Straddling the Ecuator

Maryanne and I have now stood in two hemispheres at once. After a very hectic and crowded bus ride, which was well over an hour in a bus filled to the brim due to shut down trolley services in order to honor a workers´ strike, we arrived safely with our new British friend Ollie. Unfortunately I didn´t get any pictures of him, but for those of you who know Dan McFadden, he was his identical twin. Here are some pictures of our day:

The initial straddle

The forces of the Hemispheres seems to be stronger on Maryanne´s side

Leaping over the line on the West side

Maryanne also jumping the line

The idea of that picture looked cuter in my mind

Quito: Taxi rides, churches and craft fairs

Maryanne and I are thoroughly enjoying Quito. Thanks to Amy Knops suggestion, we found a really interesting Basilica to explore today in the Old Section of town. We were first reminded of our mortality by entering the underground catacombs of the church. They were eery and filled with tombs and reminders of the dead, so we didn't quite muster up the nerve to take photos. Next, for just $3 we got to climb up the bell towers of the church, exploring all the nooks and crannies to our hearts' content. Hope the photo below give you an idea of how that was.

After being turned away from entering the interior of the cathedral, where it seemed a confirmation was happening, we headed off to a large craft fair in Parque El Ejido. Only $1 for the 20 minute taxi ride...nice!

We had a great time haggling down the prices on jewelry that were already pretty low.
A general exchange went like this:
"How much is this necklace?"
"Six dollars. It's a handmade original."...although it looks just like the one I was admiring 2 stalls down.
"Oh, well I can get it for $3 at the other stall." vaguely point"
No, $6. (pause) Ok, $5, but that is it."
"Not $3.50?" Start to look at other items.
"No, $4.50" Start to walk away.
"Ok! $3." the women shouts after you.
Deal!...This all takes place in Spanish and in a crowd of other shoppers. I know it seems kind of pointless to haggle down just $3, but once you start bargaining, it becomes addictive. Plus the vendors generally up the price once they see you are a foreigner...which is quite obvious, especially once I open my mouth.
After the haggling and shopping we walked around a bit and caught a taxi back to the hostel, since we really have no idea where we are. It turns out we are just a minute away, but we already agreed to the $5 cab ride!...I guess it is a good thing we haggled the jewelry prices down.

At the top!

In an Ecuadorian jail

I'm a gargoyle

Cruising the Galapagos: "I love Boobies"

We had a great time on our cruise!! and are back on land, but still in the Galapagos until Tuesday, then onto Quito. Here are a bunch of photos depicting a day on our cruise and showing most of the interesting animals we saw! Enjoy
...and by Boobies I mean blue footed boobies, a very colorfully footed bird on the islands


Sleeping in our cabin

Sunrise off the boat

Sea lions playing around

Land Iguanas

The scary male sea lion and some babies

Me attempting to get the sea lions to play with me

The coolest cactus I've ever seen

A bird (I don't remember what kind) and a lava lizard

Curios mocking birds

Dancing blue footed Boobies

Land iguanas

Galapagos Hawk

Rainbow

Albatross

In a lava cave

Beach with my sis

Land tortoise

Sending mail the sailors' way (I'm bringing 2 cards to hand deliver)

If I were a turtle...sort of reminds me of you Kris ;-)

Nap time

Mother and baby sea lion shortly after a birth

Penguin

Nice view from our last island...windy much?

Same view but a bit higher up

Mother sea lion nursing her baby

Sea lion that just gave birth! the baby is by her head

Baby heron, what a neck

Male sea lion on red beach...I'm too lazy to rotate it

Blue footed boobies on their nest

Male Friggot, his red balloon neck in all puffed up for mating season

So ends a great day on the Galapagos

From Colombia to Ecuador...on bus :-/

So I am entirely sick of riding on buses. Maryanne and I made a 50 hour bus trip from Taganga, Colombia to Quito, stopping for one night in Bogota. I really like the city of Bogota and wish we could have made a longer stay, but we only had a day and a night. We explored the city a bit and found a very pretty but pigeon infested town square surrounded by architecture ranging from Greek style to very modern day. We also went a free art museum of Fernanado Botero´s work, he like to depict his subjects as extremely fat, click here if you want to see his work.

At night we went out with some people we met from the Hostel, the Platypus, a 30 year old Spanish woman and 37 year old Colombian. I´ve found that I am frequently the youngest traveler, expect the 37 year old did have a 22 year old girlfriend. Maybe I´ve been setting my sights too young and should be looking for a boyfriend 15 years my elder...kidding!
Speaking of boyfriends...why does every Latin American man/boy think it is appropriate to always ask ¿Tienes un novio? as the second or third question in a conversation? (you all thought I was going to say I met someone, didn´t you?) I´ve begun answering this question in the affirmative, by making up an all-caring, non jealous, understanding boyfriend who is too busy studying or working to come travel with me. I find this answer puts the conversation in my control and stops any further come-ons, for the most part.

Here are some photos from random points on our trip:

In Cartagena

First Motorcycle ride

Our creepy military friend who we met on the way up to the Lost City

With Miguel, our guide, in the Lost City

Maryanne in the Lost City