Chiva!

What is a chiva you may be asking yourself? Well, I can't say that it is a Spanish word, because I have never looked it up. However, if I did I think the definition would probably read:

Chiva - an open air bus that has had all of it seats removed to create a dance floor space; hand rails have been added for those unexpected starts and stops so no clients fall out; drinking a warm alcoholic beverage called canelazo is optional; bus must be driven very slowly through the city with loud music and dance club lights flashing.

(Source: Wikipedia - this one's in Queens, NYC!)

However, if you look up "chiva" online, you will see a whole range of pictures - many with a band on top.

Surprisingly, the slow ride was a great way to see the city at night. Quito really gets quiet in most neighborhoods after 10pm and this let us see all of those twinkling streets lights that we stare at each night from our apartment.

Ayelet and I had a great night dancing while celebrating a friend's birthday. I'm glad we hopped on the bus for the chiva party. 

Top 5 Noisiest Nights in Quito... So Far!

You already know from our previous posts about Quito that it's not exactly the quietest place in the world. It's not super noisy all the time, but when it is, it's annoying. Last night was one of those annoying nights (#3 on the list).

And I want to explain something before people reply letting me know that I should have called the police. It's pretty well-known that the police here are ineffectual. It's highly unlikely you'd reach anyone if you called or that they would bother enough to check anything as small as noise disturbances. Calling the police seems like one of those things that people in developed nations take for granted. At least that's how I see it after being here for 9 months.

1. House alarm

One pleasant evening, someone's house alarm kept going off, every 10-20 minutes or so. We thought maybe they were just out and would be back to take care of it by a decent hour. Yeah, that didn't happen and it continued that way through the night.

The next morning, Greg investigated the source and found it to be the marketing agency a block from our place. He knew it was them by the multiple notes that were left on its door. The alarm literally sounded like it was right next door.

2. Sound check 

I can't remember now which concert it was, but the day before a big one, some musical genius decided to run a sound check from 11 pm until 3 or 4 am in the morning. I'm sure it seemed like a good idea to someone at the time. That made for another very sleepless night for us and most everyone in the neighborhood.

3. Fireworks and then a helicopter 

Last night (or should I say early this morning) we were awoken to fireworks being shot off somewhere nearby at 5:30 in the morning. Since the clock is on Greg's side of the bed, I guessed the time to be about 3 am, which made sense in a weird way because I thought it was probably someone who came home from a wild night and decided to continue it with fireworks. When Greg told me that it was 5:30 am, I was livid from the nonsensical nature of it all. I'm pretty sure he or she racked up quite a bit of bad karma from last night's fun.

To make a sleepless night worse, there was no sleeping in because of a helicopter circling our part of town for no apparent reason at 8 am. They don't have TV helicopters here (as far as I know) so we think it was a military helicopter. Since it was only one of them, I knew Colombia hadn't attacked Ecuador or anything like that. Don't worry - that's just the running joke in our home for some un-remembered reason. I think we're pretty safe from Colombia.

4. Weed whacker 

The genius behind the weed whacker at 6:30 in the morning was our neighbors' guard/maintenance guy. He was in such a rush to weed whack early in the morning and wake everyone up within a 1 block radius. Why? I have NO clue because the rest of the day he just stands at the gate, trying to look official and staring at everyone as they pass by. I know this because I take my breaks from work and designing to look down and see if he's doing anything useful. 

Besides weed whacking at obscene hours of the morning, he also likes wielding a blowtorch at anything metal (not using any sort of safety equipment besides a cardboard "mask" - I cannot make this sort of stuff up). Sometimes he stops the gas tank guy to get propane tanks for the tenants in his building. And that's about it.

5. Everyday noises

Lastly, there are the everyday noises in our neighborhood (and in all neighborhoods in Quito). The dogs barking whenever they feel like it; the planes landing or pulling up because of the fog; the car alarms going off; the cars honking randomly. It's really excellent, I can't even begin to explain.

Galapagos Adventure the Movie

It is the movie you have all been waiting for that features mostly...

...animals. And, if any of your can tell me what the 3D option on Youtube means I would love to know.

Luckily in the Galapagos the animals don't really mind if you put a camera really, really close to them. This is about 45 minutes worth of video widdled down to about 7. Making movies is kind of fun. It brings me back to my high school days where we had to go VCR to VCR or beg the tech department at school to let us use their equipment. This was much easier.

Galapagos Vacation Trailer

Here is a short teaser for the upcoming Galapagos video series. Enjoy!

By the way, this was very easy to make in iMovie...so don´t think I spent too much time on it.

Sea Lions: Woman's best friend

Ever think you need a new pet. Something furry, cuddly, and um with a great "bark." Well, look no further than your neighborhood ocean.

Ayelet and Katy (a new friend from our Galapagos cruise) were temporarily befriended during our stop at Fernandina Island.

More videos are to come, but this was just a quick first video post from our trip until I can get to some other video editing software. Enjoy.

Back from the Galapagos

We're back! The visit was short, but wonderful nonetheless. Everyday we either had a few walks, snorkeling or boat rides around the bays and islands. The animals were amazing - not very skittish of humans as long as you didn't get too close. I think we saw sea lions and iguanas at least every day among other animals. It was really lovely and this trip will be hard to explain in words.

I've uploaded our photos here for you to check out. Eventually, we'll get to writing posts about our whole trip so enjoy the photos for now!

Differences between Ecuador and Germany: Getting Around

Frozen train in Berlin - still somehow it worked fine!

I think pretty much everyone knows that Germany is the leader in public transportation. Not only do they have a super-efficient metro system, they have buses, long-distance trains, trolleys, and amazing bike lanes. I don't think we could rave about it enough. They also had great deals for the trains, like buying one ticket for 5 people to go throughout Bavaria. It was all mapped out and very easy for people, even newcomers and visitors, to get around. Although for some reason, we had two different groups of guests who went the wrong way from our station (those visitors shall remain nameless ;-).

Now for Ecuador... *sigh* it is not so, but it is still better than some places in the world. Quito has city buses, but many are privately owned. There is a trolley and a public bus system, which all cost the same and have similar levels of safety. I say safety because 1) you have a chance to get pick-pocketed on the buses (much more than probably anywhere in Europe) and 2) you stand a chance to seriously hurt yourself either getting on OR getting off the bus OR just standing on the bus because of the crazy driving that bus drivers partake in.

I don't know if I can explain well enough just how nuts it is to stand on one of these buses, and yet we've survived quite a few months of it.The closest I came to injury was then I stepped off the bus wrong and tweaked my knee. It's fine now though. The buses stop for a milisecond to let passengers on and then are going before the poor fellow has put his or her foot on the second step. You've got to hang on for dear life for safety reason #2 and hold on to your bag defensively for safety reason #1.

You're also never 100% sure where the blue buses go to, especially if you don't know the city well, because they only have signs on the front that tell what major landmarks or streets they go to. A lot of these landmarks are in residential areas and hard to know because they usually aren't tourist stops. And when they are flying past you, it gets hard to read the whole sign before you have to signal them to stop. Greg and I have found where the two blue buses that are closest to our street go and that's good for me.

Otherwise, our main mode of travel is with taxis. They are really cheap here - the minimum during the day is $1 and at night, $1.50. Usually, my taxi rides have been between $1 to $4 for normal rides throughout the city. I can get to Old Town (about 20 minutes away) during the day for $3.15 if there's no traffic. Getting to the bus station far far far south of the city is the most expensive taxi ride at $16, which is more than most long-distance bus rides outside of the city. Usually we take the bus to get down there or share a cab with friends. We only took a taxi in Munich once because the metro was strangely shut down and we needed to catch an early train. It was $16 (11 euros) for maybe a 7-minute ride.