Tracy's Backpack

Sometimes people have really great ideas. Like when Erin emailed to see how serious I was about wanting to explore Ecuador. Or when my loose itinerary ideas had us ending with 4 nights on the coast. *happy dance*

Montanita is a total vacation and surf town. And it’s an entertaining blend of vacationing families as well as hedonistic twenty-somethings. Another of our good ideas was actually booking lodging ahead of time, as we arrived on Friday night. Reviews for Hostal Kundalini mention it is out of town, short walk, and so quieter. Well, kind of. Since that was written it seems town has expanded past this place. And the blaring and dueling sound systems from multiple bars, dance clubs, shacks on the beach, can be heard well into the morning. Glad I packed my ear plugs. The “official” music ends around 4am. But other hostal guests continue their partying and playing music of their own until 7am. So, sleep has been in fitful stages.

Happily our itinerary is low key and has no real demands on us until we need to catch a bus on Tuesday. We wander around town. The streets are lined with actual stores and then more mobile vendors, set up in booths and tables, or just walking around carrying a board of jewelry or sunglasses. My favorite thing is all the mobile bars. The streets are lined with tables, each full of liquor bottles, fresh fruit, and one blender. There are easily ten or more of these, on each side of each Street. Not sure how they all sell enough to stay open. Many of the vacationers are Ecuadorian and I am coveting most of the alcoholic slushie drinks being consumed. But I’ve always been risk averse, and I’m just not up for consuming that much unfiltered water. Happily there are two local and cheap and decent enough Ecuadorian beers widely available. A few fancy places have even supplied a frosted glass. That’s Big TIME fancy, when drinking in plastic chairs along the beach.

There must be a special word for a group of pelicans. They can’t just have flocks, can they? In any case, these are some of the largest pelican groups I’ve seen. 20+birds all flying together.

It’s been overcast, as expected this time of year, but at a humid 82*, that’s fine by me. The ocean is delightful for wading. Lots of surfers, wide variety of skill levels so great fun to watch.

When we tire of wandering through town or drinking on the beach, we can read in one of the hostal’s many hammocks. Life is not exactly rough. Our biggest decisions have been where to eat lunch or dinner. (A decent breakfast is included). We even found a place that made amazing crepes for dessert last night.

While empanadas are not widely available here, I do fear I may eat so many plantains that I turn into one. (There are worse fates). At breakfast you can get a side of mashed plantain mixed with cheese. It’s a lovely starchy cheesy thing that soaks up the egg yolk beautifully. And, of course, the fried plantains (platanos) are lovely, especially dipped in hot sauce. And let’s not forget our friend the sweet plantain for a more sugary banana related experience. *laughs*

I think taking a cool shower mid-day in a really muggy climate may be my new favorite thing. It was a pure joy in the Amazon, returning sweaty after a morning hike to the shower. But it’s equally lovely here, no strenuous jungle trek required. And our place has one of those rain shower showerheads. The best!

Traveling with a Kindle instead of real books has been a dream. “The Martian” by Andy Weir is flipping phenomenal. I laughed aloud often. The tone and sarcasm felt just like my best pals. And it’s a harrowing story, as well, that does a good job of not getting too bogged down in the tech of staying alive when stranded on Mars. “Code Name Verity” was also great. Following some plucky young British pilots during WWII. And get this twist?!? They are ladies!! *laughs* It’s a solid story and very well told. My third book read so far was just OK. “Keeping the Castle” by somebody or other is Jane Austen-esque. Decent enough way to pass the time, I guess, but nothing memorable or super clever. Didn’t help that it was book-ended by two novels I loved. But you guys, I have so many more books with me… All just in this one device. It’s an embarrassment of choices. I love it!!!! I still prefer the physical reading experience of holding printed pages, but there’s no denying the convenience. Yay technology!!

I’ve never done an international trio with this much down time (there are generally so many agenda items to check off the list), but this is brilliant. While repeating the 24 hrs process of flying back home (thanks, mileage flight plan) won’t be a picnic, it’s lovely to combine a relaxing kind of vacation with an exploring new worlds kind of vacation. *fingers crossed* Might return from my travels physically refreshed as well as emotionally sated. Yay.

Also, we finally found a cat for Erin to befriend. It was one of those felines who starts drooling as soon as it purrs, so I had no qualms letting her get all the kitty time. Ha. It quite enjoyed sharing the hammock with her for over an hour. Beach life. Gotta love it.

Some observations:

There is an openenglish.com commercial with two astronauts dancing on the moon. I swear they are singing “boom boom on the moon.” If you can find it online, the jingle is super catchy. Now that I’m back home, here is the link: https://youtu.be/BESVoGopxvU

Produce vendors through out Ecuador tend to create amazing towers and pyramids with their fruit and veg. Haven’t found an unobtrusive way to photograph it yet, but I’m enjoying it immensely.

Cuenca is a very cool city. Great graffiti art. Lovely river to walk along. Actually the whole city is very walkable, with architecture spanning at least 5 centuries. And while I know it’s the wrong country, many ornate balconies perfect for Evita to address her people.

I’ll never understand bathroom designers who set up the toilet facing the mirror. Is this a view many people are seeking?

The view of the red rooftops of the city’s old Town from our hotel room is great. Gonna send a phone photo of the display from my camera to be uploaded here. Quality is probably terrible but gives an idea. And also a photo from this afternoon where the fog is so thick, you can’t see any of the surrounding mountains. PS. No photos yet? Check back in 24 hours

Ha! Erin, looking out the window, just asked, “Holy cow! Is that a real nun or a nun statue?” Turns out it’s a statue in the schoolyard.

Saw three young priests in their cassocks walking down the street eating ice cream cones. Very endearing.

Explored the Pumapungo (sp ?) Incan ruins in town. And there were llamas!!!! Great way to keep the lawn mown, especially considering all the steep hillsides. I’m also including a fuzzy photo of my new best friend. Please to choose the llama-related meme of your generation (llama llama duck song. Or Monty Python sketch. You can find both online easily) .

If you don’t put up the “do not disturb” sign, hotel staff will pound on your door at 7:00am and offer you a cup of coffee when you finally see what’s going on.

Cuenca has some unusually attractive pigeons. Lots of unusual colorings, including white heads, some blue greens, and lovely shades of brown mixed in with more standard shades of grey pigeons. Plus, haven’t noticed any with the messed up feet many Seattle pigeons possess.

Also, hoping this doesn’t make me a bad person, but I was a tad sad that my housekeeping gratuities have not caused them to leave us any more of the tasty coffee/chocolate “welcome” truffles left for us the 1st night. I mean, it’s not a bribe. I always tip housekeeping well and don’t expect anything special in return. But I did have some truffle shaped hopes that were dashed this afternoon. Guess we’ll have to console ourselves with gelato.

Busing through the Andes is a trip!! Some of the landscape has been beyond spectacular.  Great people watching.  Sometimes not the most physically comfortable thing,  but all part of the adventure.

Day one had us take a 4 hour bus from Quito to Banos. The new bus terminal is very snazzy.  We were successfully profiled,  carrying our giant backpacks, and the ticket sellers from the 4 bus lines that go to the Tungurahu volcano area all started shouting “Banos” and waving frantically at us.  The sweet older woman who sold us our seats gave a decent pantomime reminder to keep our packs on our laps for safety.  (if you put them at your feet,  there have been instances of folks crawling under seats and slicing open bags). This bus was ALL ABOUT Jesus. There were stickers and decals everywhere,  including on our only window, a tiny corner job.

So I got to see the Andes unfold through the eponymous Christ’s visage. (I hope Reagan can upload the photo I sent her). We’d asked for seats upfront hoping a good view would help with any motion sickness.  Unfortunately the front seats just face a giant reflective wall behind the driver.  Oh well.  There is also a TV screen,  which showed a dubbed version of “Taken 2.” I can honestly say I don’t think I needed the dialogue to follow the Taken sequel.

Banos is in a lovely valley.  We stayed in hostal Chimenea, which is near the sacred hot springs and water falls (and only $20 for a private room and private bath.  Bring your own soap and TP, but they did provide towels).  Being Sunday it was packed with families.  Also, being a backpacker/adventure town, there are folks riding dune buggies, ATVs and mountain bikes through town… Presumably on their way to a nearby trail, but who knows. Dinner at Cafe Swiss which is embracing its theme….cows, fondue, and chocolate.  Then off to the hot spring baths.  They close at 4pm to drain the 3 pools (hot,  cold,  and medium) and reopen at 6pm. We realized this was going to be crowded when we saw the giant line at 6:15pm. Had to rent bathing caps ($0.50). Then into an already crowded “hot” pool, filled with the volcanic spring water. Smaller than most swimming pools but bigger than a hot tub (Erin says maybe 12′ x 20′ or 25′). After about ten minutes of a very hot, but pleasant hot, soak, we were now sharing a bath with 200 people.  This definitely was a locals spot.  Maybe ten obvious turistas and us.  Banos is a vacation spot for Ecuadorians,  too. The view of the town at night was lovely, as were the waterfalls next to us… We could see the pipes collecting waterfall water for the cold pool. But it was impossible to move about, so I skipped dipping into the cold and then running back to the warm,  as I’m not sure I COULD have found a space in the hot pool.  The warm pools downstairs were basically hot tub sized and all crowded as well.  Erin declared herself done,  mentioning that hot tubs with strangers after skiing also involves drinking.  This, not so much. But we can say we did it,  and it definitely wasn’t just a silly tourist trap,  but a legit local enjoyment.  There was some great people watching. I especially loved the grandmas in swimsuit with ruffles and frills. Went back to the hostal to shower,  and then ended the evening with chocolate fondue.  Yay. During our time in Banos, there was always a bit of cloud cover at the top of the mountains so we never saw the volcano steaming. She’s been pretty active for the last few months. Everyone assured me that she hasn’t had a lava eruption in years. Mostly steam, and a bad ash cloud every few years. But they kept saying that, if lava did flow, it always flows down the other side, so the town and the main road are perfectly safe. This is probably geological hogwash, but I chose to believe it for the 20 hours we were in town. *smile*

Our original loose itinerary had us spending two nights in Banos and then the 8 hour bus to Cuenca. But fellow travelers suggested one day in Banos would be plenty,  unless we wanted to do adventure sports.  And while quizzing folks,  some suggested we stop at Riobamba for the night.  It was only 2.5 hr bus ride, but on some of the twistiest mountain roads, and I’m pretty sure our driver was exceeding the 90km bus speed limit. Wooo! Met an older pair of American ladies at the terminal who had gotten on the wrong bus that morning from Quito, ending up 4 hours in the wrong direction.  Yikes. But I can see how it could happen. They had good spirits about it.

Riobamba is known for having some kind of special train (it’s the steepest track run, I think, but can’t be bothered to look it up). You may correctly surmise from my lack of enthusiasm that we did not take a train ride. But it was nice to have a day with no agenda. Wandered town. Did some window shopping. Had one liter of sangria with lunch. Then found a park with giant animal statues. It was a good day. Our hotel also seemed very nice and a good bargain ($24) until Erin pointed out, right before bed, that the 4″ dirt or paint smudge on the wall near my headboard was mold, and that there was a different type of mold in the corner floor by my bed. Blech. Spent a few minutes trying to sleep without breathing. Still, everything else seemed very clean. AND they provided hand soap and TP. #Fancy

Today was our long bus ride of 6 hours to Cuenca. It had the most gorgeous views. And I am so glad we broke up the 8 hours with the Riobamba stop because, for the final hour, my back hurt, my butt was numb, and I had to pee like a racehorse. No bathroom breaks on these trips, but local vendors do stop on and off, hawking homemade potato chips, baked goods, ice cream, etc. A massive road construction project delayed us further (everyone starts honking pretty frequently at these. Doesn’t seem to encourage the flaggers (hombres con banderas) to let their side go any more quickly, however. Our last bus driver was super aggressive in overtaking slow vehicles, crossing double yellow lines approaching blind corners. I just shut my eyes sometimes. Or would look out the side windows (no Jesus decal in the way this time). Flipping gorgeous landscape. Many folks here seem to tether their cows, rather than fence them. They’re all on leashes around their horns, tied to a stake in the ground.

Now we’re in Cuenca, a major city in the Southern Andes. Looking forward to some gorgeous colonial architecture and museums. There are some supposedly good Salsa clubs nearby. If the weather cooperates, we may tour the nearby national park. Right now the weather app says thunderstorms, in which case we’ll stick to more indoor activities.
We booked our hotel two days ago online. There was a pretty amazing web special running. So we’ve upgraded from clean private rooms in hostals to a 4 star hotel. At check in, there was some mixup and they didn’t have a room with two twin beds, just one double bed. But as we’re staying midweek they’d already upgraded us to the Presidential Suite. Giant bathroom. King size bed. Desk area. Fancy pants. I hope sharing the bed works well, but if not, they will have a two twin bed room available for our next two nights. The adventure continues. We’ve crossed the halfway mark several days ago. Now we’re in the winding down final third of the trip. Although I did see a travel agency sign in Riobamba for $350 flights to Santiago and had a mini dream about staying for another several weeks to see more of South America. But it was only fleeting. #wistful

We’re back in Quito, safe and sound. Off to the Saturday market in Otavalo tomorrow. We have to leave early in the morning because an earthquake a few months ago damaged the main road there, and the detour route takes 3 hours. Ugh. Still, after our busy 5 days in the jungle, we are quite used to early mornings. I think our latest sleep-in morning was a 5:30am alarm. We did see several more monkeys over the days, loads more birds. Some caiman on a night canoe paddle, including one that was 7 feet long. A real monster. Had no idea they could get as large as crocodiles. Went piranha fishing. Well, tried to. I ended up doing more piranha feeding, as they’d nibble the meat off the hook, but not get stuck. Almost got one on the boat but it broke free… Was too small to keep and cook for dinner anyways. One of our guides caught a lovely catfish but it managed to jump off the canoe and swim away. Points for the catfish, I say.

Had an afternoon where we toured the school that the Sani Lodge dollars support. Then we had about 45 minutes to kill before some of the women cooked us a delicious local lunch. So we wandered the community farm and turtle raising project and more farm. Geranio was running out of things to tell us, and we were all melting in the Equator’s noonday sun, the 8 of us trying to squeeze into meager shade patches behind palm fronds or whatnot, not able to get too close to the trees as they’re often covered in ants. Geranio, running out of words, came up with “and here we have…another jungle plant.” Lordy, that could be the subtitle of our trip. Ha. Although it generally was interesting learning all the different uses for plants along our hikes. A large percentage seemed to deal with bedwetting, enough that we speculated whether this was truly that big a deal in the indigenous community or if it had just been a big deal in Gerry’s family. 🙂

Lunch included plantains, manioc, white fish steamed in palm leaves with fresh heart of palm. Yum. And yes, I tried some of the cooked grubs. They were actually quite good. Salty and crunchy and a bit fatty… Not unlike bacon. But I’ll admit I had a hard time biting into them when looking directly at it. Do a Web image search for Ecuador grubs and you’ll see why. Those suckers are U-G-L-Y!!! and quite large. If they’d been smaller it would have been easier. I found the best method was to not look and tear a bit off with my fingers and pop it in my mouth. I got through 1.5 of them, and tried to hide the uneaten half under a plantain skin. *smile* While it was offered, no one in the group was willing to bite into a raw alive one. *shudder*

One of my favorite moments came from a delightful misunderstanding. We’re all seated single file in the canoe, heading out one morning. Erin is the best and would carry the day pack, as I’m busy concentrating on my canoe dismount technique. I’d like to think it improved, as we had to take a canoe to get anywhere, and there were two to three trips a day. Not sure if I actually improved or just started feeling more comfortable. In any case, she was at the very front this morn, and I was at the far back. So had to holler up the line asking her to pass back the sunscreen from the bag, and it was handed off one by one to me. Then Vernon, being cheeky, asks, “Erin, can you pass back the chocolate?” Her reply: “He’s currently rowing the boat.” Guffaws all around as Geranio’s ears turned a delightful shade of pink (but I think it was a pleased sort of embarrassment). Erin tries to explain that she meant, because Gerry’s currently paddling, he can’t pass back the chocolate he keeps in his bag for a mid-hike snack. But I’m not sure the group accepted that explanation. *laughs*

This morning was a bit eventful, as the engines died on the bigger boat that takes us the 3 hours up the Napo River, only about 25 minutes into our journey. At least there weren’t waves (just the occasional wake from other boats) as we were fully dead in the water for about ten minutes. Then limped along to the next dock. Borrowed some tools and the guys went to work trying to fix the thing. And more and more guys come over, offering unsolicited advice as they stare at the engine bits spread on the sand. Our guide was SWEATING bullets because we had a 10:15am flight out of Coca, but we were all in good spirits about it. The others didn’t fly home to the UK until tomorrow and Erin and I have no set plans until we fly home in ten days. It was super chaotic when our repaired boat finally arrived late, and it was a mad dash to the airport. Luckily our flight was delayed by over 1.5 hours so we actually made it.

Well, I was just going to do a brief “we’re still alive” update, but y’all can see how not great I am at brevity. About as good as getting out of canoes, probably. 😛

No big deal, just using WiFi in the frigging Amazon rain forest. This world we live in is a constant wonder. When we arrived at the lodge yesterday afternoon, I counted eleven of the twenty four people using their smart phones immediately. That did make me a bit sad, as this place is breathtaking. I will attempt to upload a photo of the black lagoon where our Lodge resides. It was a 4 hour boat ride up the Napo river, then 15 minute hike, and a 20 minute paddle canoe. It’s spectacular.

While the lodge area has a total of 24 guests spread out in the cabins, we’re divided into much smaller groups with a guide and naturalist. Our group is 6, Erin & I, along with an older English couple, & their son and his wife, who are our age. They’re delightful and we really lucked out, because we could’ve been stuck with real duds for these 4 days.

We’ve seen so many amazing birds (and long time followers of mine will know that the birds must be pretty amazing for me to care). Lots of turtles. Tons of bugs. Erin, not the biggest bug fan, did remarkably well when she opened our curtain this morning to discover a fairly large brown tarantula on the inside of our screen. I have named her Matilda. About 9 people, in dribs and drabs, left breakfast to go see her. We should have charged admission. Also, I gave James (the 30 yr old in our group) a deserved bit of hell. After he comes back from seeing Matilda, he astonishedly says, “That’s a real tarantula.” “Did you think we were lying?” “No, but I thought you must’ve seen a large spider and overreacted” *cue my indignation* Esp after he and I shared stories about University biology classes yesterday.

We had a 3.5 hour hike early this morning. The rain forest jungle, while similar to others I’ve visited, had some really striking differences. One of which was the deep variety of smells, not all pleasant, but all interesting. I don’t remember that from jungles in SE Asia or central America. I mean they all often have a pleasant vegetable and decay smell. Decay isn’t the right word, as that sounds unpleasant, and this is a very green earthy scent.

A wide variety of parrots were out in force this morning. Creaky parrot noises, flying in mated pairs, or threesomes (that the guide maintains is parents and child, but I’m not so sure there isn’t the odd poly parrot family). The blue and yellow macaws are enormous and so regal with their long tails. I did not bring my large zoom camera this trip, so there may not be as many avian photos. But there were great.

We did see some howler monkeys from very very far away. But did not see any primates on our hike. Geranio (our guide. His name means geranium) made the joke that we’d accidentally put on monkey spray instead of bug spray. Wocka Wocka. And I was internally resigning myself to the fact that this isn’t a zoo, and seeing mammals especially is hit or miss. But on our 40 minute paddle back from the hike, a sizable troop of Squirrel monkeys marched past. Jumping from trees on the left bank to the right. It was very very cool.

Some of y’all may remember I was nervous about the canoe dismount, as it were, because I’ve got terrible balance. In truth, none of me was designed for this environment. Between my wonky legs/wide stance, fear of slippery hills, extreme sun sensitivity, there are moments on the hike when I wonder what the eff I’m even doing here. But then the trail turns a corner, revealing something amazing, and I determine I do have the wherewithal to keep going. *smile* also, I’m writing this AFTER seeing monkeys and after a cold shower and change of clothes, with a frosty “Club” beer in front of me. It’s the Ecuadorian national beer.

This afternoon we’ll be going up a very tall canopy tree tour. And possibly a night time paddle tour to look for Caiman (related to crocodiles).

Also, it’s fricking hot hot hot. This equatorial sun is no joke. The Noel Coward “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the mid-day sun” song did run through my head during our noon canoe back to base camp.

I will attempt to upload two photos. One of the view of the lake from the lodge, and one of Bob, a resident bird. His wife’s name is Marley but she is more shy.

Man, the altitude in Quito is NOT playing around. And yes, it’s actually 9,400feet but pretty sure my lungs are rounding up. This may be shocking to some of you, but I am not a mountain climber. Ha. And having a college roomie date a climber only exposed me to a ton of climbing books and films (“Touching the Void” is a fantastic and harrowing read, btw). There is definitely no latent mountain goat gene in me. It’s wild, from an observational perspective, to find oneself winded easily. I’ve given my lungs a good pep talk, as it’s 3 flights of stairs to our room. Which is lovely.

Having a Sunday as our “wander around” day has been brilliant. As it’s a day for familia, the squares are full of laughter and kids and street performers and dogs, most of whom are wearing clothes. The dogs, I mean. Obviously the people wear clothes too. you get it). Hard to not buy delicious looking homemade ice cream from Street vendors. But if we’re going to play fast and loose with food safety, risking bacteria in the water, better to do that after our 5 days in the Amazon.

Cathedrals, museums, art gallery, lots to see in Old Town. We inadvertently found the red light district, so that was great people watching, as well. Those ladies, and some likely gentlemen as ladies, were working some insane shoes at 2pm on a sunny Sunday.

The equatorial sun is also not playing around. Even when cloudy, gonna have to be extra careful about sunscreen. Such is the life of a gal with extreme sun sensitivity. Guess that Meyers lady was right about the Pacific Northwest weather being beneficial for creatures who must avoid the sun. Gotta say, as awful as my sun rash can be, it’s still way better than being a glitter vampire.

Tomorrow we take a short flight to the east. Then 3-4 hr boat ride into Amazonas, and 20 minute canoe to our black water lagoon (with caiman & piranha). Wooo!!

I am defeated by titles. The idea of titling a post feels like a crucial blogging step that I must get correct, and yet I write stream-of-consciousness and never really discover/solidify my thesis until the end (and sometimes not even then). Anyhoo, in three hours I leave for the airport, where I’ll have three hours to wait for my flight, followed by 3 hour layovers in both Cincinnati and Atlanta. It’ll take a little over 24 hours to reach Quito, Ecuador. (For the record, this flight pattern is abnormally long because we used miles to book the flight. If one were to pay real dollars for a flight, you could get there in 12-14 hours with only one connection). All of this anticipated airport waiting time had me leaning towards a “grey speckled walls”-themed title. But I’m pretty sure less than 10% of you guys follow the Vlogbrothers on youtube, and so the reference would be lost (and it wasn’t even that clever in the first place). For those who care, here is one of the John Green videos in which he reports from an airport, in front of the ubiquitous grey speckled walls. http://youtu.be/rxbxPIRAQts

I’ve packed, unpacked, and repacked my bags now. I may not have pared it down to the ideal combination of items, but I set up a self-imposed “repacking ban” an hour ago, because second-guessing (and third and fourth-guessing) can lead to madness.

Anyone else think this stockphoto lady has a weird baby’s foot? I mean, look at it. I’m sure it’s just perspective, but it’s starting to freak me out the more I stare at it. (or maybe not. Having worn size 11 shoes since the 6th grade, maybe half the population has weird and off-putting baby feet and I’ve just never noticed before now? Why do I get the feeling that the airport people watching may be more foot-centric than usual?).

Keeping my fingers crossed but it looks like none of our flights are affected by the fire at Chicago’s O’Hare this morning. *phew* And, two hours after packing my mini cribbage board and playing cards, Erin sent me a text asking if I know how to play cribbage. So that’s all working out nicely.  Ecuador has been next on my dream adventure travel list for five years. I mentioned it in December during a larger chat about travel. The next week I got an email: “soooo…how serious are you about wanting to travel this fall? :D” We planned through the spring and were confirmed by June. I just can’t quite believe that it’s really real, this thing that’s been percolating in my brain for so long now. Since I can’t worry about packing anymore, guess I’ll return to obsessively using Duolingo to try to learn Spanish. Adios amigos!

3 days before I depart for Ecuador and a wistful offhand comment to my sister about a travel blog results in this beautiful thing. I’m tickled beyond words, but you’ll likely NOT be surprised that that won’t stop me from writing something. *laughs* I’m in last-minute panic mode, where my excitement and anxiety have merged into a fairly constant high-pitched “eeeeeeeeee” noise in my brain. And now, presented with this lovely blog, I’m frozen. (Oh lordy, now that awful One Direction song is stuck in my head. http://youtu.be/aGhN7P5LZmA?t=58s ). If I were serious about “driving traffic” here (which I’m not), I’d have included “Let it Go” from Frozen, rather than One Direction. I mean, the One Direction guys still have a dedicated tween following, but “Frozen” somehow took over the entire universe. I digress. Which will happen constantly. Consider yourself warned.

In years past, during many of my travel adventures, I’ve emailed short journal updates home. (Now I’m sure some family and pals are scoffing at my use of “short” there. And they may be right *smile*). In any case, for this trip my hope is to use this site to share snippets of our journey.

It will be a learning process, as I’ve no real experience with WordPress, and it will be often dependent upon internet access and our schedule. Although the Sani Lodge in Yasuni National Park in the Amazon Rain Forest (so many capital letters!!) says they have Wi-Fi, which blows my mind. Oh my goodness, guys. The lodge just updated their website this week. It looks super sharp and fancy now. Here, check it out: http://www.sanilodge.com/index.php

Posts will probably be mostly text, as I really prefer to edit my photos before posting them, and don’t want to spend that much time in front of a computer while on my travels.

P.S. If this were my old geocities site, The A-Team’s theme song midi would be on auto-play in the background. Here, to wet your metaphorical whistle, http://youtu.be/NJof_m7D4Ag?t=3s