November 3, 2005
Back from Galapagos
When we arrived at the hostel yesterday we were lucky enough to get the last room they had available. As we were checking in another couple came to the door but the owner told them they were booked. It was odd though, the whole place seemed empty.
When we returned to the hostel after dinner there were about 20 kids in the lobby, some finishing up dinner. We learned that besides us, there were two soccer teams from Quito sharing the place. Talking to one of the players this morning we learned that one is a team of 9 year olds, while the other is a team of 14 year-olds. Today the 14 year-olds are playing for the national championship for their age division. I actually remembered seeing something about it in the sports section of the paper yesterday. We got a picture of David, one of the players we met, holding up a picture of the sports section of the paper that announced they were in the finals right before we left the hotel and he headed off to his game.
We arrived at the bus station early to make sure we could get a seat on the overnight bus to Lima. Yesterday when we came to the office it was closed due to the holiday. Luckily we were able to get seats and at 11:30 were on our way to Lima on the top story of a double-decker bus.
The rest of the day that is where we were. We got advice about Lima from the lady next to us who was lived in Miraflores. We also talked judo with a 9 year old Pedro and his mom. They were from Guayaquil and heading down to Lima for the International Judo Championships. Sounded like fun. There was also a nice couple from England on the ride who were also doing the round the world with backpacks for a year. They were just a month into their journey as their first stop was South America.
Crossing the border was relatively easy. Customs in Lima took quite a while but in the waiting room they had the movie Blood Sport on TV which made it go quick. Before long we were asleep in our recliner bus seats, ready to explore yet another country.
Posted by Peter Mork at 1:19 PM | Comments | TrackBack
October 25, 2005
Updating the Site
Today was one of those days where we lock ourselves in an internet café and try to update the site as much as possible. We did have a chance to make it back over to IEEP. We got to talk with everyone again. They lent us some books we could read during our trip to the Galapagos. I took a copy of Carlos Montaner’s La Libertad y Sus Enimigos, while they lent Emily a copy of Atlas Shrugged.
We will return in one week and while it will be a holiday for the rest of the employees, we plan on stopping by to say goodbye to Dora and Enrique. They are also kindly going to try to put us in touch with contacts in Peru, Chile, and Argentina. It really adds so much to our trip and I couldn’t thank them enough for all the hospitality they have shown us.
Tonight we had a crab dinner on the Malecon. It was all you can eat crab and all you can drink beer for $9.99… not bad at all. Less than one crab into the meal the waiter could see I had no idea what I was doing and so he came over and taught me the proper way to eat a crab. I had no idea there was so much to it.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel. Tomorrow it is off to the Galapagos.
Posted by Peter Mork at 7:22 AM | Comments | TrackBack
October 24, 2005
Instiuto Ecuadoriano Economia y Politica
This morning after breakfast we headed to an internet café to catch up on some email. A little before noon I called Dora Ampuero, who runs the Instituto Ecuadoriano Economia y Politica. It is the biggest free-market think tank in Ecuador and she was expecting my call as Vladimir had put us in touch. We decided to head right over and meet with her and her husband.
Their office was located directly next to their home in Urdesa, a suburb of the city. Dora and her husband Enrique met us at the front door and led us to their library we talked and got to know each other for a few hours. I was especially happy to see a copy of George Reisman’s Capitalism sitting on one of the shelves, one of the books that has influenced me the most in my study of economics.
Over discussion covered a variety of topics. We talked a good deal about dollarization in Ecuador, something that their institute played a major roll in bringing about. It was clearly something that they were proud of, and rightfully so. As Dora pointed out: victories for those who believe in free-markets and individual liberty are often few and far between. The dollarization of the Ecuadorian economy had taken away a great deal of power from their government and given everyone in the country a stable currency. This is particularly beneficial to those of those with lower incomes who feel the effect of inflation and a depreciating currency most directly. If you’re rich, you can have dollar or euro accounts overseas and in that way protect yourself from an irresponsible central bank. But these shields against inflation are out of reach from the average person in the county.
Now the central bank has no control over the currency in circulation, but surprisingly they are still a functioning bureaucracy. They now are trying to get involved with cultural projects for the country to in an effort to preserve the thousands of jobs that are no longer needed. It also leaves a window open to return the sucre into circulation.
One issue that I questioned them about was the price hikes that most people we talk to complain about after the dollarization. I plan on writing a bit more about this at a latter date, but in essence this was partially a product of the governments inflationary policies making their way through the system after the dollar was frozen with the sucre.
We talked about a variety of other topics: Alvaro Vargas Llosa, current events in Ecuadorian politics, the number of presidents that have occupied the office in the last few years, the current absence of a supreme court, and much more. On topic that they were currently focusing on was banking laws that had just been passed in Congress. They were fighting hard to get information out on just how bad these laws were for the country. For example, any foreign bank who wanted to operate in the country will have to have a huge portions of their reserves located in Ecuador. Here is a link to one of their recent essays on the topic.
The Ampueros invited us to lunch in their home where we talked more about everything from economics to our families. During lunch they received a call from their son who lives in Florida who wanted to let them know he had made it through the hurricane safe and sound, although he was still without power and it was an extremely rough storm.
When I brought up how much I enjoyed seeing George Reisman’s book in their library Dora pulled down a picture of her, George Reisman, and Tibor Machan together at a conference in Alabama. I took a picture of it to put on our site.
After lunch we headed back to the library to talk with Roberto, Joselo, and Meche, all employees of IEEP. They were all our age and it was a great talking with them about how they got involved with the institute and the progress that was being made. After another hour or two we decided to head back to our hotel. When we left Dora was taking an online class that had to do with her dissertation. The professor was located in Argentina and there were about 20 other students in the class from across Latin America.
Back at hotel walked down to the Malecon and had dinner at one of the many restaurants. Afterwards we continued walking up the sea-side walkway, past a photograph exhibit from the national archive and all the way up to a lighthouse atop a hill that overlooked the city. Everything from the restaurants to the walkway was new and immaculate. It was also extremely safe with policemen visible every 50 to 100 meters. Dora would later tell me this restoration project was almost entirely financed by charitable donations people could write off against their taxable income. It definitely added to the charm of Guayaquil, formerly a rough and dangerous port town.
Posted by Peter Mork at 7:20 AM | Comments | TrackBack
October 23, 2005
Descent from the Andes
This morning we woke up a little before 6:00am and walked three blocks to the hot springs. Surprisingly, they were already packed. Ecuadorians from the surrounding areas and Quito bus or drive in to take advantage of the hot springs. There were three pools right below a waterfall, each varying in temperature. Em and I spent the majority of our time in the hottest pool, occasionally heading over to the frigid showers before jumping back into the warm water.
At midday we were on a bus to Guayaquil and we arrived in the city just as it was getting dark. The Lonely Planet guide was a complete letdown for the city. Not only had the hotel we were planning on staying in been out of business for quite sometime, so was the bus line they recommended for heading to Lima. Luckily we had a nice taxi driver that found us a hotel in a great location that was much cheaper than what we had planned on paying.
We are right off one of the main plazas and the city looks extremely nice. We had some dinner at a restaurant that is close by and we walked down one of the main streets that was packed with people shopping or going for their nightly strolls. Tomorrow we should have fun exploring the city.
Posted by Peter Mork at 7:17 AM | Comments | TrackBack
October 22, 2005
Mmmmm…. Cuy
This morning we grabbed a taxi to the main bus terminal in Quito and soon were on our way to Baños. Halfway there we passed a bus that had just gotten into a horrible accident. It was a reminder that these roads are not always safe.
We arrived in Baños in the late afternoon and headed to a hostel that was recommended in out guidebook. The only room they had left was practically attached to the restaurant, but it was cheap and since we are only going to be here one night we took it. Overall it seems like it is a really laid back town.
We walked around town for a bit and decided to get a bite to eat at a restaurant that served cuy (i.e. guinea pig). I figured it was something I had to at least try while we were in Ecuador. It was actually not that bad. Not something I would order on a regular basis, but it was fun to have it for one night. The owners of the restaurant were having a good time with it too. They pulled a whole cuy off the grill and set it up right next to my plate so everyone back hope could tell exactly what I was eating.
During dinner there was a parade going on right outside keep heading out to take pictures of the event during dinner. Some of them turned out great.
We headed to a café after dinner and asked the waitress about tours at night to see the volcano erupting, something a taxi driver earlier in the day had told us about. She said if we hurried, there was another café a block away that sold tickets. We decided to give it a go and before long were on a truck converted into a very unique shuttle, with about 20 other tourists, music blasting in our ears, and our 17 year-old guide Miguel.
It took about 30 minutes to make the ascent up to the lookout point. While we got a great view of the town of Baños, it was too cloudy to see the red lava flowing from the volcano. Still they had plenty of events set up for the hordes of tourists who had come in the various shuttles. There was a bonfire, we got to sample a traditional hot tea type drink, and two fire jugglers gave us a performance. On the way back down we talked for a while with two recent college grads from Guayaquil who were visiting Baños for the weekend. They were both graphic designers and we exchanged emails so that we could keep in touch. After we got back we headed off to bed quickly since we wanted to visit the hot springs in the morning.
Posted by Peter Mork at 7:13 AM | Comments | TrackBack
October 21, 2005
Journey to the Middle of the Earth
After breakfast we headed over to a place near the hotel that teaches salsa lessons. In order to avoid dancing last night I promised Em I would take a lesson today to brush up.
We signed up for a 4:00 class and then headed off to the equator. It is located about an hour outside of Quito but it took us about 2 hours to get there after several confusing bus transfers.
Surrounding the equator location where the buses drop you off is a tourist trap village that vaguely resembles Disney Land. Still you get to cross between the northern and southern Hemispheres as the line is clearly marked. We ate lunch at one of the many restaurants in the park, took some photos, and then headed back into Quito.
Once back in town we had to head directly over to our salsa lesson. We actually signed up for two and both instructors were extremely nice (and patient with me).
After the lessons we had some dinner, checked the internet, and then it was off to bed.
Posted by Peter Mork at 7:12 AM | Comments | TrackBack
October 20, 2005
Old Town and a Salsa Club
In the morning at a bookstore I found a copy of Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa. It is a novel that incorporates a good deal of history of the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. It should be a good book to read during the downtime on the boat next week. [Note from Peter 11/2/05: I finished this book during the trip and while it was great it was one of the most disturbing novels I have read in my life. There were times I was reading the book during our voyage when I didn’t know if I felt sick due to the rocking of the boat or from the horrific scenes I had just read. It is that brutal. It you want a first hand look at the brutality an authoritarian government uses to survive and how ordinary people do detestable things in such circumstances… read the book. But you’ve been warned. A few times while I was reading the book I turned to Em and said “I think this book is going to scar me”… some scenes are that tough to read.]
Mid-morning we headed down to old Quito to see the colonial part of town. It was pretty and had a unique charm. There was definitely a different feel from many of the colonial sections of Managua or Antigua.
Tonight we had Cuban sandwiches at a Cuban restaurant and then watched a salsa band play at a club near our hotel. The band was great and both drummers were so full of energy that it brought a smile to your face just watching them perform. We headed back to the hotel about halfway though the show to get some sleep before another busy day tomorrow.
Posted by Peter Mork at 7:10 AM | Comments | TrackBack
October 19, 2005
Preparing for Galapagos
Getting our tourist visas extended turned out to be easy although it did take some time. After all was said and done we now have 30 day tourist visas which will be more than enough.
Next on the list was to visit several travel agencies and see if we could find an “affordable” way to get to the Galapagos. I use the quotes because even though it is the low season and by buying them at the last minute we should get a good deal, it is still quite expensive by our traveling standards. Still, this is pretty high on Em’s wish list so I think it will be worth it.
We ended up finding a great boat, “The Sagitta,” with one room left. It leaves next Wednesday and is at sea for 8 days. This puts even more pressure on us in terms of getting to Argentina, as now we won’t be back in Ecuador until November 2nd, but it is the only option we have.
The only catch was we had to pay in cash to get the 50%-off deal. Unfortunately the total we more than we could withdraw from out checking accounts from an ATM machine. In the end, after some advice from a Scottish couple, we headed to one of the major banks in the city and with a cash advance from Em’s credit card, and after a phone call to Bank of America in Saint Helena through an internet phone, we had the money.
I would feel nervous in the U.S. walking around with that much cash on my person and so naturally being our first day in Quito I was even more so. We had no problems, but I was happy to had it over to the travel agent (practically all in 20’s as the banks try to avoid $100 bills as there are too many counterfeits…by the way, if I didn’t mention it before, like El Salvador, Ecuador’s economy is dollarized).
After confirming our reservation on the boat, we had dinner at a traditional Ecuadorian restaurant and relaxed from a hectic day of running around. Luckily it all worked out in the end and we’ll be heading to the Galapagos.
Posted by Peter Mork at 7:05 AM | Comments | TrackBack
October 18, 2005
Off to Quito
This morning, before heading to the airport, we went over to Beatriz’s house for an hour or so to look at her orchid garden. It was huge and beautiful but I’m not going to be able to do it justice with words so I suggest you click on the photo to the right and head over to our photo site to take a look at the garden for yourself.
We said goodbye to Vladimir and Juan and before long were on a plane to Quito. Once we arrived in Ecuador everything went smoothly except for immigration. When the officer asked us how long we were staying I said a little over a week. She quickly gave us a 10 day tourist visa. When I told her we might be in Ecuador for 11 or 12 days she said we would need to go to an immigration office and have it extended then. Not what I want to do the first thing tomorrow morning, but hopefully it is as easy as it was back in Chiapas.
On our way from the airport to the area of Quito we were staying we got our first exposure to the Ecuadorian-Andean accent. It almost sounds as if they are singing yet is clear and easy to understand. We also caught a glimpse of Andean indeans wearing their traditional hats as we exited the airport. Once again we can tell we are in another country, and not only because the drop in temperature.
We found a nice hostel in Mariscal and headed out for some dinner. You really can feel the altitude here. Hopefully neither of us will suffer any altitude sickness. We are crossing our fingers.