kjp

Seat Guru - for information on flight seating. Could be useful.

Youtube videos of the last QWAB concert for those (including me) who couldn't make it(!):

In the Centre Ring
Rhapsody for Flugelhorn and Symphonic Band
Poet and Peasant Overture
Back To The Future
Incantation and Dance
Theme from Schindler's List
Stephenson's Rocket
Aegean Festival Overture
The Rakes of Mallow

Sydney ok.

So it's my last day in Buenos Aires, and South America for that matter. I've enjoyed the past couple of days here. There seems to be a fair bit to do. But, I'm looking forward to getting home soon. I'm not particularly looking forward to the 14.5 hour flight, but that's what you have to do.

Overnight bus to Cordoba went ok. Major job for today - get clothes washed. Lol. And wander around a bit - it is Sunday - so lots will be shut.

Mendoza was pretty cool. Lots of tree lined streets with lots of places to eat with, water channels in the streets, glacier melt, need due to the desert thing. Hot temperatures, but lots of icecream places helped things.

Ok in Santiago.

So I´ve got another (partial) day in Quito. I fly outin the evening to Santiago.

We got back yesterday afternoon from Galapagos islands. They were great - really interesting wildlife, and good scenery. Snorkling was heaps of fun. Although being less than a metre away from several sharks and another time being a metre or two from a sting ray or two was slightly disconcerting. Swiming with the sea turles and sea lions was great.

I´m now, slowly, trying to copy pictures of my camera memory card, and onto another (phone card), as a backup. Many many photos slows things down a bit.! Plus, this machine is old, very old...

... while I wait ...

So, the Galapagos was excellent. Basically, each day there would be one or two walks on one or two of the islands, and one or two snorkelling sessions. I really enjoyed this - it basically combined several things that I enjoy - walking out in the bush, swimming in the ocean, learning about new stuff, seeing new stuff. The snorkelling was excellent, although, I should have (a) brought contact lenses (though wasn´t too bad because everything was close), and (b) brought an underwater camera. Oh well. I´ll be trying to do some snorkelling when I´m back in Australia. Life on the boat was pretty good (although the boat itself was getting a little bit old). Was sick once (due to the sea) halfway through, which was annoying. Getting there was a bit dubious, the flight was supposed to be from Quito to Galapagos direct (what we were told), but ended up going via Guiyaquil - an awesome place, lol. Unfortunately, the plane that we were to leave on was delayed. The airline´s status information on the information board was lacking. It was listed at 10.30am and on time, despite, when talking to the person behind the counter that it would be 12. After 10.30, the status changed to ´talk to customer rep´. At about 12? the flight got removed from the screen. Left at about 1pm, with one minimal notification. Just how I wanted to spend Christmas morning, lol. The afternoon swimming was good though.

Comparing Galapagos and Antarctica, you´d have to say that Galapagos is for the wildlife, Antarctica is for the scenery.

Quito seems to be an interesting city. Ecuador is probably more developed than Bolivia, but less than Peru or Argentina, maybe? The hotel that I stayed at had great views - on the top of a hill. But was directly under the flight path. The airport is not very far away either... there´s a signalling light at the top of the hotel. The city is built in a big valley, so the planes have to come up that, I suppose.

Tonight I´ll be flying to Guiyaquil, and then to Santiago. I need to figure out where I actually leave Ecuador (either Quito or Guayaquil). The airline routes in South America are more like the bus system back home - people get on and off the planes. You may or may not get kicked off the plane at an intermediatory airport. You may or may not know about the intermediate airport when you get your ticket....

Quito is also a bit high up. I think at 2400m ??. Enough to start getting short of breath. There´s a trolley bus system that has several lines running up and down the main valley.

Oh, while I remember, in Buenos Aires, in the equivalent to Queen Street mall, there was, at one point, a MacDonalds on one side, and then on the other, a Havanas (Cuban cigar) on the other. When I went past it a week and a half? ago, the cigar place had a lot more people in it.