Day 16 - A Different Shade of Miami

Arrival in Miami was mid-day and we were on a mission to get a real Cubana in littl Havana.  Today we would discover an amazing vibe that really turned our opinion of Miami around. It wasn't all fake lips, hips and tits - lol.  The distinct culture in little Havana was so cool.  The area, until the Bay of Pigs incident that caused a mass exodus from Cuba, this was a lower-middle class Jewish neighbourhood. 

We popped into an authentic looking place that was clearly family run, and ordered smoky non-alcoholic and alcoholic mojitos (to compare!) and two Cubanas.  I don't know if it was our hunger or what but they were so delicious.  We had a funny conversation with a Turkish businessmen that was sitting next to us... he was kind of laughing at the lack of history of America ("I'm from Turkey... are you crazy?").  He was actually he was from Pamukkale and he was pretty surprised that we'd been there.

We did the obligatory cigar purchase (for RTD and grampa!) and some smaller things for the kids, before we hopped into an Uber and headed back towards our hotel, located in Wynwood.  Wynwood was a former industrial area that is now an art and entertainment district.  

On the way, we passed through a few sad, very run down neighborhoods... I'm always amazed at American cities I've been in where you can travel 1km and quickly drop into some really poor, dilapidated place.  It's sad.

We got dropped off close to Wynwood walls, an amazing indoor/outdoor museum of street and other are from around the world.  It was so cool.

Wynwood itself is a fantastic, giant mix of queen street and Kensington.  There are clubs in industrial buildings surrounded by new hotels and condos rising between derelict old industrial land.  We found out that that weekend, there was an EDM festival (apparently there's one here every weekend practically).  In the lobby, there was a Vitamin IV recovery station being run for the people that were just waking up from last night (this was around 5pm).  For some reason, the IV people didn't even make eye contact or pass out cards to Beth and I.... must have been... something... about us?

We had dinner at Bohu, a funky restaurant 10 minutes walk from the hotel.  There were a bunch of tables full of young people there to begin the warm up for a late night.  Our flight was early - we had to leave the hotel at 4am, but when we asked at reception if we'd have trouble getting an Uber at that time, they just laughed and said it would be no problem.

When we woke up and came down to the lobby, there were dozens of kids dressed in all kinds of weird and funky outfits in all different states of intoxication.  Outside, there were hundreds to people milling about, sitting on curbs with their heads between their knees... others dancing and chatting in small groups.  What the hell?  lol.  Anyway, yes, no problem getting an Uber.  Out nice driver was actually a 31 year old Venezuelan guy who had played for the Washington Nationals organization for 3 years when he was 19.

Miami is crazy.  From plastic, sad south beach, to little Havana, to run down residential areas, towering concrete expressways and construction, to the urban, hip Wynwood area, it felt like we'd seen a lot in such a short time here.   Galapagos seemed a long way off... but we won't forget that experience any time soon

Day 15 - People Watching in Cuenca

The hotel was pretty cool... the rooms were all centered around what used to be an open court.  Beth and I were up early to explore.  Beth's back was a little sore so the cure is always a walk.  It was nice and quiet around the main square.  Went to the new church, completed in 1975 that could fit 9,000 of the 10,000 residents of Cuenca at the time (that's some growth rate from the to today's 700,000!). 

We have noticed more potential pick pockets and trouble makers in Cuenca.  We heard from one couple that they got mugged in Quito in a "friendly way" - they approached a greenery covered fence/wall and noticed people behind it.  Suddenly they got squinted with what turned out to be mustard.   Some passersby on the sidewalk started cleaning them off and proceeded to pick pocket them of their phones and wallets.  Stories of this "distraction" method of mugging are more common than anything violent , that we heard of anyway.  Still there have been more times in Cuenca when my spider sense was tingling than anywhere to date in Ecuador.  Perhaps it's the abundance of foreigners and local wealthy individuals converging in the old town town that makes it more of a perceived risk here.  There were lots of refugee/Venezuela types that we'd seen in other cities here, but instead of working menial street jobs like in Quito and along the highways, it seemed like many were just "hanging around" here...

After breakfast, the four of us wandered, with no real plan.   The girls wanted to check out a "reiki" like service in the covered market area that turned out to be quite hilarious.  For $3, you could have a little 4 foot lady beat you with some fragrant weeds/flowers, spray some stuff (oil?) on you then proceed to rub an egg all over your body (and I mean, all over).   She would proceed to crack the egg into a cup with a bit of water then do some kind of energy reading on you.   Beth's was "nervous " lol, so the little healer sprayed some stuff on her, put some charcoal on the top of her head and her belly button...ok... and that was that.  

Alex also got diagnosed as nervous... Kim... we're not sure, we couldn't understand.   I don't suppose it matters since she's now been healed.   I volunteered to be the test subject that didn't have Reiki.  The weird thing is I don't feel nervous now so maybe it rubbed off on me??

We perused a chocolate store (that's understating it... it was like the Costco of chocolate stores), then dropped Beth at a hotel for a massage (with perhaps a side of weeds and charcoal??) and Kim, Alex and I went back to the new church and climbed the winding stairs up-to the top.  The top offered great views of the city and Parque Calderón, as well as some top notch people watching.  

To kill time until Beth was done we sat on a bench in the park and watched as Cuenca passed us by.  What a great spot for people watching. 

We had lunch at the same spot as yesterday while we played cards - Alex and I finished another victory at 10 games to 5 in our ongoing euchre life match.

In the afternoon, we said our goodbyes - they were staying another full day in Cuenca and we were off to Guayaquil overnight as our flight to Miami was 6am Saturday.

It was just a taste, but Cuenca was one of those towns you could stay a couple of days, a week, or more.  The Cuenca airport was not far from the old town, and when we got there we were laughing that we had arrived 2 hours early  - the place was empty. Most people showed up 20 minutes before the flight.

We stayed at the Windham in Guayaquil - 5 minutes from the airport and attached to a huge, modern shopping mall.  What a crazy difference from anything we'd experienced in Ecuador.  The mall had every store we have at home... the only difference was that throughout the mall the various cars on display as advertisements were not he usual suspects... they were lesser known (to us) brands of Chinese cars... it reminded me of Freddy.

Day 14 - To Cuenca, with a Brief Hike

We lapped in the luxury of the hotel and had a great breakfast before checking out and hopping into Freddy's driver, Victor's car.  The plan was to climb back into the mountains and head to Cuenca.  Though our time was short in Ecuador, we wanted to see another one of the popular colonial towns, and Cuenca seemed to check those boxes.  Beth and I had two days left, while Kim and Alex had three.

The road out of Guayaquil was flat and pretty barren for the first hour.  We stopped for a gas and bathroom break and there was some VIP there with machine gun toting guards and military motorcycles... we hadn't seen a lot of that in Ecuador so far.

The drive quickly changed... hot humid coastal, temperate farm area turned to forested hills, then we were into and above the clouds.  We were winding back in the Andes, turning corners that opened up to beautiful views of huge, sweeping valleys.

After just over two hours, we reached the apex elevation of our trip, that coincided with arriving at Cajas National Park.  Alex and I had found the place (discovered? lol) when researching the trip and it looked like a perfect spot to stretch our legs for an hour or so.  Hike was very cool - in both ways.  We circled the small lake that was near the welcome center, rolling up and down the path at an elevation of around 4000 meters above sea level.  It was a very unique looking place - there were millions of micro sizes flowers, and cloud forest trees and mosses the colour of the rainbow.   

We met a family of four hiking the opposite direction that we spoke with briefly.  They had rented out their house in Colorado and were travelling for two years with their young son and daughter.  The daughter was sporting a cast from a recently broken arm and none of them looked overly happy.  They were making their way from place to place, stopping for weeks at a time at places where they would get free room and board for teaching English or volunteering on farms.  

Victor drove us another hour or so before we arrived at the outskirts of Cuenca, a city of 700,000 people at 26,00 meters above sea level.  It took a while to get to the old town where we were based.  I keep underestimating the size of these "towns"... from Quito, to Otavalo, to Guayaquil and now Cuenca.  When you read about these places or even scroll through google images, the impression you get is always much smaller.  Cuenca was a sizeable city.

We were starved by the time we checked in so we headed straight for Parque Calderón, the main square that's always the focal point in these colonial towns.  The square was beautiful - the best I'd seen in South America (ok.... not a ton of SA experience, but we're getting there!!).   There was tons of seating spaces, a central statue and walking paths in every direction and green spaces with large unique trees featured in different sections of the square.  I love the green spaces that are meant as areas to congregate and interact... the  place was buzzing.

The whole city reminded me of Arequipa in Peru (and after checking, they were founded by the conquistadors roughly ten years apart).  Colonial, well designed grid system built in an elevated location likely to beat the heat of the coastal areas and located on a trade route (kind of like the Brits did in Sri Lankan highlands, Darjeeling and Cameron highlands).  The rest of the gang also thought it compared well to Cusco - I agreed!

We walked around after lunch.  Alex had found a free walking tour at 3pm so we ambled over to the meeting site.  When Jennifer, the guide, arrived and started on the first point of the tour, we quickly. opted out.   It was a long memorized, soliloquy with little interaction and a lot of standing around (and an estimated length of 2.5 to 3 hours).   None of us were in to being led, or guided at that point in the trop - we wanted a little William Wallace action.... FREEDOM!

We strolled around, splitting up for a bit then bumping into each other an hour later.  Kim and Alex remain great travelling companions and friends.  We just have the same feel, in the moment (as they say often in Ecuador) for what kind of pace we want.

We browsed through indoor and open air markets and stalls... you could go nuts here on the shopping front for sure... but at the end of the day, we are experienced enough to realize that when you get home... a lot of nice stuff you buy abroad doesn't really fit at home.  

The people of Cuenca are no different that everywhere we've experienced in Ecuador - friendly, polite, seemingly happy, never pestering, always willing to help out.  English is not spoken very much, but we get by.

While shopping held different priorities for the people of our group , mine is always people watching... and always trying to sneak in a clandestine pic of the indigenous people, most of whom ran the small stalls or individual, portable shops on the streets.   They are short.... I mean, very short.   I'd say the average indigenous person in the cities was no more than 5', with MANY closer to 4' tall.  They usually wore colorful shawls and some kind of head covering, often a rimmed hat or a baseball cap.   Most smiled back when you greeted them, often that smile had a wack of missing teeth, which added to the aura of friendliness in some weird way.

Alex had made a late reservation at a well recommend restaurant (Tiestos... turns out it's on a list of one person's 50 neat restaurants list.  The Chef and owner reminded me of the maintenance guy, Joe DaSilva, at two properties I'd worked at in Etobicoke... tall, broad with a full beard and a wicked smile.   He basically came to the table and told us what we were going to have for dinner.  Ok then!

What followed was a delicious, though super rich, multicourse meal where our waiter occasionally interjected and helped us on how to blend what we were currently eating with a number small dips, sauces and garnishes, so that they would modify the flavours of what we ate.  Served mostly center table style, a Tiesto is a clay pot/plate (not dissimilar from a paella, but these were less casserole like) We had a great shrimp soup, a blue cheese sauce over eggplant which was incredible, then we had large prawns and when we had half finished the prawns, the waiter came and made mashed potatoes in the prawns sauce at our table.

Finally it was steak, covered in a bacon and mushroom sauce, cooked to perfection (except for Beth's.... hers needed another trip to the grill!) and once again when we had taken our streaks off the center serving plate, the waiter made a mushroom bacon rice mix and dolloped that on our plates.   Oh my god, they really had to roll us out of there.   And what value... for around $50 usd per person it was outstanding.  

The 10 minute walk back to the hotel was a partial remedy for full stomachs, but there was a lot more moaning going on.   This recalled the fact that, though it seems like we ate like kings on the islander II, we never felt full (to the point of discomfort)....

Day 13 - Santa Cruz Highlands and Baltra Island

Once again, we were up and early for a quick snack before our departure.  We simply left our bags at the door to our cabin and knew that they'd arrive back in Guayaquil in our hotel room.  Honestly, we were so well taken care of by the staff of the Islander II, I can't recommend the experience enough.

Looking down from the ship, we tons of sharks and pelicans surrounding us.  The Galapagos islands are in fact the "sharkiest" waters in the world - I assume not just because of the ideal water temperatures and abundance of food, but also because the surrounding waters are so highly protected. We shuttled by zodiac to Baltra Island, home of the airport where we'd later fly back to the main land.

We boarded a bus to the highlands.  We gradually climbed for twenty minutes, gradually noticing the bizarre change in weather - we were suddenly in a cloud forest, and sure enough it started to drizzle by the time we got to our final elevation.  Crazy - it seemed like we spent the last five days in a dry, Caribbean-like climate... and a short drive later we were in Vancouver!  

To get to Manzanillo ranch, where we were to have breakfast then explore the surrounding area for giant Tortoises, we had to occasionally get out and move some of the more adventurous tortoises who had decided to take a nap in the middle of the road.

We donned rubber boots and and hilarious $3 ponchos to protect my camera but certainly not our pride.  Tortoises almost went extinct years ago, and we have to thank one very sexually active dude for the revival of the species.  Here's how it happened....

Diego is a Hood Island giant tortoise. Thought to have been hatched on Española Island, Galápagos, he was captured as a young adult and shipped to the United States where he was exhibited at zoos. By the late 1940s he was at San Diego Zoo, California, though his species was not known. A captive breeding effort for the critically endangered Hood Island tortoises was set up in 1976, by which time only 15 individuals were known to survive. Diego was identified as a Hood Island tortoise by DNA testing and was sent to Santa Cruz Island to join the program. Diego fathered more than 900 offspring who were released on Española which helped to increase the wild population to more than 2,000. The breeding program ended in January 2020 and Diego is officially retired, and was released into the wild in June 2020

I will never watch Dora the Explorer in the same way, knowing the story.  

Traipsing around not far from the covered restaurant area, we stumbled on hundreds of the tortoises, mostly lounging in shallow water.  They're actually pretty shy and mostly unmoving, so there wasn't a ton of need to linger too long.

We hopped on the bus and were soon back in the dry summer heat.  We boarded a short ferry across to the adjacent island of Balta and were soon back at the airport with our newfound friends.  The airport lounge seemed to be reserved for us "Islander IIs".  It wasn't too long before we were packed like sardines into our Avianca flight back to Guayaquil.   Sigh.  What an awesome experience.  I doubt we will be back any time soon, but what a fantastic adventure.

We were whisked from the arrivals section at the Guayaquil airport and quickly back at the Luxury of Parque hotel.  We continued to be spoiled until the moment we got to our rooms and our bags were sitting just inside the door.  5 stars service!

Before dinner, Beth and I did a brief walk in the animal enclosures of "parque historique" that actually had some really nice birds and other animals that looked less than happy in their enclosures.

We walked to a nearby dinner spot at a place recommended by driver - overly salty crab bowls on a bed of scorched rice.  It was more like Red Lobster - in fact we had three happy birthday interludes for various guests (which reminded me of friends in high school working there and giving birthday guests the option of singing the long or short version of "happy birthday" always led to the guest choosing the "short" version which was then performed by the staff from their knees... lol - Murray!).   It's kind of fun when the four of us land in a cheesy situation like that - it just makes us laugh instead of sitting there complaining.