Thanks Again to My Readers

This is the 279th and final post on this travel blog. I have so enjoyed sharing my first trip to South America with all my readers and I thank you for your interest.

To date my blog has had about 3,700 pageviews. About 75% have come from the U.S., but I've also had a significant number of readers from Russia (351 pageviews to date), Columbia, Canada, and Ecuador. And a few from other places too (two pageviews from Malaysia!)


I hope my blog serves to inspire some of my readers to travel to Colombia and Ecuador and elsewhere in S. America. Daniel really liked Peru (better food, he says, than either Ecuador and Colombia) and we heard lots of good things about Bolivia from the travelers we encountered. It sounds like one of the least expensive destinations in S. America right now.

I tried to provide enough detail about the places I visited to give other future travelers a leg up. I'd like to especially recommend the following hostels that really provided us with good value. We endeavored not to spend a lot of money on lodgings. For the most part we only spent $15 to $25 a night for a private room with a shared bath. If you travel to Ecuador or Colombia you might want to consider these hostels:

La Posada Colonial in Quito
Backpackers Los Pinos in Banos
Hostal Hogar Cuencano in Cuenca
Park Life Hostel in Popoyan
Hostal Tralala in Salento
Palm Tree Hostal in Medellin
El Solar Hostel in Villa de Leyva
Tip Top Hostel in Bogota

Thanks again to all of you who have shared my travels to Ecuador and Columbia with me.

Mi Companero

My six weeks in Ecuador and Colombia exceeded all my expectations. Maybe we were just lucky, but we didn't experience any difficulties. We kept up a good pace and made the most of our time. We saw a lot. I feel pretty familiar with Ecuador and Colombia. I want to go back. They are both great countries, but with big differences. Ecuador is more compact and easier to get around. There may be more to see, and I liked the food better (more seafood and fruit). But there is something very charming about Columbia. It has more wide open spaces. The Colombianos are so warm and helpful. Ecuadorians are jaded because they see tourists all the time. But Colombians seem grateful that you are visiting their country, and they show it.

I was fortunate to have a great traveling companion in my son Daniel. His Spanish skills put us in closer contact with people we met, something that really enriched the trip for me.

There is a word they use a lot in S. America: "tranquilo." It's an adjective meaning calm or peaceful -- tranquil -- but it's used a lot too as an imperative, meaning something like "chill." When you are traveling in unknown territory, and feeling your way along, it is a great virtue to be tranquilo. Daniel was unfailingly tranquilo and reminded his dad to be tranquilo too, when he needed a reminder.

Thanks Daniel. It was great traveling with you.

Back Home, With Souvenirs!

It was kind of a grueling trip back to Salem, Oregon. I had to keep reminding myself that the flight from Bogota to Miami to Las Vegas for Daniel and me was essentially free, paid for with AAdvantage miles on American Airlines. For the final leg from Las Vegas we took cheapo Spirit Airlines.

My dear wife Ann, having worked at the Salem Public Library until 9 p.m. that evening was there to meet us at about midnight in Portland.

Today we are back home adjusting to life in the U.S. (hey, you can flush your toilet paper again instead of having to put it discretely in the trash can next to the toilet).

We unpacked our backpacks and are doing our wash. We got a pretty good haul of souvenirs for having only our backpacks to put them in.

Just look at all the stuff above (click please). There's Colombian chocolate ("single origin"), hats, CDs, a chica bowl, coca candy, and more.

Ann wore these cute chicken earrings we got for her to work today. They were a hit.

I got an herb called guascas so I can make some ajiaco soup (one for Janet Bassett too).

Easing Back into Gringolandia (Part 4)

There is only one place to eat at the Miami airport.

It's La Carreta (The Cart). It is a branch of a great Cuban restaurant that has several locations in Miami.

I ate here on the way down to Quito. I wanted Daniel to have the same great experience. Also, Cuban food has a lot in common with Colombian food (heavy on the meat, rice, beans, plaintains, yucca, etc.) so I figured it would help with our transition.

I couldn't remember exactly where it was in the Miami airport, but all we had to do was to ask one of the Cuban-American maintenance guys and we were told to head to Gate 40.

It was packed with diners, just like it was six weeks ago when I last came through.

Daniel got the full meal deal with the "vaca frita" plate above. Does that look good or what (click please)?

I got a freshly made sandwich "Cubano" and got three more for the road.

Easing Back into Gringolandia (Part 3)

Goodbye Juan Valdez.

Well not quite.

There is a a Juan Valdez in the Miami airport too.

Goodbye to Homero Valdez too.

Easing Back into Gringolandia (Part 2)

The last cafe tinto and pan de bono at the Bogota airport, waiting to board an 8 a.m. flight to Miami.

If I look tired it's because I am.

We got up about 4:30 and were out the door at our hostel by 5:00. We had paid our bill the night before and the nice manager said she would get up to see us off and call a cab for us (a safety precaution, probably).

She did just that. The cab showed up amazingly fast. It's a fixed price of about $14 to the airport which is on the edge of town, about ten miles from our hostel.

Standing in line to get our boarding passes we got one last dose of Botero on a big video screen.

Do Colombianos love this guy or what?

Easing Back into Gringolandia (Part 1)

How to ease back into gringolandia after six weeks in Ecuador and Colombia?

For Daniel it has been almost six months in Chile, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

Well, for starters we could split a Big Mac at the McDonalds on the edge of La Candaleria a short walk from our hostel.

We wanted to see if it tasted the same as the US version.

The verdict: it tastes exactly the same. It's the sauce and the pickle that really makes it taste just the same. Daniel thought the bun was even better -- nicely toasted.

McDonalds in Bogota seems to attract a higher class of people. For one thing, their food is expensive. The Big Mac that we split cost nearly $5 all by itself. The common folk were eating three for a dollar empanadas at humbler places. A lot of the folks at McDonalds were office workers in suits who had just gotten off work.

So it's the opposite of the States where McDonalds is cheap food for people with less to spend.

The McDonalds in Bogota is trying to offer some Colombian snacks for about $1.50 including empanadas, McNuggets with honey (?) and a lulo sundae. A lulo sundae might be pretty good.