We will conquer Los Galapagos!!

Hello everyone. Jeremy and Betsey and Hannah say hello too. Jeremy and Betsey arrived last Saturday amid the usual arrival complications. They were stranded at the airport in Guayaquil at 1 am, but fortunately, and coincidentally, ran into some brothers from the English congregation who were happy to help.

The next morning, Hannah and I left Cuenca at 5:30 am to meet them in Guayaquil for our flight to Galapagos. Long story short... we missed the flight and ended up in deep negotiations for hours trying to reschedule and refund our tickets. After much ado, we finally came to a reasonable compromise with the ever-so-friendly LAN staff and postponed the trip until next week. So we all headed back to Cuenca to spend the week here instead. It's been nice so far, although I must say I haven't really done or been able to see much with the group since I've been in bed sick. This is the 3rd week in a row that I've been sick. I caved in, went to the doctor, and he gave me a mystery shot and some antibiotics. The doctor was a trusted family physician of the Salazar's, so I didn't put up a huge fight like I usually would have when he refused to tell me what the shot was. haha! It was hilarious actually. He said he is the doctor and I needed to trust him, and he would make me feel better. OK, whatever... Well, I am 7 days through the antibiotics and feeling slightly better. The last 3 days I had no voice whatsoever. This was definitely a new experience for me. Quite frustrating when you have visitors who want to know lots of things and learn about Ecuador, etc.

Anyway, I have a bit of a voice today, so I hope that is a good sign of recovery. Eveyone in the house right now is either sick, getting sick, or getting over being sick. Despite that, we are determined to be better and ready for our vacation on Monday.

So here is our itinerary for the last 2 weeks in Ecuador:
*This weekend, we pack kup the house, sell what we can, and move into Don and Ginger's house.
*Monday we leave early for Guayaquil (again) to catch a Bethel lunch and tour.
*Tuesday we fly to Galapagos.
*Hannah and I are there until Friday, at which point we return to Cuenca for our last weekend with friends.
*Jeremy and Betsey will stay in Galapagos until Sunday, then go back to Gye to catch their flight back home.
*December 3rd and 4th is our last weekend in Cuenca. We have a little hiking trip planned and a (not-so-secret) surprise farewell party, retro themed and costumed, so should be interesting...
*Then Monday we fly to Quito, say our last good byes to the friends there, and fly out on Tuesday morning.

And then we are home! We hear the weather has not been very welcoming at the moment. Maybe that will change soon. Probably not....

Well, we are off to do some last minute errands and check out one of the Panama hat shops in town. We'll try to post some Galapagos pics as soon as we have them. Hope all is well. See you all soon!
Chaus

A few pics to hold you over...

IngaPirca Incan ruins

The Incan King, Igaximenrupalba. (not really)

Driving to Cuenca above the clouds

Even locals are impressed with the view.

Eduardo Vega, a local, and very famous, ceramics artist from Cuenca.