Also making up for the last few days!

It has now been officially a week and a day in Ecuador and not counting the fact that I can´t get to my photographic documentation (see post below), things are good.

One of my most notable trips has been to the Mercado de los Animalos (animal market) in Otavalo, two hours north of Quito. The market is organized by size of animal starting with little chicks, hens, roosters and geese moving on to guinea pigs (also known as cuy, pronounced coo-ee), cats, dogs, pigs, sheep and eventually llamas and cows. It is pretty awesome...I have no other word for it. People come in every Saturday morning with their ¨wares¨and customers pour in from nearby towns and villages. I saw two kinds of rooster backpacks...one where the rooster is tied up to hold other items and the other, a sling carrying a rooster. Possibly the most interesting sight was someone putting chicks in a brown paper bag with holes in it...I think I pick up chocolate with more caution.

Following that was the Mercado de las Frutas (fruit market) - in addition to all the fruits that are so delightfully plentiful in India, there have also been tomat d´arbol (tree tomato), pepiño, sapota (no, it´s not the same thing as chikoo here) and tuna (not the fish but a spiny fruit that is orange with tons of seeds that can be eaten). I do have pictures and they are all very interesting to see...but currently not accessible. Sigh.

Trying to recover lost photos...

...and failing miserably at the moment. Anyone with ideas on how to recover photos that have been deleted from a camera and saved as a zip file on a flash drive, which now gives me a message saying that this is an incomplete file and can´t be opened - please don´t hesitate to comment here :) I promise lots of interesting photos!

22km from the Equator...and freezing

Bah.

I think it may have something to do with the fact that Quito is almost 3000m above sea level. Just for that, I´m going to the Equator tomorrow :P

The power of a quarter

The currency of choice and in use in Ecuador is the US dollar. Even after living in the US for the last few years and feeling the power of a dollar in travel, I am a little surprised by its magnified power here. For instance, it took exactly 25 cents for me to get to the center of New Town in Quito from the airport. Comparing this with the 85 dollars it took for me to get to JFK (since I was running late as always and had no time to take the train), I am left a little speechless.

To be fair, I did take the bus from Quito airport given that I have all the time in the world here, but even if I hadn´t, a taxi would have cost me...wait for it...a full 4 dollars. We aren´t talking about getting from the South ferry to the beaten-up Bull distance here.

That being said, prices all over fluctuate wildly. An icecream (I obviously had to have one of those) cost me a dollar-fifty, lunch was a very full plate for three dollars...and a fresh empanada can be had for 15 cents. I´m learning the power of a dime too...and obviously eating my way through Quito.

Leaving and landing in the right spot

It´s finally begun and I´m in Quito (of the Ecuadorian kind) today!

I have reason to be both surprised and pleased especially given that Panama City was enroute. For those who wonder why, you obviously haven´t heard of my attempt to fly into Costa Rica more than a year ago. That trip has a lot of events to remember it by - not least that it was the first of a million scuba trips to get certified (okay, I exaggerate a TINY bit but it´s pretty true) - but the one that sticks with me went something like this...

a) Sasha misses Newark to San Jose flight due to fog (which is the star of our story) in Boston.
b) Linda and I take off after trying to delay Newark flight to get aforementioned Sasha in it.
c) Linda and I land in Liberia (Costa Rica, not West Africa) which has an airport the size of a Walmart parking lot - of course, Linda thinks I´ve been smoking something when I wake her up and tell her we´re in Liberia...before I tell her it´s the one in CR.
d) Linda and I take off after 2 hours of sitting in the plane (Liberia CR doesn´t have custom officials to deal with a plane the size of ours) when Continental decides that if Air Mexicana can land in a foggy San Jose, so can they.
e) Linda and I fall asleep.
f) Linda and I wake up when the plane lands to hear an announcement welcoming us to Panama City, Panama...I´m NOT kidding.
g) Of course, we are the only people on the plane not holding US passports and without visas for Panama (I´d like to point out we had our Costa Rica visas), so our passports are confiscated and we wait for our "escort" while the airport security sings Happy Birthday to me (it WAS actually my birthday).
h) Our escort keeps watch over us for an entire day (we exchange lessons in English and Spanish) and we find out that she doesn´t know our plane is leaving for San Jose earlier than planned...I stand in front of a bus holding the other plane passengers and refuse to let it move.
i) We finally leave...and meet Sasha who is already in San Jose (of course!)

I think I´m justified in wondering where we were actually going to get to when I reached the gate at JFK...but we landed in the right spot, alright!

Side-notes:
- Follow-up on previous post; Costa Rica is one of those countries that now allows Indian citizens (and more) in for up to 90 days if you hold a US visa.
- I fully recommend harem pants for travel as long as you´re okay with being singled out for a security frisk; they want to know what you´re hiding (special note to the one who gave them to me :) )

Indian citizens rejoice...

...so I think my count of countries in this world that do not require Indian citizens to get visas prior to travel has exceeded the fingers of one hand. Yay.

I could start with India...but this is not a trick.

There's Ecuador, now looking to create "friendly relations with the world" which translates to no visas required for visits less than 90 days.

Bermuda - if you're looking for some sun after being beaten down by New York's crazy weather.

Kenya, Indonesia, Malaysia...you can get visas at the airport. I will post a disclaimer on the last two and confirm once I actually enter these countries in a few months.

Singapore - if you're going there for less than 96 hours and have a ticket that shows you're actually leaving.

More to come...if you do know more, feel free to share!

10 days and counting...

I'm taking off a week from Tuesday...unbelievable! That is, if my passport decides to show up of course. Whoever decided that countries must have boundaries, citizens must have passports and permissions are required to enter just about anywhere definitely had a lot of time on their hands.

In the middle of all my (very slow) planning, I came across this and want to post it here - primarily to remind myself of how to tackle everything in life, not just triathlons, which is what this is for.

- Eliminate self-limiting thoughts.
- Optimize your skills.
- Be willing to spend the effort and energy to be successful.
- Enjoy the journey.
- Be a student.
- Persevere.
- Develop mental toughness.
- Be prepared to suffer.
- Take strength from others.
- You must want success.
- Avoid over-training.

Be inspired, inspire others.