March 11, 2012. 10:02 pm. Guayaquil.
We have decided this hotel is a vacation from our vacation. We are spending a lot of time in our room. We did manage to get out a couple of times though. This morning we went to the Malacon and walked in the other direction (South) because we saw there was a mercado artisanal (artist market) in that direction. We left at 10:30 but it was already so hot. After a couple of km, we found the market. It was unspectacular. Yes, I bought a bag, but a tiny one (just in case my pen explodes again...).
We had a Sweet & Coffee (a coffee shop) ham and cheese sandwich and coffee (of course) for breakfast. After the 'mercado' we headed back to the hotel but we found a local market. The artist's market was about 10 stores, the local market must have been 500 stores. Fortunately, we don't need plastic buckets, kids clothes, pet supplies, knock off shoes or other daily products. So no purchases there.
We saw a church steeple as we walked back so we went there; if there is a church, I must photograph it - I think it is an illness (genetically lapsed Catholicism??). The church was pretty but the awesome part was the square out front. It was full (FULL!) of iguanas. (It was like the Bolivian tree lizards had invaded Springfield and nobody was importing Chinese Needle Snakes to deal with them). People were touching them and feeding them. I wasn't too keen to make contact and Val outright hated it - not a lizard fan apparently.
Anyway, we got back to the room at around 2. Then it started raining a bit so we watched TV and I uploaded some pictures to the Otavalo post.
At around 6 the rain had stopped and our movie ended so we headed out for sandwiches. But the sandwich place was closed so I convinced Val to head to the touristy area called Santa Ana. But it is hilly. Here is where I discovered that I hate stairs more than I like dinner. There are (famously) 444 stairs to the top of Santa Ana. So we turned around and headed back to Avenida 9 Octobre. When we had left the hotel, there was a faint rumbling of thunder and the occasional distant flash of lightning. We knew it was going to start to rain again but we risked it and walked the 45 minutes back to Americaville. By the time we got there, I was so hungry (all we had for lunch was some pan dulce and a coke from the lobby) we contemplated Pizza Hut. But the pies were almost $20 so that definitely wasn't a go. Then we found a Chinese place. There isn't a lot open on a Sunday here. So we each ordered a $3 plate to go and hightailed it back to the hotel. It was definitely raining as we got to our street. It started to really pour (full tilt thunder and lightning too) a few minutes after we got inside. We watched it come down as we ate our Chinese. Good timing.
One more day of rest (slackassery) and then we are back on the vacation migration again. We leave for Galapagos first thing the morning of the 13th and I doubt very much we can post while we are there so I will post this tomorrow night. But now I am going to bed. Left over Chinese for breakfast unless the ants get to it first (I said it was a nice hotel, I didn't say it was clean).
March 12. 7:57 pm. Guayaquil.
We had a much busier day today. Val finished her book and I am almost finished the Onion Field so we had to find new material for our boat trip. Seven days without a book is too much to contemplate. We checked the LP book and Trip Advisor and both said that we had to go to the mall for an English book. It cost us $4 for a cab. The mall was just like a North American mall. Overpriced shoes, clothes and housewares. It was fun to window shop but we had a mission: to find Mr. Book (actual name of the bookstore). Mr. Book had a whole corner dedicated to English novels but it was the weirdest selection. And they seems to be priced by height. Pocket books were the cheapest (the shortest) at $8. So we each bought one novel. A Tammy Hoag and a James Clavell. That should be enough considering all of the Sulidae online comments say they keep the guests pretty busy.
After a coffee, we left the mall and headed to Santa Ana. Val's calf is much better but she doesn't want to push it but she figured she could do part of it. LP assured us that there were restaurants up there and we needed lunch. Plus, the weather was holding up. Last night we knew it was going to rain and we didn't want to get stuck 444 steps away from the nearest taxi. So up we went. But it turned out that either it was too early for the restaurants (1pm) or nothing is open on Monday because nothing was open. Val decided to bail at about step 178. Knowing that there will be swimming and volcano climbing for the next seven days, she didn't want to bully her leg into anything it wasn't comfortable with. But, fool that I am (and the camera holder), I pressed on. There is a lighthouse at the top which promised some very good views.
St. Ana is an interesting neighbourhood. I'm sure it used to be slums since it is only accessible by stairs. But now the houses are all spiffied up and painted bright colours. In fact, many of the buildings have pictures posted of what they used to look like - generally mud brick shacks. I can only imagine what happened to the property values. I wonder if the original poor people were assisted to upgrade or just booted to the next hill.
The stairs were pretty easy (haha - it's ok, I am saying it not a tour guide), nicely spaced. I made it to the top (stair 444) and then climbed the lighthouse too. And, promise held up - the view was wonderful. There was also a little church at the top of the hill and a museum (which I didn't visit) with some original fort ruins (which I did). New bird sitting on the ruins (saffron finch).
Then back down to retrieve Val from her shady perch. Then we headed back along the Malecon and had lunch at the same restaurant where we saw the heron last time. Believe it or not, this time there was a yellow-crowned night heron (juvenile). It's a good restaurant and the food is ok too. After lunch we headed back to our room. And again, it started to rain just as we reached our hotel. But this time, it didn't develop into anything serious.
After a rest and a rehydrate (again, I will mention it is freakin' hot here), I decided to find the cemetery I had noticed from the cab in the morning. Strangely, Val didn't' want to come. It turned out to only be about 8 blocks away. Getting to the street was no problem. But it was on the other side of a highway and it was busy. I started to figure that you had to die on the road to visit your dearly departed (no irony there). Eventually I discovered I could skootch under an raised overpass to get to the other side.
Then I had to get past the guard. He wanted to know what I wanted to do there? Visit. Visit who? Ummm, the graves. Why? To visit, respectfully. He then insisted that I don't take any pictures. He even checked my bag. Fortunately, my camera was in its case and under some other stuff. So I promised that I wouldn't take any pictures, I wouldn't bother any people, living or dead. He let me in. From the road, I had seen a lovely little treed graveyard but the gate was locked. I had hoped that I could access it through the mausoleums but not such luck. It was closed off. Multi-story above ground graves (like tiny apartments for the dead) are not very interesting and certainly not the beautiful spaces I have come to expect. But since I had insisted to the guard that I wanted to visit, I kind of had to stay a little bit. So I wandered in the other direction, where I did find a some more interesting headstones.
Of course, I had promised not to take pictures, so of course I took pictures. I am a bad anthropologist but I would have been a good anthropologist in 1936. But I had to hide behind things and skulk around suspiciously. There was another guard at the photo worthy end. The problem was that there were all of these graveyard cats but they were in full view of the guard. I really wanted a picture of the cats sitting on graves. So, I most respectfully asked the guard if I could take a picture of the cats, just the cats (I am going to hell, photos of graves and lying - two sins). He was very nice and said it was fine. Then he asked if I wanted one more of the walkway. Yes, please, are you sure?? It's ok, he said that he said so. So, a final picture of the entrance. He then told me I would get killed if I stayed there after dark. I can take a hint (not a very subtle hint) so I left. Picked up some sandwiches on the way back.
It was a rough day on my stuff apparently. When I got to the room, I discovered I had a blow out in my capris. After a total Frankenstein patch job, I noticed that my watch was falling apart. A dozen tiny strips of duct take applied. It may hold until we have to leave. The battery holder on my camera is looking pretty tired too but so far that is holding.
Anyway, I checked online and it seems there are a few locations (mostly docks?) that have Wi-Fi on Galapagos so I may be able to post but don't hold your breath. If not, I will update from Quito, we have a 6 hour break between the flight back from the boat and the overnight bus departure to the Amazon trip.
Wish us luck (and gravol).
We have decided this hotel is a vacation from our vacation. We are spending a lot of time in our room. We did manage to get out a couple of times though. This morning we went to the Malacon and walked in the other direction (South) because we saw there was a mercado artisanal (artist market) in that direction. We left at 10:30 but it was already so hot. After a couple of km, we found the market. It was unspectacular. Yes, I bought a bag, but a tiny one (just in case my pen explodes again...).
We had a Sweet & Coffee (a coffee shop) ham and cheese sandwich and coffee (of course) for breakfast. After the 'mercado' we headed back to the hotel but we found a local market. The artist's market was about 10 stores, the local market must have been 500 stores. Fortunately, we don't need plastic buckets, kids clothes, pet supplies, knock off shoes or other daily products. So no purchases there.
We saw a church steeple as we walked back so we went there; if there is a church, I must photograph it - I think it is an illness (genetically lapsed Catholicism??). The church was pretty but the awesome part was the square out front. It was full (FULL!) of iguanas. (It was like the Bolivian tree lizards had invaded Springfield and nobody was importing Chinese Needle Snakes to deal with them). People were touching them and feeding them. I wasn't too keen to make contact and Val outright hated it - not a lizard fan apparently.
 |
| A non-Iguana interloper |
 |
| The church |
Anyway, we got back to the room at around 2. Then it started raining a bit so we watched TV and I uploaded some pictures to the Otavalo post.
At around 6 the rain had stopped and our movie ended so we headed out for sandwiches. But the sandwich place was closed so I convinced Val to head to the touristy area called Santa Ana. But it is hilly. Here is where I discovered that I hate stairs more than I like dinner. There are (famously) 444 stairs to the top of Santa Ana. So we turned around and headed back to Avenida 9 Octobre. When we had left the hotel, there was a faint rumbling of thunder and the occasional distant flash of lightning. We knew it was going to start to rain again but we risked it and walked the 45 minutes back to Americaville. By the time we got there, I was so hungry (all we had for lunch was some pan dulce and a coke from the lobby) we contemplated Pizza Hut. But the pies were almost $20 so that definitely wasn't a go. Then we found a Chinese place. There isn't a lot open on a Sunday here. So we each ordered a $3 plate to go and hightailed it back to the hotel. It was definitely raining as we got to our street. It started to really pour (full tilt thunder and lightning too) a few minutes after we got inside. We watched it come down as we ate our Chinese. Good timing.
One more day of rest (slackassery) and then we are back on the vacation migration again. We leave for Galapagos first thing the morning of the 13th and I doubt very much we can post while we are there so I will post this tomorrow night. But now I am going to bed. Left over Chinese for breakfast unless the ants get to it first (I said it was a nice hotel, I didn't say it was clean).
March 12. 7:57 pm. Guayaquil.
We had a much busier day today. Val finished her book and I am almost finished the Onion Field so we had to find new material for our boat trip. Seven days without a book is too much to contemplate. We checked the LP book and Trip Advisor and both said that we had to go to the mall for an English book. It cost us $4 for a cab. The mall was just like a North American mall. Overpriced shoes, clothes and housewares. It was fun to window shop but we had a mission: to find Mr. Book (actual name of the bookstore). Mr. Book had a whole corner dedicated to English novels but it was the weirdest selection. And they seems to be priced by height. Pocket books were the cheapest (the shortest) at $8. So we each bought one novel. A Tammy Hoag and a James Clavell. That should be enough considering all of the Sulidae online comments say they keep the guests pretty busy.
After a coffee, we left the mall and headed to Santa Ana. Val's calf is much better but she doesn't want to push it but she figured she could do part of it. LP assured us that there were restaurants up there and we needed lunch. Plus, the weather was holding up. Last night we knew it was going to rain and we didn't want to get stuck 444 steps away from the nearest taxi. So up we went. But it turned out that either it was too early for the restaurants (1pm) or nothing is open on Monday because nothing was open. Val decided to bail at about step 178. Knowing that there will be swimming and volcano climbing for the next seven days, she didn't want to bully her leg into anything it wasn't comfortable with. But, fool that I am (and the camera holder), I pressed on. There is a lighthouse at the top which promised some very good views.
St. Ana is an interesting neighbourhood. I'm sure it used to be slums since it is only accessible by stairs. But now the houses are all spiffied up and painted bright colours. In fact, many of the buildings have pictures posted of what they used to look like - generally mud brick shacks. I can only imagine what happened to the property values. I wonder if the original poor people were assisted to upgrade or just booted to the next hill.
Santa Ana on the way up:
The stairs and the top of the hill (church and lighthouse):
 |
| First step |
 |
| The last step (444) until you ascend the lighthouse, that is. |
 |
| The church of Santa Ana, from the top of the lighthouse |
 |
| more stairs. |
 |
| proof that I made it to the top |
 |
| The lighthouse |
 |
| The ruins of the original fort. |
 |
| Saffron Finch |
Then back down to retrieve Val from her shady perch. Then we headed back along the Malecon and had lunch at the same restaurant where we saw the heron last time. Believe it or not, this time there was a yellow-crowned night heron (juvenile). It's a good restaurant and the food is ok too. After lunch we headed back to our room. And again, it started to rain just as we reached our hotel. But this time, it didn't develop into anything serious.
After a rest and a rehydrate (again, I will mention it is freakin' hot here), I decided to find the cemetery I had noticed from the cab in the morning. Strangely, Val didn't' want to come. It turned out to only be about 8 blocks away. Getting to the street was no problem. But it was on the other side of a highway and it was busy. I started to figure that you had to die on the road to visit your dearly departed (no irony there). Eventually I discovered I could skootch under an raised overpass to get to the other side.
Then I had to get past the guard. He wanted to know what I wanted to do there? Visit. Visit who? Ummm, the graves. Why? To visit, respectfully. He then insisted that I don't take any pictures. He even checked my bag. Fortunately, my camera was in its case and under some other stuff. So I promised that I wouldn't take any pictures, I wouldn't bother any people, living or dead. He let me in. From the road, I had seen a lovely little treed graveyard but the gate was locked. I had hoped that I could access it through the mausoleums but not such luck. It was closed off. Multi-story above ground graves (like tiny apartments for the dead) are not very interesting and certainly not the beautiful spaces I have come to expect. But since I had insisted to the guard that I wanted to visit, I kind of had to stay a little bit. So I wandered in the other direction, where I did find a some more interesting headstones.
Of course, I had promised not to take pictures, so of course I took pictures. I am a bad anthropologist but I would have been a good anthropologist in 1936. But I had to hide behind things and skulk around suspiciously. There was another guard at the photo worthy end. The problem was that there were all of these graveyard cats but they were in full view of the guard. I really wanted a picture of the cats sitting on graves. So, I most respectfully asked the guard if I could take a picture of the cats, just the cats (I am going to hell, photos of graves and lying - two sins). He was very nice and said it was fine. Then he asked if I wanted one more of the walkway. Yes, please, are you sure?? It's ok, he said that he said so. So, a final picture of the entrance. He then told me I would get killed if I stayed there after dark. I can take a hint (not a very subtle hint) so I left. Picked up some sandwiches on the way back.
The cemetery:
 |
| The mausoleum, there were dozens of halls like this one. |
 |
| The graveyard cats. |
 |
| My 'permitted' photo of the grand entrance to the cemetery |
 |
| This is the locked old cemetery that I couldn't access. I took this and the one below through the fence. |
It was a rough day on my stuff apparently. When I got to the room, I discovered I had a blow out in my capris. After a total Frankenstein patch job, I noticed that my watch was falling apart. A dozen tiny strips of duct take applied. It may hold until we have to leave. The battery holder on my camera is looking pretty tired too but so far that is holding.
Anyway, I checked online and it seems there are a few locations (mostly docks?) that have Wi-Fi on Galapagos so I may be able to post but don't hold your breath. If not, I will update from Quito, we have a 6 hour break between the flight back from the boat and the overnight bus departure to the Amazon trip.
Wish us luck (and gravol).
Your photos are really great, Jo. I think you have a very good eye. Glad to hear you're getting gutsy with photo ops.
ReplyDeletePretty damp there, huh? You might want to consider taking Tinactin orally (despite what it says on the tube). This might ward off the need for chemo on your feet when you get home.