So Much For Rose Smelling

The sickness didn´t get better on Wednesday. On Thursday I realized that it was probably a reaction to the pills I was taking for the intestinal stuff, so I stopped taking the anti-fungal. I was still awful on Friday, spending most of the day in bed. The incessant clouds and rain didn´t help; I was often in thermal underwear with two other layers and blankets. It´s not that it was so absolutely cold, but rather that my defenses were gone and there was no such thing as a space heater.

I couldn´t go to the Amazon lest I get some horrible other disease. The Ecuadorian coast was hard to get to, and is pretty crappy once you get there. But I noticed that my guidebook said Écuador & The Galapagos... Hmmm, ordinarily I would be far too cheap to spend the $500 to get there, not to mention the $2000 for a week´s cruise. But it would be warm.

Saturday I stopped the cipro and moved back up the hill into town. I got a great room with WIFI and its own little balcony for $7.50 a night, and started writing away. Sunday I bought my ticket.

Tuesday was Inauguration Day, and I wasn´t going to miss that. Friends Jim and Marshia were even going to have a little party. I awoke bright and early to find that my computer wasn´t working. Neither was anything else. The hotel girl said that all power in Banos would be off all day. Aaagh!

Around 10 somebody noticed that the best hotel in town had a little generator going. I talked to the British owner, who said, sorry, but his big screen tv wasn´t hooked up to the same circuit. Aaagh! But at eleven he let us know that we could come over to his house and watch it all on his personal tv.

So I got to witness history from far away. Then at around 2 the sun almost fully came out. Barack: He causes planes to land on water and the sun to shine in Banos. Marshia and I celebrated by riding bicycles down the hill.

It was about a 30 km hill. And there was some up, but mostly d-o-w-n. There´s one quarter mile long tunnel, and I remembered it as being a lot of fun, so I went right into it. About half way through, at about 30 mph, I realized that I hadn´t let my eyes get adjusted, and that I could crash into the wall at any moment. And once I had lost my ignorant confidence...

But I came out the other end unscathed. And once we got to the bottom, we just stopped an upgoing bus and rode back.

Wednesday morning the clouds were back. And my little experiment of just staying in Banos had come a cropper. Who knew it could be so friggin cold here on the equator?