(ACTUAL POST) Time to relax

Bend to Portland to Houston to Miami to Caracas to Guayaquil to Quito. And now we can finally breathe. Traveling is exhausting, especially when you're not entirely comfortable. But we finally found a nice place where we can sit and read or lie down and sleep. Or type away. It´s the Hotel Esperanza, just south of the main tourist area of Quito, called La Mariscal. The owner is a very nice lady, and her cute 5-year-old son is playing with a red balloon outside as I type. It's a world apart from the airport district, where we stayed last night and this morning.

But let's review:

Caitlin and I left Bend about 5 p.m. Friday. It was very nice to have Friday off. Most of my recent travels have involved a post-work midnight drive, but what pleasure to take our time to pack and get things organized for our trip. Of course, Caitlin did most of the work, cleaning the house and making arrangements. That in itself was exhausting. So after we had dropped the dogs off at their respective doggie day cares and said our goodbyes, we headed off to Portland.

We were late for the TV on the Radio show, and caught about half of it. Saw em play ¨Dancing Choose¨ and ¨DLZ¨ and ¨Staring at the Sun¨and some new songs I don´t know very well yet. Oh, the lady at will call couldn´t find my tickets, so she let us in ¨for free.¨ Although I´m sure I actually did pay. Nice dinner at Edgefield, but a crappy hotel across the interstate. ¨Last time you´re in charge of the hotel,¨ Caitlin said. Oh, that´s when I realized I left my thypoid vaccine pills in our refrigerator in Bend. Oh well. Bring it on, typhoid.

Early breakfast with Chris, who filled us in on his new pasttime, DJing golden oldies, including ¨Spanish Flea.¨ Then our flight to Houston, at the end of which we flew over The Woodlands. I could see the Anadarko Tower and the mall and the river walk, but couldn´t quite make out the high school or Highbush Court. Then a smelly flight to Miami, and a nice Doubletree with heated pool and bar. ¨It´s no Travelodge,¨ I say.

The International terminal at the Miami airport already felt like another country. We had some issues checking in -- for some reason, we didnt have a hard copy of our itinerary, so we had to print one out to show our return flights to the U.S. Flight was delayed out of Miami, but we landed in Caracas with plenty of time for our connection. But there was mucho confusion about the gate. We thought we were in the right spot, but the utter lack of signs and authority figures made us nervous. Finally caught the first bus to the plane, and departed a good three hours late. (But hey, at least we got fed yummy meals on both Santa Barbara Airlines flights!) So when we landed in Quito last night (Sunday night), the man holding the placard with our names on it was nowhere to be found. So we opted for an expensive, crummy hotel near the airport. Just for one night, we decided. It was not a nice place, especially at midnight. But it looked better this morning, and we had a nice breakfast.

Now, after a lovely ride through town to Hotel Esperanza, we are stress-free. And loving our new digs. Until we have to go back to the airport tomorrow morning! Ah well. Quite a place, this Quito. We hope to see the historical district this afternoon. And we might even splurge on a beer!

I have replaced one Vonnagut novel with another, ¨Cat's Cradle.¨ It´s just as wacky.

To the jungle tomorrow!