Here’s the best [and unintentional] photo of one dust cloud. It’s in the background at center. We were like, “what’s all this weird fog?”
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El Panecillo, Quito
Yep, bread-hill. It’s here that we felt the 5.1 earthquake. Someone was selling cheap plastic kites, which littered the trees. Great idea! I instead bought an alpaca scarf for $3.
Lunch at Pim’s Restaurant
Pim’s is an old restaurant on the side of Panecillo with a spectacular view of the city and surrounding volcanoes. Included with our tour bus tickets was a coupon for the house cocktail, which none of us could identify. It was blended. There was maybe cinnamon in it? Google was no help. Then the table started to shake, and we realized it was an earthquake. Unbeknownst to us at the time, people were killed/injured in a landslide. You can actually see some dust clouds in these photos, though I don’t think that landslide was near us. The food was good and cheap. Also, Layla finally got her fries, and they were $1.65.
Atlanta to New York
Quito, Ecuador to Atlanta
Quito Skyline
This is just the view from the Hilton’s 17th floor executive lounge. I’ll be honest, this was probably the best view of the city. Meaning, it’s not much to look at from street level.
Dinner at Zazu, Quito
Eating a fancy meal towards the end of the big trip has sort of become a tradition. I take the opportunity to drop all the food rules and eat whatever I want, which typically means raw salad greens. The LUXURY of it all. The stone crab claw ceviche was amazing; there were huge chunks of crab. Also, really delicious crispy calamari. Exiting around 1130pm we naively thought we could find a bar. Yep, no. Everything in Quito closes super early on Mondays. Or every day? Anyway, there was a cab waiting, so we skedaddled.
More from the Hilton Colon, Quito
Gotta have that executive lounge access. It sounds weird to be excited to arrive at a Hilton, but damn did those free canapes and cocktails come in hand. Also, as it turns out, WiFi that allows you to browse websites and upload pictures without failing ever 3 minutes is totally a good thing. Who knew?
Farewell Santa Cruz…and Galapagos
Instead of going to what would have been my fourth tortoise center, I decided to hang back at the hotel, relax the broken toe, and drink a few beers with the sea lions. They were like, “oh hey, you’re back? Cool. Do you mind if we eat a snake and then maybe nurse our babies? That’s cool? OK great. You’re fun.” You do you, gross marine mammal monster things, you do you.
Quito Hotel Preview: Hilton Colon
Baltra, Ecuador to Quito, Ecuador
Swimming with Penguins and Sea Lions
Well, this was easily one of the highlights of the entire trip. One of Alex’s most anticipated animal sightings were the Galapagos’ penguins, but we thought that wasn’t going to happen. We had heard from other travelers that a penguin had been seen on the rocks while they were on their boat. In the middle of our third snorkel someone screamed and pointed at the water. Then another. Penguins. All around us. Swimming amongst us in singles, pairs, and large groups. They would float on the surface and dart around the water, almost too fast to see. I realized if I watched the school of fish for sudden direction changes, a penguin might be on the way. This is the best picture I could get, but there are lots of clear videos I’ll post later. Then, of course, there were the sea lions. “But Michael, you’ve piled sea lion photo upon sea lion photo on us already,” you say? First of all, this is free, and why are you talking to yourself? Secondly, this time was different. I was swimming back to shore from the large, empty, deep, scary lagoon (where the eagle rays were spotted). Realizing that a) I was alone, and b) you know, maybe shouldn’t be, I forced myself back. As I stopped for a moment to catch my bearings, an enormous sea lion swam right next to me. It stopped, turned its head at me, and then swam right past me. It was within arm’s length (although I didn’t dare touch it). Trip around the world: warranted.
Lady Boy Time 