latinupdate

greetings folks. So flight one of six was delayed. Thats ok, it split my miami layover in two. I am still at O'hare. I leave at 5:50 for Miami on flight 342. I was bored so i am paying too much money to do this. I better go. Bye

7/6

7/7

hola americanos, Im here in quito. some might know that i beat john here by a day, so i am on my own. Quito is beautiful, and alot more friendy than miami airport. I was on the chi runway for over two hours, and didnt get to miami till midnight-no storage open, so i only slept on the plane..maybe 4 hours since 7:30 tues. but this coffee rocks. i am at the cafe that our host works at, she isnt in yet, and compared to ohare rates, i can type for a while. I think i will stick with this format rather than email. kindof a journal. This city is huge, and the seneritas are beautiful! I will update again, today perhaps, for now not much to say. until I drop off my baggage, i am staying here. Adios

7/8

Como estas. John arrived at my hostal this morning. I met Maria, we will be staying with her, which is alot more secure. Today we walked about 8 miles to tour the city. His espa�ol is better than he gives himself credit. Everyone is very freindly. The hopitallity here is amazing. Every now and then they try a "gringo tax", but that just loses our buisness. As for now, I dread aug. 10th. I wish i could stay longer. It is nice being the exotic import for once. The altitude acclimation isn't as bad as I thought it would be. The one meal I had today was amazing, we had steak and eggs, with soup (start of all meals) with fresh passion fruit juice, and beans and rice. I could not finish it all, but it only costed $1.40. Everyone needs to come down here. We wanted to walk to a touristy area, on top of a hill, but locals stopped us and said that a cab would be safer. Every city has crime, but how many have people willing to warn you to take a different route. That has never happened to me in 28 years in america. Maybe they could sense that we were Jedi. Well enough chat for now, time to get back on the road. chow.

7/10

Hello, we have been planning our camping trip, so no need to update yesterday. We have decided to camp the Andes first, down in the national park called Cajas. We will take a 9 hour bus from Quito to Cuenca, then spend 3-4 days in the mountains, I can't wait! On the way back we will see Ecuador's most famous Incan Archeological site. We Haven't decided if we will return to Quito before our Jungle camping. We will hire a guide to take us by boat into the Amazon. Right now we are going to get supplies and plan to leave on a night bus on sunday. I might update ma�ana otherwise I will be on the road for a few days. Talk at ya all soon. Until then buenos diaz, tardes, nochos.

7/17

Wow! it seems like a month since my last update. The Andes were quite an experience. They say the more beautiful the landscape, the more dangerous. THE ANDES ARE VERY BEAUTIFUL. We planned on 3 days, it became 5 due to rough terrain, and constant rain. It got a little scarry, but it was the kind of challenge I was looking for. We were at 14,000(ft) and the first day I felt slight alltitude sickness, not bad tough. After a good sleep, it felt like real air to me. Then on day 3 we were at rick of hypothermia. Luckly we were prepared. Our ridge rests and sleeping bags may have saved our lives. Then day 5 we could not find a route out of the park, we could see the ranger station, but we were about 7,000(ft) too high. We had to use half...no make that quarter-assed trails along a river, in order to get down, and had to cross the rapids on foot 4 times. Most of you will never understand why we do such things, but it will be one of my fondest memories for the rest of my life. We conquered those Andes damnit. I really think that novice campers would have been in trouble. I wish I had pictures of the looks on the Cuencan's faces when we returned, covered in mud, with cuts and scratches all over our bodies. I feel much stronger now. So, cold Andes, lets hit the hot jungle. that is our goal tomorrow. We will see the Incan site, then to Coca, where we will take a boat into the jungle on monday. Sorry to make you worry mom. See you all soon.

Aahh! Back in Quito. Two weeks ago this town felt so foriegn, now it is like home. So those Incan ruins were amazing, that was our only break of two solid days of bus travel. Once in Coca we went staright to sleep, well, two cervezas later. Upon waking up, we realized that we had left too much money in Quito. The usual jungle trip is $30 per person/per day. we had $90 total. We had wondered into a hostal that had no available rooms the night before and meet a really cool native that gave tours. The next day we saw him and told him of our money situation. His tour was out, but his cousin owned a bunglo on a lake. So instead of some touristy jungle ride, we had a real experience. We lived with him for 3 days. This guy was awesome. (the closesest to yoda we have ever met) He was about 60ish, and knew of all the medicines in the jungle. He took us on a very interesting hike. Followed by Pirhana fishing!! The first day he caught 8 and John and I caught 0. The next day I showed them both up by getting 4 to their 3. You really have to be careful getting that hook out!!! I caught a 6 oz. bass when I was 7. So I have now caught 5 fish in my life. It seems more fair when they could eat you too. The bait was raw steak, and they will bite in about 10 seconds. Nothing like Wisconsin fishing. By the way, Pirhana is the tastiest fish I have ever eaten.(his wife's cooking was probably most of it). Dinner time was rough for me, I can speak with merchants, but dinner conversation makes me feel like a retarded mute. We arrived in Quito at about 6:30 this morning with not a penny to our names. It is good to be back at Maria's apartment, the hospitality is great, plus 70% of my money is here. We will rest up tonight, maybe 2 nights. Then TO COLOMBIA!! So I kind of made the Andes seem like a nightmare, not so. It was the day after, and I was very spent. I just wanted to say that it was not easy. Columbian beach resorts will be the vacation portion of the trip, this has been the adventure part. I better sign off, much to do. Chao.

7/23