http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner our travel around the world Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:28:50 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en At the time of the following story, Michele and i didn't want to report it publicly because we didn't want anyone to get overly concerned about my health considering the incident with my irregular heart beat (by the way, i haven't had an irrgular beat since). anyway... I went ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/flashback-to-istanbul-turkey-post-139.html We write... On June 15th we set 3 alarms for 3:00am in order to be sure to get up in time to catch our pre-arranged taxi that was scheduled to pick us up at 4:00am. Our hostal owner, who spoke no English, told us (in Spanish) that he would make the ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/re-entry.html Mike writes-- Oh, the things i`ve been through on this trip... As Michele mentioned in Post #136, we didn't do a lot of sightseeing in Quito. One reason is that we were dealing with the situation described below. While we were in the Santa Cruise Island after finishing our Galapagos cruise on the ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/parasitic-occupation-post-137.html Michele writes... On the morning of Jun10th, we went to the terminal terriste (main bus terminal) in Riobamba to catch a bus going to Quito. The way it works in Ecuador (and many other South American countries) is that you simply go to the bus station and walk around looking at ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/quito-ecuador-post-136.html Michele here... As Mike wrote in the last blog we arrived at our not-so-great hostel (Ecuahogar Hostel) in the suburbs of Guayaquil on Tuesday, June 6th. The main reason for staying at this place was because it was close to the terminal terreste (main bus terminal). So, on the day we ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/riobamba-ecuador-post-135.html Our last full day (May 31st) on the Legend, after visiting Espanola, we skipped the afternoon excursion to the interpretive center on San Cristobal.  We figured we had already seen the Darwin Center at Puerto Ayora and the interpretive center didn´t sound like it had anything new to offer.   So, that ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/galapagos-islands-ecuador-part-vi-post-134.html Michele writes.... We woke up May 30th to find the Legend cruiseship was anchored in a giant volcanic crater.  When we went up to the ship deck we found we were surrounded on all sides by Genovesa island except for a break in the crater where the ship had sailed through.  For our ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/galapagos-islands-ecuador-part-v-post-133.html On May 28th both of our excursions were to the island of Santa Cruz.  Of the Archipelago, Santa Cruz has the largest population with the largest city on the island, Puerto Ayora, having about 20,000 inhabitants.  The morning excursion was to the Darwin Station nearby the city of Puerto Ayora.  Here, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/galapagos-islands-ecuador-part-iv-post-132.html Mike and Michele write... On the morning of May 27th, we arose at our normal early hour, had the buffet breakfast and disembarked for the island of Santiago at 8 a.m. We arrived on a beautiful black sand beach and did an easy hike on a flat trail.  There were sea lions ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/galapagos-islands-ecuador-part-iii-post-131.html Mike writes... Our first excursion from the M/S Galapagos Legend was just 2.5 hours after getting onboard.  This was beginning to look like what we experienced in the Amazon Basin -- we would be very busy with excursions.  Anyway, the first excursion was to Bartolome, an island closeby Baltra (the one ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Extreme-Runner/galapagos-islands-ecuador-part-ii-post-130.html