First of Many

Today I took the first of many upcoming medical tests to go
back to the Ice for another season.

The Drug Pee Test.

I studied for it all night...I hope I passed!

Farmer's Market

One of our favorite summertime things to do in Grand
Junction is to go to the Farmer's Market. Although it's still
a bit early and not filled with a large selection of produce
yet, there were still plenty of other booths to look through
and lots of good food to eat. We bought a green chile
burrito from the local Mennonite congregation and my
first really good hot dog that I've had for a long time.
Another big plus about living in Grand Junction? Lynn
lost her wallet and later, she got a call from the police
that someone had turned it in, with everything intact!

Home Again, Home Again

Jiggity Jig. A long day of flying and several airports later,
we are back in Grand Junction. At least for a few days.
You would think that our stay in Ecuador would have been
hot, but being at over 9000 feet, it was relatively cool.
When we landed at the airport here at home, it was
99 degrees!

25 For A Dollar

Today we were walking home from the store down Calle Portugal
when Lynn stopped by the small flower stand that sets up
there every day. All of the flowers smelled wonderful of course,
but there was a big sign posted, "25 por un dollar". 25 long
stemmed roses for 1 dollar? What's the catch? The only catch
is that they were a day old. I don't think you can get 1 long
stemmed rose in the States for $1 let alone 25 and they're in
just as good of shape as any you'd find in an average florist shop.
Ecuador is a major exporter of roses and small shops like these
are a local purveyor to those that live here. Our apartment
now smells fantasticl...thanks to cheap (in price only) roses.

I'm Told it's Cosmic

Lynn and I are addicted to a game on Facebook called
FarmTown. Essentially, you plant seeds, grow crops, harvest
crops and make or lose money. All kind of like real farming
except it's on a computer and it's kind a social interaction with
others. Much more than real farming...anyway, I digress.
I was just thinking this morning how it would be nice to have
another crop option to plant that is quicker to germinate than
grapes, which is four hours...maybe Raspberries.
Well...lo and behold, what pops up as an option this evening
(along with other new choices)...RASPBERRIES...and a germination
time of 2 hours! I think it's an uncanny coincidence.
Lynn tells me it's cosmic. Maybe I should play the lottery...NOW!

Peeing in Public

We've been here for almost three months and I still can't
get over the fact of how many people pee alongside the
road here in Quito. I mean, not even discreetly hiding
behind a tree or pole. Just pulling over to the side of the
street, whipping it out and going. This habit so far does
not cross all genders as I haven't seen a woman do it (yet),
but while walking home from the store today on a VERY
busy intersection across from a mall and in a park, only 2
feet from a sidewalk, I saw it again. This time a double
peeing incident as a mother (I have to assume) was helping
her two young sons "water" the grass. In the middle of a
woods, along a deserted highway, in the middle of the
night...maybe. At 5:45PM on a busy street across from a
mall? Maybe not so much...but hey that's me. This is one
case where I will not followt the adage...When in Rome...

Paint it Mozzarella!

Henry Ford once said, "Any customer can have a car painted any colour
that he wants so long as it is black".

In the country of Ecuador, you can have any cheese you want...as long
as it is Mozzarella! I would challenge almost any supermarket
in the United States to have more cheese than those markets in Ecuador.
Walk into the store and you're faced with the Great Wall of Cheese!
Even those cheeses that "aren't" mozzarella, still have the consistency
and taste of it. Don't get me wrong. I like Mozzarella. I just don't
like it as much as Ecuadorans do. And they seem to like it...a lot!

Chicos y Chicas

The Bug-Mobile

Living across from Parque de Carolina, we see all kinds of families
gathered every weekend in the park. One of my favorite things
about the park itself is the "Bug-Mobile" that cruises around the
perimeter of the park on Saturdays and Sundays, taking small
children and their parents for rides, usually with some Barney-esque
type music playing full blast. This is one of the few times I wish I
had kids as I'd love to take a ride, but I think we'd get weird looks
if we tried. Oh...it also comes in red!

Feliz 4 de Julio?

Every July 4th in my life I have spent the holiday either
in America or at least "with" 100+ Americans in a remote
place. This year, Lynn and I are spending the day with
several million people who know the day as...Saturday.
Yes, a bit underwhelming and definitely nothing to get
excited about. At least in Ecuador. All throughout Quito
you see streets named after important days in Ecuador's
history. Avenida 6 de Diciembre (The city of Quito is founded by
Spanish settlers led by Sebastián de Belalcázar) or Avenida
10 de Agosto ( Quito declares independence from Spain).
These are obviously red letter dates here in Ecuador. You
can even find a Avenida Kennedy here, referring to President
Kennedy. But...no Avenida 4 de Julio. Maybe I should just
be here in Quito with all the revelers on December 6th or
on August 10th. On a bright note however, someone was
launching fireworks in the Parque de Carolina after 10pm.
Either some expat Americans were taking matters into their
own hands to celebrate, or it was just Ecuadorans getting the
early jump on the the August 10th holiday. I'll start looking
in the stores for all of the holiday sales.

Above Old Town Quito

We took our friend Leza out to dinner for her birthday at Cafe Mosaico,
high above El Centro Historico, and had an awesome view!

The Mindo Cloud Forest

According to Wikipedia: A cloud forest, also called a fog forest, is a
generally tropical or subtropical evergreen montane moist forest
characterized by a high incidence of low-level cloud cover, usually
at the canopy level.

We rode a couple hours north of Quito to visit the Mindo Cloud Forest
and were definitely not disappointed. It's a large jungle area that
comprised entirely of forest. The whole day the clouds weren't much
higher than the tree tops.


The entire forest was very lush and dense.


We saw some very exotic looking plants.


All kinds of hummingbirds. Many of which I've never seen before.


This one was nice enough to sit still for the camera.


All kinds of butterflies as well.


There were dozens of these beauties that looked very plain and
brown on one side but a really pretty blue on the other.


These little guys were everywhere.


I was really surprised to see Monarchs as well


The locals kept an eye on us as we explored including this little
boy playing at a local school.


The town of Mindo is pretty small...basically one main street.


We ate at this really good restaurant called Cakaffesu that
served possibly the best food we've had in Ecuador. It's owned
by an American woman and her Ecuadoran husband. She was
quite pleasant and chatted with us for a while.

Centro Historico de Quito

As Goes Honduras...

Today we saw people protesting the recent military coup
in Honduras in which Leftist president Manuel Zelaya was
overthrown. Of course this has received high notes of
condemnation from many of Latin America's presidents,
including our friend Hugo Chavez (insert sarcasm here)

Latin America Unites Behind Ousted Zelaya Of Honduras

CARACAS (AFP)--Latin American countries, many of which are no
strangers to major political upheavals, unanimously condemned
Sunday the Honduran army's ouster and exile of leftist President
Manuel Zelaya.

The drama centered on the president's bid to secure a second term,
becoming the latest in a long list of Latin American leaders, including
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to seek constitutional changes to
expand presidential powers and ease term limits.

Leftist leaders were especially vocal in their backing of Zelaya, who
was elected as a conservative in 2006 before making a dramatic shift
to the left.

Chavez threatened military action if his ambassador or embassy in
Honduras is harmed, saying he would launch a continental battle to
see Zelaya restored

to the presidency, hours after the Honduran leader was ousted and
flown to Costa Rica.

The "military junta" in Honduras "would be entering a de facto state
of war" should they harm his ambassador in Tegucigalpa, warned the
firebrand leftist leader.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced the "brutal and
criminal coup d'etat" in Honduras and demanded the return of Zelaya,
the "sole legitimate president" of Honduras, whose Congress voted in
its speaker Roberto Micheletti to take over until the presidential term
ends in January.

Chavez, a thorn in Washington's side in Latin America, denounced the
arrest of Zelaya, suggesting the U.S. was implicated.

Speaking in Caracas, Chavez urged U.S. President Barack Obama to speak
out against Zelaya's arrest, saying "the Yankee empire has a lot to do"
with developments in Honduras.

The U.S. has had a battered image in Central and South America, where
it supported several coups and military governments during the Cold War
in a bid to contain the grip of communism over its southern neighbors.

However, in his last interview before his arrest, Zelaya told Spain's El Pais
that a first planned attempt to remove him from power Friday had been
thwarted after the U.S. declined to back the move.

"I'm only still here in office thanks to the United States not supporting a
coup," he said.

Argentine President Cristina Kirchner, speaking after voting in legislative
elections in Argentina, said she was "extremely concerned" about the
situation in Honduras, calling the military's removal of Zelaya a sign that
"we are back to the worst barbarism in Latin American history."

Brazil's foreign ministry warned that "military acts of this type constitute a
violation of democracy and are not in line with the political development
of the region."

Saying "the time for dictatorships is over," Bolivia's Socialist President
Evo Morales called on "international organizations, social movements
and presidents to condemn and reject the military coup d'etat in Honduras."

Member countries of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas, or
ALBA, an anti-trade liberalization bloc of which Honduras has adhered,
also denounced the "coup d'etat."

An emergency ALBA meeting was called Sunday, Chavez said. The
Organization of American States, or OAS, also held a meeting at its
headquarters in Washington.

The OAS Permanent Council was working on a consensus resolution
"that will condemn the efforts to depose President Zelaya of Honduras,
calling for his return to Honduras and for a full restoration of democratic
order," a U.S. administration official said.

Quito, meanwhile, called for a presidential-level meeting of the Rio
Group, an organization of 23 Latin American and Caribbean states,
without indicating the place or time of such talks.

Zelaya's removal "violates the most basic norms of democracy and
international law," Ecuador's foreign ministry said in a statement,
calling for the "immediate restoration" of the Honduran president to power.

The Rio Group in turn expressed its "strongest condemnation" over the
developments in Honduras, denouncing as "illegitimate" Zelaya's removal
from power.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega urged his peers to hold emergency
talks of the System for Central American Integration, or SICA, voicing
hope to reverse Zelaya's ouster, which he called "a terrorist act against
the institution" of democracy in Latin America.

Honduras neighbor El Salvador stepped up military presence at its
international airport and the border between the two countries to
prepare for the possible evacuation of Salvadorans living in Honduras.

Colombia's foreign ministry expressed "deep dismay over the breakdown
of the constitutional order," adding that it rejected Zelaya's "removal
from power by force."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-28-092219ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

Mitad del Mundo

Our friend Leza is in town and we've waited until she got
here to do some of the more touristy things in Quito. Today,
we visited Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the Earth). It's one of
the few places in Ecuador (which literally means Equator in
Spanish) that you can visit the Equator and not be in the
middle of a jungle.

This is the view from the top of the monument at Mitad del
Mundo. It's very touristy and with the advent of GPS, it was
determined about 10 years ago that the monument is actually
off by about 240 meters!


Lynn posing at the monument. It's still fun to have your photo
snapped here even though it's in the wrong place.


Our friend Leza had a good time and later posed in front of the
monument wearing a shirt from her alma mater, The University
of Denver.


The correct equatorial line lies at a nearby park called the Museo
de Sitio Intinan. With correct GPS measurement, it really does lie
at Latitude 00:00:00.


Now that both of us have been to the Geographic South Pole and
on the Geographic Equator, we only have the North Pole left for
the hat trick!


This is right after Lynn successfully balanced an egg on it's end
on the Equator. There were some kind of hokey, but fun experiments
that we participated in, including making water go down a drain three
different ways. Overall we enjoyed the Museo with the correct
measurement more than the Mitad del Mundo park.

Machu Picchu

The Sacred Valley of Peru

Ruins, Ruins and More Ruins

Just outside of Cusco, Peru lies the Sacred Valley, which
was the traditional homeland of the Inca Empiire. I
definitely got my inner archaeology geek on as we
visited eight different ruins, all different from each
other in form and function.


Saqsaywaman - Located just above Cusco, it served as
a fortress, with some stones weighing over 70 tons!


Q'enqo - Servied as a sacred sanctuary to fertility


Q'enqo


Puka Pukara - Used as a road control, administrative center, military
headquarters and food warehouse


Puka Pukara


Tambomachay - A resort for Inca royalty that included baths


Tambomachay


Chinchero - A farming center with large terraces


Moray - a huge number of circular concentric farming terraces, each
with it's own microclimate!


Moray


Ollantaytambo - An example of Pre-Columbian urban planning, is
one of the few places the Incas defeated the Spanish Conquistadors


Ollantaytamo


Pisac - A huge amount of farming terraces. We took a several
hour long hike through these ruins that kicked our butts at
over 11,000 feet in elevation.


Pisac


Pisac

They Will Be Missed

This week, we've lost Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon
and recently David Carradine. What do they all have in common?
Icons of my childhood.

Michael Jackson: First saw him on the Diana Ross special on TV.
One of my first childhood TV memories. Later of course owned
"Thriller", but one of my favorite albums was "Off The Wall".

Farrah Fawcett: Who didn't watch Charlie's Angels? Although,
I thought she was better in "Logan's Run".

Ed McMahon: Many a summer evening watching the Tonight
Show on the living room floor growing up, watching Ed cater to
Johnny's every whim.

David Carradine: Of course I was a big "Kung Fu" fan. Only later
was I disappointed to find out the Bruce Lee was supposed to be
in the starring role. How cool would that have been???

Yes, they all had a disturbing, creepy side sometime in their lives,
but I tend to have a selective memory. They will be missed...at
least by me.

People of Cusco

Chauchilla Necropolis

20 miles south of Nasca lies a desert plain filled with...bones.
Lots of them. The area was the home of a large number of
burial sites of the Nasca people, dating over 1000 years old.
Over the centuries, grave robbers left the bones while taking
everything else. The local government has tried to restore the
site as an educational open air museum of sorts in a rather
macabre way.


The authorities have set everything up as closely as possible to
how their ancestors would have positioned them.


There are still whole bones and fragments lying everywhere!


Some crypts only contain partial bodies.


Mummies of babies have also been found (lower right corner of photo).


This stuff could keep you awake at night!


If it weren't for the cemetery, this might be a beautiful landscape.


The most intact mummy is kept in a small museum at the entrance.

The Nasca Lines

Just north of Nasca, Peru lie the enigmatic Nasca Lines and geoglyphs
that were formed by the Nasca people between 1400 and 1800 years
ago. Our flight lasted for 30 minutes and we saw almost two dozen
different distinct shapes. We definitely needed our air sickness meds
as the small six seater plane made some pretty scary dips and turns
to make sure we got great views of each drawing. Designated a World
Heritage site by the United Nations in 1994, it's not a easy place to get
to as we had to take a bus for six hours from Lima through miles and
miles of pretty bleak desert.


Click on Each Photo to Enlarge


The Astronaut


The Spider


The Condor


A Trapezoid


The Whale


The Hummingbird


The Monkey


A Trapezoid


The Parrot


The Tree and The Hands


Landing at Aeropuerto Maria Reiche

The Sandberg Game

It was 25 years ago today...

"On a Saturday afternoon with Bob Costas calling the game
for NBC, Ryne Sandberg cemented himself in the storied
history of the Chicago Cubs. One of the greatest games in
franchise history has since been nicknamed 'The Sandberg
Game' and for many reasons June 23, 1984 will be forever
etched in the memory of generations of Cubs fans.

Ryne Sandberg went on to win the NL MVP that season and
the Cubs made it to the post-season for the first time since
1945. A new generation of the Faithful was born that wonderful
summer.

Leading up to that Saturday afternoon, the Cubs had put together
a good season but nothing prepared those in attendance, or
watching at home, for what they were about to witness.

The Cubs were primed to make a run at the NL East title. They
were 36-31 entering play (a half game behind the Phillies) and
ten days earlier had acquired Rick Sutcliffe from the Cleveland
Indians for Mel Hall, Joe Carter, Don Schulze and Darryl Banks.

Steve Trout started the game and could not make it out of the
second inning. 'Rainbow' gave up seven runs on five hits in
1 1/3 innings. The Cubs trailed 7-1 as late as the fourth inning
and the game appeared to be over.

The Cubs began chipping away in the fifth, they closed the deficit
to 7-3 with a RBI groundout by Ryne Sandberg that plated Jay
Johnstone. Gary Matthews 'The Sarge' doubled in Bobby Dernier
with two outs for the Cubs third run of the game.

The Cardinals tacked on two in the top of the sixth off of Dickie
Noles. Willie McGee, who was named the player of the game
prematurely, knocked a two-run homer that increased the
Cardinals lead to 9-3. (A little known fact about that game,
Willie McGee hit for the cycle: 4-for-6 with six RBI and three
runs scored)

The Cubs plated five in the bottom of the sixth to make it a game
again. Neal Allen, one of the best relievers in the game at the time,
replaced Ralph Citarella. In fact, the NBC crew had nicknamed the
game 'The Citarella Story' because of his performance leading up
to being removed in the sixth.

Keith Moreland walked and advanced to second after Ron Cey was
hit by a pitch (Cey would leave the game and replaced by Richie
Hebner). Larry Bowa walked to load the bases and pinch hitter
Richie Hebner singled. With the bases still loaded, Bobby Dernier
doubled in Cey and Bowa. Ryne Sandberg followed with a two-run
single that plated Dernier and Hebner.

Both teams went quietly in the seventh and eighth innings. The
Cardinals managed a hit in the ninth but could not add to their lead.

With the Cardinals up by a score of 9-8 and Bruce Sutter on the
mound, Ryne Sandberg led off the ninth. Sandberg tied the game
with one swing of the bat.

The Cardinals took a comfortable two-run lead off of Lee Smith in
the 10th ... and to this day Smith tells the story that if he had not given
up the two runs in the tenth then the 'game' would have never happened.

With the Cubs down by a pair in the bottom of the tenth, Bruce Sutter
retired Larry Bowa on a ground out to second and Richie Hebner on a
ground out to first. Bobby Dernier walked, or did he? It was a very
close call on a check swing that went the Cubs way on that afternoon.

Ryne Sandberg got another chance against Bruce Sutter and delivered.
On a 1-1 pitch from Bruce Sutter, Sandberg launched a ball into the
bleachers into left center that tied the game at 11 in the tenth ... his
second homer of the day.

Leon Durham led off the 11th with a walk, stole second and after
a throwing error by Darrell Porter advanced Durham to third, Whitey
Herzog walked both Keith Moreland and Jody Davis to load the bases.
Dave Owen, the last position player available for Jim Frey, delivered
the game winner, a pinch-hit single to right that plated Leon Durham.

Ryne Sandberg finished the afternoon 5-for-6 with two home runs
and seven RBI. The five hits and seven RBI set career highs at the
time for the future Hall of Famer ... before the ninth inning, Sandberg
was 2-for-12 in his career against Bruce Sutter".

Scenes from Cuenca

Visiting Cuenca filled several days of sightseeing.


It's quite a large city, with over 400,000 inhabitants.


Another view of the New Cathedral


Flowers, especially roses, are plentiful in Ecuador.
Two dozen roses can often be purchased for $1.


This group of college students interviewed us while we were
sitting in the park one day. They were in an English language
class and their assignment was to interview travelers in English.


Supermarkets are still relatively new here and the average
person shops at local markets like this one.


All kinds of fruits and vegetables can be found. Some
familiar, some not so much.


You can eat at the market too, but our brains were smarter
than our stomachs on this day. There's a saying amongst
expatriates in Ecuador that if you don't get sick once a week,
you must not be eating.


There is lots of European style architecture and many
cobbled streets in the city and you'll see locals in
traditional dress as often as more modern styles.


This must be where old wheeled carts (dollies) go to die.
There were just as many on the opposite wall behind me
and hardly any of them were identical in design!


One day, there was a health fair taking place outside the
New Cathedral. Not much doubt what this person thinks
of smoking.


At the Museo Banco Central there are Incan ruins and these
interesting gardens dating from the Incan settlement of the
area.


This copy of a famous Incan mask found in the area is
located on the outside of the Museo Banco Central. We
found the most interesting part of the museum though
to be it's collection of Ecuadoran money from the last
500 years.

Ingapirca

We took a bus two hours north of Cuenca, to the ruins of Ingapirca.
Ingapirca is the largest set of Incan ruins in Ecuador. The biggest
building at the site is the Temple of The Sun, and is built in an
elliptical shape without any mortar. It was positioned so that on
the solstices, the sunlight would fall through the center doorway.