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Sarah, my brave travelling companion, on the train from Paris's hellhole of an airport. It's 7 am. She hasn't slept all night. Neither have I. - IMG 2846 002
Old Town. We are staying in new town, so we decided to visit some of the old buildings and churches and stuff, which I actually find to be pretty outrageously boring. - IMG 2851 003
Mitad del Mundo. A monument erected on the equator, which is about 30km north of Quito. Quite impressive, even though it's about 100m off the actual mark, which they discovered only six years ago using GPS and GIS. Oops! - IMG 2813
Flight the first: from Austin to Dallas at about 2pm on the fifth (duration: 35min). - IMG 2694 001
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We visited Parque Carolina, a huge park in the middle of Quito, which was quite nice, though mostly bereft of people. - IMG 2678 005
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This as a picture of Pablo Castro, our excellent Spanish teacher with whom we had daily 4-hour lessons in the first floor of the Panchos' residence, which serves as a German language school in the afternoon. - IMG 2852 003
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Gerber daisies in buckets getting ready to be shipped out, with netting around the blooms to protect them. - IMG 2856 002
Here is a veiw over a large part of the farm, which mostly grows one kind of flower, Liatris, which have long spikes which eventually bloom into purple flowers. - PICT0016
Looking up at said cathedral's spire. - IMG 2707
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We got off the train at a metro stop downtown and decided to walk to the hostel we hoped would have room for us (after discovering the one we'd made reservations at was in the red light district). In retrospect, it was a mistake to tackle the miles with packs on, but in this picture I was excited. We'd emerged into the city and immediately found a sight! (What is it? Who knows! But definitely a sight.) - IMG 2684 004
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Flight the second: Dallas to Miami, at about 3pm (duration: 3hr 20min). - PICT0005
The view from the window of our hostel, which finally let us in for a merciful nap at 3:00. Pretty Paris rooftops. - IMG 2835
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This is our hostel in the middle of Quito. It´s quite well-appointed, with hot water (in a shared bathroom), telephone (shared), access to a kitchen and laundry facilities, and two comfy beds for $5/night each. - IMG 2833
We made a picnic in the foothills of the Andes with Hugo, his wife Rita, their daughter Ana, and a visiting friend Frank. It was quite beautiful. - IMG 2696 001
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On the next weekend (Bryan's last), Adrean took us out to his flower farm (if US customs asks, I was never on any farm), and that of his brother. We brought along his two children, Renata (3) and Adrean (5). - IMG 2869
All of the unused plant matter is composted and used as fertilizer - IMG 2701
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