Ahh! My Eyes!!!

Last night, me and Mayi got a taste of what Ecuadoian Police has to offer. We were walking around town looking for a decent place to eat, only having to run and hide to the closest and cheapest place we found... all because suddenly the air was filled with tear gas and alarms going off in the city. The damn police here doesn´t care how it fights all the strikes against the goverment. Looks to me like they just spray the whole city with tear gas. And in case you never had a chance to taste it, let me tell you... it ain´t no fun. First you feel something burning up your nose then your eyes start to itch and then the tears come out! Ah!!! I want my MAMA!

Ingapirca, Ecuador

Mayi at the enterance to the Temple of the Sun
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

Today we´ve made it to the ancient city of not just the Inca empire, but as I also learned... the religious site of the Cañar people, who lived here way before the Incas.

Cuenca, Ecuador

Relaxing in Cuenca
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

After the adventures in Baños... we said good bye to Denise (who had to go back to Guayaquil). And we headed off to Cuenca to see the Inca ruins. So don´t expect to see any more pictures of Denise strutting her stuff... but in case you´re really in need of new Denise ¨SUPERMODEL¨shots, i suggest going to see my BAÑOS photo set, where you´ll find a few pics of Denise posing in front of the cascades.

The Volcano Awakens!

The first 5 minutes after eruption
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

On our 3rd day in Baños we rented an ATV and went up the mountains to get a close up view of volcan Tungurahua. What we didn´t know was that we were about see the monster aweaken! We also rented horses and went for a trip along the steep mountain cliffs. As you´ll notice from the pictures, Mayi and the two different horses she tried, did not get along. But at least me and Denise had a good laugh (so it was all worth it). You will find those pictures and more in my BAÑOS photo set. Just click on the picture to see the album.

More of Mayi´s pics

Tomasz in Quito
Originally uploaded by Mona Guayaca.

We,ve finaly had a chance to sit down again at an internet place and upload our latest pics... here is one picture that will take you to an album of Mayi´s new pics. Enjoy!

Baños, Ecuador

Baños at night
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

Me, Mayi and her friend Denise, have finaly arrived in a small mountain town of Baños. This city is beautiful! It sits in a valley at the base of an active volcano, and is surrounded by waterfalls. Tomorrow we´re off horse back riding up the volcano.

Erik arrives in Ecuador!

Denise tries to confuse Erik upon his arrival.
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

Erik has finally showed himself! He arrived in Quito on Monday, today him and my brother are going to start their climbs of various volcanos in the area.

Pedro Carbo, Ecuador

Self defence in Ecuador
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

After realxing on the coast, we went to a small town of PEDRO CARBO to visit Mayi´s grandad and her aunt and cousin. In this picture you can see me trying out some of Mayi´s grandad´s rifles. I must admit I like his taste...

Mud and rock slides!

Our fellow photographer from Santo Domingo
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

We go stuck on the side of a mountain as we made our way up to Quito, because of mud and rock slides that blocked the only way there. A week before that it was the road blocks setup up by the locals to protest the TLC talks with the United States, and now it´s nature´s turn.

We´re in Quito!

Our Hostal in Quito. (the orange building)
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

After splitting up with my brother, Mayi and I went on our own to Manta. Which we followed up with an incrediably long and scary bus ride up to the mountains to Santo Domingo De Los Colorados and the finaly to Quito. This city should be called the city of the clouds (if it isn´t already) it´s an amazing city located 2800 meters above sea level, just walking around in here is hard, sepecialy since the air is so thin and most streets go up and down huge hills. My next post I will describe the details of our scary bus ride into Qutio and the pictures I took during that ride.

Road Blocks Everywhere!

Road Blocks
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

We are still stuck in Guayaquil because of the current situation in the country. On March 14th, 2006 the indigenous groups in the mountaints of Ecuador, started to revolt against the goverment and its latest decision to sign a Free-Trade agreement with the United States. Here are the pictures...

Covered in Sweat

We are back in the humid capital of the world, Guayaquil, Ecuador. Previously we´ve spend a few days in various little towns among the coast jungles... also hot and humid but not as hot as Guayaquil. The only thing that made it worse though was the fact that most of the places we stayed at there is no running water. People there have TV´s and DVD´s and everyone carries a cellphone, but no water to take a shower in. Just whatever rain water they manage to collect. Anyway, so this morning we got back into Guayaquil, and I was so looking forward to taking a nice cold shower, when we find out that the is no water in our part of the city. Ah! Imagine walking around and exlopring a country like Ecuador for a few days, where you break a sweat just by walking out of the shadow, and then you find out you can´t properly wash yourself. I´m stinky and sweaty and tired... but hey, at least I got an internet acess. On top of that today we found out that instead of continuing on with our adventures and taking a bus into the mountain town of Baños we had to wait since the Natives of the Ecuadorian Andies are revolting against goverment by setting up road blocks and starting fires. Still my brother decided that he wanted to take his chance and hope that his bus won´t be one of the unlucky ones that get stoped, and he split up with us and went his own way to the mountains. Hopefuly I hear from him soon.

Iguanas!

Hand Fed Iguanas
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

Today we are finaly back to Guayaquil, that´s why I suddenly uploaded all these new pictures. One last set of pics is from the trip we did today to the Iguana Park in downtown, Guayaquil. Where as you can see in the pictures you can actually hand feed the little monsters.

Puerto Lopez

Bird´s Eye View
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

Our last stay on the coast of Ecuador was in Puerto Lopez. A sleepy little fishing town on the coast of Pacific. Where the only exciting thing to see here, are the dead fish you´ll find on the shore... oh and a national park Machalilla, we didnt explore beacuse of my flu.

Jungle Adventure!

Happy to be Alive!
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

After chillaxing on the coast of Ecuador we took a bus to a small town of Jipijapa. On our second day there, my brother decided that we should all go for a small hike through the junle that surrounds this small town. And thanks to some really bad article that Mayi found on some Ecuadorian website, we decided to hike through the forest to look for a waterfall that none of the local heard of. In the end we made our long decend into onf the jungle valleys only to be cought in the middle of a tropical storm. And since this is the rainy season, we had to run back up the muddy hills barefoot. Hoping to avoid flash floodings and mud slides. Enjoy the pictures, and I hope you have a good laugh.

Catching the Waves

Sunset Surfing
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

I´ve added a few more pictures to my MONTANITA set, including some shots of surfers catching he last waves of the day. Here is one of the pictures.

Jungle Fever!

After spending two days in Puerto Lopez, I am almost back to health (and so is Mayi). We cought a weird flu of some kind while staying in Montañita. Right now we´re visitng Mayi´s Dad, and her cousin in Jipijapa, just south of Manta. Tomorrow we´ll be heading back to Guayaquil where I´ll hopefully post some pics.

My Travel Map

Today is the second day in Montanita... and I decided to take it easy. I´m feeling a bit weak, sore throat and all. I took some medication and hope it doesn´t turn into a flu or something like that. It´s too beautiful and the waves are too much fun to spend the day sitting in the hostel room. Anyway, I`ve finaly had time to update my

***TRAVEL MAP***

Check it out!

Banana Boat!

DSCF0194
Originally uploaded by Mona Guayaca.

Here is apicture that Mayi took of us about to fall off a banana boat. I´m one of the people who always thought it´s a waste of time an money to go for a ride on one of these things. Boy was i wrong! The last three people from left to right are ME, my brother Lukasz and friend Denise.

More of Mayi´s pictures!

DSCF0212
Originally uploaded by Mona Guayaca.

Mayi finaly had some time to sort out her photos from Ecuador and pick the ones she likes. Here they ARE!

Montanita, Ecuador

Internet Cafe in Montanita, Ecuador
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

I am writing this posting right now from an internet cafe located on a beach in Montanita, Ecuador. It´s pretty fun up here... the water is real hot and the waves a just perfect for surfing, but without out going sucidal.

Mayi´s pictures from Ecuador!

Getting ready for the sun
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

Spending the weekend at Salinas

the weekend crowd at Salinas beach
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

We´re still enjoying the beach at Salinas, Ecuador. Tomorrow we´re heading up north to Montanita, where all the surfers go.

First set of pictures from Ecuador!

Mayi on top of the world (or close to it)
Originally uploaded by Tom Antos.

Hi everyone who cares to check out my site... I´m finally posting the first set of pictures from our trip to South America... right now we are on the Pacific coast in Salinas, Ecuador!

It´s lively and hot in here... BUT not as hot as Guayaquil. Just trying to get through the day so we can all relax in the night breeze.

Before that we´ve spent two days in the humid capital of the world, Guayaquil. The water front is beautiful and well taken care of. And the city life here is crazy and always alive just as its traffic.

We´re in Ecuador (Jestesmy w Ekwadorze) !!!

We just arrived a few hours ago... personally I´m tired, but we´re already exploring downtown Guayaquil... it´s a realy nice city. Nothing like I imagined from hearing all those horror stories about crime and theft... in fact I´m here at this free interent cafe with all my camera gear... been snaping pictures just about every block we`ve passed. I will post some pictures soon.

(Jestesmy zdrowi i sie gotujemy w goracym sloncu)