Join the Adventure!
We could have spent days exploring the wonderful area near Mindo, Ecuador! But we only had a day to hike the waterfalls and learn all about the process of making chocolate. From growing the cacao pods, to drying and sorting the beans . . . …
Here we are at the Center of the World: 0 Latitude! Where we did experiments with water to see the Coriolis Effect: water whirled clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, counter-clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and just went straight down on the equator! We tried balancing …
We were quite surprised when our “Rosero” drink at the Plaza Grande Hotel in Quito was so thick that we had to “drink” it with a spoon. It was like having a sugary sweet, syrupy, fruit cocktail with barley in a mug!
In the US, police cars tend to be blue and white or black and white, and police stations rarely have a uniform color. But in Chile, the “Carabineros” (the police) drive green and white cars and are housed in green and white police stations. One …
We never realized how beautiful graffiti could be until we visited Valparaiso, the graffiti capital of the world! Sunday we went on a Graffiti tour of Valpo with graffiti artist, Al Ramirez, who explained the evolution of graffiti, with its various styles and world renowned …
Today we had a funny incident while Raquel and I were sitting at an outdoor café having lunch. We kept hearing a loudspeaker announcing performances for a travelling circus. In fact, we went to this Mexican circus about two weeks ago after seeing trucks with loudspeakers announcing the shows.
It was fascinating to see the “big top” performance with trapeze artists, motorcycles in a circular cage (5 of them at one time), clowns, dancing girls, and knife throwing. Sadly for the performers, there were only about 50 people in the crowd in a tent that could probably hold 4-500 people. But back to the story.
Today, however, we didn’t see any trucks yet still heard the announcements. Finally, we looked up and saw a low-flying plane blaring out the announcement as it flew over the city.
It is always fun to travel and see signs that we wouldn’t see in the US. Here are a few of our favorites:
Aliya, Asher and I (Ben was safe in Boston) were on the couch, snuggled closely watching youtube music videos, when a roar came from deep inside the soul of the world. The room began to rattle and the loud sounds of the “temblor” (what the Chileans …
We went on a spectacular tour (Tour 4 Tips) of Valparaiso, Chile with Raquel’s brother Jason, sister-in-law Norri, Jordan & Sammi. We had a great time riding on the funiculars
and exploring the nooks and cranies of the streets of Valpo.
We saw some amazing graffiti
Enjoyed a steep slide
And ate some yummy, homemade alfajores from a lady who brings out the freshly baked chocolate coated, manjar (like dulce de leche) filled cookies.
We learned an important lesson when visiting Pablo Neruda’s beach house, Isla Negra, about an hour south of Vina del Mar: Museums in Chile are closed on Mondays! But we were still able to get this glimpse of Neruda’s home where he wrote many of …