THANK YOU SAM AND ALLY!

This is a post by Woody Gimbel (Sam's dad) regarding his visit with his wife Carol to Quito, Ecuador. We all had an amazing time.

This is a bit tardy, I know, but the Inca Roads blog would be incomplete without a record of the incredible time Carol and I had in Ecuador, thanks to Sam and Ally.

We arrived at the Quito airport late in the evening, May 7. We were jaded and just a bit confused as we went through the various stages of security. We looked up, and there were Sam and Ally, our translators and guides, watching out for us as we left the baggage claim area. It was a joyous reunion. We had not been together since late January. Lots of hugs.

TAXIS: We sat back and observed Sam and Ally negotiating with the taxi driver, and were amazed at the nuances and intricacies of this endeavor. Throughout our time in Quito they continued to negotiate deals, refusing a cab if the fare were out of line! Even a dollar out of line! At times I was ready to pay the dollar, just to get going, but it was always worth the wait. One more comment on cab drivers in Quito: Based on our anecdotal sampling, it appears that there are two categories of drivers. Those who use the meters, and those who don’t. Those two break down into ethical, and unethical. The unethical meter users circle the block, meander around as they approach the destination, in order to increase the fare. The non-meter users require negotiation in advance. They will honor their agreement if you have exacct change. If not, “no cambio” is their position, and they expect to keep the change. The worst cabbies get out of their cabs with a pugilist stance, and say things in Spanish you wouldn’t want to translate for your mother.

FIRST EVENING: We loved the “Hotel Los Alpes” where we stayed. Once again, Sam and Ally had checked it out for us. We stayed up way too late catching up, exchanging gifts, and just soaking up the excitement of our reunion in Quito. Sam and Ally had a suite, with kitchen, dining room, two bedrooms, and lots of well crafted wood work. Our third floor room also had two bedrooms, lots of storage, and lots of windows for viewing the neighborhood architecture, and in the distance the taller mountains surrounding Quito, including the morning plumes of a nearby volcano.

MARKET: We had a wonderful breakfast at our hotel, took our time, drank café con leche, made with Nestle’s instant coffee, and as much fresh juice as we wanted. This fortified us for our trip to La Mariscal Handicraft Market, where the selection of textiles and jewelry was overwhelming. Carol would have spent our week’s budget in the first hour, but Sam and Ally came to the rescue, teaching us the steps to making a good deal.

The merchants expect to bargain, and are surprised and disappointed when tourists don’t. Accordingly, their first price is just the beginning of the fun. One shows interest, then asks “Cuanto cuesta?” Now the merchant states the first price. Turista says something like “demasiado” which I think is “too much.” The merchant comes down, say from $12 to $10. Sam and Ally were never satisfied completely unless they bargained down to about 50-60% of the starting price. Carol usually couldn’t wait that long, and we had to talk her out of giving tips!

EATING: It seems like we ate all the time, but we actually lost weight while we were there. Never saw one overweight person in Quito! The food was wonderful, but we wouldn’t have had a clue without Sam and Ally to explain and advise. The indigenous fare breakfasts outside our hotel were about $1.40 for a generous meal. Lunches were not much higher, maybe $2.50 for soup (consommé), salad, vegetable, entrée, and rolls.

Dinners were equally reasonable. Some of our favorites were empanadas, fried plantains, cebiche. Cebiche is a method of preparing fish/seafood for eating, without cooking it with heat. Lime juice is squeezed on, say, Chilean Sea Bass or Conch, and after a time it’s “cooked” and delicious. We’ve missed cebiche since we returned, and have settled for herring in wine sauce.

HANGING OUT: Most of all, Carol and I enjoyed hanging out with Sam and Ally.

Starting with the long discussions over breakfast, throught out the day, and into the evening hours. We went on daily treks, to the Plaza and through a cathedral, and encountered the bathroom nazi who extracted a toll for responding to calls of nature. Not all were willing to pay the toll, sparking the latest international incident. Sam, shave your beard, dye your hair, and you’ll elude the bathroom police!

We went to the Mitdad del Mundo, which is supposed to mark the equator, where even the coriolis effect is confused. Fun, but way too touristy.

We went to the top of a mountain via tram, and it was incredible. The oxygen was so thin that some entrepreneurial genius sold oxygen at the top, in four flavors!

We went to Quito’s botanical gardens, and were enjoying the incredible Ecuador’s incredible diversity of plant life, when something totally unexpected happened: I ran into an old friend from college. Chuck Davis was sitting in the part, reading, and struck up a conversation with my wife who was taking pictures of the koi. Chuck looked good for our age, and we spent hours sitting and talking, catching up. He liked Sam and Ally, but then again, he was only around them for a short time! Chuck married an Ecuadorean woman, lives in Quito, and is trying to persuade Carol and me to invest in a home there.

We’re giving it serious thought.

DAY OF GOOD BYE; We had hoped to visit the HCJB short wave, world wide broadcast facility, but alas, they’re in the process of relocating their towers to make way for the new airport, so they were not open to visitors. We had hoped to see the rain forest, and the cloud forest, and even the Galapogos, but we didn’t. That makes a great case for a return visit, and a longer stay. We’re going to brush up on Espanol, and will be using Rosetta Stone’s programs. But we’ll still need our translators and guides, Sam and Ally, or we’ll be lost! We topped off our last evening by going to a somewhat expensive restaurant, and enjoying cebiche and a wide variety of seafood. Wonderful meal, great company.

THE TRIP HOME: Sam and Ally rode with us to the Airport and saw us off. We were sad to be leaving them. We even considered coming back to join them on their Machu Picchu trek. More hugs. Reflect on the Market: Remember, the market was a great experience, lots of gifts to take back home. But if you go to Quito, don’t be surprised if your suitcase full of fabric items you bought at La Mariscal excites the drug-sniffing dog at security. Happened to us: we were stopped from boarding because the shawls and shirts and tablecloths and other things had absorbed so much marijuana smoke in the market that the dog could detect it. We were led through the labyrinthine bowels of the airport. Of course we were allowed to board when the security officer saw the fabrics. They just smiled knowingly. They were apparently accustomed to this. We will never forget out time with Sam and Ally. We’re ready for a reprise.