Thursday, November 5, 2015

Long weekend, long waits

For a long weekend in November, Livia and I planned a trip down to a popular beach town in Peru, she'd never been, and I'm always down to try a new place. There was one possible issue: license plates. As a diplomat, our license plates were issued through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, instead of through the transit commission. Despite filing all the paperwork the minute my car arrived in country, the process often took a long time. There wasn't much consistency, some plates came quickly, some slowly. Mine had yet to arrive. So, I got a letter stating I was waiting on them for the plates, and made copies of the title and a few other forms and brought them along.

We arrived at the border control and it was a COMPLETE mess. The line wrapped all the way around the building, and we were hearing it was taking close to three hours to get through the process. It wasn't clear if we had to do immigration or the car first, so I went up to the car building and figured out what was going on there, and went back and talked with Livia. She graciously agreed to wait in the immigration line, while I went up to take care of the car paperwork. Between the signs and observing people go through the stations it seemed clear they were checking on a few things: that the car was registered, that the person it was registered to was driving it, and that the driver had paid for a $10 tourist car insurance required for any foreign car in Peru. This got me a bit worried, or rather, ready to do some negotiating. I had no problem buying the insurance, but my car wasn't registered and I had no proof of it being registered. I didn't even have the Florida tags that came with the car when I bought it.

Well, I was right to be worried. The Peruvian border/immigration official was incredibly nice, and showed understanding for my situation. She tried to help me out, calling her boss, who eventually called up an additional level, to the headquarters in Lima. But, alas, it was a Saturday, and the person in Lima who could approved the exception and give me permission to enter with a non-registered car was not coming in on a Saturday to do that. She did a great job explaining the law and why I didn't qualify. I was able to go back and let Livia know in between one her various phone calls that things weren't looking good. After it was clear that we weren't getting in by car, we considered leaving the car in some sort of secure parking lot in the border town, or in the border station parking lot, and grabbing the bus. (By now Livia was almost to the front of the immigration line.) But, ultimately, that didn't seem the most responsible decision, so we headed back to Machala, upset, ate a big meal at Chili's and drove back to Guayaquil. The next morning we headed towards the beach for a little coastal tour. We visited Montanita, Ayampe, and Puerto Cayo on the coast, with a stop in Puerto Lopez for seafood, and had a pretty good time soaking up the sun, relaxing in hammocks, and enjoying the warm ocean water.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

Cuenca and Ingapirca

In October we had a holiday weekend, so Livia and I headed to Cuenca. Livia had been there a few times, but I hadn't visited it yet. That was definitely different than most of my colleagues, who make Cuenca the first or second place they visit, as it's very popular with expats. I'm happy I visited other places first. I would go back to Cuenca various times, a few times for work, and also when my buddy Andrew from Peace Corps visited.
 (Livia on top of the cathedral)

I never fell in love with Cuenca the way many expats do. The weather is all too often cool and misty, and the center of town is a bit crowded and dirty, and not in a charming way. It does have some amazing restaurants and some gorgeous churches. My opinion was always-Quito has just as amazing restaurants and more gorgeous churches, and Loja is a big enough city to have amenities, has better weather than Cuenca, but shares the nice, dry, clean mountain air and also boasts creative culture.
(at the lookout in Cajas National Park)

Livia and I had a good trip though, we visited the main cathedral and took the tour up to roof. We had a few good meals and enjoyed walking around the city. Took a day to visit a few spots in Cajas National Park, including the hike around a small lake, and up to the highest lookout along the road.

On the last day of the trip we visited Ingapirca, which is the largest and best preserved Incan ruins in Ecuador. It is well worth a visit, a truly impressive and beautiful place. It was one of the countless (and still being discovered) outposts or holy sites that the Incans constructed (or modified) throughout Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. There weren't many people there, so our tour was 'private' and the guide was very informative. They have llamas grazing about to keep the grass down, and Livia loves llamas, so she slowed the tour down considerably taking llama pictures. We took the extra hike along the ridge below the site to see a few rock features that they believe the Incas carved along the path leading to the site. The ridge and valley were impressive on their own. My only recommendation would be better signage leading to the site. We had to turn around probably three or four times on the windy mountain roads, and continually ask people how to get there, as the town is fairly remote, and the historical site is on the edge of town.
(above is the view of the main temple)
(up close of remains of main temple)

Saturday, October 10, 2015

The Devil's Nose

The next trip I took was a quick weekend getaway with Livia. I wanted to try out one of the often promoted Ecuadorian train rides. A long time ago, Ecuador had an extensive cargo and passenger rail system. The connection from Quito down to Guayaquil was a milestone in Ecuador's economic history. Much like in the USA, the passenger rail system fell out of use as cars became more numerous and accessible. Sadly, though, Ecuador almost their entire cargo rail system as well. They have re-purposed some of the routes though, with tourist trains. There is an extensive (and very expensive) week long trip that goes between many of the scenic stops. The closest route to Guayaquil goes through a bunch of banana fields, Livia had been on it before, and said it wasn't that cool. A well recommended route wasn't too far away, and went alongside the 'Devil's nose,' a mountain ridge.
 (the view out of our hotel room window)

(you can see some of the tracks above) 

So we packed up the Yaris and headed to Alausi, the small town with the train station. The train leaves at 8 am or 10 am, either way we knew we'd need to spend the night in order to make it. We almost didn't get there, as on the way the road led to a wide creek bed, with over a foot of water in some areas. I was sure this couldn't be the way, but we asked a few cars, they confirmed this was the "road" so we went through it. We arrived in town, checked into our hotel, and took a walk to see what was happening. Very little. We grabbed a subpar dinner at one of the few restaurants Alausi has to offer. We took another walk at night, and in doing so seemed to have visited more than half of the town. It has a nice park that runs in between the two main roads. It seems the thing to do is to drive one's car and blast music around this loop, all Saturday night. We did not participate.
(the famous Devil's Nose)
In the morning we rode the train. I guess when they put in the switchback climbing up this particular mountain, it was the most difficult set of switchbacks that were put in on the Quito-Guayaquil route. This section was one of the last completed due to the difficult terrain. The train ride was pretty nice, they have a person telling you the history of the track, which I really liked. There are some fairly impressive cliffs that the train climbs down via switchbacks. The views were gorgeous, as I've said before, the Andes is a truly spectacular mountain range. Alausi is well beyond the foothills, but not yet at the top of the range. It's at 7,600 feet, whereas a lot of the cities in Ecuadorian highlands have elevation between 8,000 and 9,500 feet. The downside of the trip was once you get to the end of the route, you are forced to spend like two hours at the base of the Devil's nose. They've built a small museum, but even if you read every exhibit, that takes but 15 minutes. They hope you spend the rest of your time in the numerous cafes and gift shops that are there. We relented, got some drinks and snacks, and mostly talked about how we needed a max of 30 minutes to see the "sights."
It wasn't the most amazing weekend trip, but hey, I wanted to ride the train and I did!

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

The Bahamas

In September, for Labor Day weekend (and my birthday) I decided to meet up with my buddy Dave. He was in DC for training, having finished his first tour with the State Department in China and was learning Estonian to head there next. The midpoint between DC and Guayaquil is more or less Miami, but I'd been there and Dave was looking to go to a country he'd never been to before. We did some searching, comparing flight possibilities, costs, etc and decided on the Bahamas. So we booked the Airbnb and flights.

(this is the view from the beach at the edge of the complex we stayed in)


The trip was amazing. We stayed in a very nice Airbnb house in Nassau, on Cable Beach. You could walk 50 yards to a small little strip of beach, only accessible from the complex the house was in. The waves were calm, the water warm, it was a great place for Dave and I to catch up. Mostly I was glad to finally chat with him all about consular work, the job which I had done for six months, and he had for two years in Shenyang, China. It was great bouncing ideas off of Dave, getting his advice, and thinking of a million solutions we had to the problems we saw in consular affairs, albeit knowing the bureaucracy and risk aversion of the State Department would ensure none of them came to fruition. 

We took the ferry to Paradise Island, chilled on the big, nice, public beach there. The ferry was fun too, as the driver pointed out which humongous house was owned by which celebrity. We enjoyed tropical drinks out of a coconut. The sand really is white and the water aqua blue. We also hit up the art museum and a rum distillery, which was a very pleasant time. We had pretty good meals, had a dinner out with the British banker from whom we rented the Airbnb. It was a great trip, there's a reason that so many people visit the Bahamas-truly gorgeous, and a well run tourist sector.  A very relaxing and enjoyable trip. 

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

More pics from the road trip

Here are a few more pictures from the road trip, see the previous two blog posts for the trip re-cap. If you ever find yourself wondering where to go on your next vacation, do consider Ecuador, it really does have a lot of things to see and do-none too far from the next, and their official currency is the U.S. dollar.

 (looking down an alley in Quito)
 (alpaca wool blankets for sale in Otovalo)
 (entrance to Cotopaxi National Park)
 (on the way down from the Cotopaxi refuge)
 (the view from our lodge in the park)
(view of Laguna de Quilotoa from the top of the trail)
 (another view of an Isla de la Plata shore)
 (blue footed boobies prancing)
 (humpback whale fin)
(humpback whale starting its flip)

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Ecuador road trip (part two)


The next part of the road trip was the long trip down the Andes, through central Ecuador (corn, wheat, banana farms) to the coast. Our next stop was Puerto Lopez, a fishing town on the central/southern coast. Puerto Lopez has since become one of my favorite places in Ecuador, it has amazing seafood, a fun atmosphere, a couple nice hotels/lodges, and is the access point for Isla de la Plata. After we got settled at the hostel, we went walking through town looking for dinner. We were handed a flier for what would be a called a pop-up restaurant, because it wasn't there the next day. It was open-air, tables, chairs, and not much else-except absolutely delicious seafood, which was definitely fresh caught.

The next day we took the boat to Isla de la Plata, an uninhabited island about an hour off the Ecuadorian coast. As it has blue-footed boobies and frigate birds, and a somewhat similar landscape as some of the Galapagos islands, it's often called a poor-man's Galapagos. It was amazing. You hike around the island with a guide, checking out the birds, getting incredibly close to the blue-footed boobies, which really are too cute. Then you hop back in the boat, and pop over to another side of the island and snorkel. There are a lot of gorgeous tropical fish, and the water is delightfully warm. Not too mention all the soaring and diving birds that are constantly coming to and from the island.

A huge highlight awaited us on the way back, as we were there during whale-watching season. We were lucky enough to see a few humpback whales jump and flip, wave their fins, swim alongside the boat, and flap their tails. It was my first whale-watching experience and I was mesmerized. Truly marvelous. My only excuse for not having better video of the whales is that I did not and do not have an SLR camera, the boat was shaky, and there were lots of people competing for space to capture pics/videos of the whales.

After Puerto Lopez, we drove back to Guayaquil, visited some of the downtown sites, the four of them got caught up with emails/posting pics/etc at my house, and then it was off to the airport for them to head to Colombia for more vacation. It was back to work for me. I really enjoyed the road trip, hit up a few places that I had been wanting to see, and enjoyed getting to see lots of the country. Very few of my colleagues ever covered as much ground by car as I did just in that trip, and I think it helped me gain some appreciation for some of the regions around Quito, around Guayaquil, and in between.



(the action is at the end of this 24 second video)

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Ecuador road trip

So the real highlight of July was going back to the States to be the best man in my younger brother's wedding. It was an absolute delight, and a real honor. It was also a great chance to spend more time with my sister's husband, who, because they live in England, I hadn't spent time with-aside from their wedding weekend. We toured around Minneapolis for a day or two before the wedding. But this blog isn't really for putting up pictures of my brother's wedding, he can do that elsewhere.




The second highlight of July was during the last week. I took off the week, and went on a road trip with Alex and Keerti, two friends from DC, and Kim (Keerti's friend) and Kat (Kim's friend). Seriously, a few people hadn't met each other before we all piled into a rented Kia Sportage in Guayaquil. Alex and I worked together at the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and I knew he and Keerti pretty well, as we hung out a bunch when I was in DC. I had met Kim once or twice when I was out with Alex and Keerti. Alex and Keerti had recently quit their jobs and were headed to grad school, and were spending some of the gap with a trip to Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Kat was also headed to grad school, and Kim just taking some vacation. They all coordinated trips, and we hit the road. 

Alex and Keerti came in a day earlier, so we hit up a soccer game and got some typical Ecuadorian fare, before picking up Kim and Kat at the airport. Meeting up in Guayaquil made the car rental easier and cheaper, and meant they could leave stuff at my house, connect to good wi-fi, get some things done online (not just Facebook-they had grad school registration type stuff). It also meant the trip started off with the eight hour drive through fog, mist, rain, and mountain curves to Quito. Not the most popular part of the trip. Alex and Keerti had come from Peru, so they were a bit less shocked at the driving styles in Ecuador than Kim and Kat. We made it there safely, and had a great time in Quito. I once again learned that we probably should've paid $8 more per person per night and stayed closer to the historic city center, but instead we got some walking in. The historic churches in Quito are gorgeous, and thanks to Magus, a friend from the Embassy, we hit up some great restaurants with spectacular views.


Our next stop was Otovalo, which is often touted as a must see town for its craft and woven goods market. I was less than impressed. The market was extensive, but didn't seem to have much different stuff than what you can find at the handicraft market in Guayaquil. It was much larger, but mostly just because there is a lot of the same thing. The town itself was kind of dirty, run-down, and had little if any charm. But we were just there for a bit, so that was good. We did stop at a nice restaurant on a large lake near Otovalo on our way out of town. 

We then zipped along the highway to Cotopaxi National Park, a truly beautiful and awe inspiring part of Ecuador. Cotopaxi is Ecuador's second highest peak, and it's highest volcano at 19,347. We drove into the park, and enjoyed the amazing scenery and views, getting out a few times to climb some small hills, or sit in the rocks and gaze around at the flowers and boulders and interesting landscapes left by lava flows. We drove up towards the trail to the lodge, and it kept getting colder and colder and windier and windier. Keerti, Kim, and Kat decided to stay in the car, while Alex and I headed up the short trail to the lodge. Hiking all the way up to the top is popular, but most be done at night due to the moving glaciers, so there is a lodge at the beginning of the trail that has bare bones bunks, bathrooms, and a small cafeteria. I was not at all prepared for the cold or the terrain, I had on boat shoes. But I layered all the clothes I had, Alex did the same, and we braved the cold, the sharp wind, and frequent freezing rain/snow, and hiked up to the lodge. It wasn't far, but probably took us 45 minutes or more. We looked a bit foolish, as most other people were in full winter hiking gear. But, man, that soup at the top was delicious. 



Another unpopular and a bit worrisome event occurred on the next leg of the trip. We were just to drive around to the other side of the national park, to stay at a lodge recommended by a colleague in Quito. I had a map from the lodge's website, and it looked like we just had maybe 30 or 40 kilometers to go after pulling off the main highway. Like an idiot, I figured we could do than in no more than 45 minutes. I was wrong. Way wrong. After passing through two towns, and seeing lots of signs letting us know we were on the right way, it became clear it would be a long 40 kilometers. This was not a paved road, not a gravel road, not even what I'd call a dirt road. This was a very, very poor attempt at a cobblestone road. But rather, was like driving through a dry riverbed, or so I imagine. 

So, instead of 45 minutes I think it took us close to three hours. About every time we'd give up and be sure we were lost, we'd see a sign for all the Cotopaxi lodges and keep going. Luckily, we ended up at the right place, and as we had a reservation, the two person staff was still up to make us a very late dinner. We enjoyed the tranquility and incredibly clear sky to do some star gazing before we hit the hay in our wood-heated cabins. The outrageously beautiful views in the morning were worth the long drive. 

Our next stop on the trip was Laguna de Quilotoa, which is a big crater lake southwest of Quito. We made our way there on the winding roads that were often way too close to the dramatic Andean cliffs for comfort. But, we didn't tumble down the side of the mountain, and we were soon in the tiny town next to the lake. Despite tourism being about the only thing going on in town, and staying at the place recommended by the guidebook, that didn't mean the hotel had figured out how to heat rooms with wooden stoves and keep the smoke out of the hotel. But, it was just one night. The next day we hiked around the top of the crater a bit, then made the hike down to the bottom of the lake, checked out the views, Alex, Keerti, and I hiked back up-quickly, as Alex wanted to beat the estimated time in the book (we did so handily). Kat and Kim took the donkeys up-as they didn't feel like getting tired-it is vacation. 


Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Trip to Loja

Over the July 4th holiday weekend, Livia and I traveled down to Loja, a city in southern Ecuador. Loja is up in the highlands, but at 6,700 feet, isn’t as high as Quito or Cuenca. It’s a regional hub, with a population of a little less than 200,00 people. We walked about the town, went to nearby Podocarpus National Park (pictures far below) and also took the bus to Vilcabamaba and spent one night there. The trip was quite delightful, although there were a few hiccups. 
(famos Loja city gate)
I showed up just in time for the flight, and Livia was waiting for me in a restaurant. I rushed through check-in and security, and then sat at my gate and texted Livia. Just as I did that I heard the last call for my flight, and they had changed the gates. I rushed over and grabbed the tarmac bus to the plane. All this time I’m texting Livia telling her to hurry up. As we get off the bus I tell the flight attendant that my girlfriend is waiting at the gate. They say that this was the last bus, and there’s nothing they can do. Mind you, we still had 10 minutes until departure time. I insisted, and a few other passengers agreed with me. But they said, nope, they weren’t authorized to send another bus. Granted, Livia was waiting for me on the other side of security…so once I urgently texted her, it still took a bit for her to get to the gate. So, once I arrived at Loja, we talked on the phone, and she got a flight for early the next morning. In Vilcabamba, the hotel cancelled our reservation, and there really is only one nice hotel in town, so we ended up at a perfectly acceptable hostel. We found it odd, though, as Livia had confirmed the reservation just two days prior. The lady gave us no explanation, except her ‘employee’s incompetence’ and said she was full. Our final hiccup was when Livia’s rented bike skidded out on a dirt road in Vilcabamba, and she cut her hand and forehead. 
(panoramic view in Vilcabamba)
But, other than that, we had a refreshing, if quite muddy, and chilly (in Livia’s opinion) hike through the national park. The town of Loja doesn’t offer much, but is pretty peaceful, and has a few nice colonial era structures. It’s known for it’s music, and we had drinks at a very cool shared space type place. It has a large courtyard bar/restaurant, but then music practice rooms off of that space, and there were people singing and practicing guitar while we were there. 
(views in Vilcabamba)
Vilcabamba was in interesting place. I was not especially impressed. The views are gorgeous, no doubt. The climate is quite nice. Because of this, it has attracted both Chilean/Argentinian hippies, and retired Americans/Europeans. The hippies tend to be selling bracelets and necklaces, or working in restaurants/hotels. The old Westerners seem to be walking around in a bit of a daze, usually with a local employee helping them get about. It was an odd environment, the coming together of the retirees, the hippies, and the rural highlanders in one place. The juxtaposition of a yoga studio next to a chicken feed store, was, if nothing else, intriguing. There wasn’t necessarily anything wrong with the vibe and the town, just not my cup of tea. 
(don’t be a party-pooper)
So, all in all a fun trip, it was Livia’s first time down to the very southern part of Ecuador, so that was cool. We also got free Pope hats (see below), t-shirts, and drawstring bags because we flew on Tame, the national airline, which was the official sponsor of Pope Francis’ visit to Ecuador. It was a huge deal. I intentionally planned the trip to get out of Guayaquil for the weekend, I have very low interest in seeing the Pope, and even lower in dealing with the crowds. From what everyone said when we got back, it was a good idea. They shut off my neighborhood for something like half the day on either Saturday or Sunday. Below the pope hat are pictures from our hike in Parque Nacional Podocarpus, which is in both Loja and Zamora Chinchipe provinces. 

Friday, July 31, 2015

Mindo

After getting back from Quito, a series of events had me moving into a relationship fairly quickly. I had made friends with two of the consular greeters before I headed to Quito, Paulo and Michael. The greeters help our tourist visa and immigrant visa applicants through the interview process at the Consulate. All the applicants show up outside on the morning of their interview. They have appointment times. The greeters make sure they have all the right papers, check them in, get them to the waiting room, pass their passports and papers to the assistants inside the section, then pass the passports back, and get the applicants to the interview, and then out of the building. They work on the other side of the interview windows than us, so there isn’t much interaction, but I’d made friends with these two guys. So, I hung out a couple of times with them, and then with them and a few other greeters. Then I went to Quito. While up there, I had been chatting a fair amount with the greeter supervisor, a delightful young woman named Livia. When I got back from Quito we saw each other at a get-together or two. It was obvious she was flirting, and I thought she was quite cute and had a quick wit, so I asked Paulo and Michael. They confirmed she was interested in me, so we talked more, and have been dating since June. 
Pretty soon after we started dating, I proposed a trip to Mindo, a place I had wanted to visit when I was in Quito but didn’t get the chance. So, we bought tickets to Quito, taxied to the bus station, waited way longer than I hoped, had our bus drive off the side of the road (no injuries), got off of that bus, as it was stuck in the mud/ditch, got on another bus, got dropped off at the turn off to Mindo (this bus wouldn’t be going down into town), were lucky to hitch a ride from a passing pickup truck (also tourists headed to Mindo) and finally arrived at our hostel. I think we had planned for 7 or 8 pm arrival, I think it was more like eleven. 
But, we got there. We had a great weekend, hitting up a butterfly garden, a guy’s patio to do some bird-watching, an orchid garden, and went on a very fun zipline course (10 or 11 ziplines) through the cloud forest. We hiked to a couple waterfalls as well. I got in one, it was freezing, I stayed in enough for it to be refreshing, no longer. Mindo is primarily a bird-watching spot, but also brings people in for the zip lines, rappelling and some tubing/kayaking. Livia is shy with water sports, and it was a bit cool when we were there (at least coming up from Guayaquil), so we didn’t do any tubing. The town is pretty small, and it’s apparent that the tourism is recent, the restaurant offerings could be much improved, and they seem to be using the recent income to repair the roads and the main square. The main road through town is half paved, half still dirt, and actively under construction. The butterfly garden was super cool, very busy, and full of all sorts of butterflies. It was a very relaxing, pleasant trip.  A few pics below!
(from one of the zipline platforms)
(Livia with the guide on the zipline)