My welcome home....

Wednesday, Feb 29

My flight was delayed a bit so didn't get home til 1am.  First things first, turn up the heat.  Or not?  I came home to a broken furnace so my first night home was spent sleeping or trying to sleep in the frozen tundra, stocking cap and all.  Not fun. Also woke up not feeling well. Also, not fun.

But, despite all that, was excited to see Spencer.  I gave him the tshirt I brought him home with a 'mono' (monkey) on it.  He put that on and then I set up a scavenger hunt for him for the other little goodies I brought him home.  Scavenger hunts are by far one of his favorite things!  He had about 8 things to find and yes, they were all treats from Ecuador.  He tried a couple of them already and his thoughts.... "Ecuador candy tastes better"

He also spent some time outside playing in the snow.  Feb 29th and we finally have enough snow to play in. I'm happy for him but sure hope it doesn't make for an extended winter!

From Ecuador to Atlanta to Minnesota

Monday & Tuesday, Feb 27th/28th

Monday I woke up (early) in Ecuador and I fell asleep in Atlanta.  I had a stop in Miami in between. Only long enough to go through customs and change planes. Good thing I had over 2 hours to make it through customs or I would have certainly missed my plane to Atlanta.

Billy picked me up Monday around 4 and we had a great time, great conversation and made a great dinner. We did the same tonight. Guess you could say it was great. Always hard to say goodbye though... Today, more than normal.

Sometimes it seems weird to me that in just a matter of hours you can find yourself thousands of miles away. If only it was always that easy to just be where we want to be.

I'm now sitting on the plane going back to Minnesota.  Looking out the window, I am watching a lighting show.  There is something peaceful about it.  Something that helps me sit and reflect.  I am very fortunate to have had the last 2 weeks to spend some time in Atlanta with Billy and some time in Ecuador with Connie.  I am very excited to see my man Spencer, but I'm confident it will not be easy to step back into this thing we call reality.  

Random facts & observations while in Ecuador

• it is NOT illegal for 12 people to ride in the back of a pickup - some even standing.
• it IS illegal for a taxi to get in the way of a bus at the terminal.
• it is normal to walk down the side of the highway and apparently not illegal as even the police do it.
• It is normal to see people walking their cows down the street.
• squeezing SO MANY people on a bus that you couldn't possibly even tip over is normal - you could not be claustrophobic & live here.
• Ecuadorians are both aggressive (like on a bus or in crowds) AND fun & care free.
• There is a KFC on almost every corner.
• They hang their clothes out to dry, yet it rains every day.
• stopping to pee on the side of the road is commonplace (and apparently also not illegal).
• Ecuador is approximately the size of the state of Nevada
• Quito is the highest legal capital with altitude at 2800 meters (9200 feet)
• The central square of Quito is located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) south of the equator and is known as la mitad del mundo (the middle of the world).
• the word ecuador is Spanish for equator.
• because of it's elevation and proximity to the equator, Quito has a constant cool climate with the average temp being 65 year round.  
• And they only have 2 seasons - the dry season, or summer, is June-Sept and the wet season, or winter, is October - May
• They switched to using the US dollar in 1999.
• The city bus costs $0.25
• An overnight/long distance bus (like a greyhound) costs $8.00
• A bottle of water was $0.35
• A bottle of Pilsner beer was $0.85 at the corner store.           
• our first hostal was $24/night. The second was $30 but you can find some for as little as $7-$10/night.
• gas was $1.48 for regular unleaded          

Another amazing observation to me is that I think Connie and I were the only two tourists that were only spending 9 days in Ecuador.  It really is NOT enough time to see everything, but we met an amazing number of people (all from other countries) that are traveling around Ecuador and/or all of South American for months at a time.  Many of them had quit their jobs.  Guess other countries have a better economy than we do if they are not afraid of not finding another job after they get back.

We met people from all around.  I'm sure I'm missing a few, but this is what I can remember:

Denmark
Finland
Argentina
Columbia
Canada
Mexico
London
America
Islreal
Netherlands/Holland
Germany
Australia

Brazil