sayhitojohn

God-ffiti. Free gloves with every meal. Not California King, but Ecuador King size. Official Nike School of Driving. Mmm, Quail Eggs.  Please Mommy?! Daddy, can I hit my head on this overhead powerline? A sight for sore eyes. Posted via Blogaway

Warning: this is Too Much Information. The faint of heart should stop here, or if you want to revel in the Patti Potty Escapades, read in. Patti, being already diet challenged, had her usual international culinary issues on this trip. However, this time she had the additional challenge of a bit of of plumbing stoppage, like two and a half weeks worth. This condition reached critical as indicated by the accompanying pain in Mindo which led us to try to find a quick solution. We stopped by what was probably the on!y drug store in the town and began to see if we could land some relief. With the help of the Google Translate app we were able to move from the coagulants, which is what tourists in South America usually need, and into the laxatives. The first elixir offered had some nice purple fruit on the box and we thought we were good to go (no pun here).  Once again using the app, we were able to see that the Spanish name for plum accompanied the purple fruited picture. Plums are on the

Wednesday June 1 After what has become the normal breakfast of exotic juices and fruits along with hot chocolate and a nice hot berry tea we hiked up the road to see the Mariposas. This is a Butterfly breeding and conservation center that hosts many species of Butterflies in all stages of development. You are able to watch their transformation through the last stages into their final form in a matter of minutes. This one is just coming out pupa stage and drying it's wings. What may make this sanctuary unique is that we were encouraged to scoop up banana and attract, or just lift up, the Butterflies. Tara has the record with nine which I was not able to get a picture of. Riley scooped up no banana and was all but frightened to death by these most delicate creations of God. This is the same girl who flew upside down over the jungle in a position called, what else, the Butterfly. Tara also had this great idea for a picture. After the Butterflies we walked back to our place where Ri

Tuesday May 31 Today was a day for lots of hiking and flying through the air. After a nice breakfast we grabbed a truck ride up to a point high in the cloud forest for our first activity of the day viewing some waterfalls. We took ride on the Tarabita, a bucket dangling from a cable powered by an old truck drivetrain, across a deep ravine to begin our hiking. I was hoping that they we not going to have to call AAA while we were half way across. When we did arrive, we, Patti and I, well maybe just me, chose the longest hike to the biggest falls. The hike was nice as it wound through the cloud forest and with our early start the temps were still cool. We walked through all sorts of vines and large plants and pedals from the flowers high up on the canopy. The big waterfall was nice, not extremely notable, but we were the only ones out there which made it very pleasant. Zip-lining across the canopy was next in the list. We went for the full course of 10 lines including the highest, longes

Monday May 30 Today we moved from Otavalo to Mindo via a drive through Quito. The driving never disappoints as there are usually cultural things to looks at and if not, the terrain in this part of Ecuador is really something to see. We stopped by the official equator and straddled it just to say so. It is interesting to note that this monument is built on the originally 1736 calculated position of the dividing line, however advances in measurement accuracy now place the line 7km away from here. On our drive here I could not help but grab a picture of the emblems on this truck. That must be a thing here in Ecuador, put a bunch of seemingly random emblems on the side of your truck. He who has the most wins. Alpine - Car Audio - I get that Exxon - Gas producer - makes sense Alitalia - Airline - hmm Fox - Suspension technology - this works ESPN - Sports network - truck racing, OK NOS - Nitrous Oxide - that works Cobra - Car alarms - everybody's got 'em and they are always g

Sunday May 29. Today we just poked around and went to some of the surrounding villages to check out what they produce, like various weavings, hats and leather. Not a super eventful day and really a clue that maybe we stayed to long at this spot.  It's so hard to know when planning ahead and planning ahead is what we have been doing with the kids along. It works out 95% of the time. I did catch this fine dog pack image. The dogs are everywhere. The are not ratty and nasty as you might expect, but some seem to be even very well groomed. From what we understand, most of the dogs have a home, they just get to wander and hang it with their buddies all day. We have only met one mean one. He was on the way down to town from the place we are staying. Pretty vicious sounding. Even chased one of our cabs up the road sounding like he was going to tear the tires off. Patti has been at Def Con 1 ready to give that dog the old monkey kick. We had a laundry fail here. Or, as Patti might relate

This sweet 2.5 Turbo even has The Doors. Flat Panel, Oven/Range, Refrigerator, and Motorcycles - t he new wave of Big Box Store. Horrified, Riley pulls a giant bread worm from her intestines. Does this mask make my teeth look big? I'm a cowboy, on a steel horse I ride... Chucky is back! Posted via Blogaway

Saturday May 28 Today we woke much like we did yesterday to the sound of roosters crowing, dogs barking, general busyness around the hostel and 20 minutes of celebration music starting at 6:30. The owners warned us and apologized in advance to which we said no problemo. Now we know why they were apologizing. We we were first unpacking our bags when we noticed there was a Gideon's Bible on every nightstand, not something you see that often anymore. I had to ask the owners if they were followers of Christ which the affirmed in very broken English. We talked with them for quite a while about this and learned that many Christian Missionaries stay at their hostel while they hold Bible classes around Otavalo. After more conversation we learned that the matriarch of the hostel, Matilde, was from a native tribe of Ecuador and spoke the native tongue, Kichua, as well as Spanish.  It was this combination, as well as being a Christ follower, that led to her being asked to translate a Bible

On Toilet Paper specifically. Again, I wonder why I think about these things. Maybe it is because I do not have the occasion to back home and have not really ever thought of it apart from Asian and South American travel. This post is a long time in coming. My first experience with toilet paper not being for the toilet came in China. That was just odd and gross in my estimation but I dealt with it. Now there are better experiences then others when it comes to not flushing the T.P.  First, there is the handedness issue. Which side of the toilet is the receptacle?  On the right if you are a righty is preferred, otherwise a midflight hand switch must take place which is always risky. Second, what type of lid is on the receptacle?  Open or none is preferred for placement but then you have open container issues to deal with until the next time your waste basket is emptied. Lifting the lid off might be the next best, although it involves touching the lid handle, gross anyone? Another lid

Friday May 27 Today we woke to the sound of roosters crowing, dogs barking, and general busyness around the hostel. It is only happening like that because I am sleeping great. I thank God for that. After some breakfast we headed down the hill to find the bus station and to play our hand at the 'getting there is half the fun ' game. We had a rough idea about where we were going and thought public transport would be a more interesting, and cheaper, way to travel then private cab. We wandered into the chaotic bus depot looking, I am sure, a little bewildered, wondering where we might buy some tickets. We did not find that, but we did have a few folks hawking rides to here and there. Finally we spotted a bus with Cotacachi painted on it. Cotacachi was not exactly where we wanted to go, but it was close and could serve the purpose. So we got on and away the bus sped, and we thought "well, here we go... s omewhere". When the bus commander came around to collect the dinero