what we’re here for (of course – I’m just along for this ride – not my 1st choice of a trip – so I stayed very safely tucked away in my backpack while Cathy and Ed dealt with the darn screaming sea lion!).
We scrambled out of the zodiac and up the rocks to the path, where we began to wind our way along the shore. Low scrub and short brambly bushes and trees cover the interior. Rocky inclines lead to the shoreline. Colors are extremely vivid – blues, greens and browns. Manuel told us that with the rain last week, the vegetation is now green – it was brown and gray before that. Good timing on our part (like we had anything to do with it!) We started down a rocky path on the shore, picking our way along the sea lions and lizards. Rules are to stay in between the guide posts that mark the trail to avoid hurting possible egg lairs (of course some folks listened, some did not!) and stay together. Ok – groups of 16 sticking together? Actually, it worked pretty well – almost too well. There are always some people who have no concept of space and/or their surroundings. So picture taking – even in the “wilderness” – can be a challenge. You get good at shooting over people’s shoulders and between their legs!
Here’s where I will try not to bore everyone to death with the wildlife stories – needless to say – there’s WILDLIFE! Amazing – and of course the objective of the trip, but still! The preface to the ensuing lists of sights, sounds and senses, is that none of these animals are afraid of humans – so they pose quite nicely. And of course you can get close up. The photos – we hope – will be fabulous – but eh experience of just being there, of course, trumps it all!
So – back to North Seymour – one-half of the walk is along the beach – sea lions, black iguanas, hiding under business to keep cool (coz remember – it’s HOT HOT HOT!). Frigate birds all over – Grand Frigates, Magnificent Frigates – the difference? Ahh, hard to really remember (that’s another preface here – we are so overwhelmed with information – we’ll never get it all right – so you’ll probably end up with more misinformation than not!!!). With Frigates, anyway, one of the differences is the sound they make – one of them makes a sound like a drum or basketball dribbling, the other one makes some other sound – and darned if we can remember which is what! One species (the Grand Frigate?) has a red ring around her eyes. The male Frigate has a red “balloon” type pouch on it’s next that he blows up to indicate he’s ready to mate. He will sit on a perch until a female comes to join him. There were many red breasted/necked Frigates on our walk. The rain must be working!!!
As we rounded the side of the island and began our inland trek, we began to see many more blue footed boobies – along with their young. The babies are furry, fuzzy little adorable things. Also saw a grown iguana climbing up on a tree/bush. Manuel said this was most unusual for a full grown iguana to climb – he/she/just have been looking or had seen some food. Many, many, many more pictures of the BFB’s (blue footed boobies) later, we founded the corner to the zodiac landing area.
As we were getting ready to don our life jackets and climb down the steep hill to the zodiac, the male sea lion that was angry before charged us. The guides used the life jacket bag to block it and try to scare it back away. It made these incredible screaming noises as it tried to protect a baby from what he perceived as a threat – us. Pretty scary – but – hey – it’s nature and that’s what we’re here for (of course – I’m just along for this ride – not my 1st choice of a trip – so I stayed very safely tucked away in my backpack while Cathy and Ed dealt with the darn screaming sea lion!).
2/24 – To Galapagos
So, the little black cloud over our luggage continues. At 5:45 the phone rings – hello, this is Hugo with Celebrity, do you not have any bags to check this morning? Oh dear lord – here we go! Cathy explains they should be in the luggage check because we sent them down late last night. So – off they go downstairs – a little bit earlier than expected to check out the bags before breakfast. They get to the bar where the boarding passes and luggage is being sorted, walk up to the table and see their bags sitting off to the side. Geez! After identifying them and getting them put with the other bags begin loaded on the truck, Cathy and Ed can now relax and eat their breakfast in peace!
At breakfast, they met Maggi and Richard, and after regaling them with this luggage tale, Richard, who also has the luggage tags, goes off to search for their bags. Lo and behold – they were in storage too and would have missed the ship had he not gone looking! Someone had knocked on their door and asked them about the bags earlier, they told the bus boy the same story and thought it was handled. Cathy and Ed at least had a note on their boarding passes to ask about the luggage – Maggi and Richard didn’t – it could have been very ugly aboard the expedition for 7 days with the clothes on their backs!
Baggage all claimed and settled. We all checked out of the hotel and boarded our buses to the airport. A charter flight awaited us – but we still had to go through security and wait in the boarding area with the regular passengers. We all just milled about for a while – no one was really in charge – so we all just kind of fended for ourselves. Finally, our flight was called and off we went! We boarded a brand new Embraer 190 – and we mean brand new. We don’t think the thing was in service for more than a week – if that. It smelled new – looked new – just gorgeous! Everything was branded Celebrity too! A big plaque on the bulk head with the Celebrity logo, head rest covers, cups, white linen cloth for the tray table with a Celebrity badge on it, you name it – it had Celebrity on it! We took off at 8:30 and flew to Guayaquil for refueling (don’t ask us why – we thought it very odd – but what do we know!).
On the way to Guayaquil we looked out over acres and acres of flooded land. There had been torrential rain the past few weeks and over 250,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. It looked just awful – an oasis of flooded fields with towns popping up in the middle of what looked like a lake. Took pictures and really thought it was so awful (later found out, that while the flooding was indeed terrible, what we were seeing was in good part rice and shrimp farms! The main farming/production in the Guayaquil area is rice and shrimp! So the flooding turned out to be controlled for the farms, but it still looked worse when we flew down, compared to when we flew back the next week – but more on that later!).
After refueling, we took off again at 9:50. Fruit plate with lots of pineapple and cantaloupe and a mini sandwich, or a sandwich and a mini fruit plate were our food options. Plus wine and beer and drinks – but at 10 am that’s a bit early even for us! Arrived in Galapagos around 11:45. Stairs were rolled up – and off we hopped, into the heat and sun of the little teeny Galapagos airport.
We all headed down the tarmac to the passport and immigrations area. Stood in line for about ½ hour while everyone on our flight (and a flight before us) was checked, stamped and double checked. The passport folks had a whole list of everyone who was arriving on flights – not just Celebrity passengers – and each individual person was literally checked off as they arrived. It’s amazing the control they are keeping over the islands to keep them safe from over development and over population.
By 12:05 we were on the bus and heading to our ship! Richard and Maggi were ahead of us in the line, so they were already on another bus. As we headed out for the 5 minute ride to the dock, we marveled at the landscape – the colors so crisp and vibrant. Wide open fields of scrub and small cactus, low vegetation, and nothing else – not a building, a shack, nothing. Only the road we are using to travel to the little harbor area.
We meet one of our Naturalists, Manuel, at the dock which is simple concrete structure with Sea lions lounging all over (and Sea Lion Surprise all over the dock and ramp as well! Lovely! Our first experience with nature – watch where you are stepping!). The sea lions are cute – but stinky – let’s head for the zodiac please! Manuel gives us our first zodiac lesson – always put your life jacket on first, keep your hands free, use the Galapagos hand shake which means grab onto the naturalists arm when you board, and move to the back of the zodiac. Our first zodiac ride! Yippee! We are finally here! The wind and sun felt great on our faces as we made our way calmly out to the Xpedition. How fun! This will be a great trip!
Once on board, we all sat in our zodiac groups (Maggi and Richard were already aboard in another group) and Manuel gave us the spiel. He told us that it has been very dry for the last year. The rainy season is typically from December through May, but it has only just begun to rain 3 weeks ago. Before that, it was very dry and gray, but now, it is green and the animals are more active. Selfishly we are glad that the rain has come so we can see the islands and the animals better, and unselfishly, we’re glad because the rains are very much needed. We just hope it doesn’t rain too much on our little weeklong parade through the Galapagos.
Once the pursers were ready, we were all escorted to our cabins. #305 for Ed and Cathy, #308 for Maggi and Richard. Cabins are small, but seem roomy even if they are a little Spartan. Best part about them is the refrigerator that is filled with water! Cathy is in heaven! Free water! Almost better than the free beer and wine….well, ok, almost! Everyone gets settled in, bags come, unpack, head up to the Discovery lounge for our first briefing.
Every evening we will have a briefing on the next day’s activity. Today, the first briefing, by Jorge our Cruise Director, will explain the ship, etc., and what we will do on our first excursion at 4 pm that afternoon. We are not changing our clocks – so we are keeping continental time – not island time, which is one hour behind us. This way, we will have more light for our excursions (smart!) and it typically isn’t really an issue since we are only going to be in 2 towns in 7 days. Our naturalists are introduced: Jorge (#2) from Galapagos, Ivan (Galapagos), Manuel (Guayaquil), Rogelio (Galapagos), Jessica (Guayaquil) and Giovanna (Quito).
Each Naturalist will take a group of no more than 16 people on each excursion. Galapagos National park rules limit the size of each group to 16 – so as not to over run the park. Each evening we will sign up for our chosen activity on a list passed around after the briefing. Then each day when we leave for the excursion, Jorge will be at the zodiac loading station checking off the names of the passengers heading ashore. When we return, it is our duty to check ourselves back in on the list at the foot of the stairs. Totally low tech – totally manageable – very friendly and family like. As we are soon to find out, that’s the way the whole ship, and cruise, is run. It’s really a great environment!
At breakfast, they met Maggi and Richard, and after regaling them with this luggage tale, Richard, who also has the luggage tags, goes off to search for their bags. Lo and behold – they were in storage too and would have missed the ship had he not gone looking! Someone had knocked on their door and asked them about the bags earlier, they told the bus boy the same story and thought it was handled. Cathy and Ed at least had a note on their boarding passes to ask about the luggage – Maggi and Richard didn’t – it could have been very ugly aboard the expedition for 7 days with the clothes on their backs!
Baggage all claimed and settled. We all checked out of the hotel and boarded our buses to the airport. A charter flight awaited us – but we still had to go through security and wait in the boarding area with the regular passengers. We all just milled about for a while – no one was really in charge – so we all just kind of fended for ourselves. Finally, our flight was called and off we went! We boarded a brand new Embraer 190 – and we mean brand new. We don’t think the thing was in service for more than a week – if that. It smelled new – looked new – just gorgeous! Everything was branded Celebrity too! A big plaque on the bulk head with the Celebrity logo, head rest covers, cups, white linen cloth for the tray table with a Celebrity badge on it, you name it – it had Celebrity on it! We took off at 8:30 and flew to Guayaquil for refueling (don’t ask us why – we thought it very odd – but what do we know!).
On the way to Guayaquil we looked out over acres and acres of flooded land. There had been torrential rain the past few weeks and over 250,000 people had to be evacuated from their homes. It looked just awful – an oasis of flooded fields with towns popping up in the middle of what looked like a lake. Took pictures and really thought it was so awful (later found out, that while the flooding was indeed terrible, what we were seeing was in good part rice and shrimp farms! The main farming/production in the Guayaquil area is rice and shrimp! So the flooding turned out to be controlled for the farms, but it still looked worse when we flew down, compared to when we flew back the next week – but more on that later!).
After refueling, we took off again at 9:50. Fruit plate with lots of pineapple and cantaloupe and a mini sandwich, or a sandwich and a mini fruit plate were our food options. Plus wine and beer and drinks – but at 10 am that’s a bit early even for us! Arrived in Galapagos around 11:45. Stairs were rolled up – and off we hopped, into the heat and sun of the little teeny Galapagos airport.
We all headed down the tarmac to the passport and immigrations area. Stood in line for about ½ hour while everyone on our flight (and a flight before us) was checked, stamped and double checked. The passport folks had a whole list of everyone who was arriving on flights – not just Celebrity passengers – and each individual person was literally checked off as they arrived. It’s amazing the control they are keeping over the islands to keep them safe from over development and over population.
By 12:05 we were on the bus and heading to our ship! Richard and Maggi were ahead of us in the line, so they were already on another bus. As we headed out for the 5 minute ride to the dock, we marveled at the landscape – the colors so crisp and vibrant. Wide open fields of scrub and small cactus, low vegetation, and nothing else – not a building, a shack, nothing. Only the road we are using to travel to the little harbor area.
We meet one of our Naturalists, Manuel, at the dock which is simple concrete structure with Sea lions lounging all over (and Sea Lion Surprise all over the dock and ramp as well! Lovely! Our first experience with nature – watch where you are stepping!). The sea lions are cute – but stinky – let’s head for the zodiac please! Manuel gives us our first zodiac lesson – always put your life jacket on first, keep your hands free, use the Galapagos hand shake which means grab onto the naturalists arm when you board, and move to the back of the zodiac. Our first zodiac ride! Yippee! We are finally here! The wind and sun felt great on our faces as we made our way calmly out to the Xpedition. How fun! This will be a great trip!
Once on board, we all sat in our zodiac groups (Maggi and Richard were already aboard in another group) and Manuel gave us the spiel. He told us that it has been very dry for the last year. The rainy season is typically from December through May, but it has only just begun to rain 3 weeks ago. Before that, it was very dry and gray, but now, it is green and the animals are more active. Selfishly we are glad that the rain has come so we can see the islands and the animals better, and unselfishly, we’re glad because the rains are very much needed. We just hope it doesn’t rain too much on our little weeklong parade through the Galapagos.
Once the pursers were ready, we were all escorted to our cabins. #305 for Ed and Cathy, #308 for Maggi and Richard. Cabins are small, but seem roomy even if they are a little Spartan. Best part about them is the refrigerator that is filled with water! Cathy is in heaven! Free water! Almost better than the free beer and wine….well, ok, almost! Everyone gets settled in, bags come, unpack, head up to the Discovery lounge for our first briefing.
Every evening we will have a briefing on the next day’s activity. Today, the first briefing, by Jorge our Cruise Director, will explain the ship, etc., and what we will do on our first excursion at 4 pm that afternoon. We are not changing our clocks – so we are keeping continental time – not island time, which is one hour behind us. This way, we will have more light for our excursions (smart!) and it typically isn’t really an issue since we are only going to be in 2 towns in 7 days. Our naturalists are introduced: Jorge (#2) from Galapagos, Ivan (Galapagos), Manuel (Guayaquil), Rogelio (Galapagos), Jessica (Guayaquil) and Giovanna (Quito).
Each Naturalist will take a group of no more than 16 people on each excursion. Galapagos National park rules limit the size of each group to 16 – so as not to over run the park. Each evening we will sign up for our chosen activity on a list passed around after the briefing. Then each day when we leave for the excursion, Jorge will be at the zodiac loading station checking off the names of the passengers heading ashore. When we return, it is our duty to check ourselves back in on the list at the foot of the stairs. Totally low tech – totally manageable – very friendly and family like. As we are soon to find out, that’s the way the whole ship, and cruise, is run. It’s really a great environment!
2/23 – Quito
Finally underway! After 14 hours of actual travel (and untold additional hours of stressful pre and post travel wakefulness!) our tour begins. The good and the bad about the first 10 days of our travels is that we have booked the whole Celebrity tour. WE go where they want us to go, when they want us to go. For the first time in a long, long time, Ed and Cathy are braking their steadfast rule (borrowed from Anthony Bourdain – Thank you Tony!): Don’t get on that bus!
But, sometimes, you just gotta take the easy way – and, quite honestly, since the Machu Picchu portion of this trip is pretty much self service (even though it is a “tour” per se), Ed and Cathy figured this one time wouldn’t kill them!
So – up and out for breakfast in the Atrium Café. No exercise this morning – Cathy has a bit of the Altitude Sickness (just a minor headache and some wooziness the night before, and then a little acid indigestion that she is treating with Mate de Coca tea – its not all that bad with enough Splenda!) and Ed decided to wait until the afternoon. Breakfast is a full continental with hot and cold buffet – great selection of fruits (which Cathy even tried! Taza and something that reminded her of a cantaloupe with an interesting – read weird – texture), breads, anything you’d want.
As they were eating, the hostess comes over and asked if they were Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. The bag had arrived! Grand celebrations all around as Ed and Cathy rushed to the bell station to retrieve their precious Galapagos bag! A great sigh of relief! Now they trip can go on as planned! And talk about service? To come and find them in the restaurant? Just great!
Bag secured – they finally retrieved me (I’m getting a little lonely up here in the room, plush as it is, all by myself) and off we headed to find Maggi and Richard. Met up with them in the café for another cup of tea and coffee, then out to the portico to wit for the city tour.
Tour buses left at 9 am. – unbeknownst to us (we were outside enjoying the fresh air and having a smoke – well – Maggi was smoking!), the rest of the Celebrity group congregated around the lobby around 8:45 and suddenly, we turned around, and the whole horde was coming towards us – already broken up into groups. Oops! We’re the outcasts already – and we’re not even trying!
We latched onto a Celebrity guide – Javier – who told us to go to bus #4 – we ran – hoping to avoid a few of our slower moving compadres. We were rewarded with a very congenial group of 23 other who we pleasantly shared the rest of the day.
Javier is an excellent guide – he gave us the overview of Quito. Located in the middle of the Andes, Quito is situated in a valley at about 2800 meters. It is the 2nd highest capital in South America, after……. It’s a long city, stretching for 45 miles, but only 10 miles wide, basically stuffed in a crevice of the Andes with Volcanoes and majestic peaks presiding over its 2 million inhabitants. As the 2nd largest city in Ecuador (Guayaquil is the largest), Quito is the governmental center where 8 presidents have been in office in the past 11 years. Not exactly the most stable of countries! There is currently no Parliament, but a new President is in office that everyone hopes will pull the government together.
The weather is very changeable, and in the wet season (which is now) rainy and cloudy. They say you can experience every season in one day in Quito – and we find this to be true as we experience glorious sunshine and warmth in the morning (it is beautifully sunny and about 65 degrees in the am - just enough for the fleece, but eventually you didn’t even need that), cloudy and cooler skies toward afternoon, then cold, chilling winds – and rain in the evening!
First stop is the main cathedral of Quito (the name of which completely escapes me! Forgive me – but the travel weariness has set in and my notes are not as complete as I would like Ed and Cathy are of little help here – they are also feeling the travel affect – or they just aren’t paying attention – whatever – the first Quito day is a little sketchy!). It’s huge, and cold and of little interest. But, we do have 10 minutes to ourselves, so we all head down to the catacombs. Now those were really neat. Just amazing the monuments and memorials people leave for the deceased. Some are beautiful, some are heart wrenching (particularly the children’s tombs). We wander for a bit, then head back to the dreaded bus!
Back on the bus we headed toward the old town, through embassy row and the business district. Our next stop is the presidential palace – an old colonial structure where we could look at the courtyard through locked iron gates (to gain admittance even to the balustrade, you had to pass through armed guards). At the entrance to the courtyard, there were 2 royal guards on platforms. They reminded everyone of the royal guards of England, just not as rigid or controlled. We looked at a miniature model of the presidential palace and heard more about the government and coups and the adoption of the US Dollar as the official Ecuadorian currency (and how at the time no one was happy with the conversion because it caused huge inflation).
Back through the balustrade, we headed toward the Iglesia de Jesus Jesuit church. This church is magnificent with more gold leaf than you could imagine. The whole inside of the church really just sparkles and almost glows with the gold. The church has a lot of Moorish influences from symbols in the gold leafed ceiling to the traditionally Moorish domes in the sanctuary. There are lots of sun lights, all positioned to catch the sun at specific elevations so that it will reflect directly on the altar. It was truly awe inspiring, and with no photos allowed – you’ll just have to take our word for it!
Another interesting feature is the vestibule, so to speak, at the entrance. It is an entryway with a wall directly in front of the doors with symbols signifying the sun god, Inti. All traditional Ecuadorian churches are built in this fashion – with homage to Inti, the main god for the Ecuadorian people, situated in front, but separated from the church. This allows the Ecuadorian people to still give thanks to the Inti god, along with the Christian god.
From the Jesuit church, we headed to the Franciscan monastery for a quick tour. Cathy almost started an international incident when she took a picture of Richard talking to a little boy trying to sell crayons made of tree branches. The boys (a little one with shoe shine equipment who kept hounding Maggi) started in on Cathy asking for money for the photo. She said no of course – she was taking a picture of her friend Richard, not the boy. They went on hounding them for a while, but let up a little bit after a while. Richard surreptiously handed the shoe shine boy some pennies and we quickly scurried away to the monastery.
Surrounding a lovely fountain and garden area, the monastery is a huge complex with grand white lime stone (maybe) walls. We toured the choir room that looked out over the sanctuary (while a service was going on), and marveled at the wood used to build the entire structure. Cathy found the door handles on all the doors fantastic – they are in the shape of a map of the whole convent. You will always be able to tell where you are from the door handles! After wandering about for a bit, we finally boarded the bus and headed out of Old Town and up through the city to the Crater restaurant, past the Equator. The drive took about 35 minutes and the bus wound through little streets, now teeming with people, out the major Pan American highway which provided views of the city. Quito is jam packed together in those 10 little miles of width. Houses and apartments on top of each other, following the rough terrain of the Andes valley. As we headed further out of town, there was quite a bit of new construction, from the looks of it, higher end apartments/flats for sale, perched right on the highway and overlooking the town. One sign promoted 2 or 3 bedrooms for $37,500. A steal!
Past the Equator (the middle of the world town), we followed the highway up a steep incline, back into the altitude again. A sharp turn to the right, and our 50 passenger bus was off roading up this dirt track, ending in a little teeny courtyard of the Crater restaurant. A tourist stop for certain, it did have a magnificent view of the volcano crater and we were lucky enough to be there before the mist and clouds completely overcame the view. After photo op’s, with yours truly finally getting some fresh air and a look at the Ecuadorian scenery, our little 12 person group trekked into the restaurant and sat down at a long table. We all got to know each other a little better. There was Anita and Peter (from Virginia Beach of all places!!!!), Ellen and Michelle (Mother and daughter – from CT and DC, respectively), Barb and Maggie (sisters from Chicago) and Helen and Dick (from Sacramento). Meals were served, beer and water drank, mist watched from the window, and then the bus ride back down to the Middle of the Earth.
It had warmed up nicely in Quito, but now the weather was turning again. The wind picked up and the rain threatened. We all trudged up a very long path to the Equator monument and 00’ 00” line. Pictures, wind, lots of people, we headed inside to the museum, only to find the elevator was broken. The museum houses a history of all the regions of Ecuador, on 9 floors! The only way to see them all was to walk it. Cathy and Maggi weren’t inclined to do it – especially Cathy with the altitude thing going on – but Ed said he wanted to do it as a test for MP. How can you argue? So our little troopers all began the ascent. It actually wasn’t that bad (ha! I’m just riding, so what do I care, and let’s face it, I’m from Bavaria, what do I know from Altitude Sickness? I get sea level sickness!!!), and the museum was pretty interesting looking at all the variations and differences between the people of Ecuador. Trooping down was much easier and the gang got their equator stamps (on a piece of paper since none of them had their passports), then headed to a gift shop before boarding the bus.
The prices of local crafts, even in the tourist shop, are quite reasonable. In the first shop, everyone bought postcards and stamps for their passports. $2 for 2 stamps and 2 postcards, or 2 stamps and 1 poster/picture. Cathy scored a great necklace and earring set for $3 in another shop. It’s a deep red color and in the shape of square fangs almost. When asked what type of stone, the girl tried to explain it wasn’t stone, but kept pointing to a figurine on a shelf.. Couldn’t understand her, so Cathy and Ed figured it was that composite material that they use for figurines, not ceramic, but the cheaper stuff. Anyway, they started calling it Lucite, and Cathy was very enamored with it for $3 – what the heck. Richard was unsuccessful in his search for a post office.
Back on the bus and back to the Marriott. A few hours of rest and then on to the group dinner and show. Before resting up, Ed, Cathy and Richard went to check out the out the Marriott Gift Shop (again reasonably priced) in search of Coca candies for the altitude, They were out of the candies, but Ed and Cathy spied some little figurines made of Tagua – a vegetable root that is hard enough to carve. Aha! The light bulb goes on. This is the material from which the necklace and earrings from the Equator are made. The shop girl was saying Tagua! Well, now, Cathy’s even happier! It’s a real native product – and she was happy when she thought it was Lucite!!!
Gym for the gym rats (Cathy survived, Altitude sickness is obviously getting better), nap for Richard and Maggi. Everyone met up again in the lobby for the dinner bus. The skies have opened up and the beautiful day is no more. But the bus ride is dry and it’s a quick sprint into the Theatrum for the dinner show. Don’t know what else is in that place, but the Celebrity group was seated in an upstairs room, packed with large tables and a few other smaller groups. We were joined at our table by Anita and Peter and Meryl and David (from outside of London).
Dinner was good – we had chosen our meals at the beginning of our tour that morning – Richard and Ed – beef, Cathy Chicken, Maggi pasta. Food was very good, surprisingly enough. The only down side was that wine was not included in the price. Bummer. But Maggi and Cathy split a bottle and were fine. The show as an opera singer, which didn’t really please Cathy all too much. He was nice and had a lovely voice, but after two or three songs, (what in the heck is he singing?) she was really bored. He then redeemed himself with Oh Solo Mio, I did it My Way and Over the Rainbow. Not exactly opera fare, but very nice to listen to – and something Cathy actually recognized and enjoyed.
The rain had stopped as we left the Theatrum, we boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel bar for a night cap. Bags had to be out by 5 am, and Javier had said we could call the bus boy and have them taken down to storage until the morning agricultural check instead of leaving them out all night. Both C&E and R&M did that. Ed was concerned with the bus boy kept pointing to the other 2 bags left in the room and saying storage. Ed kept saying no, we’ll bring them down later, these 2 you have go to Celebrity on the boat tomorrow. Yes sir, yes sir. He handed Ed 2 claim tickets and took off with the bags.
But, sometimes, you just gotta take the easy way – and, quite honestly, since the Machu Picchu portion of this trip is pretty much self service (even though it is a “tour” per se), Ed and Cathy figured this one time wouldn’t kill them!
So – up and out for breakfast in the Atrium Café. No exercise this morning – Cathy has a bit of the Altitude Sickness (just a minor headache and some wooziness the night before, and then a little acid indigestion that she is treating with Mate de Coca tea – its not all that bad with enough Splenda!) and Ed decided to wait until the afternoon. Breakfast is a full continental with hot and cold buffet – great selection of fruits (which Cathy even tried! Taza and something that reminded her of a cantaloupe with an interesting – read weird – texture), breads, anything you’d want.
As they were eating, the hostess comes over and asked if they were Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. The bag had arrived! Grand celebrations all around as Ed and Cathy rushed to the bell station to retrieve their precious Galapagos bag! A great sigh of relief! Now they trip can go on as planned! And talk about service? To come and find them in the restaurant? Just great!
Bag secured – they finally retrieved me (I’m getting a little lonely up here in the room, plush as it is, all by myself) and off we headed to find Maggi and Richard. Met up with them in the café for another cup of tea and coffee, then out to the portico to wit for the city tour.
Tour buses left at 9 am. – unbeknownst to us (we were outside enjoying the fresh air and having a smoke – well – Maggi was smoking!), the rest of the Celebrity group congregated around the lobby around 8:45 and suddenly, we turned around, and the whole horde was coming towards us – already broken up into groups. Oops! We’re the outcasts already – and we’re not even trying!
We latched onto a Celebrity guide – Javier – who told us to go to bus #4 – we ran – hoping to avoid a few of our slower moving compadres. We were rewarded with a very congenial group of 23 other who we pleasantly shared the rest of the day.
Javier is an excellent guide – he gave us the overview of Quito. Located in the middle of the Andes, Quito is situated in a valley at about 2800 meters. It is the 2nd highest capital in South America, after……. It’s a long city, stretching for 45 miles, but only 10 miles wide, basically stuffed in a crevice of the Andes with Volcanoes and majestic peaks presiding over its 2 million inhabitants. As the 2nd largest city in Ecuador (Guayaquil is the largest), Quito is the governmental center where 8 presidents have been in office in the past 11 years. Not exactly the most stable of countries! There is currently no Parliament, but a new President is in office that everyone hopes will pull the government together.
The weather is very changeable, and in the wet season (which is now) rainy and cloudy. They say you can experience every season in one day in Quito – and we find this to be true as we experience glorious sunshine and warmth in the morning (it is beautifully sunny and about 65 degrees in the am - just enough for the fleece, but eventually you didn’t even need that), cloudy and cooler skies toward afternoon, then cold, chilling winds – and rain in the evening!
First stop is the main cathedral of Quito (the name of which completely escapes me! Forgive me – but the travel weariness has set in and my notes are not as complete as I would like Ed and Cathy are of little help here – they are also feeling the travel affect – or they just aren’t paying attention – whatever – the first Quito day is a little sketchy!). It’s huge, and cold and of little interest. But, we do have 10 minutes to ourselves, so we all head down to the catacombs. Now those were really neat. Just amazing the monuments and memorials people leave for the deceased. Some are beautiful, some are heart wrenching (particularly the children’s tombs). We wander for a bit, then head back to the dreaded bus!
Back on the bus we headed toward the old town, through embassy row and the business district. Our next stop is the presidential palace – an old colonial structure where we could look at the courtyard through locked iron gates (to gain admittance even to the balustrade, you had to pass through armed guards). At the entrance to the courtyard, there were 2 royal guards on platforms. They reminded everyone of the royal guards of England, just not as rigid or controlled. We looked at a miniature model of the presidential palace and heard more about the government and coups and the adoption of the US Dollar as the official Ecuadorian currency (and how at the time no one was happy with the conversion because it caused huge inflation).
Back through the balustrade, we headed toward the Iglesia de Jesus Jesuit church. This church is magnificent with more gold leaf than you could imagine. The whole inside of the church really just sparkles and almost glows with the gold. The church has a lot of Moorish influences from symbols in the gold leafed ceiling to the traditionally Moorish domes in the sanctuary. There are lots of sun lights, all positioned to catch the sun at specific elevations so that it will reflect directly on the altar. It was truly awe inspiring, and with no photos allowed – you’ll just have to take our word for it!
Another interesting feature is the vestibule, so to speak, at the entrance. It is an entryway with a wall directly in front of the doors with symbols signifying the sun god, Inti. All traditional Ecuadorian churches are built in this fashion – with homage to Inti, the main god for the Ecuadorian people, situated in front, but separated from the church. This allows the Ecuadorian people to still give thanks to the Inti god, along with the Christian god.
From the Jesuit church, we headed to the Franciscan monastery for a quick tour. Cathy almost started an international incident when she took a picture of Richard talking to a little boy trying to sell crayons made of tree branches. The boys (a little one with shoe shine equipment who kept hounding Maggi) started in on Cathy asking for money for the photo. She said no of course – she was taking a picture of her friend Richard, not the boy. They went on hounding them for a while, but let up a little bit after a while. Richard surreptiously handed the shoe shine boy some pennies and we quickly scurried away to the monastery.
Surrounding a lovely fountain and garden area, the monastery is a huge complex with grand white lime stone (maybe) walls. We toured the choir room that looked out over the sanctuary (while a service was going on), and marveled at the wood used to build the entire structure. Cathy found the door handles on all the doors fantastic – they are in the shape of a map of the whole convent. You will always be able to tell where you are from the door handles! After wandering about for a bit, we finally boarded the bus and headed out of Old Town and up through the city to the Crater restaurant, past the Equator. The drive took about 35 minutes and the bus wound through little streets, now teeming with people, out the major Pan American highway which provided views of the city. Quito is jam packed together in those 10 little miles of width. Houses and apartments on top of each other, following the rough terrain of the Andes valley. As we headed further out of town, there was quite a bit of new construction, from the looks of it, higher end apartments/flats for sale, perched right on the highway and overlooking the town. One sign promoted 2 or 3 bedrooms for $37,500. A steal!
Past the Equator (the middle of the world town), we followed the highway up a steep incline, back into the altitude again. A sharp turn to the right, and our 50 passenger bus was off roading up this dirt track, ending in a little teeny courtyard of the Crater restaurant. A tourist stop for certain, it did have a magnificent view of the volcano crater and we were lucky enough to be there before the mist and clouds completely overcame the view. After photo op’s, with yours truly finally getting some fresh air and a look at the Ecuadorian scenery, our little 12 person group trekked into the restaurant and sat down at a long table. We all got to know each other a little better. There was Anita and Peter (from Virginia Beach of all places!!!!), Ellen and Michelle (Mother and daughter – from CT and DC, respectively), Barb and Maggie (sisters from Chicago) and Helen and Dick (from Sacramento). Meals were served, beer and water drank, mist watched from the window, and then the bus ride back down to the Middle of the Earth.
It had warmed up nicely in Quito, but now the weather was turning again. The wind picked up and the rain threatened. We all trudged up a very long path to the Equator monument and 00’ 00” line. Pictures, wind, lots of people, we headed inside to the museum, only to find the elevator was broken. The museum houses a history of all the regions of Ecuador, on 9 floors! The only way to see them all was to walk it. Cathy and Maggi weren’t inclined to do it – especially Cathy with the altitude thing going on – but Ed said he wanted to do it as a test for MP. How can you argue? So our little troopers all began the ascent. It actually wasn’t that bad (ha! I’m just riding, so what do I care, and let’s face it, I’m from Bavaria, what do I know from Altitude Sickness? I get sea level sickness!!!), and the museum was pretty interesting looking at all the variations and differences between the people of Ecuador. Trooping down was much easier and the gang got their equator stamps (on a piece of paper since none of them had their passports), then headed to a gift shop before boarding the bus.
The prices of local crafts, even in the tourist shop, are quite reasonable. In the first shop, everyone bought postcards and stamps for their passports. $2 for 2 stamps and 2 postcards, or 2 stamps and 1 poster/picture. Cathy scored a great necklace and earring set for $3 in another shop. It’s a deep red color and in the shape of square fangs almost. When asked what type of stone, the girl tried to explain it wasn’t stone, but kept pointing to a figurine on a shelf.. Couldn’t understand her, so Cathy and Ed figured it was that composite material that they use for figurines, not ceramic, but the cheaper stuff. Anyway, they started calling it Lucite, and Cathy was very enamored with it for $3 – what the heck. Richard was unsuccessful in his search for a post office.
Back on the bus and back to the Marriott. A few hours of rest and then on to the group dinner and show. Before resting up, Ed, Cathy and Richard went to check out the out the Marriott Gift Shop (again reasonably priced) in search of Coca candies for the altitude, They were out of the candies, but Ed and Cathy spied some little figurines made of Tagua – a vegetable root that is hard enough to carve. Aha! The light bulb goes on. This is the material from which the necklace and earrings from the Equator are made. The shop girl was saying Tagua! Well, now, Cathy’s even happier! It’s a real native product – and she was happy when she thought it was Lucite!!!
Gym for the gym rats (Cathy survived, Altitude sickness is obviously getting better), nap for Richard and Maggi. Everyone met up again in the lobby for the dinner bus. The skies have opened up and the beautiful day is no more. But the bus ride is dry and it’s a quick sprint into the Theatrum for the dinner show. Don’t know what else is in that place, but the Celebrity group was seated in an upstairs room, packed with large tables and a few other smaller groups. We were joined at our table by Anita and Peter and Meryl and David (from outside of London).
Dinner was good – we had chosen our meals at the beginning of our tour that morning – Richard and Ed – beef, Cathy Chicken, Maggi pasta. Food was very good, surprisingly enough. The only down side was that wine was not included in the price. Bummer. But Maggi and Cathy split a bottle and were fine. The show as an opera singer, which didn’t really please Cathy all too much. He was nice and had a lovely voice, but after two or three songs, (what in the heck is he singing?) she was really bored. He then redeemed himself with Oh Solo Mio, I did it My Way and Over the Rainbow. Not exactly opera fare, but very nice to listen to – and something Cathy actually recognized and enjoyed.
The rain had stopped as we left the Theatrum, we boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel bar for a night cap. Bags had to be out by 5 am, and Javier had said we could call the bus boy and have them taken down to storage until the morning agricultural check instead of leaving them out all night. Both C&E and R&M did that. Ed was concerned with the bus boy kept pointing to the other 2 bags left in the room and saying storage. Ed kept saying no, we’ll bring them down later, these 2 you have go to Celebrity on the boat tomorrow. Yes sir, yes sir. He handed Ed 2 claim tickets and took off with the bags.
2/22 – Travel Day
Awake and up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 am (oh, Maggi is probably so happy still sound asleep in her own little bed!!!). Guess what? Looked out the window and…..no freaking snow!! Not a flake! Oh, yeah, rain, but it’s RAIN! For heaven’s sake! The bright side of that is – No FREAKING SNOW! So getting a taxi will be easier and the drive to the airport a lot smoother – but come on! Weather! Weather forecasters! Skittish airlines!
Ed (who of course couldn’t sleep and got us all up early – we had planned on 4:30) started checking email. Good thing he’s so anal! The American Airline confirmation email on all the flight changes was so wrong! Had the 7 am flight series to Miami, but no Quito flight. Big Oops! Then it also had a bunch of flights on Saturday! So, back to the phone for us. Only ½ an hour this time and our Quito flight was back, and all was well, so far!
In the meantime, Cathy had called down to the desk to ask for a cab at 5:15. At 4:30 the desk call and says “Your cab is here”. Duh – don’t need it now – heck Ed was still on hold with American Airlines at that point! Luckily after packing up and going downstairs a little before 5, the cab was still there! Or our adventure officially begins. (Poor cabbie! Waited around for ½ hour cooling his heals. Wasn’t at all happy with “that fat desk clerk”, when we apologized, he said “it’s HIM!” OK!)
Now its kind of sleeting, but we’re on our way to the airport – so all is good. It’s 5:15 am, but looks like rush hour….in Richmond! Cars everywhere – amazing for that time of the morning, but that’s DC traffic for you. Cabbie got us to the terminal in not time. $17.95 fare – needless to say he got a big tip.
Walked right into Delta ticket area, only about 10 people in line. It went really quickly until…..got to the agent and she can’t issue our tickets because American Airlines hasn’t booked the flight, they’ve just made the reservations. So, off we trundle, bags in tow, to the American Airlines desk to get our tickets. Thankfully there’s no line there either and the agent prints out our cancelled 11:15 flight ticket. Back we go to Delta. The precious ticket gannet looks at the ticket and still can’t get us everything. American has it all messed up still. So – with a “I’m not supposed to do this but…” under her breath, off she goes to the American counter to straighten them out!
Thank heavens we got here early! The poor thing is gone FOREVER! We’re standing at her empty ticketing position, staring forlornly down the concourse, knowing in our heart of hearts something else has gone horribly awry and we’ll never get to Quito! Finally, after Ed goes down to check it out, our little angel had 3 American agents all huddled around the computer but she managed to come back with our entire itinerary printed out and proceeds to check us through to Quito – we might just make it!
Off we go to the gate – we’re the lucky couple who gets the extra security scan – patted down, luggage scanned for substances – the whole kit and kaboodle (I hid in my back pack and tried to look very inconspicuous and innocent during the whole ordeal!). Finally to the gate, actually got seats together – last row, back of the bus, closest to he rear exit J The plane is packed – and they are assigning seats at the gate to distribute the weight evenly – I’m feeling good about this! No changing seats – they keep saying! Oh boy!
Ed gets hungry (I’m not supposed to tell you this – but I will) and he eats a Sausage egg McMuffin! Yuk! Cathy wisely chooses only coffee!
We board right on time; pilot Dave must have been taking lessons from SouthWest airlines – he’s Personality Plus, joking, telling us we’re flying South towards New Orleans. No we’re not going to New Orleans, he’s just checking to make sure we’re all awake! Robert the co-pilot is flying, so we’re blaming anything bad on him. But so far, Robert gets good marks! De-iced and off the ground at 7:32. Promised to get us in early, which will be helpful sine we need to catch our connection to Miami.
Robert got us to Atlanta 15 minutes late (shame on him!!) but in one piece. Unfortunately, visibility in Atlanta was about 0, so we weren’t quite certain about the flight to Miami. Off we raced to the next terminal. The flight was actually listed on time, boarded right on tine we had bulkhead seats – Nice! But unfortunately, we didn’t have any pilots. Not nice! Oh well – we did have time. Scheduled on time arrival at 12:37, the Quito flight wasn’t until 3:40 – a 3 hour window. Pilots can be late!
They arrived around 11, we were taxi-ing by 11:20, but there is a long line of planes waiting to depart in front of us. At 11:30 we are 4th for take off, finally up and out, we arrive in Miami at 1:30. Not too bad considering the East Coast weather situation. Of course, since we were now back to flying American, we were in a completely different terminal. Got our exercise walking from one end of the Delta terminal to the other end of the American one. Then had to wait forever in security line to re-enter the gate corridor – they are doing construction and you couldn’t get from the corridor we came in to the American corridor behind security. What a pain!!!!!!
Phew! 2:00 and finally at the gate!!! Got a beer and chocolate covered peanuts to celebrate! Then proceeded to wait for boarding call. In the meantime, checked messages and found that Richard and Maggi made it to Richmond and managed to successfully change their return tickets to fly back into RIC as opposed to DCA. Yea! But, their plane was late arriving in RIC and they were boarding at 2:25 (original departure time was 2:20). They have a tight connection but if they arrive at the gate we think they will, they will be literally right next to the Quito flight gate. All should be fine - left voicemails telling them which gate and that it was really close to where they would come in.
Boarding our Quito flight, we were 2 people behind some Xpedition cruise mates – cabin 302 (they had their baggage tag on their carry on). Couldn’t reach them to say hi, but will have plenty of time over the next 11 days. Got to our seats, they boarded really early, but the A/C wasn’t working. Yeah, Miami, plane full of people, no Air, Ed in a sweater, we’re all ready to pass out! Me especially, fur, extreme heat, I’m not used to this! I’m a Bavarian pup for Pete’s sake! Get me back to at least a little more temperate climes! I’ll settle for Atlanta right now…..argh!
Seems to be a problem with the on-ground air conditioning system (no lie? Really?). It won’t affect us in flight, but the mechanics won’t sign off on the paper work to let us fly because it’s malfunctioning. Come on, we want to leave!
3:25 – Engines finally on, air finally on – we’re at least comfortable.
3:50 – Doors finally close, pushing back
Landed ½ hour late – but the flight itself was fine. Food….was food….alcohol $5 each, no more freebies on American. Sigh.
Our seatmate was a lovely gentleman from Ecuador, Jack. He alternates between Charlotte and Quito (export fruit and veggie business) and was a wonderful companion. Talked about the language, Ecuador, Politics, South America – particularly Argentina which he likes a lot. Nice way to spend a 4 hour flight learning a little more about where we will be visiting.
Landed and made our way through the very small Quito airport. From the gate to Passport control takes no time at all. On the way, you walk along a 2nd floor corridor which is open to the terminal. Big glass windows allow people waiting to watch arrivals come through. There were, no kidding, 100’s of people there pressed up against the windows. Also in the corridor were gigantic vases with roses – probably 200 – 300 roses in each vase. Ecuador is famous for it’s flowers, the number 1 export, and roses in particular. These were incredible and Jack had already told us how cheap they are here - $1 for 24 roses!
Smooth passage through Passport control – but very disappointing immigration stamp! It’s an electronic print out. Boo hiss! We stamp collectors are not pleased with this new electronic development! Baggage claim was right outside passport control and the bags were already circling the carousel when we got there (told you it was a small airport!). Fifteen minutes later, carousel stops, no mas equipaje. Oops! Ed and Cathy are missing the one bag they need – the Galapagos bag. Well, this is not good, not good at all. Off they truck to the American baggage folks, along with several others from the flight (at least they aren’t alone). Baggage claim guy was incredibly nice – told us this happens all the time because of weight. Bags normally will come in on the next Quito flight in 2 hours. Filled out the paperwork and he assured us he’d call the hotel and deliver the bag to us immediately.
Disheartened, but ever hopeful, we head out through agricultural control and found the Celebrity rep in the melee outside the security control (where 100’s more people were waiting for arrivals!). The Celebrity reps walked us to the bus – one girl actually taking our bag and walking it through the rain to the bus with us. Being every paranoid, particularly now, Ed and Cathy watched their remaining bags loaded on to the bus, then followed to join the 16 or so others already there.
Celebrity guide boarded the bus, then asked if the Stevenson’s were there. Si! Do you have all your luggage? No! OH! Filled out papers? Yes. OK – we go! Headed out of the airport through the dark and rainy night.
It’s a very short 15 minute ride from the airport to the JW Marriott. Of course the airport should be a short ride from anywhere – it’s smack dab in the middle of the city – and I mean literally! Houses and buildings surround the airport with no more than a few hundred yards separating them from the #35 runway – the only runway I might add! It’s an amazing flight in and out of that place!
On the way to the hotel, the guide gave us an overview of the city then, warned us on security in Quito: don’t take purses, passports, wear jewelry, always be aware of pick pockets. It’s a safe city, no guns, or bombs, but beware of pick pockets. Eat chocolate for altitude sickness. And more. It’s really funny, because later we find that other guides had a completely different spiel to their passengers! Never said anything about jewelry or purses, etc.
Greeted with glasses of fruit juice (not the Celebrity mimosa style, but still nice) and hot towels. Check in was at a table set up across from the main registration. Filled out form, handed over credit card, received room key and schedule. Marriott rooms are fantastic – plush, king size bed, bathroom almost as large as the guest room, huge garden tub and separate stalls for toilet and shower. Closet light turned on when the doors are opened. Ed and Cathy got settled and then abandoned me for the bar to wait for Maggi and Richard. Darn! I could use a good Pilsner right about now!
Before heading downstairs, they checked out the Executive lounge (somehow – maybe the Celebrity Elite status? – they had scored an executive floor room). They settled into comfy chairs with snacks (desserts from 8-10, but also peanuts and crackers) and the obligatory beer and wine. Just what they needed to soothe their tired, tortured bodies!
After checking out the lounge, they headed down to the Exchange bar with David the Bartender. American rock music serenaded them as they ordered drinks and waited for Maggi and Richard to arrive. Cathy ended up drinking Argentinean Chardonnay (thanks to David who let her try a Riesling which was way too sweet!) and Ed had his Club beer.
Maggi and Richard arrived a little after 11, no worse for wear! Checked them in and proceeded to the bar to celebrate the 1st night of the great Xpedition! They all recounted their travel horror stories. Maggi and Richard’s Richmond flight was late, they only had 10 minutes to connect – but made it on board safely and connected with all their luggage intact!
A few beers and wine later, they all groggily headed up for a well deserved night’s sleep.
Ed (who of course couldn’t sleep and got us all up early – we had planned on 4:30) started checking email. Good thing he’s so anal! The American Airline confirmation email on all the flight changes was so wrong! Had the 7 am flight series to Miami, but no Quito flight. Big Oops! Then it also had a bunch of flights on Saturday! So, back to the phone for us. Only ½ an hour this time and our Quito flight was back, and all was well, so far!
In the meantime, Cathy had called down to the desk to ask for a cab at 5:15. At 4:30 the desk call and says “Your cab is here”. Duh – don’t need it now – heck Ed was still on hold with American Airlines at that point! Luckily after packing up and going downstairs a little before 5, the cab was still there! Or our adventure officially begins. (Poor cabbie! Waited around for ½ hour cooling his heals. Wasn’t at all happy with “that fat desk clerk”, when we apologized, he said “it’s HIM!” OK!)
Now its kind of sleeting, but we’re on our way to the airport – so all is good. It’s 5:15 am, but looks like rush hour….in Richmond! Cars everywhere – amazing for that time of the morning, but that’s DC traffic for you. Cabbie got us to the terminal in not time. $17.95 fare – needless to say he got a big tip.
Walked right into Delta ticket area, only about 10 people in line. It went really quickly until…..got to the agent and she can’t issue our tickets because American Airlines hasn’t booked the flight, they’ve just made the reservations. So, off we trundle, bags in tow, to the American Airlines desk to get our tickets. Thankfully there’s no line there either and the agent prints out our cancelled 11:15 flight ticket. Back we go to Delta. The precious ticket gannet looks at the ticket and still can’t get us everything. American has it all messed up still. So – with a “I’m not supposed to do this but…” under her breath, off she goes to the American counter to straighten them out!
Thank heavens we got here early! The poor thing is gone FOREVER! We’re standing at her empty ticketing position, staring forlornly down the concourse, knowing in our heart of hearts something else has gone horribly awry and we’ll never get to Quito! Finally, after Ed goes down to check it out, our little angel had 3 American agents all huddled around the computer but she managed to come back with our entire itinerary printed out and proceeds to check us through to Quito – we might just make it!
Off we go to the gate – we’re the lucky couple who gets the extra security scan – patted down, luggage scanned for substances – the whole kit and kaboodle (I hid in my back pack and tried to look very inconspicuous and innocent during the whole ordeal!). Finally to the gate, actually got seats together – last row, back of the bus, closest to he rear exit J The plane is packed – and they are assigning seats at the gate to distribute the weight evenly – I’m feeling good about this! No changing seats – they keep saying! Oh boy!
Ed gets hungry (I’m not supposed to tell you this – but I will) and he eats a Sausage egg McMuffin! Yuk! Cathy wisely chooses only coffee!
We board right on time; pilot Dave must have been taking lessons from SouthWest airlines – he’s Personality Plus, joking, telling us we’re flying South towards New Orleans. No we’re not going to New Orleans, he’s just checking to make sure we’re all awake! Robert the co-pilot is flying, so we’re blaming anything bad on him. But so far, Robert gets good marks! De-iced and off the ground at 7:32. Promised to get us in early, which will be helpful sine we need to catch our connection to Miami.
Robert got us to Atlanta 15 minutes late (shame on him!!) but in one piece. Unfortunately, visibility in Atlanta was about 0, so we weren’t quite certain about the flight to Miami. Off we raced to the next terminal. The flight was actually listed on time, boarded right on tine we had bulkhead seats – Nice! But unfortunately, we didn’t have any pilots. Not nice! Oh well – we did have time. Scheduled on time arrival at 12:37, the Quito flight wasn’t until 3:40 – a 3 hour window. Pilots can be late!
They arrived around 11, we were taxi-ing by 11:20, but there is a long line of planes waiting to depart in front of us. At 11:30 we are 4th for take off, finally up and out, we arrive in Miami at 1:30. Not too bad considering the East Coast weather situation. Of course, since we were now back to flying American, we were in a completely different terminal. Got our exercise walking from one end of the Delta terminal to the other end of the American one. Then had to wait forever in security line to re-enter the gate corridor – they are doing construction and you couldn’t get from the corridor we came in to the American corridor behind security. What a pain!!!!!!
Phew! 2:00 and finally at the gate!!! Got a beer and chocolate covered peanuts to celebrate! Then proceeded to wait for boarding call. In the meantime, checked messages and found that Richard and Maggi made it to Richmond and managed to successfully change their return tickets to fly back into RIC as opposed to DCA. Yea! But, their plane was late arriving in RIC and they were boarding at 2:25 (original departure time was 2:20). They have a tight connection but if they arrive at the gate we think they will, they will be literally right next to the Quito flight gate. All should be fine - left voicemails telling them which gate and that it was really close to where they would come in.
Boarding our Quito flight, we were 2 people behind some Xpedition cruise mates – cabin 302 (they had their baggage tag on their carry on). Couldn’t reach them to say hi, but will have plenty of time over the next 11 days. Got to our seats, they boarded really early, but the A/C wasn’t working. Yeah, Miami, plane full of people, no Air, Ed in a sweater, we’re all ready to pass out! Me especially, fur, extreme heat, I’m not used to this! I’m a Bavarian pup for Pete’s sake! Get me back to at least a little more temperate climes! I’ll settle for Atlanta right now…..argh!
Seems to be a problem with the on-ground air conditioning system (no lie? Really?). It won’t affect us in flight, but the mechanics won’t sign off on the paper work to let us fly because it’s malfunctioning. Come on, we want to leave!
3:25 – Engines finally on, air finally on – we’re at least comfortable.
3:50 – Doors finally close, pushing back
Landed ½ hour late – but the flight itself was fine. Food….was food….alcohol $5 each, no more freebies on American. Sigh.
Our seatmate was a lovely gentleman from Ecuador, Jack. He alternates between Charlotte and Quito (export fruit and veggie business) and was a wonderful companion. Talked about the language, Ecuador, Politics, South America – particularly Argentina which he likes a lot. Nice way to spend a 4 hour flight learning a little more about where we will be visiting.
Landed and made our way through the very small Quito airport. From the gate to Passport control takes no time at all. On the way, you walk along a 2nd floor corridor which is open to the terminal. Big glass windows allow people waiting to watch arrivals come through. There were, no kidding, 100’s of people there pressed up against the windows. Also in the corridor were gigantic vases with roses – probably 200 – 300 roses in each vase. Ecuador is famous for it’s flowers, the number 1 export, and roses in particular. These were incredible and Jack had already told us how cheap they are here - $1 for 24 roses!
Smooth passage through Passport control – but very disappointing immigration stamp! It’s an electronic print out. Boo hiss! We stamp collectors are not pleased with this new electronic development! Baggage claim was right outside passport control and the bags were already circling the carousel when we got there (told you it was a small airport!). Fifteen minutes later, carousel stops, no mas equipaje. Oops! Ed and Cathy are missing the one bag they need – the Galapagos bag. Well, this is not good, not good at all. Off they truck to the American baggage folks, along with several others from the flight (at least they aren’t alone). Baggage claim guy was incredibly nice – told us this happens all the time because of weight. Bags normally will come in on the next Quito flight in 2 hours. Filled out the paperwork and he assured us he’d call the hotel and deliver the bag to us immediately.
Disheartened, but ever hopeful, we head out through agricultural control and found the Celebrity rep in the melee outside the security control (where 100’s more people were waiting for arrivals!). The Celebrity reps walked us to the bus – one girl actually taking our bag and walking it through the rain to the bus with us. Being every paranoid, particularly now, Ed and Cathy watched their remaining bags loaded on to the bus, then followed to join the 16 or so others already there.
Celebrity guide boarded the bus, then asked if the Stevenson’s were there. Si! Do you have all your luggage? No! OH! Filled out papers? Yes. OK – we go! Headed out of the airport through the dark and rainy night.
It’s a very short 15 minute ride from the airport to the JW Marriott. Of course the airport should be a short ride from anywhere – it’s smack dab in the middle of the city – and I mean literally! Houses and buildings surround the airport with no more than a few hundred yards separating them from the #35 runway – the only runway I might add! It’s an amazing flight in and out of that place!
On the way to the hotel, the guide gave us an overview of the city then, warned us on security in Quito: don’t take purses, passports, wear jewelry, always be aware of pick pockets. It’s a safe city, no guns, or bombs, but beware of pick pockets. Eat chocolate for altitude sickness. And more. It’s really funny, because later we find that other guides had a completely different spiel to their passengers! Never said anything about jewelry or purses, etc.
Greeted with glasses of fruit juice (not the Celebrity mimosa style, but still nice) and hot towels. Check in was at a table set up across from the main registration. Filled out form, handed over credit card, received room key and schedule. Marriott rooms are fantastic – plush, king size bed, bathroom almost as large as the guest room, huge garden tub and separate stalls for toilet and shower. Closet light turned on when the doors are opened. Ed and Cathy got settled and then abandoned me for the bar to wait for Maggi and Richard. Darn! I could use a good Pilsner right about now!
Before heading downstairs, they checked out the Executive lounge (somehow – maybe the Celebrity Elite status? – they had scored an executive floor room). They settled into comfy chairs with snacks (desserts from 8-10, but also peanuts and crackers) and the obligatory beer and wine. Just what they needed to soothe their tired, tortured bodies!
After checking out the lounge, they headed down to the Exchange bar with David the Bartender. American rock music serenaded them as they ordered drinks and waited for Maggi and Richard to arrive. Cathy ended up drinking Argentinean Chardonnay (thanks to David who let her try a Riesling which was way too sweet!) and Ed had his Club beer.
Maggi and Richard arrived a little after 11, no worse for wear! Checked them in and proceeded to the bar to celebrate the 1st night of the great Xpedition! They all recounted their travel horror stories. Maggi and Richard’s Richmond flight was late, they only had 10 minutes to connect – but made it on board safely and connected with all their luggage intact!
A few beers and wine later, they all groggily headed up for a well deserved night’s sleep.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
2/21 Day 1 – Pre-Travel Day
And so it begins….the travel odyssey that reaches from Richmond, VA to Madrid, Spain with the Galapagos, Machu Picchu and a trans-Atlantic cruise in between! Accompanied halfway by our pals, Richard and Maggi, and always by our traveling partner Pietro. (For those of you unfamiliar with Pietro, he has become our traveling companion since October of 2007, when Ed rescued him from sure destruction on the di Pietro in Verona. He’s a cute little Bavarian puppy with an interesting history – one that will soon be published on his very own website: travelswithpietro.com. In the meantime, it is here that Pietro will regale you with the traveling stories of Ed, Cathy, Richard and Maggi.) And so it begins………..
Hi all you bleaders (blog readers, get it? Yeah, I stole it from a book, but it works, don’t you think?), Pietro here starting our blog with our easy drive to DC. Only a little over 2 hours with only one mis-turn. That darn mixing bowl was new to Cathy (our fearless navigator) – and as fate would have it – we were in the wrong lane. Drats! Oh well, a quick u-turn at Van Dorn and we were back in business, on 395 in a snap, pulling into the Comfort Inn Pentagon in no time. It’s a bizarre little place, this hotel. Located in the back of the Best Western hotel, you literally have to drive through the Best Western parking lot to get there. Oh well – real estate in NoVa! What can you say? It’s a nice enough place once inside, very big room, comfy king size bed, a restaurant and bar in the lobby (albeit hidden and only open from 5 to 10).
Of course, Ed and Cathy settled in and headed to the gym. (Is anyone surprised?) Ok – so “gym” was a bit of a stretch. More like a closet with an old treadmill, threadbare stepper and bike (with a seat that would not stay up in position but kept falling while Cathy was trying to cycle).
After that little aerobic interlude, Ed and Cathy headed over to Cathy’s folks house – yeah – and left me behind! Hmph! Haven’t met the family yet – maybe on the return trip I’ll be let our of my bag, but for now – well let’s just say they’ll pay for treating me like chopped liver!!! Here’s what I missed out on:
A nice visit with Mom and Dad; chocolate wine tasting (they save all the good stuff for when I’m not there!!!!), awesome Maui onion and garlic almonds, and oh yeah, the phone call at 6 pm announcing our DCA to Miami flight was canceled due to anticipated weather! (Maybe I’m glad I was left at the hotel!!!) So, here we go……
Ed immediately got n the phone – I won’t bore you with all the details (trust me – they bored me when they told me the story!!!!) – but an hour an a half later after becoming best friends with Leigh, our wonderfully helpful CSR, and after a bazillion different routings – DCA to Memphis, DCA to RDU, RIC to where ever, anywhere to anywhere, pleaaaassseeeeeee just get us out of DC to Miami for he Quito flight – ends up Ed and Cathy and I are flying out fo DCA at 7 am on Delta through Atlanta to Miami. Maggi and Richard – who wisely hadn’t left Richmond yet – are flying out of Richmond at 2:20 (a far more civilized time) direct to Miami ans taking the later Quito flight. Phew! What a nightmare – this combo, that combo, where to put the car, should we drive to Richmond? To Raleigh? Hell – all the way to Miami? Exhausting – but all handled……we hope!
So off to dinner they go – to Fratelli’s on Van Dorn. Cheri, Darrin, Stephanie, Mom, Dad, Ed and Cathy – Cheri doing quite well with her surgery induced liquid diet while the rest of them pigged out on Fried cheese, veal primavera, Agnilotti, Frutti di Mare and Vongole. They all passed on dessert (I should think so!) but hung out for a while with drinks and talk after the food. An excellent meal, excellent company, lots of talking, laughing, stories. Stephanie told everyone about Harry Potter ice cream at Baskin Robbins (we’re going there when we get home!!!). A great send off to the adventure trip beginning the next day!
It ended too soon with Mom and Dad driving Ed and Cathy back to the hotel in the beginning of the snow showers. Early (well kind of) to bed because we really have to be early to rise on Friday!!!
Hi all you bleaders (blog readers, get it? Yeah, I stole it from a book, but it works, don’t you think?), Pietro here starting our blog with our easy drive to DC. Only a little over 2 hours with only one mis-turn. That darn mixing bowl was new to Cathy (our fearless navigator) – and as fate would have it – we were in the wrong lane. Drats! Oh well, a quick u-turn at Van Dorn and we were back in business, on 395 in a snap, pulling into the Comfort Inn Pentagon in no time. It’s a bizarre little place, this hotel. Located in the back of the Best Western hotel, you literally have to drive through the Best Western parking lot to get there. Oh well – real estate in NoVa! What can you say? It’s a nice enough place once inside, very big room, comfy king size bed, a restaurant and bar in the lobby (albeit hidden and only open from 5 to 10).
Of course, Ed and Cathy settled in and headed to the gym. (Is anyone surprised?) Ok – so “gym” was a bit of a stretch. More like a closet with an old treadmill, threadbare stepper and bike (with a seat that would not stay up in position but kept falling while Cathy was trying to cycle).
After that little aerobic interlude, Ed and Cathy headed over to Cathy’s folks house – yeah – and left me behind! Hmph! Haven’t met the family yet – maybe on the return trip I’ll be let our of my bag, but for now – well let’s just say they’ll pay for treating me like chopped liver!!! Here’s what I missed out on:
A nice visit with Mom and Dad; chocolate wine tasting (they save all the good stuff for when I’m not there!!!!), awesome Maui onion and garlic almonds, and oh yeah, the phone call at 6 pm announcing our DCA to Miami flight was canceled due to anticipated weather! (Maybe I’m glad I was left at the hotel!!!) So, here we go……
Ed immediately got n the phone – I won’t bore you with all the details (trust me – they bored me when they told me the story!!!!) – but an hour an a half later after becoming best friends with Leigh, our wonderfully helpful CSR, and after a bazillion different routings – DCA to Memphis, DCA to RDU, RIC to where ever, anywhere to anywhere, pleaaaassseeeeeee just get us out of DC to Miami for he Quito flight – ends up Ed and Cathy and I are flying out fo DCA at 7 am on Delta through Atlanta to Miami. Maggi and Richard – who wisely hadn’t left Richmond yet – are flying out of Richmond at 2:20 (a far more civilized time) direct to Miami ans taking the later Quito flight. Phew! What a nightmare – this combo, that combo, where to put the car, should we drive to Richmond? To Raleigh? Hell – all the way to Miami? Exhausting – but all handled……we hope!
So off to dinner they go – to Fratelli’s on Van Dorn. Cheri, Darrin, Stephanie, Mom, Dad, Ed and Cathy – Cheri doing quite well with her surgery induced liquid diet while the rest of them pigged out on Fried cheese, veal primavera, Agnilotti, Frutti di Mare and Vongole. They all passed on dessert (I should think so!) but hung out for a while with drinks and talk after the food. An excellent meal, excellent company, lots of talking, laughing, stories. Stephanie told everyone about Harry Potter ice cream at Baskin Robbins (we’re going there when we get home!!!). A great send off to the adventure trip beginning the next day!
It ended too soon with Mom and Dad driving Ed and Cathy back to the hotel in the beginning of the snow showers. Early (well kind of) to bed because we really have to be early to rise on Friday!!!
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