Areas of Unrest

QOTD: "Those who admire the massive, rigid bone structure of dinosaurs should remember that jellyfish still enjoy their very secure ecological niche." - Beaux Shell

Reading: Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle

Listening to: the original cast recording of Allegro

Decluttering accomplishments: I'm almost done unpacking from my trip

13 January 2002 - Vacation From Vacation

I got home from my vacation last night and, of course, I feel like I need a vacation. I'll write a travelogue within the next several days, so I won't say too much here. This was a rather more mixed trip than most of mine. The Galapagos part was quite luxurious, so getting on the bus to Cuenca (five hours under cramped conditions with considerable local color) was even more of a shock to the senses than it would normally have been. To go from watching hundreds of dolphins riding our bow wave on New Year's Day to wandering an indigenous market featuring llamas for sale nine days later is quite a contrast. All in all, I had a good time. Well, except for the tear gas. (There are a lot of political protests on the Ecuadorian mainland right now, related to an increase in the price of gas. I never felt really threatened, but I appreciated the need to be cautious.)

I also accomplished three things on my (to be updated) life list. The Galapagos part of the trip covered one by itself. Straddling the equator (and having my photo taken doing so) was strictly touristy but amusing. The real revelation was snorkeling. I'm an okay swimmer but tend to stay within my depth. On my first attempt, I had a hard time getting used to the snorkel, particularly as I have a strong gag reflex. But the second time, it suddenly came together and I felt this rhythm where I could just hear my breathing (which is oddly magnified by the snorkel) and be perfectly at ease. It helped that there were neat things to look at - brightly colored parrotfish around some reefs. I'm still likely to want to stick to snorkeling from the beach rather than from a boat, but I feel like another world opened up to me.

By the way, there were plenty of cybercafes in both Cuenca and Quito. While I did check my email from them, I had forgotten the difficulty of using a Spanish language keyboard. Most of the letter keys are in the right places, but all of the symbols are moved around. I found it difficult to write very much because I had to keep stopping to search for the right keys.

I'm not really keen on going back to work tomorrow, since I'm slightly jet-lagged and have a ton of errands to catch up on. I suppose I'll have to run over to the post office at lunch time, since that's safer than trying to leave early, and I need to lift the vacation hold on my mail. And that will inevitably bring even more odds and ends to take care of. Three or so more vacation days would be very handy. Except that I would, inevitably, have just stayed away longer.