Mitad del Mundo

Had a great sleep last night and woke up ready to explore. We were very proud of ourselves for navigating the three different buses out to Mitad del Mundo- the equator line! The buses were about 25 cents each and so crowded! It was an experience, we met some German girls and a couple from Oregan on the last bus so between us we managed to figure out the way :) The monument was very cool, it was neat to straddle (and do a handstand on) the equator line! There was a bunch of shops, a museum, and things at Mitad del Mundo, and some live music that was fun to watch locals dance to. Lisa and I had our first experience with a Spanish menu too and ended up with a decent lunch :) On the way back, a kind Ecuadorian guy Ricardo chatted with us at the bus station (well, tried- language barrier made it difficult) but he helped us get on the right bus. We got off at a park near our hotel where there was a little market set up. Lots of colourful scarves, bags and jewellery and one booth had some nice guys who spoke some English and chatted with us for quite some time and showed us there 'boñito' rings. All in all, a wonderful afternoon.
-Court

A lot of time in the airport!

We wrote this post on the final leg of our flights to Ecuador. Our travel started in Vancouver on Sept 28th. We flew to New Jersey and spent the night in Newark Airport. Which for the record does not look the same as it does on Friends! For our 5:00am flight we could not check in until 3:00. On arriving at Newark at 10:00pm we found that there was only one restaurant open in the whole airport which was Subway, so a sandwich later we were ready to find a spot to set up camp. Except there were none. Just a lot of linoleum! So we sat in one of two rows of chairs available and played some cards and chatted. Before we knew it we could go through security. As soon as we found an empty piece of carpet on the other side we were lying on it and asleep. The flight to Houston went quickly as we both slept- well Lisa slept, Court tossed and turned like usual. Houston's airport was a lot nicer but we were too exhausted to enjoy the breakfast. We quickly crawled between a row of chairs and cuddled with our backpacks for a couple of hours. Feeling rejuvenated, we wandered around the shops and managed to kill the time quite quickly. This final flight has been great- the first one with food :) and we get an empty seat beside us to spread out on. Hurrah. The excitement is setting in and we're both anxious to see what Quito is like, and crossing our fingers the altitude sickness won't hit us too hard!
All in all- a very smooth 36 hour journey- here's hoping the rest of our transit goes the same :)
-Court & Lisa

The One Day Countdown!

Over the past (stressful) 24 hours I managed to pack all my gear into my backpack. Success! I just landed in Vancouver and looking forward to meeting up with Court tomorrow! Our flight to Ecuador leaves in the afternoon. We'll probably do a post along the way as we have two layovers. And give some more details about the trip and how it all came together. Getting really excited now!
-Lisa

4 DAYS UNTIL TAKEOFF!

4 DAYS UNTIL TAKEOFF!

Wow, I can't believe how fast the summer has flown by. Tomorrow's my last day of work, poor Lisa still has a couple more days, not to mention a couple more school apps to cram in before we head! We're almost all prepared though. Just a few more loose ends to tie up, excepttttttt i'm not sure how i'm supposed to fit all this stuff into ONE backpack!

Wish me luck,
-Court <3