Origin of the Xmas - Part dos
The plane touched down in Quito, Ecuador around 2300. After checking through customs I finally met the rest of the research party. I would tell you what everyone's name is and what they do but after 17 hours of taveling, nothing they said seemed to stick. I was pretty much in survival mode only. Without too much fanfair the group made it to the hotel, checked in and (a few of us) proceeded staight to the bar.
Now a very wise man once told me that the effect a beer has on the psyche is directly porportional to the temporal and/or spacial expanse of a journey. So after waking up early, taking a bus to Boston, a plane to Miami, another plane to Quito and a shuttle ride to the hotel and an elevator ride to the penthouse bar, you can imagine the quality those first few sips of Corona (with lime) held. cerveza fantastico!!! By this point it was about 0130 and we needed to be up at 0600 so that we could catch our next flight, so we all retired to our swank suites.
Ah 0600, what a great time to hit the snooze button, not quite. The only good thing about being up at this hour after the previous days events, was the coffee. THE WORLDS GREATEST COFFEE!!! Sure Quito can support a McDonalds, and a T.G.I.F but a Starbucks, not a chance. I'm not kidding you, THE WORLDS GREATEST COFFEE!!!. The fact that I was enjoying this sweet caffenated ambrosia from the hotel's penthouse bar overlooking the town didn't hurt either. Truely beautiful country. Quito lies in the valley between two mountian ranges at an altitude of about 9000 feet. The air is a little thin but the temperature is perfect. I think I'm going to deal with having Chirstmas in the tropics just fine.
After checking out of our hotel, the entire crew proceeded back to the airport. Next stop Baltra in the Galapagos Islands!!!
When we arrived in Baltra we were greeted by a warm, humid breeze with just the right amount of salt. The airport was on a separate island from Puerto Ayora, where we will be staying tonight. We hopped on a bus, took a little drive, hopped on a ferry, took a little ride, hopped on another bus and took a really long ride across the island of Santa Cruz. The landscape was the most foreign I had ever seen. The land was baron is some spots, lush in others, the ground looked to be made of mostly lava rock and there were these funny cactus trees everywhere.
When we arrived in Puerto Ayora everyone proceeded off to their hotels. Myself, being one of the great procrastinators, never bothered making reservations or even looking online for possible options. To Cassandra, this is one of my least attractive characteristics. However that being said, I always manage to pull something off ends up being better than if I had actually made some kind of plan. (did I mention I�m in the Galapagos for work? You can�t plan that!!!) Today my luck continued. After finding out that most of the major hotels were booked I started asking around to see what some other options were. It took me the better part of twenty minutes to find this really sweet hostel, right downtown, with a private bathroom, free breakfast and for the reasonable price of $15.00/night. In case my supervisor at the office is reading this, please take note: I�m doing my best to cut cost. (but be thankful I can�t expense my bar tab!!!)
So that�s that. I�m here, I have a roof over my head and at least one meal a day figured out. But here�s my favorite part. Remember all those other people who made reservations? Turned out there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the way and half of the reservations got canceled. I guess it�s true what they say: �It�s better to be lucky than good.�
: