Ecuador = equilibrium

Hola Amigos!

Now, it has been some time (again), but I don’t have the time or Internet to update all the time. At the moment I’m in Quito in Ecudaor. Yes, that means we finally did it: we left Colombia. But I still love that country (except all the (military) controls they do.
We also did some more planning (cause we’re behind on schedule) and you’ll see were I’m going the next month in the planning (part 2). And please check part 3 as well and give me a new quest or play the game of part 4!

Well, now in Ecuador. Tomorrow leaving for the Galapagos and therefore really poor at the moment. :S But I’ve got a ‘job’ now. The travel agency where we booked our trip wants me and Linda to promote them everywhere we go and also put them into contact with Dutch travel agencies for cooperation. So with a bit of luck, we’ll get paid from time to time. :D
Anyway, not really interesting for u guys, so here is the story of Taganga, Medellin, Salento, Quito!

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1) A Taganga, beaches and rest

So, we went to Taganga and didn’t stay in Santa Marta after our jungle adventure. We stayed here some nights (I believe 2, but keeping track of days and dates is really difficult). Was cheap and relaxing and the hostel much better than the one in Santa Marta. But after some dinners and lunches at the beach, swimming in the sea and mini hikes of 1 hour, we had to move on. Apparently we were one of the few that could escape paradise Taganga, for other stayed at least a week (if not a month).

1) B Medellin, nightlive

Our visit to Medellin was short: just one night. But that was ok. The basic thing to see there is the nightlife, bars, restaurants etc. We did the city in one day. High light was going up with the cable car (part of the metro) to a view point over the city. And around noon we took a bus direction la Zona Cafetera to view the Colombian national product (next to the other one ;) : Coffee.

1) C Salento, Jungle adventure, Mosquitoes and Rivers

Around sunset we arrived in Salento due to the help of a friendly local. She also showed us la Casona de Lili, one of the local ‘hostels’ which we preferred above the Plantation House (mass tourism). Lili had in total 4 cheap rooms, was very friendly, cooked delicious Truch (fish) and Pollo (chicken) and also her breakfast was a nice way to start the day. Salento is comparable with Taganga, only in the mountains (about 2500m). So also in this little town we took it easy.
We strode around in town, played pool, did some hours hiking again (addicted or what?!?) and visited Don Elias. He gave us a tour on his coffee plantation, where he also had other fruits like pina (pine apple), narange (oranges), banana, mora (frambozen) and more. Also the coffeemaking process and afterwards a cup of Colombian coffee. On the last day we visited a humming bird farm as well (we did have to hike 4 hours for it though). And for the way back: at the roof of a jeep!

1) D Quito, Welcome to Ecuador!

From Salento it took us about 24 hours by bus to go to Quito. Border crossing we did on foot though. Quito is the capital of Ecuador and here we spent our last 4 days. A lot of time was ’lost’ searching for a good deal to go to the Galapagos and we succeeded: we saved about $350,- (but it still costs almost $1900,-). Tomorrow at 9.45h we have a plane to the island Santa Cruz and from there we will do a 8 day cruise. After we spent 2 more days at the island and we’ll go diving at the Gordon Rocks. So hopefully lots of pics of sharks, whale sharks, turtles, dolphins, mantas, penguins, birds and more. :D
For the rest of the time we did some sightseeing (both Old and New Town), got drunk (unlimited pizza and wine for $12,-) and we went to the equator (but there were 3 points/people that claimed that had mitad del mundo/‘the middle of the earth’). Was fun though, some of the games, explanations and having no shade. :P

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2) The Route

This was my trip:
- 22/01/09 I flew to Aruba to visit and pick up Linda;
- 03/02/09 We went to Washington DC and visited Mariska;
- 06/02/09 We took take the bus to New York and slept in our first hostel;
- 10/02/09 We had a flight to Orlando and did 2 days Disney World
- 13/02/09 Drove to Miami were we did Miami city and the Keys;
- 17/02/09 Flew to Bogota (Colombia);
- 23/02/09 Cartagena
- 24/02/09 Santa Marta and la Ciudad Perdida (6 day hike in the jungle);
- 02/03/09 Taganga (rest!)
- 04/03/09 Medillin
- 05/03/09 Salento (Zona Cafetera, between Perreira and Armenia);
- 08/03/09 We took the bus to Ipiales (border) and left Colombia behind us
- 09/03/09 Quito
- 13/03/09 Galapagos (8 day cruise and 2 days on Santa Cruz for diving)
- 22/03/09 Guayaquil

And then what we planned (hopefully we’ll make it :P)
- 25/03/09 Lima (Paragliding?)
- 26/03/09 Ica/Huarachina (Sandboarding)
- 28/03/09 Nazca (Ancient ruins, maybe we’ll see them from a plane)
- 01/04/09 Cusco (we’ll do the Inca trail by our selves, go to the hot springs in Aguas Calientes, visit the Secret Valley and more)
- 10/04/09 Arequipa and Canyon Country (Vulcanos, Canyon del Colca and crossing to Bolivia at Lake Titicaca)
- 13/04/09 A short visit to Bolivia will bring us to La Paz and some salt desert;
- 20/04/09 We will continue to go south, but Santiago (Chili) we’ll probably skip so from Bolivia straight to Argentinia (waterfalls at border of Urugay, Buenos Aires etc);
- 05/05/09 Brasil (Rio, Brasilia, Salvador etc);
- 20/05/09 From Brasilia we will enter the Amazone for a while;
- 26/05/09 I hope to fly to the states again (:S) to visit Joanna in Saint Louis and then Chicago at the same time. However, depends on my money.
- 04/06/09 B-day of Ta ;)
As you can see, tight schedule. So everyone that wants to go to South America: 4 months isn’t enough!!!

Roughly my trip after North and South America will look like this:
- 07/09 (or 06/09) Australia (working and traveling 1 year, maybe with Katie);
- 05/10 (or 06/10) Asia (Indonesia, Philipijnen, Maleisia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, Korea and Japan, maybe with Isabel for a while);
- 11/10 Trans-siberian Railway Peking Express through among others Peking (China), Mongolia, Jarkoetsk (Rusland), Onsk (Rusland), Moskou (Rusland) for 18 days (maybe with Robbert);
- 12/10 Home sweet home, Wingman back in the Netherlands.

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3) My to do list

In one of the first messages I wrote, I said that you could let me do certain things in exchange for money. Here is the status quo:

- Get (naked) on national tele in the USA: Waiting if were on, being taped for Comedy Central and MTV’s the Fashion Show ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
*** (nearly) ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Find a famous place/square and be a street artist: I forgot my jiggling balls every time I went into Paris or other cities, but I had some audience in Zipaquire. ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
- Enjoy your trip: I will! ~ REWARD: € 25,- by Hans (Thank you Hans!!)
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Shave your head bold: since my mum shaved me twice I'm almost hairless now. :S ~ REWARD: € 3,50 by Sarah H;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Come to the Luna-Tik Switch: since I'm in Maastricht now (and bored) and waiting till 10h, I think I'll manage. ~ REWARD: free entrance as per Erik;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Carry Mickey around the world and take pictures in famous places: I WILL! ~ REWARD: A cool photo collection, as per me!;
- Get married in Las Vegas in an Elvis Suite and stay married for at least 6 months: Linda s not interested ~ REWARD: € 450,- as per Erik;
*** FAILED ***
- Carry the hand cups around that I ‘won’ with the Saint Nicolas Surprise: they are still on my back, but people looked weird when I took them into the jungle ~ REWARD: ??? told by Jule;

Did I forget one, do you want to add one?? Let me know!!
Do you want to add some?? Let me know!!

NOTE!! I’m running out of quests, please give me some more!!!

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4) Games

A little game for all:

Each person that posts, must repeat the sentence 'I will go on holiday and take with me:', repeat the items of previous persons and add one item of his own.

This is where we left of and since nobody played last post, we’ll stop with this one:

*I'll go on holiday and take with me: my backpack (Inge, afblijven!), my hand cups, Inge's prom dress, Mickey Mouse, a snorkel, juggling balls, 1 under pens, a passport, mama's toothbrush, Linda!, a winter jacket, snow boats, my MP3 player, mama’s bracelet, some dollars to buy breakfast, everybody’s notes with the best wishes on them (there actually at my parents Erik) and my lonely planet. :D

Here’s a new one:

Each post must say a number (in sequence from one till 50). The one who is number 50, will receive a little reward. :) And there will be a secret number reward as well!

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Okay, so that was in short the last 2 weeks or so. If you are interested, I finished my journal for Colombia/USA/Aruba in Dutch and will email it home to my parents as back up. Just let me know and I’ll mail you a copy as well.
Some old news:
“I love this continent!”
“Ow yeah, dad, tell Juul that I am still carrying the hand cups! :P”
“And to ‘the group’: when (or if) I get back in 2 years, we’ll definitely go to Colombia for about 2 or 3 weeks! It’s cheap and there is loads of stuff to do!”

Kisses, great love and more from the one and only Wingman aka Ralf and a hug from Mickey!!!!

PS. Linda says ‘hi’ as well. ;)