Papa Francisco 5k

After we landed in Guayaquil Friday we learned that Pope Francisco (Papa Francisco) was landing in Guayaquil Monday morning. In South America the Pope is a Big Deal. They were projecting 1.2 million people in Guayaquil trying to see the Pope. That’s kinda cool except when it affects your travel plans. We were scheduled to leave Guayaquil for the Galapagos Islands on Monday morning.

Guayaquil highlights

Our first stop in Ecuador was the city of Guayaquil. The guidebooks don't have much good to say about this city so we arrived with low expectations.  When we first walked out of the airport the heat and humidity welcomed us as we found a taxi to take us to our hotel, which actually ended up being an apartment. The taxi ride took awhile because of so much traffic.  My first impressions of the city reminded me of Manila, Philippines, a big, sprawling, crowded, polluted city with a mix of old and new. 

Some things never change

A couple years ago I wrote a blog post about me being our family's disposal. When there is leftover food someone always asks, "Do you want this?" Some things never change, except this time I didn't know I was being the disposal.

After an outing we came back to our apartment to find water on the kitchen floor. It wasn't much but it was growing and obviously coming from the water dispenser. We contacted the landlord who said, "A boy I work with is coming to fix it or replace it. He will be there in less than an hour. Will you be there?" My first thought was, "This is not my problem. I'm going to dinner with my family." But in the end I agreed to wait for him.

Elaine and the kids, however, didn't want to wait and so I asked them to bring me back something. I specifically remember saying, "Just don't bring me back your leftovers."

The "boy" came, replaced the water dispenser, and cleaned up the water. Very shortly thereafter, Elaine and the kids came back with my food. It was great: a big plate of fried rice with chicken and shrimp, boiled new potatoes, and fried banana slices. It was all so yummy. I should have realized something was up when I found a shrimp tail in my fried rice. After eating it all and wishing for more, Elaine told me that the entire plate was made up of leftovers from the 3 meals they had bought for the 4 of them. In the end we all ate plenty from 3 plates of food and apparently I'm still the disposal even if I didn't know it.

Another funny part of the story is that during my conversation with the landlord I struggled mightily to communicate using what high school Spanish I could remember. Near the very end of this difficult (for me) conversation and after the important bits had been communicated the landlord started speaking in much better English than my Spanish. I wonder if she actually enjoyed hearing me struggle so badly with her language.

Iguana Park [BY JENNA]

While we were in Guayaquil, Ecuador my mom read about an Iguana park. We realized that it was free and just  a couple blocks away from where we were staying.  There is a gate that is always open but it doesn't matter because iguana's sleep up in the trees and when they come down people are there are they don't go out. In the park there is grassy areas with little 6in. fences the Iguanas can crawl through and there is a bunch of little paths. Here's a good tip DON'T walk under the trees while Iguanas are up there.:)Because they like to drop bombs.(poop and pee) We did not get hit but we would not want to. There is a giant statue in the middle of the park where some iguana s like to be lazy. 

Why Ecuador?

Three years ago we moved out of our house and left on our adventure around the world. I would love to repeat that experience, but it's not looking like it will happen in the near future. So instead I will take what travel I can get and for now that means 6 weeks in Ecuador. Many people have asked "why Ecuador". At first we were planning a road trip to Mexico but for some reason as I began planning I just didn't feel good about it. So we started looking at other options. I have heard good things about Ecuador from friends in a travel group and we found a good price on flights from LAX. Summer is a hard time to find many travel deals. Traveling for several weeks, we needed a place we could afford and we just felt good about it as we researched. So Ecuador is our destination. Not sure what we will do for sure, but we will get it figured out along the way.

Ecuador FAQs

So this post is basically a collection of question that people have asked us about Ecuador.

Why Ecuador?
Basically there were cheap flights. Plus there we had heard a lot of good things about it.

What is there to see in Ecuador?
Well there are the Galapagos islands which are some islands with awesome wildlife and beaches and stuff. There is also the Amazon rain forest and some cool cities.

Where will you stay?
We don't know yet. Seriously. We just have a rough idea of what we are doing, but we don't have any real reservations yet, just the flights in and out.

How long are you staying there?
About 5 weeks.

I've heard that it isn't safe there.
Not a question, but we will be fine... probably...

Bryce Canyon in the Winter?

Over the President's day long week-end our family took a trip to Bryce Canyon National Park.  I made the reservations right after a snowy Christmas break and assumed that in February there would be lots of snow in Bryce Canyon. As the this winter has progressed, it often felt more like spring with warm temperatures and no snow. My hopes for snowshoeing in Bryce Canyon plummeted.

February 2015