GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador March 3, 2015

March 3, 2015Guayaquil reminds me of Cambodia. It is the largest city in Ecuador and I expected a large modern city but it seems very third world to me.many people selling things on the streets.  Old man with a box containing small amounts of individual cigarettes, gum, Tootsie Roll's, and water, a lady selling a very small selection of gummy candy like licorice lozenges, a radio and other things all unwrapped in one box out in the heat.  Guys selling small packages of Q-tips, lottery ticket sellers yelling on the streets, and many people selling water standing in the middle of the road or at the park yelling agua! Agua!
Very modern appliance stores they also sell motorcycles inside the store. Markets, pharmacies etc. are all tiny little openings on the street.
I saw a bearded dragon at the park eating with a couple pigeons.  Not a lot of horn honking.  People are very nice and pedestrians wait on the corner for green lights and then cross en masse. So that part is much more civilized than Asia.

Quito, Ecuador March 2, 2015

I arrived in Quito via Houston and am spending the night in an airport chair. Very uncomfortable. By the time I reach Guayaquil, I will have been in transit 24 hours.
Guayaquil for the next 3 nights and then off to Galápagos Islands. I can't wait!!

May 29, 2013 Sister at Mount Everest

Today my sister completed a marathon down from Mount Everest Base Camp over extremely rough terrain. And she did it only 11 days after running the Great Wall of China marathon and then had to trek up to EBC in less than a week. 

The START

The FINISH in her new Mount Everest track suit

May 28, 2013 Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Up at 6:00 for Tai Chi on the deck. At 8:30 the Day Boat came to take us our for a day of activities. Only one Canadian couple on board so the four of us had the boat and day to ourselves with at least four staff. We went to a new island and climbed to the top -a mere 100 steps followed by a long trail created by water running down the mountain. 

Next an hour cruise to a gathering spot for Day Boats and we went kayaking. We had a guide in a plastic kayak; we were in fiberglass. The guide took us thru a cave into a lagoon then thru another cave into a second lagoon. The couple went first at the direction of our guide. Guide was waiting for Larraine an me. When we caught up, guide led the way thru the cave. There were lots of rapids and it was hard to keep the kayak from crashing into cave walls. When we got to the other side, guide was grinning which I thought meant "wasn't that a wild ride?"  The guy in the other kayak said our guide had made a mistake and should not have taken us in there. They thought the bug grin meant "oh shit".  We could not get out. Guide tried paddling until he was exhausted but going no where. Finally he got out of his kayak and tried walking out dragging his kayak. We waited, wondering if we could climb out or how someone could rescue us from the lagoon. It was a beautiful place to be stranded but we didn't have much water 

left and no sun screen between the four of us. Guide came back to pull each of our kayaks out.  The current was strong and he had to pull while holding onto barnacle covered rocks. His feet must be cut. He was chest deep in water and we had to paddle like crazy but he finally got us out. Quite an adventure

Our lovely Day Boat

Larraine maneuvering down from our hike on slippery flip flops

View from top of our island hike

 Nap time on the boat after lunch

CAT TIEN National Park May 24, 2013

Picked up at our hotel by a new air confitioned Toyota van. Han, the girl we booked this hike with, showed up at our hotel to bring us each two large bottles of water. She had to get up at 5am and take a bus just to make sure we got off to a good start.  

May 17, 2013 JIXIAN, CHINA

The  Yu Yang Hotel is not the place for comfortable beds, air conditioning that works, or sleep but could be the best place in town. If I had wifi I could look up the population here but am guessing anything under a million people is a small town and this is a small town with a few major traffic streets. 

Last night we went in search of a massage after our two hours on the wall. Massage is apparently not as popular here as in Beijing so we had no luck but did discover an amazing area that reminds me of any "Chinatown" but far larger and more beautiful. People were dancing in the streets, singers on street corners but not busking, just having fun. We are going back today to see real life in China during the day. 

Today we went to the "adult playground" and joined in on some of the senior dancing. We got a lot of "thumbs up" from folks so they were happy we participated. 

These seniors dance around in a large circle to a live band for hours and hours. They have a fan in one hand and a scarf in the other. There are simple steps and arm movements for a full body workout. More fun than Zumba. Larraine and I dance for almost an hour with these folks. They shared their fans and scarves. We were exhausted but they were still moving when we left. The band never stops 

Vietnam Jungle