WOW, Quito, Ecuador is really high!

        Andes mountains viewed from our Quito hotel

We have always wanted to go to Ecuador. I think this desire came about because of stories from Katy when she backpacked through South America and had such a good experience in Ecuador. I don’t know if the name is a derivation from the word “Equator” but in fact the country straddles the Equator, and Quito the capital, is just 40 miles south of the equator. The country is on the west coast of South America (most cruises take off from Guayaquil on the coast for the Galapagos Islands), is bordered on the north by Columbia, the south and east by Peru, with the Andes Mountains running down the middle with part of the Amazon basin on the east.

All of the guide books warn you about the altitude of Quito. Take it easy for the first couple of days and drink a lot of water, in order to acclimate to the altitude of 9300 feet, and to get used to the weather. We really did not have a problem with the altitude. The city is surrounded by volcanos, so when the clouds clear the views of the Andes are spectacular. Those mountains are perpetually covered with snow, but Quito and its long slender valley never has any snow. The weather is the same year around due to its equator location. The daily temperatures are generally in the 70’s and it is very green due to a daily late afternoon hour long rain freshener. We learned early on to carry umbrellas.

From our arrival we learned how friendly and helpful the Ecuadorian people are. We were to be met at the airport and taken to our hotel. That reassuring guide with your name on it just wasn’t in the arrivals hall, but all the other taxi drivers, tour guides, and staff were very helpful in trying to track down our tour company. Eventually, one of them took us to our hotel, where we found that there was a problem with our reservation due to some renovations, and the company eventually moved us to a very high end international hotel, albeit in a different part of Quito. But once very comfortably settled we were ready to explore.

Quito is long and slender, and contains about two million citizens. It is incredibly clean (maybe the rain helps!) and for a large city has very little graffiti, which is now seen the world over. The main tourist areas are the old town (where we were first booked) and the new town (where we actually stayed). They are actually only a couple of miles apart and it is really easy to get around. Cabs are plentiful and only cost $2 to $5 depending on your location. Oh, by the way, Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as its currency so shopping and money issues are no problem. As is our pattern when visiting cities, we started the day after our arrival with a city tour to get our bearings. We thus drove and walked all over old town and then went on to La Mitad del Mundo, “the middle of the world” for the obligatory photos of standing with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one foot in the south.

After the tour we were on our own for the rest of the week. For the “Worlds Greatest Shopper” it was handicraft heaven. The Ecuadorian natives are world famous for their woven goods, pottery, and crafts in general. Katy told her to buy a lot to help the poor natives and she always does what her children ask her to do! We had a great private tour to Otavalo, about 60 miles north of Quito, which is known worldwide for its crafts market. Our guide and driver were great and helped me egg on Mary Ann in her bargaining for enough stuff to start a retail store back home. Because of an early arrival in Otavalo we also were able to attend the animal market where the natives are selling and bartering every animal imaginable. Thank goodness Mary Ann held off on buying anything there.

The other must-do area of Quito is the Old Town. It is a terrific restored district with all the historic churches, public buildings, and magnificent squares, We spent at least three days just criss-crossing the neighborhood from one end to the other, visiting museums, churches and just enjoying the ambience of the area and the fun of watching the people. They really do wear the native costumes. Often we just luck out and we walked into Independence Plaza for the Monday changing of the guard in front of the Presidential Palace, and found the President actually reviewing the pageant. Well, the national election was coming up in a couple of weeks!

This was a great week. I might mention that it was not a difficult flight. We flew Copa Airlines (the Panamanian airline) from Los Angeles to Panama City and then directly on to Quito. To my grief Mary Ann found out it did not take forever to fly to Panama City like we did on frequent flyer miles in January. I thought for sure you had to fly to Seattle, to Miami, and then to Panama City. Go figure?

             The Presidential Guard near the palace

Can I Dance the Tango?

Surely, if we wanted to learn the tango, we should go to the source. The source is Argentina. Now, I really did not want to do the “dance”, but a trip to Argentina and on to Uruguay is right up my travel alley. Several years ago we had a lovely Argentinean high school exchange student live with us. It obviously created an interest in seeing the “Paris” of South America.

We have made two trips to South America in the last three years. It is a very long flight, but the good news is that nearly all the flights to South America are at night. You do get a chance to sleep, and the time passes quickly. There is also no great time zone change so you arrive relatively alert, if not exactly refreshed.

Our trip was one of the city visits we like, where we stay in the same place for several days and use the hotel as a base for exploring on our own. We were lodged in Buenos Aires in a nice small hotel (we usually avoid the large chain hotels) right on the 14 lane main boulevard through the downtown of the city. We visited in their spring season which was the fall in the U.S. The weather was beautiful. We explored on our own the first day and enjoyed a half day city tour the next day. Our personal exploring style is to check out the grand sites, visit the parks, get a feel for the culture, and learn how the people live.

We try to accomplish this by watching the people at play and at work. We visited the supermarkets, government buildings, shopping streets, boulevards, the grand hotels, cemeteries, subways, the main tourist sites, and where the citizens congregate. And do they ever congregate in Buenos Aires. Each day there were demonstrations in the park opposite the Presidential Palace and the streets fanning out from there. This was the same palace where Eva Peron had addressed her citizens. Public speech and peaceful demonstrations are a long held Argentinean tradition. We never felt unsafe watching the demonstrations or at anytime in Buenos Aires. It is a large city with a lot of interesting neighborhoods, but very walkable.

Before moving on to Uruguay, we did a day trip by train, bus, and boat to the Tigre River delta, north of the city. This is a major resort suburb of the city and consists of several islands with wonderful summer homes and weekend get-a-ways. The second part of our visit started with a one hour flight to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Uruguay is the smallest country in South America, and an easy visit in conjunction with a trip to Argentina. Montevideo is situated on the eastside of the Rio de la Plata River as the river empties into the Atlantic Ocean. The city contains half of the nation’s population and is very laid back and provincial when compared to Buenos Aires. Montevideo is easy to walk and has a wonderful La Rambla pedestrian walk through the center of the city. There are wonderful Atlantic beaches making for great people watching. Our hotel was right on the beach, but also only five blocks from the city center, the best of all worlds.

We did take the half day tour of the city to get a feel for all the important buildings with a visit to the nation’s gorgeous capital building. Our one adventure out of Montevideo was by a guide driven car visit to Colonia del Sacramento, a two hour drive north of the city (but half way across the country). This small town is a UNESCO World Heritage City and dates from the 17th century. It is wonderfully preserved and fun to explore. Our tour was a bit unusual in that the guide spoke limited English, but the other passenger on the tour was a young woman from Brazil who translated for us. What a hoot!

The whole trip was a great visit and one which was safe and inexpensive. The dollar is very strong in South America, as compared with Europe, and this destination is a trip you should consider. Oh, by the way, I did not learn the tango, but we saw a lot of the dance, even on the streets. I don’t think being short and round is the proper body for the Tango!

Just thinking about the tango is exhausting!

(Published in the Spring  2007 issue of the ABA JD Record)

Why Would You Ever Want to Travel to Chile?

There are a lot of reasons. Just because it is there? Because you have never traveled to South America? You have heard it is incredibly beautiful? These reasons, and more, prompted a two week vacation in Chile. We have good friends who had been to Chile previously, and encouraged us to join them for a joint driving trip starting in the capital Santiago, and then south through the Central Valley, the Lakes District, and onto Puerto Montt. We selected traveling during our spring, so it would be fall in Chile, hopefully similar to our October trips to Europe.

It is easy to fly to Chile. All the flights are overnight so the trip does not seem too long. You arrive about eight in the morning at a beautiful modern airport. Visas are not required but there is a $100 entry tax in retaliation to U.S. entry fees. All of you who travel know the drive into a new City is always exciting because everything is new and interesting, and a little scary. This held true in Chile. We stayed in a delightful boutique hotel in the upscale neighborhood of Los Condes. From there we explored by private tour, walking, subway, and our rental car. Santiago is a beautiful, modern, clean, crime free and culturally diverse city. It has skyscrapers, historic sites, state of the art subways, wonderful people, great restaurants, excellent shopping and a boomtown atmosphere. Beyond our sightseeing we enjoyed meeting and dining with a native Chilean family and their friends. As an example of the excellent economy and education of the population, the family children were currently in medical school and law school.

So off we went on the driving adventure. Chile is long and skinny. At no point is it more than 110 miles wide and if it was stretched across North America it would extend nearly from coast to coast (2700 miles). After reading all those old Pan American road trip books, it was quite a surprise to find that Chile has a brand new 4 lane, limited access toll way all the way to Puerto Montt and Chiloe Island. This is no third world country operation! You will recall from some of my past adventures that driving in a foreign country is sometimes an exciting adventure for me. This drive presented some different challenges. The first obstacle was getting the luggage for four of us into a midsize sedan. As we progressed and bought more and more “stuff”, each morning became an exciting event. Hotel staff had to be strictly supervised as all the suitcases would fit only in a certain order. Overflow ended up between our wives in the back seat. My friend Les, was the navigator and I soon found out he was excellent at map reading. The challenge however, was that he is direction challenged – can’t tell right from left. After several near misses, I always checked twice.

Our travels took us to the wine country of the Central Valley to a wonderful 5 star hotel who arranged our wine tour. Checking on the wine was, of course, only an academic exercise to bring back information to our local Washington State wine growers. Next we were off to the Lake District and exploring the volcanoes and learning about the Mapuche Indian culture. Crossing the country (3 hours) from the Andes to the ocean we stopped in Valdivia, to enjoy the fishing villages and beautiful Pacific coast. We then headed for the fascinating resort areas of Puerto Octay, Frutillar, Puerto Varas, and Puerto Montt. This is gorgeous lake and mountain country. Our final leg south was on to Chiloe Island where we encountered the only real steady rain of the trip.

On the return trip we spent time in Valparaíso and Viña del Mar, the main port of Chile and summer stop for the residents of Santiago. Valparaiso, which is also the location for the Chilean parliament, is built on steep hills descending to the Pacific Ocean. It was great fun touring the hills (fortunately with someone else driving on a private tour) and exploring the ascensores (the funiculars and cable cars) going up and down the hillside neighborhoods. We stayed at a wonderful ocean-side hotel in Viña del Mar enjoying the crashing surf of the Pacific Ocean on the rocks below. This was a great way to finish up a delightful two week adventure in a new country. Now how do I get all that “stuff” back home? Give Chile a try!

This article was published in the Fall 2004 ABA Judicial Division Record newsletter.