Mom´s account

Moms email says

It was hard leaving the Galapogus Island, we went around to all of the people we engaged with and said our good byes and thank you for the wonderful experience. The day we left we did get to swim with the sharks in the morning. We took a boat out about 7:00am. The sharks were smaller than we thought, but sharks none the less. Got an underwater camera to take pictures because we thought nobody would believe us. When we got back to Guyaquil (main continent) we got on a bus and headed for a town called Cuenca which is in the Sierras. What a difference to go from sea level to an elevation of almost one mile. I guess I did not drink enough water because I got a touch of elevation sickness with a fever and after we got back from a trip to a local textile/artesian town I had to take a 3 hour nap. It sucked because I missed going through & touring the local churches. Next we went to Incaquerca which is little town along the Inca trail where there are Incan ruins. It was rainy & muddy but seeing the ruins helped us understand just how far we have come as a civilization. The ruins were lined up perfectly with the sunrise & sunset. It was set on a hill so they could see whoever would try to attack. There were aquaducts built around the whole thing as well as a place for them to have recreation which they believe they played a form of soccer/futbol. The whole pleatau was fairly suffisticated for the times, I guess very similar to the pyramids. There were even wild lamas all over the place. We did not mess with them because as I understand it they are so much meaner than the mamma sea lion.:-) It really was amazing. After returning to Cuenca we hung around the city for another day checking out the local museums, artesian shops and indiginous works of art. The Hostal that we stayed at was incredible and the guy running it told us his father built the 13 bedroom house from top to bottom and only died a couple of years ago at 90 something. The next day we headed to Riobamba where Julie (Kristin`s friend from home) has a place that we visited. It has a wonderful view of the mountain Chimboraza which Julie just climbed with a group the prior Sunday and made it clear to the top. The town is quaint & very beautiful with the setting of the mountain range surrounding it. Tomorrow we will head for the city of Tenua where there are natural hot springs surrounding the city. This city is at the edge of the Amazon and it is what they call the "Orient" and thank goodness it it closer to sea level. My head is about to explode with this elevation. We met some people that actually live in Durango Colorado who are having trouble acclamating, it is crazy high.That is all for now and I will write again soon.Happy Thanksgiving to all for tomorrow.