Tuesday, November 6, 2012

First Year Anniversary


The way up.  We went to the far right peak. 

First, a quick mountain update.  On October 21, I went with the     climbing group to a mountain named Rumiñahui.  It's located inside of  Cotopaxi National Park about an hour and a half south of Quito.  The day started off really clear and we had good views of glacier capped Cotopaxi volcano.  Rumiñahui is an extinct volcano that has three summits.  We went to the highest.  It was a really nice day.  We heard thunder off in the distance, but it didn't rain on us.  This was a really cool mountain with great views and it wasn't too difficult.  On the way down, I met one of the people in the group who was a local mountain guide, and we ran down the whole way to the bus.


October 26 marked our first year anniversary   To celebrate, we decided to make a shrimp, onion, and tomato pizza with white sauce.  For dessert, S'mores.  We made the dough and sauce from scratch, and the pizza turned out pretty good.  We had to improvise a bit with the s'mores.  Graham crackers don't exist in Ecuador so we bought vanilla flavored crackers instead.  Hershy's chocolate is avalible, but since it's imported, a pack of 10 that's normally 99 cents in the states is like $3.50 here.  We used some local chocolate that most people here use for melting in milk and making hot chocolate.  Finally, the marshmallows are kind of different.  They look the same, but they get really runny when they melt and they have a weird citrus flavor to them.  The s'mores still turned out pretty good and were a nice reminder of being back home.
 

This was a nice way to celebrate, but we could do better.  The real one year celebration took place on the beach.  For the first time we've been together, we took a normal vacation.  We took off Monday and Tuesday from work to go to the Royal Decameron all-inclusive resort in Punta Centinela, Santa Elena.  The journey started with a fight to Guayaquil early Sunday morning.  We had some time it kill, so we decided to check out Guayaquil before we headed to the resort.  Despite a bad reputation among travelers, Amber and I both liked the city a lot.  It felt bigger and more advanced than Quito, and the river walk is really pleasant.  In the three hours we spent here, we knocked off the normal to-dos.  We went to the Melecón 2000 (river walk), saw the park that has iguanas roaming around, and ate an encebollado (fish stew).  There's more to do in Guayaquil, but we had to make it to the 3:00 check-in time.  We caught a bus in the Guayaquil main terminal and for $3.50 each, we were on our way to Santa Elena.  2 hours later in Santa Elena, we caught another bus on the side of the road that headed up the coast.  Fortunately, I memorized some landmarks from Google maps so I knew when to get off the bus.  We walked up the long driveway of the resort and got our room.   What's this? Some snacks in the lobby and a bar?  We didn't even make it to the room before we started eating and drinking.

  Our room was gorgeous and a welcome change of pace from the usual cramped, smelly places we have been staying.  After exploring the room, we made it down to the snack bar and then the beach.  All-you-can-eat feels like a challenge for me, so I tried everything they had to offer.  Later in the evening was the buffet dinner.  We both ate to the the point of being uncomfortable.  This was the first time in a while we could do that.  Monday morning after breakfast buffet, we took advantage of the sea kayaks.  Amber and I went out for about an hour, but the wind, and cloudy day made it fairly cold.  We also got to go sailing on the catamaran guided by one of the employees.  Amber was really happy about getting back on a sail boat.  The rest of the day consisted of relaxing by the beach until dinner.  Instead of the buffet for dinner, we made reservations at the restaurant   The food here was prepared to order and much higher quality
.  Amber ordered a seafood risotto, and I got a steak with blue cheese sauce.  Both were amazing.  We then caught the nightly entertainment.  This night was a show full of international dancing.  The dancers showed off costumes and dances from mostly other Latin American countries and some from Europe.  The following day, we relaxed on the beach until is was time to go, and then we made our return journey   Our flight left from Guayaquil at 3:15, but we didn't want to leave until the mandatory 12:00 checkout time.  We knew we'd be cutting it close.  Too close actually.  We made a mad run from the Guayaquil bus station to the airport, only to find out they close check-in 40 min before departure.  We got there 10 minutes too late.  Apparently, Amber is an expert with missing flights and was not worried at all.  The airline worked some things out and got us on a flight leaving a hour later.  Taking the bus home from the airport in rainy, cold Quito helped us really appreciate our time at the beach.  


Interesting Fact:  Since it's election day in the U.S.A. we'll talk a little about Ecuador's elections.  Like the States, the president can have a maximum of two terms, each term lasting four years.  Currently, the president Raphael Correa is in his first term, and the next election is this February.  Voting in Ecuador is not just a privilege,  it's mandatory.  For anyone between the ages of 18 and 65, they must vote or pay a fine of around $40.  For people over 65, voting is optional.  Also, people can vote as early as age 16 in Ecuador.  16 and 17 year-olds can vote, but it's optional for them too.  I would like to assume there are some exceptions for physical and mentally incapable people, but this is all I know about the system here.