Retrospective The Galapagos flight is special security-wise. Despite being a domestic flight, the process is much like going through customs. They want to make sure no organic contaminants make it onto the islands. There is a special checkpoint at UIO to check the bags. They also charge a $20 fee at this point. There are a couple of customs-like cards… Read more »
This is a difficult day. I had a bit of a TODO list remaining for my last day in Quito: Pay for the Galapagos cruise Check the police’s supposed stash of stolen things Get a notarized declaration of (no) insurance to file a purchase protection claim for my camera All of these turned out to be quite bureaucratic processes. First… Read more »
After a wonderful first half of the day at the museum, the second half of the day presented a bit of a challenge. Poor directions and a lack of understanding of Quito street addresses combined for a 2+ hour walk to a friend’s apartment which was about 15 minutes away from the museum. Lessons learned, purely by trial and error:… Read more »
I finally made it to the Guayasamín museum, checking off the tourism list for Quito. Guayasamín’s house is located atop the hill on the east side. I took the regular bus to the nearest stop and walked up. It’s a nice area, but quite a sidewalk hike. At the house I got a tour in Spanish from a very nice… Read more »
Parque la Carolina Today I ventured a little further north, to Parque la Carolina, for the first time¹. I am glad I did because it made me feel differently about the city. The reason I went was mundane: to go to the centro comercial, or the mall, of which there are several around the park. I was looking for the… Read more »
Galapagos cruise confirmed for 8 days/7 nights on the cheapest boat “New Flamingo.” Ran into United’s $75 fee for booking an award flight within 3 weeks. The GPS flights have disappeared from British Airways’ site. Got my certificate for finishing Spanish school: level B1 in Spanish, assuming more practice. Costs Flight booking fees included. Cost today: $144.18 Cumulative cost: $2,518.84
Last day of class! Formal Spanish learning is done and I hope I am prepared. I do wish we had gotten to the conditional and future tenses. Also the subjunctive would be nice. I’ll have to study more on my own. Later on, out in the Mariscal, N. found the perfect drunk food: the pizza cone. The perfect dessert for… Read more »
After school today I wandered around a bit in search of a store where I might buy a replacement Sony camera. It took me a while to even find the mall that I seemed to keep running into on my first day walking around, and still no luck finding a real electronics store that sells cameras. No, I haven’t Googled… Read more »
On to the fourth teacher. This Friday is a holiday, Guayaquil Independence Day. The Quiteños aren’t too concerned about it, but appreciate the vacation day with the long weekend, so the teachers suggested we take Friday off and make up the classes during the week. Because of this and a misunderstanding the previous week, I have 6 hours of class… Read more »
This was a weekend of rest and getting these posts up. The bus ride back was my first real long trip here at 11 hours on the bus plus 3 at the terminal. The bus made several stops, including a police ID checkpoint. I got back to la casa just in time for dawn. The rest of the day was… Read more »