Manabi, Jama - Ecuador September 10 - 13

Miguel and Bella recommended us to visit Jama located on the coast of Ecuador and to stay at a Hotel Punta Blanca. We invited Miguel, Bella, and two of our good friends, Patricia and Fernando Landazuri to go along with us to this location. The trip takes seven hours from Quito to Jama. It is an adventure, the distance is not more than 130 miles as the crow flies but due to the roads, traffic, towns in between and the “chapas acostados” “chapas” a word meaning “policemen” and “acostados” meaning “lying down” basically “speed bumps” the trip takes 3.5 times of what would take on a road here in the USA. The “speed bumps” are not standard size, they are of any size and height from one to the other therefore you have to really slow down to a stop and make sure that your vehicle is high enough to go over the bumps. We arrived at the Punta Blanca Hotel in Jama. The Hotel is nice, it has rooms made out of tents and provides a nice bedroom and bathroom. The view of the Pacific ocean is great, the hotel seats about 150 feet above sea level. The beach is clean, wide and deep into the ocean. We had a great time playing in the water and walking along the beach. The food in the hotel was excellent throughout our stay. We had a nice time visiting with the family and friends, talking and playing “Telefunken” at night. No television and radio. We slept easily 8 hours a night.

Galapagos Islands - September 2 - 9, 2009

We met our good friends Angel and Lilian King and flew from Quito to Galapagos via Gal Airlines, landed at the Island of Baltra. We then boarded the Coral I ship from Klein Tours. We visited most of the islands. It was impressive to see the Iguanas, Sea Lions, Albatross, and other birds and the variety of flora from one island to another. You can spend plenty of time just observing these animals and nature while forgetting all the busy life in existence on the main land. The result is relaxation to its finest. Good times were spent with Angel and Lilian, we enjoyed the food accompanied by good wine, and a nice Ecuadorian Cigar before and sometimes after dinner. On the last day of our visit we even played football with teams made up of passengers and crew members. The crew of Coral I made our trip an experience not to easy to forget. The Galapagos experience was fantastic and we recommend it to anyone that enjoys Mother Nature.