Sunday, August 19, 2012

Apostille and Translation Services in the U. S.

If you need something apostilled / translated in a hurry in the States, here's information that can help you:

Express Document Authentication Services
1930 18th St. N.W. Unit #1
Washington, DC  20009

Contact:    Brigitte Tan Siegall
Email:        info@expressauthentication.com
Phone #:    866-886-8472

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Whale Watching Tour -- Part 2 of 2


NOTE:  Michael Edwards created a fantastic video of our entire trip.  (Click here to watch it:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEkesIXiEEg&feature=youtu.be )

We continued on our trip after visiting the Guayaquil Historical Park.  From Guayaquil we drove about three hours to Montanita to spend the night at the Swiss Hotel (where we had stayed in Sept of 2010).  The hotel had been updated with new rooms and a swimming pool.


Day 2:  Early the next morning, we headed north to Puerto Lopez to catch the boat.  Here are pictures of Puerto Lopez, and the early morning launch:


These 3-wheeled motorcycles are the taxis in town

Beautiful beaches

Pelicans waiting for the fishing boats

Father and son cleaning the morning's catch

Our group waiting to wade out into the water to climb aboard

Safety vest, sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, camera.  Ready to go!

Let's get some sun and see some whales!

Now for the whales:

A whale's tail



Up close and personal!



Saying "Hi"
Isla de la Plata

After watching the whales for about an hour, we continued onto Isla de la Plata (Silver Island). 

Approaching Isla de la Plata

Explaining the flora and fauna of the island, and the different trails

We walked to the center of the island and then took the short circular trail

Our trail-head sign


Parts of the trail were very steep, which led us to . . .

. . . blue-footed boobies

They weren't afraid of us, but we still kept our distance

Enjoying the warmth and the sunshine.  Ah, able to wear shorts again!

You can see the boobies' nesting area in the center of the photo

Coming back with food.  Boobies stay together as a couple to raise the young together
Waiting for my food to arrive

A nesting couple

Reminds me of Big Sur in California


We were gone for about five hours on the whale watching / Isla de la Plata tour.  Then we drove the one hour back to Montanita to clean up and go out to dinner.  We slept very well that night!  Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention about our first night in Montanita is that at around midnight, we had an earthquake.  Quite a trip!

Day 3:  The next morning which was the day we drove home from the beach, we had breakfast in Montanita and then drove north to a town called Olon to do some sightseeing and shopping.

The beach at Olon

Birds in flight

Conga line!


















After lunch, we headed back to Cuenca (which took about six hours).  Overall, this was a great trip and we really enjoyed ourselves with the warm weather and beautiful sights.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Whale Watching Tour -- Part 1 of 2

A week ago, we went on a three day trip to the coast to go whale watching.  We had beautiful warm weather with blue skies and sunshine on the whole trip.

Day 1:  We left Cuenca Sunday morning around 7:30a.m. in a large comfortable mini-bus that seated 18 (we had a total of 17 people on the bus which included the driver and the guide).  To break the trip up, we stopped in Guayaquil to tour the Guayaquil Historical Park.  http://www.parquehistoricoguayaquil.gob.ec

The Park is located  across the Guayaquil-Duran bridge on the east side of Rio Daule (near the airport).  The park is divided into three zones:  the Endangered Wildlife Zone which has 45 species of birds, animals, and reptiles in a semi-natural habitat; the Urban Architecture Zone which has a restaurant and showcases the development of early 20th century architecture in Guayaquil; and the Traditions Zone which focuses on local traditions with an emphasis on rural customs, crafts and agriculture.

Here are pictures I took of our trip to the Historical Park:

Our group ready to start the tour



Showing the different zones in the park































I took a lot of pictures of the animals but I'll show only the highlights.  Here are my favorites:

WILDLIFE ZONE

     Iguanas








     Parrots






     Macaws















ARCHITECTURE ZONE



Early 20th century architecture



















View of the river, and you can see the airport tower in the distance

Lovely senora in traditional early 20th century dress

"Our Gang"

TRADITIONS ZONE

Cacao Plant (used to make chocolate)

Coffee Plant
After our time in Guayaquil, we continued to Montanita where we spent the first of two nights.  Early the next morning, we headed off for the whale watching part of our trip, which will be the second part of this blog.