Ecuador

over the past 10 days, I have been fortunate enough to start my trip off by swimming with sea lions and i even went searching for sharks--the vegetarian variety I was told! I have been eating 'pescado a la plancha' (grilled fish and rice) like its going out of style. I went into this trip with that sole intention, to eat fish because i like it so much and its healthy, and thinking about how fresh and cheap it is out here, please don´t show me another filet for a while. Linus (Switzerland), The Dutch, Darren and Karen from Canada, Galapagos Intern-Teaching squad and the Vets From MSU, every one of these people have made this trip awesome. And the bonfire on the beach of Isabela was just right, to put a close on a great 10 days under the sun. As for my spanish, if you would have seen the chaos that ensued when we left Isabela, I could tell you that no classroom can teach that, and I am back in Santa Cruz with a good meal in my stomach, a nice room to settle into and so...its not going too bad. From here I will be heading south to Machu Picchu, I am getting excited to see that.

--CIAO

I had a change of mind while in Costa Rica, as beautiful as it was, and it was, I´ve decided to move my way south and do a few things there. Planning this trip has been fun, cause the truth it not too much planning was put into it, I just knew I wanted to go. One thing I´ve had to keep in mind of was the weather, as fast as it changes at home, holds true for what i´m going to expect further south. I´m right now hanging out in Guayaquil, Ecuador, 2nd largest town to Quito (capital), and 1st in revenue, or something like that, due to tourism: new int´l airport and la embarcaderra, hub out to the Galapagos Islands. I mention the weather because I´m going to make my way to Machu Picchu, it´s cold, getting colder.
Along the way, I´ve used numerous sites to understand the route, buses are widespread throughout, getting the correct name of the bus line takes a bit. From Central to South, had to fly in, travel agents recommendations, along with every other site I checked out. I hear that to get through to Colombia from Ecuador is more feasible, i´m checking that out, safety first.