Ecuadorian Adventure

July 2018

Once again the Swedish vikings pack their bags and go west. Far far west. But this time they plan to do alot less pillaging and alot more culture exploring when they attend an ecuadorian wedding! Enjoy! Read more

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Traveler Ecuadorian Adventure
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- Jul 26, 2018, 2:49am
- 🌧 18 °C
- Altitude: Sea level
- North Atlantic Ocean 46.68372, -34.8290746°41’1” N 34°49’45” W
Day 18
Waiting for the final flight
July 26, 2018, North Atlantic Ocean ⋅ 🌧 18 °C
Travel's gone good so far. Been watching movies. Girls are finally asleep, they kept up until 1.30 am but slept a few hours before we landed in Amsterdam. Starting to feel a bit tired but the long flight is done so we are getting closer and closer! Security did an intimate search of me and the girls, hey they were almost inside my panties!

Apparently KLM has overbooked the flight back to gothemburg and they are offering paychecks for passengers willing to consider a later flight. We are not those passengers. Im getting in line to go home now!Read more
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- Jul 25, 2018, 12:08pm
- ⛅ 21 °C
- Altitude: 2,406 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Pichincha San Antonio Hacienda Santa Ana Quebrada Colorada -0.02585, -78.437090°1’33” S 78°26’14” W
Day 17
Ready to go back home!
July 25, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C
Our final day in Quito, Ecuador! All bags are packed and in half an hour we head to the airport where we plan to have lunch as soon as we are checked in. Im looking forward of going home, not that it hasn't been a pleasent adventure but I wanna get going on my everyday life again. Did my garden survive the drought? Can we find a bed for Viggo's room? Is it too early to contact contractors about the floor in the basement? And my summer course! I wanna study some more!

So mentally i guess we are all prepared to go back home! Here is a list about the 3 things i find weirdest about Ecuador:
1) They have allegadly the best coffee in the world. They only drink Nescafé.
2) Their doorknobs are placed next to the wall so when you try to close the doors you will end up bruising your knuckles. All the time!
3) You can see the stars at night even though Quito is an almost 2 million city. I have always told the kids the reason we cant see the stars at home is because we live in a city and the city lights make it impossible. Apparently I am wrong. I feel cheated. ☺️

Adiós querida Ecuador! Hasta luego!Read more
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- Jul 24, 2018, 9:15pm
- ⛅ 6 °C
- Altitude: 3,145 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Napo Papallacta Río Tumiguiña -0.37719, -78.140770°22’38” S 78°8’27” W
Day 16
Thermal pools in Papallacta
July 24, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
So our final day in Ecuador Steph took us to see Papallacta just one hour outside of Quito. We went over the mountains until we reached a valley hidden deep within the green rainforest. Everything was beautiful! For just 9$ per adult and half of that for kids you got to spend the entire day at the hot springs. Some pools were cold from the mountain but most of them were heated from within the Antisana volcano. Unfortunatly Tilde woke up feeling unwell so she stayed home to rest for our flight back home tomorrow but the rest of the family had a wonderful time. Some of the springs had the distinct smell of sulfur from the volcano and a temperature of 45 degrees while as some had as low as 2 degrees celcius. The nature was stunning and it was so relaxing just sitting there, soaking and watching the cows far far away on the mountain. Highly recommended!Read more
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- Jul 23, 2018
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Altitude: 3,121 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Pichincha Hacienda Chaupi Quebrada Ungahuaicu -0.1921, -78.519630°11’32” S 78°31’11” W
Day 15
High altitude and market
July 23, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Today we said adiós to my parents who managed to change their flight to being able to go directly from Quito to Amsterdam! In the afternoon we went by cab to Teleferiquo, a cable cab up the Pichincha volcano to an amazing view over Quito. It is one of the highest aerial lift and even though Quito is the world's highest located capital the lift takes you even higher. We landed on 4000 m above sea level, it is twice the hight of the highest mountain in Sweden. Such amazing view, such nervousness to be up there knowing that the lack of oxygene eventually will cause headache, dizzyness and the swelling of the brain. We just stayed for some pictures before we took the lift down again, not taking any chances!

After that experience we took a cab to Mercado Artesenal, an indian market in the middle of Quito. Here we bought a blanket, an Alpacka sweather for Bengt, chocolate, equadorian coffea, toys for the kids. All to bring with us back home! When we headed home it was already dark. The sun sets around 6 pm. Everyone is tired but happy!Read more
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- Jul 22, 2018
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Altitude: 2,408 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Pichincha San Antonio Hacienda Santa Ana Quebrada Colorada -0.02588, -78.437070°1’33” S 78°26’13” W
Day 14
A day with nothing on the agenda
July 22, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Back to Quito and the day before my parents and my uncle and brother was to fly home so not much planned other than to take it easy. Bengt and the girls went to a sports club to swim. Freja is practicing her floating and Tilde just wants to dive! Me and Viggo stayed home and played with Lego. Steph and Cathy prepared pizza for lunch and Daniel's grandparents came over and talked and exchanged gifts.

In the afternoon Edgar took the girls and the dogs up the mountain and I dont know who was happier!

The rest of the day we had to resolve my parents flight home because they found out the first domestic flight had been cancelled and they were unable to get to Guayaquil to get the transatlantic flight. We ended up going to this supermercado to talk to an agent for Tame, the domestic flight agency. They promised to fix it if they get to the Airport in the morning. A bit late I would say but there is nothing more to do today. Fingers crossed for tomorrow. ☺️Read more
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- Jul 21, 2018
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 34 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Galápagos Seymour San Cristobal Airport -0.44596, -90.274290°26’45” S 90°16’27” W
Day 13
Flight back to Quito
July 21, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
The bus picked us up att 8:30 in the morning and took us for a 40 min bus ride through the countryside. Then we went by ferry to the isle of Bahía where the airport was. Our plane stopped by Guayaquil to let off some passengers and have some new ones on. They let us stay on the plane and me and the girls did some drawings while we waited. The plane to Quito took 35 minutes so it was fast!

At Marisqál Sucre, the Airport in Quito, we were picked up by the Serranos. They had prepared dinner when we arrived back to their place and we finished the day with grilled hamburgers, music and stories! We went to bed at 9 pm I think. 😊Read more
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- Jul 20, 2018
- ⛅ 26 °C
- Altitude: 6 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Galápagos Puerto Ayora -0.75591, -90.31380°45’21” S 90°18’50” W
Day 12
Santa Cruz sightseeing
July 20, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Our guides had planned a program for the morning and gave us free time in the afternoon. It resulted in a day of exploring and sightseeing. First we caught a taxi boat in the harbour that took us to see the sight of german settlement back in the old day. These days it's a fancy hotel area. We also went around the coast to see some steep barren cliffs that was a popular bird nesting sight. Here were blue footed boobies, fregat birds, pelicans and many more spieces. We also saw the very popular bright red crabs that climb to anything.

After that we stopped by a dock that was nothing more than a couple of sticks and from there we walked to Playa de los perros. Apparently it got it's name after a specially big but foul tasting crab the first settlers had tried to eat. We also saw more iguanas and a tide filled pool with sharks in it and had the opportunity to swim in a sea water filled creek before we headed back to the boat to return to the hotel.

After some rest our family decided to ditch the hotel food and search for something more culinary for the evening. The younglings missed home and went for hamburgers and spagetti. For me the choice was easy, i go for ceviche. I have no big love for the local cuisine but for ceviche. And that rainbow trout we had in Tambo Tanda, that was the best grilled fish i have ever eaten! And when i'm on the subject- coffea! How can a country that produces one of the best coffea in the world serve stinking Nescafé to each meal?! I fail to understand! ☺️☕ However, we went through the tourist shop and bought both coffea, chocolate and some t-shirts to bring. We also took a walk to the dock where we spotted both a manta and some baby sharks in the last rays of sunset.Read more
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- Jul 19, 2018, 7:14pm
- ⛅ 24 °C
- Altitude: 3 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Galápagos Puerto Núñez -0.69613, -90.223260°41’46” S 90°13’24” W
Day 11
Open water and turtle bay
July 19, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C
An morning that started prior to six, contained a bus trip to the harbour, a bag search for forbidden materials when leaving the island and a near death experience on the devil's speed boat for two hours on open water. Our family sat in the back and managed pretty well but inside people.vomited left and right. The staff had a designated plastic bag dealer which also took care of waste and sprayed the air with air freshener. Take my word: if you ever consider going between the two islands San Cristóbal and Santa Cruz, use sea sickness pills! Tilde has taken double dose and wore her sea sickness bracelets but still couldnt hold it in when the captain stopped the boat to use the toilet. To put it simple, my mom'd rather build a new life in Galapagos rather than go back by boat. ☺️

So after our near-death experience we were packed on a bus and shipped to our hotel where we were told we would be picked up in 20 minutes to go on our first tour. I have never seen a family of five put better use on 20 minutes- all five managed to use the bathroom, change the wet clothes and put on some sunscreen plus pack towels and swimsuits. Some kind of record!

Our first trip went to the beautiful white sand beach of Tortuga Bay. To get there we had to walk for 2.5 km over the strange black landscape significant for Galapagos: with the cactus and an ocasional Santo Palo, the bleached white tree with the fragrant smell. Our guide told us it gets green in december, january, february after the rain.

The 2.5km walk in the heat was enough for some of our group but me and the girls continued to a more tranquil bay on the other side of the beach. We saw turtle enclosures marked with orange tape to mark where the turtles had layed their eggs and we also saw a colony of black iguanas. How very strange creatures! In the more secluded bay we went to a well deserved swim before we started the long way back. How the kids managed to walk mostly the entire way back amazes me, Viggo is no more than 3 and must have walked closer to 5 km in the heat. But afterwards we were all out of energy so when the guides had planned a trip to the Darwin museum me and the kids decided to stay back at the hotel and rest. Bengt went and said it was interesting.

Tired of the hotel food we went out to eat in the evening. I had ceviche for the hundred time, yum! Well home i was attacked by a cochroach. It was scary, it hid in our shoes until Bengt chased it out with a broom!Read more
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- Jul 18, 2018
- ⛅ 26 °C
- Altitude: 10 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Galápagos Puerto Ayora -0.74021, -90.311880°44’25” S 90°18’43” W
Day 10
Sick day
July 18, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
After an amazing day yesterday we have had a slight drawback with Freja that has been sick tonight and this morning. This lead to the sad decision that she and one of us parents need to stay home on today's excursion to the famous galapagan turtles. We drew straw, me and Bengt, and I became the sad looser and am staying in bed with her while the rest continue the six hour adventure. The staff has been very friendly and asked if i wanted to take her to the hospital, apparently it's free of charge and very good canadian staff? I have told them I dont think it's necissary, she just need some rest.

The rest went to the land turtle preservation centre and told us they had fun. Freja rose in the late afternoon and she and i had a walk to the city to enjoy an icecream and to buy some t-shirts. Not too disappointed with the day.Read more
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- Jul 17, 2018, 1:00pm
- ⛅ 23 °C
- Altitude: 12 m
- Ecuador Provincia de Galápagos Puerto Baquerizo Moreno San Cristóbal Airport -0.90519, -89.612890°54’19” S 89°36’46” W
Day 9
San Cristobal, Galapagos
July 17, 2018 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
After a quite disruptive night (my uncle Göran came knocking on our door after we had fallen asleep to tell us there had been a change of flight time to an earlier one, some of the girls had managed to set the alarm clock to 12 am and i also managed to snooze it in my attempt to shut it off so it rang one more time 15 mins later plus we only had 3 beds so we chared the pretty narrow beds) the alarm woke us up att 6:25. We got dressed and had some breakfast before the taxis picked us up.

At the airport we got our bags scanned for organic material and had to fill in forms that we understood that we were about to enter a national park with strict regulations of what to bring and not. We also had to pay the foreigner's visitation fee á 20$/person before we got to go through the regular safety control.

We bought some chocolate at the taxfree. It's nice to bring some gifts back with us.

At the plane we discouvered we were placed at random except me and Viggo that sat together. The two girls sat two seats ahead of us. At the point when we were landing the poor gentleman sitting next to me were able to say in perfect swedish "Freja, sätt dig ner med huvudet framåt" (Freja, sit down with your head facing forward). No explaination needed. :)

The flight took 2 hours and when we decended out of the clouds the beautiful islands of Galapagos rose like green pearls from the blue ocean. We had recieved prints with our information of the stay and Bengt had managed to fill in his swedish residence info but we passed through security check without being questioned. A bus waited outside the building and drove us to the hotel where we had a cantena sort of lunch (no coffea included 😥).

After the lunch we headed out on the first excursion: a trip to el Centro de Interpretacion, a museum of natural selection. Our guide spoke no english so i had to translate for the swedish group. Part of the museum had english translated texts so we managed. After the museum we headed to the Playa Mann. It was a small but lovely beach full of friendly and curious fur seals. Bengt and the kids went in to swim and was joined by a couple of seals. The male ones made funny noises and there was a funky fishy smell in the air. Good fun!

We walked back through the town to the hotel. Everyone is tired.Read more
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