February 20, 2015

I had very good intentions of uploading some of Rich and Tina's pictures for your enjoyment, but (there is always a "BUT")  I was unable to do so.  They emailed me 3 pictures, which I could see, but just could not upload to the blog. So.... Unfortunately you will have to see printed pictures of their time in Ecuador and hear their story when you see them next. They arrived back in Las Vegas on the Tuesday after us.... And I am sure they are doing a lot more than we are. 

We are here in Kelowna, arrived on February 2nd and got settled into a routine. Michel's dad is doing well and his mom will be out of Cottonwoods and back home on Tuesday. She has healed nicely but will require lots of therapy to get back on her feet again. Time and patience - that is our mantra these days!

Spring comes early here in Kelowna, so we are both looking forward to that. It is surprising how fast 'cabin fever' can set in. In the mean time we try to get out as much as possible.

That's all folks. Thanks for reading.

February 1, 2016hom

Said good bye to Sara, our sweet little hostess from Airbnb in Cuenca, Ecuador after only two days.  She and her boyfriend Rodrigues, were very helpful, warm and welcoming.











While we were in Cuenca we did get a chance to visit with friends Larry and Dona, who moved to Cuenca from Grand Forks last October. They have a lovely place and are thouroughly enjoying their new home.








And we also visited Old Town. The Immaculada Conceptcion Cathedral, pictured here on the right, is noted as one of the most impressive cathedrals in Ecuador. With so much to see and so little time, we will have to return - who knows, maybe we'll try again next year??



But as we mentioned in the last blog, we were bound for home. We rearranged our flights once we were back in Quito.  Got a direct flight from Quito to Panama, with a connecting flight to Vegas. Another long day. At the airport by 3:45 am and landed in Vegas at 1:45 (3 hour time change) We rented a car and drove t Pahrump where we picked up our car (thank you again Theresa) and got a room.

We got as far as Buhl, Idaho on day number 1 of our drive home. Day 2 we were in our driveway.  But not until 7 pm - we left at 7 am.  Hit some pretty terrible road conditions along the way. Ditched our poor little Suzie just outside of Ely, Nevada. Flattened one of her tires and took out a pole doing so. But we were back on the road a couple of hours later. The rest of the drive was good. We were worried about the Cabbage Hill pass to Pendleton. It's always bad - - - but yesterday it was good.  Wet, but not icy. 



Today we are guests in our own home.  We had to come home for some 'winter' clothing, as we'll be heading to Kelowna tomorrow morning for two months. Look what we came back to!!








There we will stay with Michel's dad and help with selling the house and getting them situated in a home. It sounds like his mom will be 6 weeks before she's home, so all should be done by then.

January 27, 2016

Michel's mom came through her operation well, but is in for a long recovery.  In the mean time his Dad has to adjust to the loss of his driver's license.  We made the decision today to go home where our help is needed. We will fly to Quito tomorrow morning then re-arrange the rest of our flight from there. Rich and Tina have also decided to go home. Not sure if we'll arrive in Vegas the same day, as their arrangements are made already. 

But, we got to visit with our friends Larry and Dona, who moved here to Cuenca from Grand Forks last October.  They love it here. We had a nice visit, and who knows, maybe we'll meet up with them next year!

January 25, 2016

This morning we received some bad news. Michel's mom, who is 88 years old, fell yesterday and broke her hip. Surgery is planned for today or tomorrow. His father, who is also 88, is unable to stay on his own. We are not sure yet how this will affect our plans, but we decided that we were going to shoot on down to Cuenca today in the event that we must go home early. 

Quito has so much to see and do, and we barely tapped the tip of it. But Rich and Tina have chosen to stay on in Quito and continue with their site seeing plans. We may meet up later. 

So Michel and I caught the Trole bus just a couple of blocks from where were were staying. It was so crowded! Like sardines in a can...There are seats for 36 people and standing room for 124 - but I swear at one point there were more than 124.

And we were two of the sardines standing - with luggage no less. But this is not uncommon.  There were many standing (and a few sitting) with luggage. 

Anyway we made our way to the South Terminal to catch our bus for Riobamba, which will be our stop over for the night..  3.5 hours on a bus is long enough for one day.  Tomorrow we will bus the rest of the way 289 km.


The highways are nicely paved and not busy at all.






We had a very relaxing ride, arriving around 3:30 pm.

January 24, 2016

The Basilica del Voto Nacional (seen in the background) is a large neo-Gothic building

Today we spent the morning and early afternoon walking around and visiting a little in the Old Historic Quito.  We did the same on Saturday night.   A person could do this every day for a week and still not see all there is to see. 

Quito's Old Town extends over 790 acres and is the largest historic center in the Americas.

La Iglasia de la Compania de Jesus Church

Quito's Old Town was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978, and they have taken great pride in restoring the colonial buildings and sprucing up the public spaces.

The streets and plazas constantly buzz with colorful locals and vendors selling everything from roasted peanuts to giant roasted pigs. 








Tourists drink it all in as they shuffle between the overwhelming number of restored churches and chapels, convents and monasteries, mansions and museums.  There are over 40 churches, and 16 convents and monasteries in old town alone. And of course there are plenty of bars and restaurants. 

Plaza Grande  (Plaza de la Independencia)

January 22, 2016

As it turned out our hotel was located way out in el Quinche, which is about 25 miles (45 minute drive) or so northeast of the the city of Quito. Who knew?? 

This morning we decided to check out the tiny town. There were vendors everywhere.  Every kind of shop you can imagine. And amid all this hustle and bustle sits the parish of The Quinche. It is famous for the Marian Pilgrimage. The second week of November more than 800,000 believers make the pilgrimage to the shrine of the Virgin of El Quinche from the village of Calderon. The walk is done over night and they arrive at dawn the next day to the church of El Quinche.  On November 21st the mass party ends with a procession through the streets of Quinche. 






On July 8, 2015, during his Apostolic Journey to Ecuador, Bolivia and Paraguay, Pope Francis went to this National Marian shrine of El Quinche, and met with clergy, men and women, and seminarians.
















It is a very big, beautiful and ornate church. Gold filigree and carved wooden statues, huge stained glass windows.  

Pictures just don't do it justice. 





Anyway, after our visit to the church we decided to check out of the hotel and get somewhere closer to Quito.  We loaded our suitcases onto the bus bound for Quito and enjoyed the ride. It took about an hour and a half, and cost $1 each - but we were in Quito. We hailed a cab ($4) to get us the rest of the way to Plaza Fochs, which is a hub of activity, with restaurants, bars, hotels, hostels. We will stay in this area for a few days while we do some more "touristy" things.   

January 21, 2016

Leaving Panama........

So far all our blog posts look like fun and games! But I have to be honest, it has had it's challenges at times. Not with the company, that goes without saying that we love Rich and Tina to pieces. The biggest challenge has been travelling all this time without pre-made plans.  Anyone who knows Michel and myself knows that this is kinda how we do it... have to say this has probably been the biggest challenge for Rich and Tina, not knowing what comes next.....

Yesterday and today were two of those challenging days. They ran into one long day ..... Michel and I booked a flight to Quito, Ecuador for this morning. When Rich and Tina went to book the same flight there was some sort of technical problem and we weren't able to do it. So we all checked out of our hotel in downtown Panama and headed with our luggage to the airport to get this done. It's impossible to make a long story short, but in the end they ended up with the same flight we had, but for double the money. This should have been a good thing, BUT ... when we got to our rooms and checked our email we discovered that the reservation we had made required a confirmation, which didn't get done in a timely manner so our booking was cancelled. And we couldn't re-book because there was less than 10 hours to flight time. So now we had no flight!

We were all back at the airport at 3:30 am, so Rich and Tina could catch their 5:10 flight which went from Panama City to Bogota, Columbia (4 hour lay over) then on to Quito, Ecuador. In the mean time we tried to book a flight, but we couldn't get a flight at any time for anything near the same price.  In the end we booked a direct flight with a different company for quite a bit more money, leaving at 11 am and getting in around 2:00 

That's not the end of it.... Rich and Tina's had to change planes in Bogota to end their journey. In the mean time they sent us an email letting us know that they had booked a room and would meet us, because they had no idea when we would be arriving.  As it turned out, they arrived at the hotel about an hour before we did.........our angels always watch over us.