text:
Exchange rate to the dollar was non-existant because Ecuador uses Dollar
At the border from Colombia to Ecuador, I met another German who decided to come as well to the town of Otavalo with me.
At the frontier, something else funny happened. I tried to exchange COP into dollar (Ecuador uses dollars). The money changers at first tried to give us a Gringo exchange rate that was far removed from the actual exchange rate. After some bargaining, we concluded on a more favourable exchange rate, however then the money changer tried to rig is his calculator. Having calculated the rough amount beforehand, I immediately realised the mistake, luckily.
I then took a bus to Tulcan (0.75 dollars), which was amazingly cold as well, and then further to Otavalo. In Otavalo (we got set down at the wrong bus stop along the Panamericana and therefore had to walk quite a way into town) we found immediately a hotel for only 5 dollars per person per night (right next to the plaza central on a corner).
We arrived after 5 pm so the markets, for which Otavalo is so popular, were closing down, however we still had a quick walk around the place.
That day we only had time to have a look at the handcraft market. Right next to the handcraft market on the aptly named Plaza de Poncho (loads of Ponchos are on sale here) is a row of stalls that sell local food at a good price: usually 1 dollar a meal.
The food is somewhat a thing to get used to. They sell intestines a la plancha and cooked pig skin. I am not a fan of either of these but luckily more other local food is available including awesome meat (don't really want to know what kind of meat is it) as well as the local tortilla (small balls of potato puree fried in a pan) which taste just awesome.
At midday, Arthur had to leave so I went with him to look around the town for a bit. Thinking that it was already Saturday (actually it was barely Thursday) we were full of anticipation for the handcraft market that Otavalo was so famous for. As we found out, it was Thursday, and the market consisted only of a few stalls selling what Arthur called trinkets. I was so cold that I had decided that I would have to buy a local Poncho if I wanted to survive here in cold Otavalo.
We then happened upon the local food and necessaries market. This was a lot more interesting. It resembled very much the Asian market that I have seen in their dozens. A lot of stalls selling everything, then a couple of stalls specialising in only certain categories (like clothes, shoes, fruits, vegetables etc...), with a food court serving all kinds of interesting food etc...
I also looked around for a Spanish school. I had decided to take a school because I still had a few unanswered questions concerning Spanish.
I have decided to set apart 200 dollars for Spanish lessons during my travels, excluding them from my budget. It is quite important when travelling on a budget to set apart some money for things that you want to achieve during the travel, things that can only be achieved at this place. In this case, I have set apart this money because here in South America is one of the only places where an hour of one on one teaching costs only 5 dollars (don't go to school in Quito, there they cost between 6.5 and 8 dollars an hour). Furthermore, one of my targets of travelling is to learn Spanish near fluently in 6 months.
Otavalo itself is a relatively small city (50.000 inhabitants), however it is a very important city, especially for the local indigenous tribes. Otavalo serves as main market for the artisanal product for which the tribes are famous.
Otavalo has actually made the local quichua tribe one of the most wealthy (comparatively) ingidenous tribes in the whole of Ecuador. The fact that Otavalo is primarily a market and trading town can easily be seen at the arrangement of the city: the town center is not like in the majority of the cities and towns centered around the church, rather it is centered around the Plaza de Poncho where the main artisanal market is. On weekends, the whole city transforms into a single market and an incredible number of paisanos (farmers and rurally living people) all come to Otavalo for trade and passing time.
Otherwise, the city itself is rather uninteresting, just another town in South America, just like everything else. The nearby surroundings, though, are definitely worth a trip. The hiking here is interesting with a lot of local villages to visit (don't expect dirt trail hiking though) and the nature is also interesting.
That day, I didn't really do anything very interesting apart from wandering through the streets of Otavalo and exploring the town looking for a Spanish school. I chose one at the end, for 95 dollars for 20 hours of one-on-one teaching. Nothing much interesting else happened apart from that it was raining like hell and I just watched a movie. I have currently arrived at a stage where I have to rest for a bit, leave my brain to work out what it experienced in the last 1 month of rapid travelling, so that it can take in new stuff.
Luckily, I didn't really feel that I missed much because it was once again raining. The only remarkable thing I still did was try some local food at the yellow tents of the Plaza de Poncho.
I had my first lesson of Spanish, which actually turned out quite good. My teacher was nice and obviously quite experienced at teaching extranjeros.
In the afternoon, I was dead tired and slept for a bit, which was awesome since there was nothing else to do because it rained once again. Afterwards I watched a movie and as soon as the rain relented for a bit, I went to have a look around the town of Otavalo. I met an American girl who I was talking to for a bit and then went shopping for shoes with her (she wanted to buy pink shoes!!!). She invited me to meet her and her brother later on for a drink or two at her hostel. I also quickly met her parents, with whom she was travelling, who were really nice as well (well typically American: loud).
At 8 I met her and her brother at her hostel and was invited to a glass of wine. Afterwards, we went in direction of the plaza de Poncho where we bought a bottle of Anisido (awesome tasting anis liquor) and shared it. Their parents weirdly wanted to get up at 5 am to visit the market, even though the market would not be present at this time, and the Americans wanted to get up with them so had to go to bed pretty early.
I walked back with them to their hotel and afterwards, while walking home, I spotted a sign which advertised that this bar sold Hervido. Not knowing what it was I went in to ask if I could try it. It turned out to be a hot drink, tasting very strongly and not necessarily very well. It cost only 25 cents. In order to drink my glass of hervidos, I sat down with a couple of locals and started chatting to them. I bought them another half a litre of that stuff (1 dollar) and ended up drinking more of that stuff than was good for me. After a short while, two of the 4 guys at my table started to fall asleep. That was when I realised how bloody strong that stuff was (round about 50-60%). I was swaying from side to side and staggered away ...
I really felt it this morning that I had drunk hervidos. This stuff gives one hell of a hangover! I asked my Professor the next day and he confirmed to me that this stuff is awesome at giving a hangover. As far as I have understood, they use pure alcohocol (produced by cracking oil molecules in a chemical) and dilute it with hot maracuya pulp/juice, add a few other different (and incredibly cheap) alcohols and out comes a very potent mixture that (only as a mixture) gives one hell of a hangover...
Anyway, this day was market day. The whole Plaza de Poncho was full of stands selling different kinds of artisanal stuff and the streets abutting it had transformed into fruit markets, everyday-stuff markets, clothing markets etc... The whole city had turned into a single market! It was really quite interesting to see why Otavalo exists: as a market town. I just wandered the whole day through it!
In the afternoon, it started raining again and I just watched a movie.
I woke up refreshed and decided to go to the nearby Laguna de Cuicocha. I had to take a bus towards Quiroga (25 cents, 15 minutes) on which I met two English sisters travelling to the Laguna as well (one wouldn't be able to tell that they are sisters).
Obviously we travelled together. From Quiroga, we took a taxi (4 dollars) to the Laguna de Cuicocha. We arranged with the taxi to pick us up at 3.30 again, which gave us 5 and half hours for walking around the laguna. Turned out that we needed more...
The laguna de cuicocha is a volcanic lake that sports in its blue waters two islands that rise up and look like a guinea pig with their two hills. Best thing to have an idea what I experienced is to have a look at the pictures that I took.
We were lucky that day. Just as we embarked on our travels, the sun came out (the two quite pale English girls were lucky that I had sunscreen with me). That was the first time I had seen blue skies in about a week! Soon after we embarked on the scenic journey around the rim of the crater lake, we saw one of those small planes/big birds called Andean Condor. It was absolutely huge, a fact we could easily appreciate since it took off about 50 m from us. It was a small plane!
It then circled above us for 10 minutes before it flew off into the everpresent clouds (actually the part of the sky that was blue was only a fraction of the sky visible. The rest consisted of clouds). We walked on around the scenic walk which led us through dry vegetation intermixed weirdly enough with very wet cloud forest. The best description of what I saw cannot outdo the photos that I shot.
After about 2 and half hours we arrived at what we thought was half of the walk where we had lunch. After trying to throw some stones into the far below us lake (remember we were walking on the ridge), we continued our walk to a little bit of rain.
Luckily I had my umbrella with me and the girls had a sort of plastic cover/bin bag that we used against the rain. At first I was really happy at the effectiveness of my umbrella, though, after 15 minutes, the rain intensified to a thunderstorm. Awesome to have a thunderstorm at 3000 m altitude!!!
We were absolutely freezing because our legs and feet got absolutely soaked and my shitty little umbrella started to give up (actually the rain was so strong that it started to punch holes through my umbrella). To top it up, it started hailing….
In short, it was an awful weather. At first we avoided stepping into the puddles, however after some time, even that didn't matter because we were so soaked. We really didn't have a single dry strand of cloths on me (actually as I found out, my coat that my dad gave me is watertight (apart from the massive aeration holes) and therefore my upper torso remained dry, thanks Dad).
On top of it, the whole path was bare earth and we were wading through mud and small rivers that were running down the path. It was horrible, but still an experience which one can talk about afterwards. After 2 hours of walking in the rain and absolutely freezing our bum off, we made it back to the departure point. Luckily our taxi was still waiting there for us, even though we were late. We took the taxi straight back to Otavalo where I had a long and hot shower.
I met the girls later on and we went, after dinner back to their hostel and played (in the company of yet another Anesido (liquor)) some card games.
I had classes in the morning. In the evening, it rained once again and, not wanting to make anymore clothes wet,I just stayed in my hotel and updated my blog, sorted through some photos and read. My clothes were still wet from the previous day, and because I am travelling very light, I had to walk around in t-shirt and flip flops at 10 degrees.
Classes again in the morning. In the afternoon, because we had sun, I went to visit the Cascada de Peguche. However the weather, again, rapidly turned bad. The sun was out when I left the school, however once I had eaten and washed my clothes, it was overcast once again and started to rain. I stayed for another hour in my hotel but then got ants in pants and I still set out by foot towards the cascada de Peguche. It took about half an hour on foot.
The path led through some smaller villages on the outskirts of Otavalo.
I could have continued on to a round-about path towards the Laguna de San Pablo, however considering that it was about to rain and already relatively late (about 4 o'clock), I just went into the Cascada (entrance is free). The waterfall is surrounded by a beautiful park, including (as I was to find out 3 days later) a couple of pools, as well as a beautiful forest surrounding the waterfall. The forests consists of really tall trees that I had not encountered yet. I have no idea what kind they are but they were absolutely beautiful. One could even camp near the waterfall in the middle of the forest. It would have been an absolute gem, had the weather been good and sun shining. As it was, all I managed to do take a couple of photos and try to walk to the Viewpoint that apparently gives an awesome view of the whole valley.
I never arrived there….
It started raining as if someone had opened the skies. I was drenched pretty much at once (had forgotten my umbella). Even worse was that the mudpath to the viewpoint led really quite steeply up a mountain and once it starts to rain, water runs down this path, turning it into a slippery slide.
I just made it back without tumbling down the cliff that ran right next to the path, though I had an unvolutary mudbath when I slid, and disgruntled, and drenched once again to the bones, I took a bus back to Otavalo (25 cents).
Classes in the morning (while it was sunny- luckily my stuff dried that day) and then it was raining once
again. I spent the afternoon writing up my diary, sorting out some photos. Later on, I still went to the dentist in order to see if I had any caries. Turns out that I have seven, and that the dentist would fill the cavity for 70 dollars. I think I will do that (in the end, I didn't and was really glad… the guy just wanted to make money out of me and I had only 2 very small cavities…).
Clear skies in the morning while I was studying my last few hours in the school. Shortly afterwards, the weather turned bad once again and I had to go in the rain to the bus station to catch a bus to Quito (2 dollars and 2 hours). Once arrived, I took a bus from the brand new terminal del norte to the Station "Y" and from there an Ecovia to the party center of Quito (In Quito, three different lines of dedicated buslanes exist, very similar to the Transmilenio of Bogota: Ecovia, Trole and Metrobus.)
Loads of hotels, hostels and hostal (the American version with dormitories and the Ecuadorian version that is just a smaller Hotel) are in the party center.
I had been for quite some time living in a hotel alone and only, or majorily, speaking Spanish, so I wanted to go for a hostel with loads of extranjerros. I chose the cheapest one from the Lonely Planet, the "El centro del Mundo (5,80 dollars), which was quite alright.
Some of the people in my hotel had heard of a concert that Ozzy Osbourne was giving that night and wanted to go to it. It cost 35 dollars, and even though it did seem cheap compared to American or European concerts by Ozzy, it was far too much for my budget and I decided to have fun otherwise. I also met there that first night two English guys who had just taken a day off from the volunteering at a local organisation. Instead of paying 35 dollars for a concert, I went out to party with them and met two Australian girls. Unfortunately, the one I was dancing with had drunken too much and was throwing up in the toilet (she was really beautiful before throwing up…).
I woke up relatively early in the morning to my first morning in complete, glorious sunshine. After having woken up one of the guys who was sleeping in the same room as me (big redheaded Canadian named Eddie), we went to the Teleferiqo, a sky tram that goes up to a viewpoint at 4100 m. After taking a local bus (25 cents, called Transalfa) from the nearby Avenida Colon, and then taking the further free bus to the Teleferiqo, we went up on the mountain with the Skytram. It was incredibly expensive: 8,5 dollars for a ride.
Here I met another American couple, Mark and Jen, who had the same target as us: to go higher than anyone can in Europe, to the nearby peak Gungu Pichincha at 4700 m.
Unfortunately, when we arrived at the peak of the Teleferiqo, it was all clouded over. No matter, we still pushed on.
The scramble up to the top showed how much the lack of oxygen actually slows down. The air was so thin that one could only walk for a short while before needing to rest. For Eddie, the height sickness was so bad that he gave up after 45 minutes already completely out of breath.
Mark, Jen and me pushed onwards. The climb started out pretty good, a path was visible all the way. However, once we reached around 4300 meters, the path started to become slightly less marked until, after walking for two and half hours , it was nearly non-existant. The only way that we knew we were on the right path were the markers that we were coming across every half an hour or so.
After three and a bit hours, we arrived at what we saw from afar was the top of the mountain (well, afar under the prevailing visibility conditions means only 20 meters, the maximum one could see).
By that point, it was snowing (yeah I saw my first snow while being at the equator!) and freezing cold. Luckily, it was not too far under zero, otherwise the water on the ground and on the rocks (it has been raining for an hour beforehand) would have frozen, making our descent dangerous.
The last bit up looked to be an incredible scramble so, out of concern for my safety I refused to go further. Mark, however, went on to scramble up. After seeing that he had done it quite simply apart from at one point, I decided to go as well.
At one point, the going was really dangerous (although less dangerous than stuff that I have done on this trip). I was suspended, unsecured, on toe tips and fingertips above a 3 meter deep precipice, slowly making my way up, with the floor below at a 45 degree angle.
I grabbed from handhold to handhold until, after at one point slipping a little with my feet and literally only holding on by only one hand and two fingers (while my feet were flailing underneath for some grip) I scrambled around like mad, knowing that a fall could plunge me onto the slope where I could not have stopped myself from rolling…
I found the necessary handhold and pulled myself up. Although the last few meters were still a scramble, they were a lot easier than the past. When we finally arrived at the top, the joy was palpable. I had climbed up higher than anyone could in Europe!! The vista from up there was awesome... but solely in its blandness. All we could see was white, being in too thick a fog to see more than 20 meters.
After taking a couple of photos, we went back down. The scramble down was easy compared to going up. We made it back in a record 1.5 hours after having gone up for 3.5.
After a nice shower and something to eat, I started chilling out and readying myself for the party that was following (it was Friday, the biggest night out in Quito). We went to the same nightclub as the day before. That night I spent dancing pretty much exclusively with a local Quito girl (Karla, 28 years old) who was amazingly cute.
She played couch surfing host for the moment to a Colombian guy (Santiago). After spending a lot of time dancing with that girl, we, that is Karla, Santiago, a Canadian brother and sister couple (Mike and Karen) and me left the club, walked a bit through the city in search of something to do and then decided to meet up the next day at 10 to go for the market to Otavalo (where I had been already but which I decided to go again because I had nothing planned anyway). Karla still drove me home (she hadn't drunk), and then she and Santiago left (who was her couch surfing guest). That first kiss when I left the car was amazing
I got up and left to the far away Terminal del Norte. After making the reverse journey of when I arrived from Otavalo, I arrived at the Portal del Norte and was waiting for Karla and Santiago. After waiting for nearly forty minutes, I thought they had left me. I went to go and found Santiago and Karla sitting a mere 100 meters in front of me (out of eyesight) at what they thought was the entrance to the terminal (but was only the entrance for people on foot, and not for those, like me who had arrived by Trole bus).
After greeting Santiago and kissing Karla hello, we decided to wait for 5 more minutes for Mike and Karen. Just as we were about to leave, we saw them coming in. They had not known that this new terminal exists and they had misplaned the time needed.
An hour late, we set off to Otavalo. Here I should point out that my Spanish was by now good enough to have a conversation with Karla the whole time that we were in the bus (a lot of the conversation was also not involving talk).
Once arrived at Otavalo, we decided to walk around the town. I have reported already beforehand the layout of Otavalo on a Saturday and will not repeat it here.
At around 4, we decided to go to the Laguna de Peguche and have a look around there (again I have already described it) and we had a look at the waterfall, marvelled at the gigantesque trees.
At 6, we took the last bus back to Quito.
I spent that night at Karla's.
The next morning I left Karla's at around 11, checked out of the dormitory I was sleeping in and moved to a double room.
In the afternoon (Karla had to work), I went to see the historical city of Quito (took the Troley to Gran Plaza, 25 cents). The historical center is, like the historical centre of Panama, a part of the town that is still kept in its original colonial style. However, unlike the Panamese Casco Viejo, it is kept meticulously clean and restored. It is really beautiful.
The day that I was there, the city was celebrating the start of Semana Santa (the week before Easter) and the historical city was wonderously packed. The plaza near the oldest church of the whole city was packed beyond belief, making finding a sitting place even on a wall a problem. I went out to find a late lunch, had it after looking around for some time, and then it started raining like mad. I found refuge in the commercial center, which was, just like in Asia, an extended market. Unlike the Asian markets, there was at least a little bit of order. Each floor was arranged to sport different wares. Otherwise, it was very similar to any other market I have visited and does not add to the interest of this travel journal in any way. If you have never seen a market in a developing world, it holds very much interest and would be absolutely worth it (furthermore, markets usually have the most local and cheapest food available in that town).
I still visited the basilica in the old town, which proved to be really interesting. The basilica itself was only accessible if one paid for it. I went to look around the catacombs of the church which were open to the public. In itself, the catacombs are not very impressive (apart from their size), however it was the first time for me that I ever visited catacombs. Look at the photos for an impression of what I have seen.
An interesting artefact was also the little chapel that was built in the catacombs, have a look out for it.
That night, I only chatted with Karla a bit over the internet who couldn't come to see me because she was in too big a trouble over her work (actually I found out the next day that she worked till four, slept for two hours and continued working for two hours until she had to dash of to work).
The morning I wanted to go to the Mitad del Mundo. I had read that it was really very worthwhile seeing it. It showed the equator of the world as it was determined by Camindo (or some similar spelling) in the 18th century, thereby also proving that the earth is not a complete sphere but rather bulges at the equator (up to this point, 4 years later, I have not understood what made the whole thing special).
I took a Trole to Ofelia (the end station, 0.25 cents) and from there took a further bus to Mitad del Mundo. I payed 2 dollars entry, stood before the building and thought to myself "What a waste of money". It was dead boring, just a building as well as line drawn on the ground depicting the equator as it was determined in the 18th century and a lot of tourist stalls selling trinkets, a couple of overly expensive restaurants etc... A pure tourist station...
At lunch, I met Karla and we went for a quick lunch (like always she was late...).
After kissing her goodbye and determining that we would go meet up in Quito again on Thursday to go to Puerto Lopez, I took a bus straight to Baños (3,50 dollars for 3, 5 hours of travel, pronounced Banjos) from the southern bus station of Quito (quite easy to go there but one needs to plan in about 1 hour of additional travelling time from Mariscal Sucre to the Terminal Terrestre de Quitumbe). Once in Baños, I decided to buy myself the luxury to go for the one thing that was recommended in Lonely Planet, Plantas y Blanco. Actually it turned out to be quite alright.
That night, I also met a couple of German girls who were staying in the same dormitory as me (5,50 dollars per person, which was not a bad deal considering that one got WIFI as well as a couple of other amenities).
In the morning, it was raining cats and dogs. Disgruntled, the three girls and me decided to go to the thermal baths for which Baños is so famous for (indeed it does have a lot of them). We went to the farthest away one (which was supposed to be the best one) and walked through the town for it.
Baños is a small town of a couple of thousand inhabitants, but its beautiful panorama, superb hikes and relaxing thermal baths have turned it into one of the most sought after tourist destinations in whole of Ecuador. The abundance of hotels in town have kept prices of accommodation low. 5 dollars per person is normal.
The surroundings are indeed stunning. Baños is located in a valley, with the mountains rising sharply on each side of it. The valley is totally green (due to its close location to the rainforest of the Amazonias) and very beautiful to look at. The town also has a couple of beautiful viewpoints, the most notorious one is the Virgen del Agua Santa. To get an idea of the vista that presented itself for me, have a look at the photos.
The baths were pretty much what I expected: modern tiled baths filled with warm water. Very relaxing but don't expect stone basins or an old grotto filled with steam and hot pools. It was just a pool.
In the afternoon, I still walked a bit around the town but really didn't do much. I still met Mark and Jen (with whom I had climbed the mountain in Quito a couple of days earlier) and we decided to go for the 61 km downhill bike ride (thats what we thought...) to Puyo, the entrance to the Amazonas.
I rented a bike for 4.50 dollars for the whole day and made my way to the Terminal where we had said we would meet. The first kilometres of the journey were indeed easy. It went downhill very steeply.
We stopped at the local electricity dam and had a quick look at it from the distance but really it looked exactly like dams would in the western world.
The road then continued farther into the valley that Baños also lies in. The road down there was absolutely superb and I would counsel it to everyone to do it.
After a short while, we came past two superb waterfalls on the other side of the valley (a quite ferocious river is running through the valley) and right next to it runs a cable car to the other side of the valley. It costs 1 to 1,5 dollars to go to the other side. I am sure it is a good experience to go for that but I decided not to because I had spent too much already the previous days.
Every few kilometres along the road come tunnels which bicyclists are not allowed to enter. Instead, beautiful paved roads lead around the mountain and eventually rejoin the road. The paved roads allow amazing views across and along the valley. This is best seen in the photos I have taken during the voyage (unfortunately, the camera's battery was nearing its last bit of juice at the start of the bicycle ride and died halfway through the travel...).
Baños is also a highlight for extreme sports like rafting, roping, jumping of bridges secured only with climbinig rope and swinging out underneath it etc... We came across a lot of these sports all along the way to Puyo.
After about an hour, we arrived at the third waterfall. We walked down a beautiful path to have a look at the water fall about 30 meters down a cliff face.
However, the beauty of that waterfall was topped by the sight of the Pailon, a cascade we encountered shortly afterwards, consisting of a pre-cascade where the water falls down with a mighty crash into a laguna (a deep pool about 20 by 10 meters) and then falls a further 50 meters down to the river running below.
A sign from the road indicated the turnoff in the town of Rio Verde to a Mirador to the cascade de Pailon. We took it and it led us to a small private property (entrance 1 dollar) where the owner had built small paths that lead to look-out points of the pre-cascada, the laguna and the actual water fall.
Ingeniously, he had also placed a "a ladder" (more like the triangular supporting pillar of big structures) down a vertical cliff. It was a superb experience to climb it down.
When first seeing the whole thing, it just looked like a rickety thing upon which no one would place their feet. However, it proved totally safe and the view from it over the whole valley was superb. After walking through some cloud forest and climbing along some rope, we arrived at the viewpoint over the whole cascada.
From the viewpoint, one could also see that there was a bridge leading over the river to the other side of the waterfall. From our point of view, it was about half a kilometre to the bridge, however it would involve some climbing and walking through cloudforest. At the end of the marked path was a sign that said "No pase-don't happen" which was a horrible translation. From there a path led on in the direction
of the bridge. Ignoring the sign, we continued on our way. The badly trodden path led through some really undisturbed and beautiful cloudforest aswell as down a couple of "cliffs" of two meters that we needed to scramble down to end up at a beautiful cliff of 30 meters across and 30 meters deep that we could not cross. The beauty of it was kind of lost on us: we could see the bridge that we wanted to get to, however could not get to it and we had to backtracked all the way through the badly trodden path (and I mean indeed bad trodden, barely more than a game path). When we finally arrived at the end, though it was a torture, we were really happy to have done because we had seen untouched cloud forest like I had never seen before.
We then continued onwards. We didn't go to see other waterfalls, which was a shame but we had still had a great time riding our way to Rio Negro mostly in descent and then battling against the steep hills (and riding through the descents afterwards at full speed) until we finally arrived after 6 hours in Puyo.
We pedaled in the oppressing heat of 1000 meters above sea level, getting smoke belched into our faces by old trucks struggling up the hill, battling our way up really steep and long hills but the rewards of this trip were amazing. We saw the gradual change of vegetation as we descended from 1800 m to 1000 m, had a look at different amazing waterfalls, rode through nearly 70 kilometers of amazing roads, saw amazing vistas of the valleys and mountains and glimpsed the Amazonian basin.
All three of us were dead tired when we finally took the bus back to Baños (which actually took us nearly 2 hours, 2 dollars) and I just went to bed soon after I arrived at home.
In the morning, I just worked on my diary and didn't do anything else. I had to leave that day back to Quito to meet Karla, so that the 2 of us could leave Quito together. I left at 1 from the terminal in Baños, arrived at 4.30 and had to wait 1.5 hours till we met up. We were set to meet at 6 but Karla came late/ we waited each at different "main and principal" entrances to the Terminal (once again).
We took the bus to Manta at 9.30, meaning that we had to wait a little bit around but it didn't really matter because I was having nice conversations with Karla.
When we left finally Quito, I embarked on pretty much the worst journey that I have done during my travels. I was sitting in the back with not enough legroom, no possibility to sleep and the guy before me who put back his chair to squash my legs... Awesome... Karla is so lucky that she just dropped off to sleep immediately (with only 1.53 m tall, she had enough space, could even lie nearly completely straight when stretched out over my seat as well...) while I was awake pretty much all the time.
We arrived in Manta, from where we took a further bus to Puerto Lopez (3 dollars, and guess what, 3 hours). After having arrived, we relatively quickly found a hostel at 7.50 dollars per person (quite a good price for a double with private bath).
I had thought that it would be difficult to find any accommodation at all but probably we had the luck to arrive pretty early and therefore could find something relatively easily.
After some sleep, we went out to eat at the market and then went to the beach and spent the rest of the day just lying at the beach.
At this point, I gotta say a bit about Puerto Lopez. It is situated on the west coast of Ecuador at the sea in a county called Manabi. It is surrounded by the dry tropical forest typical for this part of the world (it barely ever rains here, and cacti are growing pretty much everywhere). The hills surrounding it are not green like in the tropical climate but rather a dry grey, yellow with inter-sprinkled patches of green. The town itself is rather very much like any town of the Caribbean coast. Partly ramshackle buildings, partly good stone buildings.
It is very apparent that Puerto Lopez is a touristy town. It sports a lot of hostal and hotels for its small size (and was quite packed during these days because of Easter weekend), a tourist oriented beach (lots of beach bars aswell as beach chairs that one can rent, vendardores etc...) and quite a few tourist tour agencies. One of the attractions of the town is the nearby parque National de Machallila. It is the only coastal national park of Ecuador and sports, according to Karla, the most beautiful beach of whole of Ecuador.
It also has another attraction, which is Agua Blanca, a tiny town that has hot lagoons. Unfortunately I did not have the time to visit this town, although it would have been quite interesting.
Given the touristy nature of the town, that I usually don't like, I was still enjoying it because I was having a good time with Karla.
We only managed to leave relatively late for the Playa Las Frailes. We took a bus (0,50 dollars, the bus obviously set us down after the entrance to the Playa and we had to walk 500 meters in the hot baking sun back to the entrance).
At the entrance, we paid 2 dollars entrance fee (a year ago the entrance fee was 20 cents) and went into the National park/beach. The beach itself was 3 km away but we were able to hitch a ride without any problem on the back of an SUV. Once on the beach, we headed towards the Mirador because Karla knew that two other beaches are behind the viewpoint that barely any people go through.
After a short walk to the mirador, the obliquetous photos and then a leisurely stroll down to the next beach, we found shade, a thing hard to come by in Las Frailles. Karla and me enjoyed sun bathing, chilling out, reading and bathing during the next couple of hours (even though we were in the shade, Karla managed to get a sunburn.
In the morning, Karla enquired about a bus returning to Quito, just to find out that apparently all were already booked out. This is why she decided to leave early back to Manta to try to get a last seat on a bus to Quito. We still walked around the town a bit and then I bade her goodbye in front of the bus, watched her leave and then looked for a tour the next day to the Isla de la Plata.
Karla told me later that indeed it would have been a better idea, if stuck like she was on a national holiday, to go over to the far bigger town of Portoviejo, where many more buses depart from towards Quito.
She had to wait for 4 hours at the bus terminal of Manta for the next bus to Quito (which then took her incredibly long due to a road that had crumbled and was unpassable.
I had paid 30 dollars for the tour (apparently it was possible to find even cheaper) so I presented myself on time at the dock. The travel over to the 42 km distant island took an hour.
The island de la plata is a quite isolated island that has a very arid climate and consists, weirdly enough, apart from the 1000 km distant Galapagos, the only habitat that a lot of local species of bird have.
Once arrived, we walked up to the "plateau" of the island. Like I had discovered beforehand, the island is absolutely swarming with birds. Look at the photos to get a feel for it. I do not know how the island can support so many birds.
The first bird that we saw was the blue footed boobie. We were just literally 3 meters from it and it didn't budge. It had absolutely no fear of us. Again the whole encounter is documented as photos.
We then walked on to the nesting site of the grey-footed boobie, where we saw a young as well as other grey footed boobies. The path back then took us along some nesting sites which were covered in guano (a scientific expression for bird-shit), the island not receiving enough rain to even partly wash down all the bird excrements (the whole island is pretty much covered in poo, hence it is speculated that it has the name Isla de la plata). From there we went back to the boat where we had lunch and snorkelled for a bit (well, actually there was a thick layer of plankton at the top making the visibility 0, only when diving was it possible to see something. I managed to see a turtle) and then went back home.
I took a bus at 7 back to Quito in order to go the next day to Latacunca, stay there one night and then move onwards to the Loop of Quilatoa. The bus left via Jippijappa and cost me solely 11 dollars (instead of the 14 dollars via Manta).
At Quito, I changed for a bus that went in the direction of Latacunga (actually I could have saved some time by being dropped off on the Panamericana below Quito and caught a bus that goes to Latacunga very often (every 5 minutes)). A bus to Latacunga from Quito costs 1.5 dollars and takes round about an hour.
In Latacunga I decided to go for one of the hostals that are written in the Lonely Planet even though they are more expensive because of the hope to encounter people there with whom I could travel along the Quilotoa loops with (as mentioned beforehand taking a residence from the Lonely Planet book can be considered an unnecessary luxury, especially this hostal which cost 8.50 dollars for a bed in a dormitory, as comparison a bed in Quito costs 5.50).
The whole day was pretty much a dream of good weather so I felt really pissed off that I had decided to stay one night in Latacunga instead of taking the next bus to Zumbahu and attempt the Quilotoa loop by myself.
Instead I had a look around the city. Latacunga is mostly an industrial city without real points of interest apart from the tiny town center (consisting of 6 buildings in colonial style).
However, the market was really fun. It is one of those markets that exist purely to sell wares to locals and, unlike Otavalo, not to tourists. It sports a lot of eating stalls, stalls selling everything from folding knives to soup additives and vendors going through the street trying to sell their wares in a competitive market where the selling competence is measured by how loud the vendor can shout
I even saw one walking around praising loudly the quality of toilet paper. He was very intent on selling his toilet paper and I thought he would bend over any moment and give a demonstration of its quality...
Nothing much happened during the night time apart from that I met a French couple who were also attempting the Quilotoa trek and we set out to leave together for Quilatoa in the morning.
I had left my computer as well as other non-essential items in storage with the hostal so that my bag only weighed something like 3 to 4 kilos (another reason for packing light). We just about managed to take the bus to Quilatoa which left at around 10. At this point, I should mention that we did encounter a slight spell of indecisiveness of going because it was raining already in the morning.
The journey went, unexpectedly, along really good and tarmacked roads along some very agricultural regions of Ecuador. I couldn't see very much through the window because by then it was raining really strongly. When we arrived at Quilotoa, we had to pay 2 dollars to enter the town and the adjacent lagoon.
The town is barely more than a collection of houses set along the main road. Due to the nearby beautiful volcanic lake, the town is very touristy and every building in town is a hostal. The town lies within one of the most beautiful countryside to walk that I have seen. Agriculture on the sloping hills of the Andes completely dominates the surroundings. However of this, I barely saw anything that day.
When we left the bus a couple of meters further, it was still raining. I decided to stay one night in Quilotoa instead of shouldering ahead through the mud. Furthermore, it is interesting to mention that the town lies at about 4000 heigh meters. It was near freezing up there. I had layered all my clothes and was wearing two trousers, three T-shirts, 4 pair of socks, a jacket and a poncho so I was reasonably warm, but the stress is on reasonable. It was still bloody cold.
After some searching, we (that is the French couple and me) eventually found an accommodation for 8 dollars, including breakfast and dinner. During lunch, we encountered an older French couple that also wanted to walk to the town of Chugchilan (and who had walked through the chilling cold rain around the Laguna de Quilotoa). We said that all of us would meet up in the next morning and walk together. The rest of the day was spent either talking with the French couple and later on with an Argentinian couple that was also staying at the hostal.
When I woke up in the morning, I was superbly happy. The sun was finally showing itself on a clear blue sky. After a short delay in getting our breakfast, all five of us (the two French couples and me) left the hostal and walked up to the mirador (viewpoint) of the Laguna de Quilatoa.
The Laguna is a beautiful, azur-blue volcanic lake that sports a very high crater rim. It is possible to walk down into the crater to paddle kayaks through the lake and enjoy the view of the crater rim above or to walk in 6 hours around the crater rim but we did not have time for any of this. We just admired the beauty of the deep blue crater lake (stained by the minerals that it contains) and the surrounding landscape. It is best to look at the photos that I have made for properly establishing how beautiful the setting was.
When we set of we had taken with us a sheet explaining the way to Chugchilan. It turned out to be very imprecise and using rocks (we were on a mountain) and trees as markers (there were loads of those). Awesome!
After walking some time along the crater ridge and having superb views of the lake (we encountered quite a few children heading towards school in Quilotoa, coming from the 1.5 h distant town of Guayambe), we had to turn off at a sandy patch.
Turns out that this was the wrong sandy patch. After walking for about ¾ of an hour to one hour down the mountain (and having superb view of the stark Andean hills covered with agriculture and the lonely farms in the middle of nowhere), we hit a dead end in the form of a lonely farm where we were told that we had to go all the way back up to the crater ridge to get to the town of Gayambe and then move onto Chugchilan or to follow another path down into the canyon of a dried-out river and then move onwards to Chugchilan.
After some problems finding the right path, we took a guide (I had just discovered the right path and therefore thought a guide was useless) who guided us through the valley, helped us cross the river (which was anyway as good as dry) and brought us to the "street" that runs around the region of Quilotoa. The street consists of packed dirt that runs along the mountains and into the valleys of the Andean surroundings in order to connect Zumbahu, Quilotoa, Chugchilan and Siggchos. The walk continued to be absolutely superbly from the point of view. I have made quite a lot of photos so have a look at those.
We arrived at the tiny village of Chugchilan (which did indeed sport a tarmacked road). We were quite astounded to see that the village did indeed have Internet, showing that it was actually quite advanced. In Chugchilan, there are three hostels, two of which (Black sheep and Maria Hostel) are really quite comfortable and truly expensive (15 dollars per person during low season). The other one, Hostal Cloud forest, is quite a nice and big one that has double dorms for 8 dollars with only dinner and 10 dollars for dinner and breakfast. Best is to get breakfast at the tienda next door for 20 cents...
We met a couple of other people at this hostel as well. Nothing much happened during the rest of the day apart from that it started raining like crazy soon after 2 oclock.
The older French couple that I was traveling with, needed to take a 4WD back to Quilatoa, so Perrine, Joselin and me left towards the town of Siggchos where we wanted to take a bus back to Quito. We walked on the street towards the town of Siggchos. The road led past really scenic farming villages. The best is to have a look at the photos.
We wanted to walk along the canyon that connects the two towns, however the indications seem to have been bad again. We didn't find the way at all, and therefore continued on the road. This road was again packed dirt and we encountered maybe one bus or car every half hour.
We walked along the mountain, therefore the road was incredibly twisty. It also showed the dangers that the people here live with: landslides. We saw loads of them, all over the road and even several times how an entire mountain side simply seems to have collapsed.
The road also led past some really poor houses, lending a insight into the other side of Ecuador. I have made photos of the most interesting ones.
After 4 hours of walking, we were bored and stopped a truck that took us all the way to Siggchos. There we had to wait for 2 hours for the next bus to Latacunga.
Once in Latacunga, I said goodbye to Perrine and Joselyn after these awesome three days. I then made my way back to Quito (weirdly enough the way back to Quito costs 2 dollars for 2 hours travel).
I then sought out a room and met Karla and her cousin at 10 pm. We then went on to the club where Karla and me first mett and danced through the night. I was dead tired at around 1 but had to wait with Karla for her cousin (Karla was staying at her home) to finish eating another German that she had met in the club.
I met Karla for a run (that didn't happen) at her cousin's, where we had breakfast. In the end, Karla and me had a simple stroll around the park Carolina (a beautiful park in the new town) and then went to her house where we had lunch. I also met that day the parents of Karla the first time.
After saying hi to the parents, both Karla and me went to watch a movie at mine and then got Karla's new couch surfing person from the airport. The parents then invited all of us out to the Runda, a picturesque part of the old town that was brim-filled with people strolling through the different entertainement options of the Runda. We ended up at a bar, trying the local Gluehwein (Hervido de vino).
I then went back to my place. Karla had explained that day why we couldn't even kiss in front of her parents. Here in Ecuador, it is normal that daughters live as long as they are unmarried at the house of the parents. Karla, at 28, was still living at her parents but this is completely normal here (although her travelling experience has shown her that another world exists as well, where daughters don't necessarily live with the parents and therefore have more freedom).
Please understand that I am not putting the Ecuadorian culture down here, it is just different from the Western one and I have tried it as best as I could to explain it here. It just is as it is.
Karla had invited me to come with the family to the thermal baths of Papallacta. She and her family got me from my casa at 10 am, and we then went into the direction of the Oriente. Unfortunately, the car (a old Toyota) overheated when we went up the mountain half an hour later. We filled in some water (after the car had cooled down), got in the car and drove up, just to stop a short while later to take a bus because the car had overheated again. We all took it in stride and just made a picture of ourselves using the timer function.
The baths at Papallacta are beautifully surrounded by beautiful mountains. It was really relaxing to lounge in the hot waters.
We still had lunch at the baths and then made our way back. Karla and me still watched a film in the evening. I initially wanted to go back to my place but it was raining bigtime so I decided to stay at Karla's on a resting place quickly made out of a mattress in the corridor. It was surprisingly comfortable.
I had said that I would meet up with Karlas Couch surfing guest to go to the town center. We tried going up on the basilica, however soon found out that everything was closed. I left shortly after lunch because I still needed to look up some stuff considering the Galapagos trip that I have planned.
At 4 pm, Karla came over and we spend some quality time together walking the streets in search of food. I also tried out the Pan de Yuca, which really was not anything special. Karla unfortunately already had to leave at 8.
This day was solely remarkable by the fact that nothing much happened. I was just working the whole day (not very concentrated) on this travelblog and my photos. I did though have a look at the park El Ejido, which is indeed a lovely park but... well... a park. In the evening, Karla came over again, this time to die my hair black. I didn't want to be immediately recognised as a Gringo in South America and therefore have all the unwanted attention of the vendadors (although I must say the attention you get is much less than in Asia, as well as you get cheated much less).
The other thing is that I hope that I won't get that much the Gringo-prices if I look more like a local (although if I open my mouth, all semblance to a local is gone...). Maybe something to consider if travelling in South America….
Woke up with the intention to go to Mindo in the morning. When I checked my Travelguide, it pointed out that the buses left from a completely different Terminal than I thought and that only two buses left per day there. One that left at 8 (it was 7.58 when I looked on the watch) and one only at 3.45 pm… Oh well…
In order to pass time, I decided to go to the Old center again and try to repeat the try with going up the church. I was at the church just before it opened, and weirdly enough, there was no one to check tickets there so I just went in. The view from up the church was truly fabulous. One could see the whole city sprawling along the valley as well as expanding impossibly steeply up the hill.
Quito is a city consisting mostly of low buildings. Although it has only a little bit more than 2 million inhabitants, the fact that barely any high-rises exist makes the extent of the whole city incomprehensibly big.
After going up the tower, I decided to go back, work a bit on my computer and then to go at 2 to the end of the Metrobus line, the Ofelia station, and then to take the bus at 3.45. It turns out that I went far too early and had to wait for 1 hour at the micro-busstation of Ophelia for my bus to leave to Mindo for 2.50 dollars (buses only go from here!). Once arrived in Mindo (it was raining again), I took a room for 5.50.
I couldn't see very much of Mindo that night, mainly because it was raining, but the fact that the food was incredibly expensive (2.50 dollars) already told me that Mindo is a very touristy town. I was not to discover how touristy until the next morning.
Another piece of advice here is to ask for Almuerzo, sin sopa (lunch without soup). In that case, the price of the lunch goes down by a lot as it seems this is the formula to say "without the increase in price that is normal for tourists". With that formula, it is possible to eat for 1.50.
Mindo, a small village of 1000 inhabitants, is located right next to a big cloud forest at about 1200 meters. If anyone is looking for a hotel, he shouldn't have any problems. The whole town only consists of hotels, or travel agencies. I had a talk with a local later on and he confirmed me that the whole of Mindo works for the tourism industry.
I had decided that day to go and see the waterfalls near Mindo. It turns out that the Tarabita (a cable car) up the mountain to the waterfalls costs 5 dollars, which is a fortune. Instead, as I asked a local, there is another smaller cable car just across the river (Rio thisorthat), followed by a small path in the cloud forest.
At the end of the road, right next to Garden of Mindo, I found the cable car. It was nothing more than a small cage suspended on a cable. One had to pull oneself forward using the rope that ran between the legs.
From the other side I walked up a small path through the cloud forest. The cloud forest would have been really interesting but to be fair, I have seen this kind of forest already enough times and for me it didn't really have much attractions.
The scramble up the hill though was fun. I followed the signs to the cascada but somehow they stopped after a while. Further on I came across a road that ran the length of the shoulder of the mountain (ah yes, did I forget to mention that Mindo is also surrounded by hills… pretty much like every other town in Ecuador).
I did not know at that time that the waterfalls were just about 50 meters down the road, I only found that out later when I talked to a local. I also found out from that local that entrance to one of those costs between 3 and 5 dollars...
Instead, I took another path that led at first along the road, thinking that it would lead me to the waterfalls. When I finally realised that I had taken the wrong path, I couldn't be bothered anymore and just went back. After a run in with some really unfriendly owners of an ecolodge I retraced my steps and arrived at my hostel just as it was about to start to rain (it rains every afternoon here). I really didn't do anything that day apart from washing my clothes.
I had a walk into the surroundings to kill time and then took a bus back to Quito. I really did not enjoy very much Mindo, mostly because it was a village that was almost exclusively living off tourism, without any natural life like in other less touristy cities.
I took the 1.45 o'clock bus and was at 3.30 at the Ofelia station. I had already checked with Karla beforehand that I could stay at her place (and no... I was sleeping on the "couch"). She lives really far north of the city but I remembered that one could take a taxi from the "Y" (pronounced "ie"), the final station of the Trole for 2 dollars. I arrived at the Y about 4.30 and decided to walk. Up the 6 de Augusto and then further on the General Elfoy de Lavavre (or something like this) until I arrived at her place at around 5.40 (I had told her 5.30-6) and then waited till nearly 7-7.30. Best way to describe it is "Selig sind die Langsamen, denn sie kommen immer zu spät".
That night we couldn't actually go out because the city was in a kind of lock down state. The next day there was going to be a public vote on ten questions that could decide the future of the country according to some people. It may be possible to create a dictatorship in this country, again according to some people. I have read the questions and some of them were so complicated that some people did not understand them (Karla and me were one of the many). The thing was aswell that one question related to a big change in constitution, however the constitution before the change and after the change were not presented, so that an easy comparison would have been possible, but only the constitution after the change. You can imagine the lack of transparency.
At around 9, Karla and me decided to walk all the way to the Parque Carolina, the biggest park of Quito. The walk was well, the same that I had done the previous day.
The turnout seems to have been quite big (I have just read now that 62% of population voted "Si" to the various questions, however the article does not seem to say which questions were voted on) because the roads were absolutely stuffed.
Afterwards, we had a little run in the Parque Carolina. The Parque is used a lot on the weekends it seems because it was chokeful with people carrying out diverse sports as well. It was quite interesting to see that so much different sports could be carried out on so little space (well the park isn't small, just imagine even more people doing even more different sports).
When we came back, the mother had prepared us a meal. We didn't do anything more worth writing about in here.
This day was the mothers day and we went with the rest of the family to a family reunion at one of the aunts places. Since we were going as six persons (the mother, the father, Jose, Gonzalo, Karla and me) we did not all fit into the car. Therefore, Karla and me took the bus to her aunts. For that, we took the bus to the Ecovia, the Ecovia until the last stop Martin and then a further bus over the mountain range to an outlying town of Quito whose name I have forgotten.
I met the whole family (which is relatively big with 10 female cousins and only one male, but some female cousins brought their boyfriends and husbands too). Once arrived there, Karla and me went to the market (dropped off by one of her cousins, probably called Michelle, my name-forgetfulness is to blame) where we had some awesome market food (if you want to know, it was a soup made from the inner side of the stomach of chicken… Sounds pretty gross, and looks the same way when one pulls out the little pieces of inner stomach, but it tasted really good.).
We then got back to her aunt's house, where we socialised with the rest of the family over some grilled food. To my misfortune, I tried out the Pilsner Ecuadorian beer, and found that I was allergic to it (however not as much as I feared).
Her father had to leave early with the car, so all of us to a bus back to Quito followed by a taxi.
I left Karla's house in the morning, wanting to stay at a hostel in the Mariscal. I stayed at the same place as two weeks ago (10 dollars). I really didn't do very much that day apart from work on my photos and diary. I had also managed to book that day my flights over to Galapagos with LAN. The prices on the European site had finally caught up with the prices on the South American sites, therefore I paid directly in Euros. I had booked the flight from Guayaquil, because it was a lot cheaper to take a bus down to Guayaquil overnight (and therefore sleep in the coach and save on the accomodation) than to fly from Quito. The flight over to the Galapagos from Guayaquil cost me 173 dollars one way. I later found out that one can also fly return with Aerogal for 340 dollars (so 6 dollar cheaper :( ).
In the evening, Karla came over for a bit and we went out to have some dinner.
That day was actually pretty boring. I went for a stint into the historic centre because I had nothing to do and was just waiting to meet my girlfriend for lunch.
For the first, it was me who got too late to a meeting place. Apparently, on the Trole line, there are the Estacion Y and the Terminal Y. I got off one too early and had to walk further than I actually expected. We ate at a very good diner and then I bade her goodbye (she was also leaving the next day to the Oriente where she was educating the locals of the benefits of drinking water coming out of the tap (or something like this...)) At 22.20, I took the bus to Guayaquil (9 dollars) which should have, after 9 hours, brought me to Guayaquil.
Turns out that the bus got through in no time and arrived very shortly after the 22.00 direct bus to Guayaquil (which should have taken 2 hours less). I had to wait at the airport for a very long time during which my anticipation was growing immeasurably.
I WAS GOING TO THE GALAPAGOS! Even as I am writing this, I still cannot believe it.


text:
Hard to use it and doesn't help at all with my exercises. Hard to use it and doesn't help atContinue reading »
Author: Jassey
V-Fit ATE2 Air Elliptical Trainer : It'll do but I will be getting another model eventually.
Good for arthritis sufferers. I suffer from from 2 sorts of arthritis which restricts my mobility and ability to exercise.Continue reading »
York Fitness Active 110 Cross Trainer : Better than I hoped for
Delivered quick and no problem at all. Exactly what it said in the advert. Very pleased with this product. ArrivedContinue reading »
ReaseJoy Mini Stepper Air Stair Climber Swing Exercise Machine Aerobic Fitness Equipment : It does what it say on the tin
It does what it say on the tin. The stepper was well built and was straightforward to setup. One ofContinue reading »
Pure Fitness & Sports PureFitness & Sports R800 Unisex Adult Magnetic Rowing Machine – / : Easy to assemble
The delivery and service was excellent. We set it up in the garage and that is where it stays. ItContinue reading »
Ultrasport Excercise Bike Racer 100 : Damaged in transit or repackaged as already damaged. Ok bike.
Excellent exercise bike, great quality and amazing value for money. Excellent exercise bike, very easy to assemble although i wouldContinue reading »
York Fitness Perform 210 Cross Trainer – //Orange, hours to put together but instructions and parts labeled brilliantly. I'm a personal trainer and for the money
This appears to be a quality trainer. It was easy to put together and offers a good range of programmes.Continue reading »
Good Ideas Pedal Armchair Exerciser : pedal armchair exerciser
Not such a good idea when it is put on flooring as it slips. I bought it for my husbandContinue reading »
V-Fit HTR2 Dual Hydraulic Sculling Rowing Machine, Great for the Price
Very good, works great, told all my friends and family about it. Granted it takes a little time to putContinue reading »
Confidence Pro 2-in-1 Cross Trainer – : PRO 2in1 cross trainer
A reasonable compromise on price, size and functions. Assembled by 1 person in under 90 minutes. They provide tools butContinue reading »

subset: commoncrawl


text:
All Sports DirectAll Sports Direct has been providing many Australians with custom-made sports apparel and sports equipment for over 10 years.
All Sports Direct get kitted out by the Ninja's.
Established in 2004, All Sports Direct is proudly 100% Australian owned and operated. Over the years All Sports Direct has continued to grow and is now a market leader in our industry. They supply Teamwear (Shirts, Shorts, Socks), Training Equipment, Accessories, Goals, Nets, Tracksuits, Hoodies, Polos, Caps, Bags, linemarking liquid, corporate wear & promotional products. With direct access to their factories overseas we are truely regarded as a one stop shop. All Sports Direct can provide a variety of services from design, custom made products and the fact that we run our own factories ensures that we are very competitive as our direct business model cuts out all the 'middle men'.
As an existing Ninja customer, we brought All Sport up to date by putting them on enterprise platform and giving a slick new responsive site.
Web Address: www.allsportsdirect.net.au
Software: MYOB Premier
Location: Jamisontown, NSW
Integration Features
- Product groupings by colour/size with grid layout.
- Responsive design - Site reacts to the device it is being viewed on and displays content in best possible way for that device.
- Customised pricing update on the grid layout
- Product restrictions for each wholesale club


text:
Once upon a time, I believed all that was necessary for salvation was a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Knowing that He loved me, died for me, paid the price for my sins was and is Good News. I knew some things from experience, and the rest of the Bible, the rest of what any Christian leader had to tell me, I set in reserve until I came to understand, usually the hard way.
Then, I grasped what St. Anselm was getting at when he said, "Credo ut intelligam" I believe in order that I may understand. And I realized it was important to believe the Apostolic faith. Where could I find it?
Around this time, I also became involved in attending, then serving on the Alpha Course that are designed to give a Mere Christian introduction to the Christian faith by teaching the essentials, or the "first order" teachings most Christians agree on, and avoiding those "second order" teachings that have resulted in so much division in the Christian world. So matters such as whether infant Baptism is appropriate were avoided; also discussions of Mary, since I was involved in Protestant Alpha courses.
Then, I started to attend Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a parish of the Traditional Anglican Communion. I began to learn about sacraments such as Holy Orders and why our original parish members had left the Anglican Church of Canada over the ordination of women.
As my grasp of the Catholic faith grew and grew, I began to see how holistic the Catholic faith is, how connected every part is to the whole, how 2,000 years of pondering the meaning of Scripture and the writings of the doctors of the Church and the saints, have led to a way of looking at all truths in relation to each other and not in isolation. I came to see the error of such things as forming a new Christian denomination out of one passage of Scripture, because of a failure to take into account the whole of Scripture, or how the Church interpreted it in light of Tradition.
It was then in dawned on me there are no second-order teachings in the Catholic faith. That, yes, for the purposes of evangelization, you can focus on the big picture items, but such things as Holy Orders, if you start changing the teaching say to include women, teasing the thread loose, thinking you can do so without harming the big picture, you'll find a lot more starts unraveling, from the Genesis account of God's creating us male and female, the the Nuptial Mystery of the Mass, to Christ as Bridegroom, and so on and so on.
So, I'm looking at the controversy over Pope Francis' change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty, and I'm concerned that what might seem to be a sixth or seventh order teaching and an unpopular one at that, is connected to some key threads forming the central picture in the tapestry.
That central picture is of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross at Calvary, that once-and-for-all death we enter into in the holy sacrifice of the Mass. The threads have to do with judgment and retribution and how our understanding of justice leads to an understanding of God. These threads also have to do with the relationship of the God of the Old Testament to the God of the New Testament.
If there is no divine judgment, only mercy, why did Jesus have to die? If we are not all sinners under a death sentence, why did Jesus offer His life to pay the debt for our sin? And if he was a nice guy who got killed by mean people who misunderstood his message of kindness and mercy, then let's just start singing John Lennon's song Imagine.
Does anyone believe in sin or hell or redemption and the need for a Savior anymore?
There has been much debate about the Catechism change online, including this piece by Edward Feser at Catholic World Report and a response by Robert Fastiggi.
In other words, there are responsible people with theological training who disagree on this matter. As I have written earlier, on a personal opinion level regarding the death penalty, I could say I agree with the Pope's decision, but I am mindful of the criticism of those who are knowledgeable about Church history and that gives me pause.
I also found this piece by Michael Brendan Dougherty over at National Review interesting:
He writes:
I agree that the test of one's obedience to authority is whether you submit when you don't agree. And if you had asked me point-blank about my opinion on the death penalty when I joined the Church, I would have said I thought it necessarily cruel and unjust, but that I defer to the Church. Gradually I did my homework and came to accept and appreciate how the Church's thought on this fit with its other propositions. However, I never really thought it a pressing topic. Ideally, I believed, we would raise the standard for imposing the death penalty from "beyond a reasonable doubt" to moral certainty, and reserve it for the worst of the worst: murder, rape, and perhaps treason. However, given the iniquities of our justice system, ambivalence seemed justified, too. Even a civil moratorium had a certain prudential logic to it. The only part of the death-penalty argument I've ever taken up is to urge the abolition of lethal injection as an "unusual" punishment, corruptive of medicine.
Read the whole piece. He comes around to this, in discussing not only Pope Francis' revision but that of St. Pope John Paul II before him:
The second thing to say about these three different positions is that each revision drains the previous one of more of its supernatural content. The first presumes and has confidence in a living and just Judge that greets human souls after death, one capable of saving any soul He desires to see in heaven no matter what we do with the convict's life on earth. Whereas the first position offers assertions about God, the last one offers assertions about the current social conditions. "More effective systems of defense have been developed," it says. As if the only criterion by which the death penalty was judged to be legitimate before was merely about the quality of prisons.
And then, finally, this to ponder:
The fourth thing to say about the new Catechism, and the one that probably explains the level of anger and resistance to this teaching, is the way it smuggles a Whig interpretation of history and morality into a document that is supposed to expound upon the faith once delivered to the saints. "Recourse to the death penalty . . . was long considered an appropriate response," it asserts. Notice the passive voice and the lack of subject. Are we talking about previous popes and church authorities? Are we talking about the men and women of the Bible? Or just human society in a long epoch before today? Then the next paragraph: "Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes." Whose awareness is increased? Are we saying that the world or the Church only recently stumbled on the idea of human dignity? Also, the previous teaching never held that by committing serious crimes, criminals lost all their human dignity. They were still owed justice. It was still impermissible to carry out their sentences in a spirit of vindictiveness and bloodlust. Their salvation was still to be sought. And, in fact, many of the Church's theologians believed that a criminal's acceptance of his just punishment conduced to his salvation.
That formulation — "It was long considered to be thus, but now there is an increased awareness of something else" — is a kind of rhetorical acid that must inevitably eat away at the Church's claims to be an institution trustworthy to teach authoritatively on faith and morals. It is an invitation for any Church teaching that has lost popularity in the Western world to be chucked. And it is a prejudice toward Western norms. None of the theologians who want to see the Church's doctrine "developed" to say its opposite are thinking of the beliefs that are unpopular in Africa. No one proposes that "It was long considered that marriage should be between one man and one woman, but now there is a fuller understanding that polygamous men have not forfeited their dignity, by adding wives to their household."
It is hard not to think that the insertion of a Whiggish interpretation of history and morality is actually more important to the people cheering on this change than the endorsement of death-penalty abolitionism itself. The application of this "once upon a time, but now" logic to all the Church's teachings that offend liberal sensibilities is obvious. That it fatally undermines the Church's claim to authority on these questions is almost a bonus for them. Not only does this Whig interpretation now have an air of authority, but it is being used to overturn nearly two millennia of the Church's thought. By doing this, the pope has declared open season on the Church's moral teaching. Hunt and fire away with new "awareness" that descends from . . . somewhere.
The big concern I see on the change, even by people like me who would happily see the death penalty abolished, is this idea that history, experience, new scientific studies can trump Revelation, and that the Catechism of the Catholic Church becomes a moving target, constantly changing with the times.
What are your thoughts, considering it is the Pope who has mandated this change?


text:
The disclosure by Britain's Prince Harry that he struggled with grief for many years following his mother's car-crash death before seeking counseling will have a "real and positive impact" on perceptions about the impact of loss on mental health, according to a leading psychiatrist in the United Kingdom.
"I think that in just 25 minutes he has achieved more good than I have in 25 years. He is an incredibly powerful role model and has a reach that we can only dream of," wrote Royal College of Psychiatrists president Sir Simon Wessely in an editorial, published in The Telegraph.
In a podcast released earlier in the day, Prince Harry revealed that he avoided talking about the tragedy for two decades before finally getting professional help.
"To have an advocate such as Prince Harry discussing so openly the impact of the death of his mother on his own mental health will make a huge difference to the way we discuss grief," Wessely wrote.


text:
When I logout, log me all the way out.
When I logout, I want to all of MS Teams to close.
I don't want that purple square in the middle of my screen.
I don't use MS Teams very often, so I don't want it on my screen when I'm presenting.
If I'm not using it, I don't think I need to login - just to clear my screen.
2 votes
Bruce shared this idea


text:
ShowKeyPlus is a portable freeware app to retrieve and save your Windows product key if you lost it.
ShowKeyPlus will retrieve your product version or name (Windows 10 Pro, for example), the product ID, the currently installed key and the OEM key, if applicable. You can then save the information found in a text file that you can backup, print or whatever you like.
Optionally, ShowKeyPlus can also retrieve your key from backup if you have a Windows folder from the installation. It can also check that your product key is valid with your edition of Windows.
Once the file .exe file has been uploaded to KACE. The only thing that you really need to do is:
Checked box: Default installation
Additional Parameters: "c:\ProgramData\Quest\KACE\%ComputerName%.txt"
of course you can tell it save the file wherever, and name the file with whatever name. You can also change it from .txt to .csv if you want.
View inventory records anonymously contributed by opt-in users of the K1000 Systems Management Appliance.


text:
Product: Eleanor White High Gloss 5 Drawer Tallboy
Colours: Product as shown
Options: Product as shown
Delivery: FREE* UK delivery. Please allow 10-14 days. Some assembly may be required.
Dimensions (cm): H 114 x W 79 x D 46
Description: This is a brand new addition to our bedroom collection.
Go To This Product's Detailed Information
Choose a ranking for this item. 1 star is the worst and 5 stars is the best.
Loading results...


text:
Thanks to our sponsors: More about Sponsors | View our Facebook page
MORUYA & District
Home of Sydney Harbour Bridge granite
Eurobodalla Council's business advisory committee is looking to broaden its membership base and is calling for motivated local business people to express their interest in filling two vacant positions.
Mayor Lindsay Brown chairs the group and says it is one of the ways Council works closely with the business community to grow the local economy.
'Our current members bring local knowledge, expertise and new ideas to the table and help us plan workable business development strategies,' said Clr Brown.
'We're looking for two similarly high-calibre business people who know how the local economy works and who understand the economic, social and environmental opportunities and challenges unique to this region.'
The Mayor added that one of the two positions is being reserved for a representative from the training and education industry to provide a link between this sector and Eurobodalla's employment needs.
The committee meets four to six times a year at Council's administration building in Moruya and members must be willing to attend all four meetings.
Current members of Council's business advisory committee are Jeffrey Afflick, Mark Barraclough, Sharlene Cohen, Matt Deveson, Erica Dibden, Michael Hackett, Stephen Matthews, Adam Pike and Clr Lindsay Brown. Council's general manager, director of finance and business development, manager of tourism and communications, and manager of business development and events also attend the meetings.
Expressions of interest close on 18 December 2015 at 4pm. The application form, selection criteria, and information about the committee can be found on the business development pages of Council's website at www.esc.nsw.gov.au
From its original inhabitants, the Bugelli-Manji tribe, to bushrangers, the Gold Rush and beyond, Moruya has a rich history filled with the colour and romance typical of Australia's early days.


text:
|This article needs to be wikified (formatted according to the Furry Book of Style).
For specifics, check the edit history and talk page. Consult the Furry Book of Style for editing help.
Bengt, also known as Princess Bengt and Bengt McDiddles, moogaspectrum on Second Life, is a furry artist and an active user of Second Life who is most known for his adult videos recorded there.
Bengt's fursona is a raccoon, described as "thicc"; and usually presents as a femboy. The most defining characteristic about Bengt are the colour of his genitals, which are a neon blue colour.
Although Bengt's hair often changes, the common themes are the neon pink and neon blue highlights present in it.
SyrusMax Inc.[edit]
Before making videos on his own, Bengt was also a member of SyrusMax Inc. where he participated in several comics (which are only available in Second Life at the studio headquarters), as well as a video with ShineSL, under a different name. Bengt made comics under the SyrusMac Inc. satellite branch called Rainbow Club, which was supposed to specialize in LGBT themed comics, but after their first comic, the Rainbow Club was permanently dissolved.
GenFur Studios[edit]
After SyrusMax Inc. dissolved the first time, Bengt joined GenFur Studios, and starred in a video with Nox,[1] but shortly after left GenFur Studios due to disagreements with the management of the studio.
Solo videos[edit]
Bengt is most known for his adult videos which he films in Second Life. All of his videos at the time of this writing have been male on male and focus on no specific fetish but rather themes, such as club, beach, etc. Bengt has starred in all of his videos except for "Breaking A Sweat"[2] which he directed and produced, and appeared as a background actor.
Bengt's videos are typically set to music, and average about three minutes in length. The videos are lightly narrative, with a clear story of events. Most of the time in Bengt's videos are spent in post-production and editing, with a large focus being "quality over quantity."[3] Bengt's videos are typically accompanied by EDM music tracks, with the animations set to the beat.
Bengt says that he owes his inspiration for making videos to Yiff This! and Nitska Bastet, who were his main influences for making videos.[4]
Bengt has also done collabs with other studios, namely DrippingKitsune Studios. Kit Redfield starred in the first collab, "Seduce Me".[5] Bengt provided the actor Riley through his now defunct OwO Studios for a video on DrippingKitsune Studios' page.[6]
Bengt records in Open Broadcast Software and edits in Adobe Premiere.
Bengt used to distribute his videos online under the "OwO Studios" name, but recently dropped it to distribute them on his own.[7]
- ↑ GenFur Alleyway Rape Video
- ↑ Breaking a Sweat Video
- ↑ Update on Videos
- ↑ Update on Videos
- ↑ Seduce Me Video
- ↑ DrippingKitsune Studios Reindeer Games Video
- ↑ Update on Videos
External links[edit]
|This person is a WikiFur user:
|This stub about a person could be expanded.


text:
The letter came with a mock-up of a press release for me to announce this auspicious event, with spaces to insert my name and hospital, and several paragraphs about the wonders of the American Board of Emergency Medicine. Alert Howard Cosell! Set up an interview with Katie Couric! I read NEJM, The Economist, and Locus, Katie. I believe the earth is over 4 billion years old, but looks younger because it works out and eats a healthy diet.
Although I haven't talked about it on LJ, ConCert has been hanging over my head and causing mild distress for the past year and a half. I've been studying for it daily for the past year, in addition to other continuing medical education required of physicians. I could have put it off for another year, but I elected to take it a year early. Because of, you know, anxiety. If I failed it, I could try again the next year. But if I waited for Year 10, and failed, my butt would be grass. My continued employment would become suddenly doubtful, and to achieve boarded status again would require going through the whole boarding process, with written and oral exams tailored for those who just emerged from med school, not practicing physicians, and which a have a substantially lower pass rate.
I will be spared this. Thanksgiving for me comes two days late this year. I am thankful for having passed the ConCert.
I passed by a comfortable margin. 7% of test-takers fail the exam. I didn't expect to fail, but I found the test harder than expected. There were an alarmingly large number of questions about the more obscure aspects of pediatric viral exanthems and HIV-related esophagitis. But it's hard for the test-taker to tell how he's doing. Every year about 20% of the questions aren't counted. They're just there to test the question, not the test-taker, part of the process of evaluating new questions for possible inclusion on future ConCert test. Still, they make the test unnerving for the test-taker, who at times feels he is wandering through a surreal landscape of Monstrous Questions from Hell, that seem to have no correct answer, or that you would need to have done a fellowship in Pediatric Tropical Medicine to guess correctly. "What? Not another question about Egyptian liver flukes?"
This may be my last re-cert exam. By the time the next one rolls around, my scheme is to be safely retired.
But the best-laid schemes o' mice an 'men gang aft agley, and if the economy doesn't improve, my retirement account may be ganging agley and aglue and aglumph. It has been subjected to the Death of a Thousand Cuts over the past year. I'm not in immediate financial danger, but I'm also not in the condition I want to be to retire. I hope to be in a decade or less, but during the 1930s, and even as recently as the 1970s, the economy didn't cooperate with those sorts of wishes for many years at a stretch. Come 2018, I could still be working, and have to take the ConCert again. A dismal thought.
But for now, it's over. For now, I am content.


text:
ALFRED – Timothy Ortiz acted in self-defense when he shot Jonathan Methot two years ago inside a Biddeford apartment being used as a drug den, the man's lawyer told a jury Wednesday.
In their opening statements, Ortiz' defense lawyer, Mark Peltier, and Robert Ellis, an assistant attorney general and one of the prosecutors in the murder case, told nearly identical stories about the events leading up to the shooting that killed Methot.
But they diverged on the motive.
Methot, 30, lived a West Cutts Street duplex with his mother. The other half of the duplex was an apartment where drugs were sold and used, Peltier and Ellis said. Ortiz, from New York City, frequently stayed at the apartment, Methot's mother, Cheryl Methot, told a reporter shortly after the shooting.
On Sept. 25, Methot – upset over a $40 drug transaction earlier in the evening – went next door to argue, both lawyers said. Methot had $1,600 in his wallet at the time, Peltier said.
Ortiz was not in the apartment. Bethany Cox, who had been hired as a driver by Ortiz, sent Ortiz a text to tell him about the dispute, and when Ortiz got back inside the apartment, he became embroiled in it, the lawyers said, and Methot put his hands around Ortiz's neck. The two lawyers agreed that Cox got between the two and was able to get them to back off slightly, but Peltier said Methot never took his hands from Oritz' neck.
Ortiz then took a .357 cal. Ruger handgun from his waistband and pointed it at Methot over Cox's head, fired and missed and then fired twice more, Ellis said. One of the shots hit Methot in the face, severing his carotid artery, Ellis said.
People ran from the apartment, Ellis said, and a friend of Methot's dragged him onto the porch, where he died within minutes.
Ortiz later told Cox, "don't cry for him, he used you as a shield," Ellis said.
Ortiz was arrested later that day in Portland, where he was held initially on a probation violation related to sex trafficking and drug charges in New York. He was charged with murder four days later.
Peltier told the jury that, outside of police and experts, most of the testimony in the case will come from people who were using and selling drugs at the time of the shooting.
"Don't get lost in their stories," Peltier told the jury. "Timothy took the actions he took to defend himself."
Ellis admitted the state's case will not be without blemishes. He told the jury that DNA and ballistics evidence may not be clear-cut. But he said prosecutors are sure that Ortiz's motive in the shooting was to try to "settle the score" over the $40 deal.
Jurors were picked Tuesday. The state is expected to wrap up its case Friday or early next week. Ortiz's lawyers expect to need a couple of days for their case, so the jury will likely have the case by the middle of next week. Peltier said he hasn't decided whether to have his client testify.
If convicted, Ortiz could face a sentence of 25 years to life. The case is being tried in York County Superior Court.
Edward D. Murphy can be contacted at 791-6465 or at:
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Champion League roundup: Rashford goal sparks Manchester United
Forecaster Sports
Scarborough's fast start leads to victory at Greely
More than 25 percent of Maine voters have already cast their ballots
His playing time limited, Woods returns to one of his favorite courses
Times Record
In pictures: A Topsham church continues its pumpkin patch tradition


text:
The Little Black Box, Classic Comforts, 8 piece$20.00
Product detail:
If 5 pieces aren't enough, 8 pieces just might do the trick! The Classic Comforts Little Black Box includes Hazelnut Crunch, S'mores, Blueberry Lime, Chipotle, Turtles, Macadamia Caramel, Balsamic PB&J, and Dulce de Leche.
The flavors may change depending on the availability and freshness.
What's Inside
We are re-defining the world of chocolate with luxurious gifts handcrafted in Houston, TX. We combine whimsical flavors with classical French techniques to create a truly unique experience with every chocolate bon-bon. Making each bite memorable making our chocolate gift boxes the perfect gift.
Our luxury artisan chocolates have been prominently featured in Vogue, Food Network, New York Times, and Chicago Tribune among many others. Cacao & Cardamom has been recognized by the International Chocolate Awards in 2019 winning 9 awards, including awards for innovation and gastronomy in chocolate.


text:
Are You Eating the Right Foods After You Work Out?
Choosing the perfect recovery meal for your workouts requires thinking about more than just the meal itself. It's also about the timing, the quality of the meal, and the way you consume it. A couple of factors that determine what post workout meal you should be consuming are: what type of workout you did, how well you respond to dairy, and whether you stayed below your aerobic threshold or not. Some other important and often overlooked considerations are the quality of your food and your salt intake.
Anabolic vs. catabolic exercise
Exercises that build muscle with anabolic hormones, like human growth hormone and testosterone, are called anabolic workouts. Bench presses, barbell squats, leg presses, pull ups, curls, sledge hammer workouts, and deadlifts are all categorized as anabolic workouts because they build muscle. To refuel after an anabolic workout will require plenty of amino acids to rebuild the broken down tissue, plus carbohydrates to provoke an insulin response that will shuttle protein and energy to your depleted muscles.
Exercises that release catabolic hormones, like norepinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol, are catabolic because they break tissue down (primarily fat). Aerobic exercises are almost synonymous with catabolic workouts because they all lead to the stress hormones like adrenaline to break down fat and supply energy. Running, hot yoga, cycling, kickboxing, volleyball, and swimming are all catabolic exercises that require ample amounts of carbohydrates and relatively minimal protein to keep your metabolism from halting. A pasta dinner or other high-carb meal within an hour of such exercise will replenish glycogen stores in your liver and tissues so you have energy to keep burning in your next workout.
Intolerances to dairy products, however mild they may be, should factor in heavily for your post workout meal. We are inundated by the supplement industry with how superior whey protein is. Though it's true the amino acid profile of whey is ideal and almost miraculous, many people have inflammatory responses from ingesting it. Workouts naturally provoke an inflammatory response to shuttle nutrients to your screaming cells, but prolonging an inflammatory state will hamper your ability to recover from a workout.
If you feel any stomach discomfort with whey protein or if you feel your lymph glands swell after a whey shake, go for alternatives like sprouted rice protein, pea protein, or hemp protein. Toss an egg in your shake for added cholesterol, which is the base for anabolic hormones like HGH and testosterone.
Aerobic threshold
"Aerobic threshold" is the point where your metabolism shifts primarily to anaerobic energy, which uses limited store of glycogen and produces waste products like lactic acid. Aerobic energy comes from oxygen burning fat, which is the most efficient energy production we have. Intense catabolic exercises will surpass your aerobic threshold.
Your threshold is 70-80% of your maximum heart rate, and it can be discovered by monitoring your heart during workouts. Doing common anabolic exercises at aerobic threshold (think: crossfit, bootcamps, etc) will dramatically shift your post-workout needs to resemble a catabolic workout. Salmon, steamed rice, applesauce, and sweet potatoes would be an ideal meal for intensive exercises that exceed your aerobic threshold.
PH and quality of food
Our cells are created with the amino acids, nutrients, and minerals that we take in through food; we are what we eat. Not only is it important for our planet to take a stand against harmful agriculture, it is just as important to our bodies to be rebuilt with quality food.
Your body requires an optimal pH balance in order to promote a muscle-building environment. Fruits, veggies, and animal products that are cultivated with pesticides and herbicides are more acidic than their organically grown counterparts. It has long been known that higher acid content in blood leads to protein wasting, so choosing organically grown foods, when possible will help you to keep your hard earned muscle and help you to build more.
The best way to optimize pH is through quality water intake and adequate fruits and veggies. You can cheat your way to a balanced pH by mixing 2 ounces of organic lemon juice in 10 ounces of spring water each morning upon waking.
Enough salt?
We hear quite a bit about how salt is the enemy, and so many of us have done due diligence in cutting it out. But there is a reason that we crave salty foods when we are stressed: Our adrenal glands suck up salt when taxed. More to the point, we lose incredible amounts of salt under stress, which in turn leads to decreased metabolism. If you aren't getting enough salt, you may be stressing yourself out and reducing your ability to recover from your workouts.
If you experience frequent headaches and severe exhaustion after workouts, low sodium may be the culprit. Try sprinkling pink himalayan sea salt on your post workout meal to taste.


text:
Yesterday was the first day of dripping sweat. Heat is my main vexation of summer, and that's not a good thing for a gardener. I don't like it and do not get used to it. Now that we are finally moving into the hot weather, attention must be paid to water in pots and gardens.
I think some irrigation companies have set the timers to supply more water than has been necessary based on the long-term weather forecast. I have seen a lot of "water weeds." I watch the beds that I maintain and talk to the irrigation people to keep the amount of water properly regulated. Systems need to be monitored by zone if you have irrigation, or by bed if you water by hand.
Plants thrive based on the soil nutrition and by the amount of water they get; too much and too little is not good and it is often our tendency to over water. Too much water often depletes soil nutrition.
Water should, in most cases, be applied when the soil is dry on the top 1 1/2" – 2." It is best to water deeply and infrequently. Plants indicate too little water by wilting; they indicate too much water by turning leaves yellow. And if you see the soil in a pot staying wet, as if it had recently been watered, check to see that the hole in the bottom is not clogged.
Reading the label on that beautiful something you have seen at the garden center (that plant you simply must have) supplies important pieces of information "height and width at maturity, light requirements and moisture requirements…" When you get this beauty home, plant it where it will have what it needs and give it (and yourself) a good chance to succeed.
This has been the week of cleaning up the last of the daffodil and other spring blooming foliage. (You left the foliage in place until it was brown, yes?) And there are so many of them! Who would think that those swirls and giant patches of spring blooming plants, so eagerly awaited, would leave such undesirable residue for so long! But, if you do not leave it, your bulbs have no chance to rejuvenate themselves for next year. If one considers this when planting, bulbs can be placed where the leaves will be unobtrusive and in a place where they will not fall onto a neighboring plant and lay there until it is time to remove them i.e. in beds of ornamental grasses or hostas. But then…there are all of those other places.
Be sure to remove spent peony flowers and any buds that look like they are not going to bloom and any foliage that looks "sick." Peonies are subject to fungus. I have read that there are organic sprays to combat it. I just remove anything that looks bad and keep the soil surface clean. It is also good to plant them in a place where they will get good air circulation. But then…oh that place that needs a peony…
I hope you are continuing to check for great annuals and perennials at the garden centers. They bring them in at their peak of bloom so if you see a plant there, now is the time to plant it. Keep it moist in the heat.
Some of those holes left when you removed the spent spring bulbs could be filled with a
must-have annual…
Jeanelle Myers is a professional gardener, landscaper and consultant. For gardening discussion you can call her at 631-434-5067. jeanellemyersfinegardening.com