Postcards from:
Big Bear Lake USA
San Jose Costa Rica
Granada Nicaragua
Managua Nicaragua
San Salvador ElSalvador
Tegucigalpa Honduras
San Pedro Sula Honduras
Copan Ruinas Honduras
La Ceiba Honduras
Utila Island Honduras
La Ceiba Honduras
San Pedro Sula Honduras
Belmopan Belize
Belize City Belize
Orange Walk Belize
Lamanai
Mayan Ruins
Panama City Panama
Bogata Colombia
Cali Colombia
Popayan Colombia
Ipiales Colombia
Quito Ecuador
Galapagos Is. Ecuador
Puerto Ayoro Galapagos
Guayaquil Ecuador
Cuenca Ecuador
Tumbes Peru
Lima Peru
Nazca Peru
Cuzco Peru
Ollantaytambo Peru
Machu Picchu Peru
Machu Picchu Photos
Cuzco Again
Lake Titicaca Peru
Lake Titicaca Photos
Copacabana Bolivia
La Paz Bolivia
Arica Chile
Iquique Chile
Antofagasta Chile
Santiago Chile 1
Valparaiso Chile
Santiago Chile 2
Easter Island Chile
Santiago Chile 3
Chillan Chile
Valdivia Chile
Puerto Montt Chile
Castro Chile
Chaiten Chile
Coyhaique Chile
Puerto Chacabuco Chile
Coyhaique Chile
Punta Arenas Chile
Puerto Natales Chile
Punta Arenas Chile
Puerto Williams Chile
Ushuaia Argentina
Buenos Aires Argentina
Puerto Iguazu Argentina
Montevideo Uruguay
Colonia Uraguay
Caracas Venezuela
Ciudad Bolivar Venezuela
Puerto Ordaz Venezuela
Porlamar Venezuela
PortOSpain Trinidad
Georgetown Guyana
Corriverton Guyana
Paramaribo Suriname
Cayenne French Guiana
Pointa A Pitre Guadaloupe
Gosier Guadeloupe
Dominican Republic
Miami Florida
Back Home in California
Quito Ecuador: This is one of the above
ground Metro stations. Articulated buses only stop at the stations and speed
around town in dedicated lanes.
Quito Ecuador: This is the monument erected by the Ecuadorian
Government to mark the location of the Equator.
Quito Ecuador: Looking across the spiral walkway in one of the major
shopping malls near my hotels.
Quito Ecuador: Looking across Plaza Grande in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Entrance to the Governors' House on Plaza Grande in Old
Town.
Quito Ecuador: A farm workers union was holding a rally protesting the
pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States in Plaza Grande.
Quito Ecuador: A farm workers union was holding a rally protesting the
pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States in Plaza Grande.
Quito Ecuador: A farm workers union was holding a rally protesting the
pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States in Plaza Grande.
Quito Ecuador: A farm workers union was holding a rally protesting the
pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States in Plaza Grande.
This group of police remained out of sight as they waited for possible
trouble.
Quito Ecuador: A farm workers union was holding a rally protesting the
pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States in Plaza Grande.
Quito Ecuador: Another shot of people enjoying Plaza Grande in Old Town
where shoeshine boys find eager clients.
Quito Ecuador: The Independence Monument in the center of Plaza Grande
in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: The Independence Monument in the center of Plaza Grande
in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Traffic is light in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Pedestrians have the right of way in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Entrance to a church in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Looking up toward the city's landmark from a location in
Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Looking up toward the city's landmark from a location in
Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: On the grounds of the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World monument located at the equator.
Quito Ecuador: On the grounds of the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World monument located at the equator.
Quito Ecuador: This monument marks the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World. It sits exactly on the equator.
Quito Ecuador: This monument marks the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World. It sits exactly on the equator.
Quito Ecuador: Floral display in the lobby of the Hotel Dann Carlton
Quito. This is the third Dann hotel I've used and they all maintain
elaborate floral decorations.
Quito Ecuador: Entrance to the Hotel Dann Carlton Quito, my first lodge.
Quito Ecuador: View of the Hotel Akros with the Metro Station in the
foreground.
Quito Ecuador: View from the window of my room in the Hotel Akros.
Quito Ecuador: View from the window of my room in the Hotel Akros
showing one of the many planes that roared overhead night and day.
Quito Ecuador: Sculpture standing in front of the Best Western Plaza
Hotel.
Quito Ecuador: Sculpture near the elevator on the ninth floor of the
Plaza Hotel.
Quito Ecuador: Eat your heart out America. September 2005 Gas prices in
Ecuador are half the current prices in the U.S.
Quito Ecuador: View from the ninth floor of the Plaza Hotel.
Quito Ecuador: View of the city from the penthouse restaurant of the
Best Western Plaza Hotel where I spent my last night.
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26
September 2005
Greetings
from Quito Ecuador,
On
my way to the Galapagos Islands I stopped for eight days in Quito
Ecuador and once again found a wonderful and affordable hotel, another
in the Dann chain. Rarely do I find lodges with everything perfect, but
this one came as close as any. The fact it sits under the flight path of
the busy airport is a minor annoyance, but my diminished hearing dulls
those potential irritations anyway. This place even has free high speed
Internet access for guests and a wireless LAN available in the rooms.
The business center has FrontPage installed so I have been able to get
some long deferred work done on my websites and preliminary drafts of
several books. After three nights I left early when the big boss decided
without fan fair to increase the lower room rate I had negotiated with
an underling on check-in. My second hotel a block from the first, Hotel
Akros served well for two more nights, after which I again moved to the
truly elegant Best Western Plaza to be closer to the airport and to take
advantage of their low weekend rate. Quito sits at an altitude of 2850
meters, nearly 8000 feet and sometimes causes mild altitude "sickness,"
which in my case means a vague sense of malaise, unusual tiredness
and "non-specific anxiety."
Exploring
"Old
Town" revealed an early Spanish settlement beautifully maintained
in its original colonial charm. There are so many magnificent churches
and opulent haciendas it is easy to loose count. Cobblestone streets and
multiple plazas interconnect a rabbit warren of mixed residential and
commercial neighborhoods. The unique colonial city planning, or lack
there of just adds to the exotic charm of the place. The old town is
centered around the Plaza de la Independencia or Plaza Grande as it is
known locally. Getting around the sprawling city is easy and most bus
rides are a mere twenty five cents. Many streets bear names
commemorating one date or another; I suspect all 365 days of the year
have been taken. During one of my days poking around the old section of
town I stumbled on an anti-TLC rally sponsored by an agricultural
workers union. TLC is the short Spanish acronym for the
Free
Trade Agreement being worked out between the United States and
several South American countries. I saw similar sentiments
expressed in Colombian graffiti while in Popayan. It took me a few
hours of hearing a chirping every few minutes to discover the sound
accompanies the green light at crosswalks. Interestingly, I never in all
my watching saw a blind person in the city who might have appreciated
the audible signal. Gas at the pumps is about half that being reported
in the United States as I write this in September 2005.
The
"New
Town" city center is situated between the historical
area and the busy area of multiple shopping malls near the hotels I
chose north of the city. The major shopping areas are connected by
an above ground "subway" system modeled after the technology
pioneered in Curitiba
Brazil. I remember being impressed with the efficiency of that system
when I visited there 15 years ago. It has served as a model for
many other cities in the world trying to solve their own inner city
transportation problems. Double articulated buses speed through town in
dedicated lanes stopping only at elevated boarding platforms where
passengers pay a quarter to ride as far as they wish. Like their
underground counterparts in other parts of the world, Quito's popular
rapid transit buses are crowded and people always find room to push into
the already packed cars.
Naturally,
I made the pilgrimage up to Mitad
del Mundo park exactly on the
equator. Here at the Middle of the World the government has erected
a huge monument to mark that important geographic line. One of my photos
shows my right foot standing in the northern hemisphere and my left in
the southern. How's that for straddling two worlds?
Someone
asked me what I packed for such a long trip. My bag is standard carry-on
size soft luggage with padded shoulder straps that can be hidden in
a zipper pocket for those times I want to enter a hotel looking
respectable. I got it at a sports attire shop in Santa Barbara eight
years ago. The Patagonia brand bag cost $250 at that time and though the
company is still manufacturing a line of similar bags, I have been
unable to find another one exactly like mine to replace my now well
worn original. The main compartment opens completely for easy packing
like an ordinary suitcase. It is made of heavy Nylon and loaded weighs
about 20-30 pounds.
I
carry what I am wearing plus 3 shirts, a pair of dress pants for
changing and 5 changes of underwear (too many). I also carry a
virtual pharmacy plus various other personal items like my Pocket PC, a
down vest (recently needed), etc. I still feel like that is too
much as anything that might be needed can usually be purchased along the
way... with the exceptions of my so carefully selected bag and shoes. Bottom
line for anyone contemplating the life of a twenty-first century
vagabond, is take less than you think you will NEED! But, be sure
to take several means to get money and put backup copies of all vital
documents including images of your credit cards on the Internet.
Finished
reading Aesop's
Fables. I'd always thought the fables were for children. The
introduction to this collection made it obvious they are not, and most
were not even
written 2500 years ago by Aesop who's name they bear. My
research discovered Aesop to be another trouble maker like Socrates,
suffering a similar fate.
After
eight days in Quito Ecuador I flew off to the islands which served
as the inspiration for Darwin's insightful observations and
controversial theory of evolution.
Peace,
Fred L Bellomy
Quito Ecuador: Some of the Indians
resting in the Plaza Grande.
Quito Ecuador: Diagram showing the layout of Carolina Park near the
Hotel Dann Carlton.
Quito Ecuador: This is one of the above ground Metro stations.
Articulated buses only stop at the stations and speed around town in
dedicated lanes.
Quito Ecuador: Long articulated bus stopping at one of the above ground
Metro stations, a very practical system.
Quito Ecuador: Looking into Plaza Grande in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: A farm workers union was holding a rally protesting the
pending Free Trade Agreement with the United States in Plaza Grande.
Quito Ecuador: Typical street scene in Old Town, a lottery ticket seller
makes a sale.
Quito Ecuador: Icecream cone sellers in Old Town keep them cold on a
block of dry ice.
Quito Ecuador: You are never far from an inviting sidewalk cafe in Old
Town.
Quito Ecuador: Old Town is popular with foreign tourists and locals
alike.
Quito Ecuador: Near the entrance to the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World monument located at the equator.
Quito Ecuador: This monument marks the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World. It sits exactly on the equator here in Quito.
Quito Ecuador: Iconic view of the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the World
identifying the exact location of the equator.
Quito Ecuador: Near the entrance to the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World monument located at the equator.
Quito Ecuador: This sculpture sits on the grounds of the Metec del Mundo
or Middle of the World.
Quito Ecuador: Near the entrance to the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World monument located at the equator.
Quito Ecuador: Floral display in the lobby of the Hotel Dann Carlton
Quito. This is the third Dann hotel I've used and they all maintain
elaborate floral decorations.
Quito Ecuador: View from the window of my room in the Hotel Akros.
Quito Ecuador: View from the window of my room in the Hotel Akros.
Quito Ecuador: View from the window of my room in the Hotel Akros
looking down on one of the above ground rapid transit Metro Stations.
Quito Ecuador: View from the ninth floor of the Plaza Hotel.
Quito Ecuador: This sculpture marks the entrance to the Quito Airport.
Quito Ecuador: About nine buses like this every hour pass the Plaza
Hotel on their way to the Quito Airport.
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Quito Ecuador: My left foot is
in the Southern hemisphere and my right is in the northern here at the
Metec del Mundo... feeling a little schizophrenic.
Quito Ecuador: Looking across Plaza Grande in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: One of the protestors demonstrating against the
"Free Trade Agreement." Sadly, I don't really know the pro's and
con's of the controversy yet.
Quito Ecuador: I couldn't resist snapping a picture of real school
buses. As you may recall, old American school buses are widely used
throughout Central America for public transportation. I guess the Darien
Gap prevents them from being driven any further south.
Quito Ecuador: Looking down the spiral walkway in one of the major
shopping malls near my hotels.
Quito Ecuador: San Francisco Plaza and its church in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Church steeple in the old historical part of the city.
Quito Ecuador: Looking into Plaza Grande in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Entrance to the Governors' House on Plaza Grande in Old
Town.
Quito Ecuador: Another shot of people enjoying Plaza Grande in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: The Independence Monument in the center of Plaza Grande
in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: The Independence Monument in the center of Plaza Grande
in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Typical street scene in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Another church in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: This row of stone balls near a church in Old Town
reminded me of the ancient stone balls found all over Costa Rica.
Quito Ecuador: Typical street scene in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Police protection is never far away in Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Notice the huge statue on the hill in the background in
this typical street scene of Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Some of the Indians resting in the Plaza Grande.
Quito Ecuador: Looking up toward the city's landmark from a location in
Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: Looking up toward the city's landmark from a location in
Old Town.
Quito Ecuador: This monument marks the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World. It sits exactly on the equator marked by the yellow "lane
divider" line on the pavement.
Quito Ecuador: This monument marks the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World. It sits exactly on the equator.
Quito Ecuador: This monument marks the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World. It sits exactly on the equator.
Quito Ecuador: Near the entrance to the Metec del Mundo or Middle of the
World monument located at the equator.
Quito Ecuador: One of the paintings hanging in the lobby of the Hotel
Dann Carlton Quito. This one depicts old Quito.
Quito Ecuador: Another of the paintings hanging in the lobby of the
Hotel Dann Carlton Quito. This one depicts old Quito.
Quito Ecuador: A lion guards the entrance to the Hotel Dann Carlton
Quito, my first lodge.
Quito Ecuador: Entrance to the Hotel Dann Carlton Quito, my first lodge.
Quito Ecuador: This sculpture graces the lobby of the Hotel Akros.
Quito Ecuador: Entrance to the Plaza Hotel, the third place I used in
Quito.
Quito Ecuador: Sculpture near the elevator on the ninth floor of the
Plaza Hotel. Photographer with his tiny 2 megapixel Philips GoGear
digital camera visible in the mirror reflection. You can see why it
attracts so much attention.
Quito Ecuador: This colorful sculpture marks the entrance to the Quito
Airport.
Quito Ecuador: View from the ninth floor of the Plaza Hotel.
Quito Ecuador: View of the city from the penthouse restaurant of the
Best Western Plaza Hotel where I spent my last night.
Quito Ecuador: View of the city from the penthouse restaurant of the
Best Western Plaza Hotel where I spent my last night.
Quito Ecuador: While waiting for my flight to
San Cristóbal Island I spotted the Santa Barbara Airline plane... a
bit far south for a California company.
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