ITS A LONG ONE THIS TIME! PICTURES AND ALL!

OK, first Chris´s post, then mine, then some pictures! ENJOY!

Chris well we were in a big market town of otavalo when i last wrote. At our hotel, guy wanted 15.00 per night but i gladly offered him 14.00 which he accepted making me happy plus it actually was good deal already and it just got better by getting another dollar off had nice view of the street but if we opened our window we honestly could reach out and touch the hydro lines.........totALLY unsafe but such is poorer country not the safety standards of back home. also the hotel had the scruffiest looking dirty little dog that always came up to us wagging tail .......i sure liked him and could a taken him home with us.............he reminded me of myself when i travel...............scruffy n dishelveled l ooking........laura joked that no i couldn´t let him sleep in our room with us...............i sure like that lil dog! our first night we crashed out early then awoke to a band marching and playing music down the street..........sounded cool laura peered out window in her nightie...i stayed in bed zonked out still from long bus ride. slept well The next day there was big market in that town and laura sure looked at everything for sale but i sat back and watched the locals go on with their daily lives so i didn´t mind too much. I sat and had a grande cervesza(big beer 650 ml) sucked on a cigar and watched these old men from the town 50 ´s - 70´s seriously! play this silly game where they had to hit a small rubber ball with palm of hand and it had to hit ground first then other man could hit it back........was hilliarious watching these old guys really hustle and being totally serious about it.....................one guy had his fingers taped up........................there is rubbish everywhere but one guy actually walkedalong cleaning the wrappers n beer caps of their makeshift court ..which was the sidewalk........funniest of all was when the ball went under a car n this poor old guy seriously took about 30 secopnds to slowly get on all 4´s then crawl on his belly under the parked car for their stupid lil rubber ball..i felt sorry for him. oh also had awesome meat empanada´s from guy walking around with a basket of them and a thermos of coffee................................a 1 man walking business for .30 were great meat-rice-peas in a pastry and stil warm....................ahhhhhhhhh good cheap street food and watch old guys run around chasing a ball n crawl under cars to retieve it....... while drinking a big berer..........does liverealy get any better! oh yeah i had hot laura next to me as well........she sure is a cutie that made it better i really like her y´know! later that night we walked round and laura got a corn on the cob with mayonaise and cheese.....yummy and i got an assorted meat shish ka bob which was awesome...........we saw a tastey looking pot of food we asked girl what is was(what kind of carne or meat?) she pointed to her stomach and made swirling motion.............it was tripas or cooked guts/intestines...............no thanks i´ll stick with the mystery meat......it was good actually! next day we got up early to go to this town for a huge market..................it only had one hotel and we gambled that they´d have a room for us.....well after 3 busses and getting dropped off at highway intersection and being in a rush to get the last hotel room still availiable, we hitched a ride in box of truck that obviiously had cow manure previously.........so it kinda smalled and laura got a big shit stain on her pants.........no worries it wasn´t from her but from the cow manure...haha........... anyways we finaly got there to go to hotel to se a creepy looking stuffed moneky in hallway and ancient looking hotel..................like something from a western movie and old n stuff........anyways they didn´t have room but we got girl to watch our stuff and we walked round town. saw lots of smelly meat and cow hoofs sliced open and ready for the soup pot. fish clothing fruit n veggies like u couldn´t imagine how much..........crazy how fresh the fruit n veggies looked vine ripened tomatoes......................oh how a toasted tomatoe woulda been delightful with them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! saw many locals indegineous peopleall dressed up in traditional colourful clothing..........................very unique n pretty to see we had a pollopappi (pronounced poyo pawpi!) fun to say funner to eat! fries n piece of chicken,,,,,,,,,,the rest. was completely unsanitaRY and greasejust driping from the chicken even after draining off in basket................the sauces lookedlike they used the same bowls for the last few months and just kept adding more n more sauce without ever cleaning the bowl...............it had a fridge in the corner................ahhhhh a cool drink as we saw the lady grab a warm coke of the shelf and tell us there were no cold one( why wouldn´t u put some in the fridge???????????) welcome to 2´nd world country not everything makes sense oh well we each ate chicken n fries and i dared the gruby sauce w a coke was under 3.00. we went to get our bags to find hotel completely vacant , doors open but no one there........and our bags locked in the office! we meant to leave early to another town........................but fate had other plans for us was drizzlin a bit so shitty for walking around so i decided to get a haircut(so poor laura wouldn´t have to cut it when we got back!) and a straght blade shave. well the haircut was good but the shave well i am glad he used new blade as he totally cut me and i was bleeding and it hurt.............the faces laura made said it all...........................on the positive i think the ole guy felt so bad he only charged 2.00 total which laura -i both think was a reduced bleeding neck rate! oh well finally after me walking round getting looks frommany locals from the bloody scab on my throat we got back to creepy moneky hotel and were able to get our bags and the journey continued on to other town..............not in back of a shit truck but in a bus this time! we got to this town Latacunga and was a pain in neck to try n find a room but finally found the nicest room I´ve stayed while travelling............8.00 per person of which of course i asked if they had anything cheaper while i tried to make a poor , cold person looking face.......well laura looked like she shit her pants and i had a bloody scabbed neck so i guess it worked as the owner looked thought they said 7.00 per person per night I told laura i wanted to take it without even seeing it....................it was huge, had hot water and hallways had sitting chairs n large mirrors..............totally worth 8.00 per person per night but beter for 7.00 no scruffy lil dog though..............i miss that lilthing .. oh well that night we had the hugest hambuirgers with the greasiest fries in this nice lil cafe, walked in market i drank a big beer while smoking big grape flavoured cigar ....strangely seemed to get many looks but i couldn´t care saw some gross looking meats but amazing looking fruits! slept good in our dream hotel room poor laura didn´t figure out taps were labelled wrong so washed in the sink with cold water..........well luke warm she says.........................while lazy me laid in bed the 30 mins lator had hot shower........i caled her in bathroom so she could see the steam and cuss at me................poor laura she sure is pretty though that laura of mine! We took 2 buses that morning after eating these cheese empanadas in the markey and strawberries n orages n bannana´s deliscious althought laura got shafted on the bannanas...(NOTE FROM LAURA--I GOT 2 BANANAS FOR 10 CENTS).................we got to banos..............................beautiful town in the mountains surounded in mountains and like a lil bowl in centre which ins the town. totally tourisy but pretty. we were worried at first all hotels were full or only had hotelroom for one night as it was carnival week-end and us stupid gringo turisto´s never booked ahead.......................finaly we got aroom with nice view and we could have it 3 nights.................... walked around that afternoon i found the cheapest place to buy big beers that i could drink in the streets.........................just relaxed that day next day found the actually hotel we originally wanted to stay in found it was 2.00 per night even cheaper with nice rooms and quietere location..........life is good switched hotels they got 3 computers as well free internet.................we checked out 54 mins ago n i amstill using the free internet laura as well althought we just got sprayed with foam as it is final day of carnival we went to hot spring fed pools over filled with locals as this town in nuts it is so packed with people all hotels are filled and many people we see sleeping in their cars. we saw a cool parade and got lots of nice treats like sugar care locally made taffy and somelocals shared a shot of sugar cane /liquor with us........nice actually this gringo guy and young local kid are spraying foam again all over this poor girl in room next to us. after parade we sat outside me havin a beer and watched the locals completely spray each other with cans of this spray foam while there was major people everywhere listening to live bands on the streets food stalls seling food some delicious some fried pork skin or guts! anyways it was an awesome party in the streets yesterday laura had a very dissappointing breakfest totally not what she asked for...............................................then the rest of the day went to shit from there....................we didn´t do much relaxed walked round more listening to live bands i ate some awesome breaded shrimp for supper which made me happy then a few big beers on the street while listening to live bands Last night was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay more foam and laura/i completely got sprayed a few times....................met some locals that shared sugarcane juice n local liquer mixed together with me...........................now we just booked a sightseeing trip to see waterfalls then tonight we will take 9 hour overnight bus to the beach for next 7 - 9 days......................i am sad to be leaving final night of carnival maybe we´ll catch lator bus at 2:00 am rather than scheduled 7:00 pm bus we are planning for now........................see if i can butter laura up to agree to it..................for a pretty girl she sure doesn´t like to drink beer in the streets and talk to drunken locals in the streets like i do! we ´ve sure been eating lots of these deep fried cheese empanada´s(plus i got 6 in my bag for bus ride as they onlysellin the morning) and poor laura is sick of eating greasy french fries..................myself i love em well tour in 1 1/2 hrs and i wanna get another breaded shrimp dinner in before we leave town............i´m loving the food here had great deep fried trout yesterday even well take care glad to see my mom finallly wrote me............guess she still loves me after al!

Laura-- I will just be quick as I posted some pics, and Chris is also writing a novel to post on here.
Friday night I woke up sick, I mention this because I ate in a total tourist restaruant, western owned, and Chris ate in the local market. He was fine, I was throwing up all night. This put a bit of a damper on Saturday as we had planned to ride mountain bikes down the mountain to see the waterfalls. I felt better by the afternoon, and we just strolled around town.
This weekend was Carnaval, a big festival in south america. There was a HUGE parade the other night where lots and lots of people were dancing in the streets, and they were throwing oranges, and roses, and taffy from the floats. They make taffy here.(tastes like the halloween candy in the orange and black wrapper. kinda yucky...)The hang it on posts in the store fronts and pull it and strech it to blend it. Interesting.

Mostly we just wandered around town, there were so many people in town this weekend.....lots. WOW. Everyone spraying each other with foam made just for carvaval.
Saturday for supper I ordered roasted chicken cause thats all these people eat out here, and it came with a bowl of soup with a rooster head floating in it-comb and all--i fed it to a homeless man who was happeier than ever!!! I actually didn´t see the chicken head, Chris told me later, thank goodness cause I wouldn´t have eated my supper. We swam in the local baths they are called. Mountain water, a pool of warm, one hot and one cold. I was kind of grossed out as we went early in the morning and it seemed like people really did go there for a bath. Not using soap or anything, but some were taking their FILTHY kids in the water. I didn´t last long in there!
Last night, Sunday, it seemed to be the biggest night for Carnaval. There were bands in the streets and everyone spraying the damn foam. The first night we weren´t so sure of the foam, but it was impossible to avoid and realized that it didn´t stain our clothes,and dried off right away!

Anyways, like I said, we never made the mountain bike trip. We are taking the tour of it at 3:30 today, and then tonight taking the bus to Montanita. Supposidly and cool little beach town. Its about an 11 hour bus ride, so I am trying to prepare myself for that. Not my favorite part of travel thats for sure...... Enjoy the pictures!

In the local market in Saqusili. The fruit all looked so good! mmm yummy. I have been drinking freshly squeezed blackberry juice everyday!!!

The Carnaval 2009 Parade. It lasted forever. People dancing in the streets and tossing out oranges, sugarcane, and taffy.

Making taffy in the store fronts.

There are lots of stuffed pigs everywhere.

The view from our balcony at our hotel #1 in Baños.

The view of the mountains in the morning at hotel #2 in Baños.

I was so happy to find Choco-bananas! froznen bananas, dipped in chocolate!

I can´t believe it, we ate the guinea pig. We only got a bit of it, a front paw by the looks of it. I am sorry to any of you guinea pig owners out there, I promise I won´t do it again....


The Carnaval foam, that as I type this am wiping off. This was taken last night. Eveyone in the streets was spraying everyone else. We were just innocent bystanders!!!