So we know everyone has been wondering if we are still alive because it's been a while since our last posts. Yes, we are still alive (and very well!!!). We'd been out to sea on our week-long liveaboard diving cruise. We are still in the Galapagos (until tomorrow) and don't have the best internet connection. I will be updating my blog with some more posts and info soon, but until I get the chance, I hope this video of one of our many hammerhead encounters will satisfy your curiosity for now!
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Sunday, February 10, 2013
Guayaquil: The City that Smells Like Chocolate
Guayaquil, Ecuador is a port city that tourists probably wouldn't visit, if it wasn't one of two main gateways to the Galapagos. We had one full day here, and I would have been OK with one more, but we definitely didn't need any more than that, and one was sufficient.
Three words to describe Guayaquil: Colorful, noisy, dirty
To sum up our experience of the city, I'll share my three favorite things about it.
Numero Uno: The City Smells Like Chocolate!
I'm from Buffalo, NY and we sort of enjoy the fact that on a good day, when the wind is right or you're in the right place, our city smells like Cheerios. As a matter of fact, they even sell t-shirts that say that (yes, I know this because I own one!).
The smell of chocolate, however, as I believe most would agree, clearly trumps Cheerios. (Especially for me now that I am a diagnosed Celiac and can't eat them anymore :) I can still eat chocolate!)
We were walking along the river and each of us got a whiff of chocolate...like brownies fresh out of the oven. Yum yum!
Numero Dos: Green Area at Malecon 2000
Malecon 2000 is a boardwalk overlooking the Guayas River in the city. It's about a mile and a half long, and includes a bunch of restaurants, playgrounds, fountains, and a park, plus an IMAX theater (apparently the first in South America). There is a beautiful park area at one end. It's a lush, green, colorful and beautiful area that is perfect for getting out of the heat and just enjoying life.
Numero Tres: Walk to Cerro del Carmen
I love a good wander around a city I don't know and we decided to find the statue of Christ that loomed over the city - similar to Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro - although I'm guessing that the statue in Brazil is even more grandiose and imposing.
The statue being up so high is definitely helpful when we were trying to find it, however, that also leads to the downside: we had to climb to find it! Up winding roads, high in the sky in 85 degree humid heat, dripping sweat. Luckily we had water, and were rewarded by pretty spectacular views of the city and river at the top, in addition to a cool(ish) breeze.
Adios Guayaquil!
Three words to describe Guayaquil: Colorful, noisy, dirty
To sum up our experience of the city, I'll share my three favorite things about it.
Numero Uno: The City Smells Like Chocolate!
I'm from Buffalo, NY and we sort of enjoy the fact that on a good day, when the wind is right or you're in the right place, our city smells like Cheerios. As a matter of fact, they even sell t-shirts that say that (yes, I know this because I own one!).
The smell of chocolate, however, as I believe most would agree, clearly trumps Cheerios. (Especially for me now that I am a diagnosed Celiac and can't eat them anymore :) I can still eat chocolate!)
We were walking along the river and each of us got a whiff of chocolate...like brownies fresh out of the oven. Yum yum!
Numero Dos: Green Area at Malecon 2000
Malecon 2000 is a boardwalk overlooking the Guayas River in the city. It's about a mile and a half long, and includes a bunch of restaurants, playgrounds, fountains, and a park, plus an IMAX theater (apparently the first in South America). There is a beautiful park area at one end. It's a lush, green, colorful and beautiful area that is perfect for getting out of the heat and just enjoying life.
Numero Tres: Walk to Cerro del Carmen
I love a good wander around a city I don't know and we decided to find the statue of Christ that loomed over the city - similar to Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro - although I'm guessing that the statue in Brazil is even more grandiose and imposing.
The statue being up so high is definitely helpful when we were trying to find it, however, that also leads to the downside: we had to climb to find it! Up winding roads, high in the sky in 85 degree humid heat, dripping sweat. Luckily we had water, and were rewarded by pretty spectacular views of the city and river at the top, in addition to a cool(ish) breeze.
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| Getting close! |
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| The statue close up |
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| View from the top |
Adios Guayaquil!
Friday, February 8, 2013
First Impressions: Ecuador
We arrived at the Guayaquil airport after midnight on Friday morning. We were about an hour late arriving because of a mechanical error on the plane that turned out to be nothing.
We touched down in Ecuador and the entire plane erupted in applause. I was a flight attendant for JetBlue, and I can attest to the fact that I've heard applause on planes when landing safety before, but usually it's a few sporadic clappers, or, I think one time almost the whole plane joined in, but it was well-deserved as the landing was so smooth people literally weren't sure if we had touched the ground or not. So this was quite interesting to me that it seemed to just be what they do.
Going through immigration and customs was a fun endeavor, as always. Queue after queue. Waiting. Tired feet. Crying babies. Lots of words spoken around us that we couldn't understand. Close quarters. The second thing I noticed: Ecuadorians don't have the same need for that little three foot by three foot box of personal space that we Americans tend to be accustomed to. We experienced it again today at a convenience store in Guayaquil when people seemed to be standing in line literally right behind you, as close to touching as possible without actually doing so.
After we cleared customs we started to walk towards the exit. There's the outdoor wall of the airport to our right and a see-through, waist-high barrier wall on our left. Standing behind the barrier wall? I would say about a hundred people, all ages, some with balloons, some taking pictures, all very excited, waiting for their family and friends to come through. It was insane! It was probably 1:30 in the morning and there were tons of people! I felt like I was walking through a paparazzi gauntlet, except I knew no one was actually waiting to take my picture!
We were quickly assisted by a man at the exit who got us a taxi to where we needed. We were dropped off outside our hotel. Our taxi driver pointed us towards a sign with the hotel name, so we walked towards it. There were construction workers on the corner, and another man said something to us in Spanish and came behind us to pull open up a big metal door that hid the entrance to our hotel. He yelled something up above our heads and we heard a woman's voice and watched as keys were dropped down to the man. He opened the door and let us up the stairs where the woman found us and took us to our room. And that was it. I'm not sure who that guy was, but I'm glad he was there!
We entered our room. Nothing fancy. Not at all. But for $20 what can you really expect? It's a bed and a bathroom; it does the trick. Plus, the air conditioning felt amazing after carrying our now 38 pound packs (our jeans and hiking boots added some weight) through the street and up the stairs. We quickly got ourselves ready for bed so we could be rested to explore the city on Friday.
Buenas noches, Guayaquil.
We touched down in Ecuador and the entire plane erupted in applause. I was a flight attendant for JetBlue, and I can attest to the fact that I've heard applause on planes when landing safety before, but usually it's a few sporadic clappers, or, I think one time almost the whole plane joined in, but it was well-deserved as the landing was so smooth people literally weren't sure if we had touched the ground or not. So this was quite interesting to me that it seemed to just be what they do.
Going through immigration and customs was a fun endeavor, as always. Queue after queue. Waiting. Tired feet. Crying babies. Lots of words spoken around us that we couldn't understand. Close quarters. The second thing I noticed: Ecuadorians don't have the same need for that little three foot by three foot box of personal space that we Americans tend to be accustomed to. We experienced it again today at a convenience store in Guayaquil when people seemed to be standing in line literally right behind you, as close to touching as possible without actually doing so.
After we cleared customs we started to walk towards the exit. There's the outdoor wall of the airport to our right and a see-through, waist-high barrier wall on our left. Standing behind the barrier wall? I would say about a hundred people, all ages, some with balloons, some taking pictures, all very excited, waiting for their family and friends to come through. It was insane! It was probably 1:30 in the morning and there were tons of people! I felt like I was walking through a paparazzi gauntlet, except I knew no one was actually waiting to take my picture!
We were quickly assisted by a man at the exit who got us a taxi to where we needed. We were dropped off outside our hotel. Our taxi driver pointed us towards a sign with the hotel name, so we walked towards it. There were construction workers on the corner, and another man said something to us in Spanish and came behind us to pull open up a big metal door that hid the entrance to our hotel. He yelled something up above our heads and we heard a woman's voice and watched as keys were dropped down to the man. He opened the door and let us up the stairs where the woman found us and took us to our room. And that was it. I'm not sure who that guy was, but I'm glad he was there!
We entered our room. Nothing fancy. Not at all. But for $20 what can you really expect? It's a bed and a bathroom; it does the trick. Plus, the air conditioning felt amazing after carrying our now 38 pound packs (our jeans and hiking boots added some weight) through the street and up the stairs. We quickly got ourselves ready for bed so we could be rested to explore the city on Friday.
Buenas noches, Guayaquil.
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| Our hotel: Hotel Eloy Alfaro |
Bienvenido a Miami
We arrived in Miami on Monday, took the bus from the airport to 9th Street, and walked the few blocks to our AirBnB accommodations where our host met us and welcomed us to his apartment. We quickly changed out of jeans and t-shirts into our bathing suits, picked up some groceries and drinks, and walked a few blocks up to the beach.
We basked in the warm sunshine until clouds seemed to be dominating the sky and our stomachs were distracting us from the beauty of our surroundings. We can back to "our place" and fixed up dinner: a three bean salad with peppers, onions and chicken, and a glass of wine.
Soon after dinner we headed back out to Ocean Avenue to wander, take some photos, and get reacquainted with the bustling strip, as well as stroll down Lincoln Ave...always buzzing - even on a Monday.
After about two hours of walking we were both exhausted from our travel, beach day, and first time carrying our packs a decent distance. We cleaned up and headed to bed.
Tuesday we had a full beach day. It was relaxing, fun, and much needed. One unique thing we saw today: a male stripper practicing his pole dancing routine at Miami Beach's outdoor workout park. ;-)
Tuesday night we met one of Drew's former coworkers for dinner. We had a great time catching up with him over some tasty Mediterranean food.
Wednesday was our diving day. Before heading to the marina to meet our boat we wandered around South Point Park - a beautiful area with a splash pad and playground for kids, a gorgeous walking and bike path with views of the ocean all around, stairs that many people were utilizing for exercise, and even a sundeck.
We headed about 30 minutes out from the marina on our dive boat to experience the underwater world near the Balzone Wreck as well as Nepture Memorial Reef (a man made reef that your cremated remains can be embedded into for an eternity.) The dives were not difficult, and not overly incredible, but we did get to see a lot of beautiful fish, reacquaint ourselves with our love of the underwater world, and test out our new gear before our upcoming dives in the Galapagos. Check out a few of our favorite shots taken with our new underwater camera housing (thanks Mom and Dad!!).
Thursday we got up and spent a little time on the beach before meeting my Uncle and Aunt who drove all the way from Sarasota to spend a little time with us before we left the country. We enjoyed a delicious (and gluten-free for me!) pizza lunch before heading back to South Point Park - we thought they would enjoy this gorgeous place as much as we had. It was a short stop here before it was time for them to get us to the airport...and time for us to begin our international adventure! Thanks Uncle Tom and Aunt Marilyn for everything!!
Check out more photos from Miami by clicking "Photos" in the header bar above or click here.
We basked in the warm sunshine until clouds seemed to be dominating the sky and our stomachs were distracting us from the beauty of our surroundings. We can back to "our place" and fixed up dinner: a three bean salad with peppers, onions and chicken, and a glass of wine.
Soon after dinner we headed back out to Ocean Avenue to wander, take some photos, and get reacquainted with the bustling strip, as well as stroll down Lincoln Ave...always buzzing - even on a Monday.
After about two hours of walking we were both exhausted from our travel, beach day, and first time carrying our packs a decent distance. We cleaned up and headed to bed.
Tuesday we had a full beach day. It was relaxing, fun, and much needed. One unique thing we saw today: a male stripper practicing his pole dancing routine at Miami Beach's outdoor workout park. ;-)
Tuesday night we met one of Drew's former coworkers for dinner. We had a great time catching up with him over some tasty Mediterranean food.
Wednesday was our diving day. Before heading to the marina to meet our boat we wandered around South Point Park - a beautiful area with a splash pad and playground for kids, a gorgeous walking and bike path with views of the ocean all around, stairs that many people were utilizing for exercise, and even a sundeck.
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| South Point Park, Miami |
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| Under the Sea |
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| Neptune Memorial Reef |
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| Neptune Memorial Reef |
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| Neptune Memorial Reef |
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| Neptune Memorial Reef |
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| Uncle Tom, Aunt Marilyn, Me, Drew |
Check out more photos from Miami by clicking "Photos" in the header bar above or click here.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
New York, New York!
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| Manhattan Bridge framing the Empire State Building |
We've driven around their area, visited (and sampled goodies from) a 100% gluten free bakery, had some delicious meals and drinks out, and wandered around Brooklyn. Now we're relaxing, watching the Superbowl. Which is exactly why I'm taking a few minutes to update my blog. :)
I stop writing for the commercials ;-)
Tomorrow we leave our home state for another place we've called home, back in 2006: Miami, FL.
Check out the pics of our time in New York here:
(Can also be accessed from the link up top called "Photos")
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Friday, February 1, 2013
Leaving Tomorrow!!?!
Whoa. We leave tomorrow for the first destination of our round the world journey: NYC to visit some friends. Unbelievable!
It's funny because many weeks ago I decided we should have this week off of work in order to wrap things up and get ready. However, as the trip got closer I was afraid a week would be too long and we'd wished we left sooner. Nope! We've been busy every day this week, and it's been pretty constant. Between making more accommodation reservations, compiling a detailed itinerary of the things we have booked, and visiting with friends and family, we haven't had too many free moments.
We finished up our week off today with cleaning our house, finishing packing our bags, and getting a couple last minute things we needed. I also had a nice lunch with my mom, and just finished painting my toes. Can't bare my tootsies in Miami and Ecuador without my favorite hot pink toenails!! ;-)
We're looking forward to this weekend in NY with our friends, followed by a few days in the Miami sunshine where we will get to meet up with a couple more friends, share a meal with my aunt and uncle, and do a couple scuba dives to prepare for the week of diving we have ahead in the Galapagos!
My bag is officially packed (all 32.8 pounds of it!); let the adventure begin!!!
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| My new home and life possessions for four months! I think she needs a nickname...any suggestions? |
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