Thursday, July 14, 2011

Where has the month gone?  As slow paced as Ecuador is supposed to be, compared to the United States, our time here seems to have flown by!  We traveled to many different locales, met so many wonderful people, including Americans and Ecuadorians, ate so much great food, saw so much beauty, and we walked for miles!

This will be our final blog from Ecuador; our plane leaves at 6:35, or thereabouts in the a.m.  The airport doesn’t open until 4 so a taxi will be here at about 4:15 to pick us up; we’re about 10-15 minutes away.  I have an extra suitcase to check!  I checked in online this morning, informed them of the extra checked luggage, they charged me for it so it had better go!

Jenny worked out at Curves for the final time; Shirley and the rest were sad to see her go!  Shirley must be our friend now because she gave us her facebook address and we gave her ours, as well as email addresses.  I think Jenny was a little sad as well; she has enjoyed going there.

We got the extra suitcase in the ‘Centro Historico’, aka old town, even a better deal than the Chinese store near us – the one we got was made in China as well though!  We walked around the markets there for about a couple of hours; all we found was the suitcase.  I tried to find Jenny a pair of leather boots, but she’s too picky J - that’s why I can’t shop for her!  We rode the public bus there and back, with no problems!

After that ‘shopping spree’, we brought the suitcase back, but not before stopping at La Union for an ice cream cone, then went on another, to get a few more souvenirs, since we now have more space!  We returned to the small indigenous market, where we bargained and got some good deals.  We’re gonna miss the ice cream here; it is sooooooo yummy!  I wanted to try the Macadamia but we only saw it one place – I should have gotten it then! 

It started raining after we got to the market and did so until we got back to the Inn.  We stopped on the way and got a couple of cheeseburgers; thought we’d try on “American” meal before we leave!

We’re now packed and ready to go to bed early. I’m sure Jenny will have no problem going to sleep; I hope I can.

I’ll report in tomorrow night, especially to let everyone know about the continuing luggage saga, then reporting of this experience in our lives will end.