Made it.

Well we’re here in Quito, Ecuador, learning to adjust without commutes, Blackberries, deadlines, and in Shane’s case, all-nighters at the office.

I've been designated as the trip blogger, responsible for documenting our travels. Shane has assumed the title of creative contributer.  He's also responsible for ensuring that my perfectionist ways don't result in 2 blog posts for the entire trip (wish him luck with that). Admittedly, this isn’t my first attempt at writing this entry. Anyone who has spent more than 2.5 minutes with me knows that I generally have a lot to say (I call it sharing). So, I'm going to attempt to capture  the interesting, funny and sometimes seemingly irrelevant elements of our trip in a short and sweet format.  A couple of notes about the blog:

- The word ‘passport’ in the blog title will change according to the language of the country that we are writing  from.

- The far, bottom-right area of the blog will not be trip-related.  Just an area where we can post funny, odd, interesting info (first installation - “Mambo Dog”).

It’s hard to believe how much planning was required to take this trip. A common question that people asked us was how did we prepare. The answer: organized, detail-oriented and above all, rational planning.  Pretty much.  But we won’t lie, in the days and then hours leading up to our departure there were moments where being rational just  didn’t seem possible. A simple travel soap purchase became an agonizing 20 minute discussion in Shoppers Drug Mart (at 11:30 PM) - soap bar vs. shower gel.  In the end we accidently bought Dove shower lotion.  It does nothing more than make you smell like a morning-fresh cucumber.

Setting all the decision-making aside, we made it to the airport, boarded our plane and after landing in LA, then Costa Rica, and then Quito, Ecuador we settled into our cozy, moldy hostel room.  Well actually damp and moldy.  We slept for about 12 hours and moved on from New Town Quito to Old Town Quito (no - ‘old’ doesn’t mean more mold).  As we were shown to our bunk-beds (just like camp!), our hostel attendant informed us that aside from having the reputation as the second highest capital city in the world, Quito also has the highest rate of robberies and pickpockets in South America (mom, close your eyes and pretend you didn’t read this).

So what have we been up to?? A bit of relaxing, a bit of visiting with other backpackers (yesterday we told an interesting diving accident story to an avid diver and made her cry...), a 5-hour trek & 1-hour nap in the mountains at 4300 meters, and planning our 11-day trip to the Galapagos Islands on Friday. The boat is really great and the itinerary looks fantastic. The bonus - no bunk-beds.

View of Quito
 4300 meters above sea level and a perfect place for a nap.

So that’s it for now.  The next time we check in with you will be February 15ish where I'm sure we'll have some interesting pictures and stories.

One important date that I want to note before I sign-off is February 6th - my dear friend Julie Rogal’s birthday. Thru and thru she is one of the most beautiful people that I know.  Happy Birthday Jna - for once I’m early...