Category Archives: Travel

I never got the hang of Sundays

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I had ambitious plans today, including heading out to La Mittad del Mundo on the equator. This is a touristy spot that plays on the mystic powers of the equator, but has a lot of fun exhibits, a nearby Inca ruin site and on Sundays features lots of live music and dancers. I wanted to do this since all of the churches and religious sites in Quito would be packed full of worshippers, but fate intervened.

Okay, I won’t say fate intervened but I got distracted. I walked a few blocks from the hotel to find the trolle stop and came across the Plaza Santa Domingo where a presentation was being made. In conjunction with the city of Quito a Columbian musical dance group was performing. I guess it was “Water For Quito” day. I must say the music and dancing was mesmerizing and since I was about a foot taller on average than the locals I stood behind the small crowd (no pun intended) and took many photos. I also fell in lust with one of the dancers who kept “flirting” with me, and by flirting I mean she was within 50 feet and not repulsed. I doubt she even noticed me (albeit I was taller and whiter than most others in the crowd).

Suddenly the church bells rang and the church emptied out into the plaza. I relaized I had been watching the performers for over two hours and had likely missed my opportunity to catch a bus out with enough time to explore La Mittad del Mundo and get back before dark.

No worries, I walked over to the main square, Plaza Grande. I don’t know if today was a special event or if the plaza is normally so crowded, but I was glad to see at least one Policia for every fifty people because I was getting looks from some of the deviants… checking what I was carrying and if I was paying attention to my surroundings. I watched more performers and ate some queso y jamon empanadas for lunch near the San Francisco de Quito convent. What, you’re selling helado? Si!

I walked up a steep street headed for another cathedral and heard traditional music playing from inside a courtyard. It turned out to be a dance recital for a traditional dance school and they were amazing! After another hour I resumed my climb up to the cathedral which was a bit of a letdown once I arrived. I headed back down the street and realized I had applied enough sun creme to the top of my ears buy my forehead had sweat through the protection there. I suspect I will have a good burn on the top of my face and possibly endure some peeling in a few days.

After a few hours siesta at the hotel, I journeyed out for dinner. I fond a small South American-style pizza joint, and if I ever figure out how it differs from North American pizza I will let you know. I will say the pizza was good and filling, and the cerveza was very tasty

Time for a rant: I did not learn spanish in high school and my knowledge has been acquired through observation, Sesame Street and reading the Lonely Planet South American Phrasebook… plus my experience on my trip to Peru a few years ago. Stupid Americans, just because I can order and converse with the server doesn’t mean I want to translate for you when you order. Give it a try first, make mistakes and learn. Just because you recognized the logo on my ball cap does not mean we are friends. Also, if you’re a strict vegetarian visiting Quito plan ahead and learn how to ask for vegetarian dishes. Don’t get flustered when your dish arrives topped with beef and then give up and ask me to tell the server what you wanted. My spanish is no bueno, but even I can manage “sin carne.”

Now back in the room to hit the hay. I wonder what tomorrow will bring?

Hello from Ecuador!

Status

If everything has gone well, I am in Quito Ecuador at the moment. I’m taking a bit of a holiday and touring around the Andes for a couple of weeks. I don’t expect to have much internet access (although I’m reading that many hostals, hosterias and hotels have Wi-fi to accommodate foreign tourists)… I’ll try to post photos as I can.

Don’t expect too much of the touristy checklist stuff, though: I am going to relax and enjoy myself.

See you next month!

Back from hell

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Okay, it was really just a week in Oklahoma but it was as hot as hell. It’s been far too long since I lived there and I am not used to high humidity and 100+ degree temperatures.

The purpose of the trip was to visit family. I worked during the days, safely sequestered inside the air-conditioned house. The dogs only ventured outside for five-minute periods to pee before deciding to head back in the house. They slept a lot last week.

In the evenings we did family things such as dinner at Ponca City’s finest chinese-style buffet restaurant [note: it was awesome to hear the chinese staff say things like "Follow me to your table y'all."]; watching television; and swimming in the pool.

Fabi loves swimming in the pool and would repeatedly jump in and splash whomever was looking too dry. At one point she slipped a bit and hit her rear on the side of the pool, spraining the muscle that holds up her tail. It’s better already but it certainly didn’t stop her from jumping in the pool again and again.

Lucy, on the other hand, was not interested in swimming. She’ll dive into an ice-cold mountain river and fight the current but my guess is the very warm water (92 degrees in the evenings) and the chlorine smell convinced her it was more fun just to stand at he edge of the steps and attack Fabi every time she climbed out of the water.

As we fueled up before heading back yesterday morning, even though the dogs were riding in the back seat of the truck cab (air-conditioned since it was too hot for them in the back under the topper), I realized that heading north through Kansas would let the morning sun shine directly in the passenger-side windows and effectively reduce the amount of usable space in half. The dogs get too hot with the sun shining on them, so I decided to take the southern route back home to Denver. We drove west from Ponca City through northern Oklahoma to the panhandle. The temperature hovered around 100 degrees until we were near Guymon where a rain shower cooled things down into the lower 80′s. As we entered northeast New Mexico we caught up with some monsoon thunderstorms that lowered the temperature into the 50′s at altitude. It was a great trip home.

Land Of Enchantment

The Three Amigos

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The Three Amigos
Originally uploaded by bad9brad

A quick photo of Emily, Lucy and Fabi at the summit of Boreas Pass. Yes, Lucy was still wearing a soft cast at this point. About a week after this photo was taken, the vet removed Lucy’s bandage completely and so far everything looks good. She places the foot “correctly” now and does not appear to be rolling and slapping the bottom of her foot, which was the cause of the ulcers.

She’s still on “light activity” for a while as she learns to live with fused bones and a titanium plate in her leg.

I witnessed an explosion today, or Why print media is dying

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I am forty years old and today was the first time I have ever dialed the emergency 911 number.

I was driving home from my office in Colorado Springs as the rain and snow were coming down. As I approached Monument from the south, a bright light suddenly lit the foggy, rainy gloom. At first I thought somebody was shining a spotlight directly at me but I slowly realized an electrical transformer on the side of the freeway had exploded. As I headed towards the slowly diminishing chemical glare I saw a power line that crossed the roadway drop in front of me as sparks began flying on the other side of the road. There was no time to slow down or stop since I was driving at least 75 MPH and the traffic was heavy — a sudden stop would have created a fifty-car pileup during rush hour. I sped up and drove over the power line and… nothing happened. At least, nothing happened until I looked in the rear-view mirror and saw the power line burst into flames and shoot sparks onto the cars directly behind me. Whew!

I quickly called 911 and reported the issue. By the time I was driving through Monument I could see a fire engine crew heading out towards the scene of the issue. Hopefully no one else attempted to drive over the power line, although knowing how incredibly stupid people are these days I am sure many did.

So having performed my civic duty today I was interested to see if any of the local media had picked up the story and perhaps could shed some light on the cause of the explosion. CBS4 mentioned the road closure during their 6 PM newscast but had no details other than the “road is closed.” I checked the Colorado Springs Gazette and realized the reason that traditional print media is dying is because they don’t give a shit anymore. The Gazette didn’t even bother to cover the story themselves, instead handing it off to the Denver Post. Read the linked article and tell me if it is informational in any useful way. How did the power line fall on the roadway? Was it an accident or domestic terrorism? When did the roadway close, and were there any vehicle accidents or injuries?

I think it would be more reliable and accurate to get my news from a blind wombat.

UPDATE: I see the DP updated the story with a slight bit of info regarding accidents, but which “officials” did they ask for the cause of the issue? The officials I spoke to were the CSP 911 Dispatch officer and the El Paso county sheriff’s office when I called it in.