Finally went and visited the miniature version of the real Holland including Tulips, Klompen, Stroopwafels, and Lighthouse. Even the beach kind of resembled a dutch beach with sand dunes. Also the first time I saw the flags of all twelve provinces together. I would still prefer the real deal though… Interestingly, we met a musician, Drew Nelson, who told me about the appreciation that people in the Netherlands and other parts of western Europe have for his Americana music. We heard him perform and you should check him out on his website. Thanks for the cd Drew!
I took this photo in the Gulf of Mexico just off the coast of Clearwater Florida.
I recently had the chance to make a quick visit to Quito, Ecuador. The old town center was one of the two first Unesco world heritage sites. It is the best preserved historic city center in Latin America, a beautiful city with a lot of great atmosphere (apart from the exhaust fumes from buses and trucks).
The equator runs about 20 km outside the city center, this is the place to be in the northern and southern hemisphere at the same time.
Outside the city center, there is plenty of mountain around to do a lot of hiking and biking. I would take some time to acclimatize though before doing any strenuous exercise, the air is thin at 2500 to 4100 meters altitude. We did one mostly downhill ride descending 1600 meters on a mountain bike on one of the rocky and muddy slopes of the Pinchincha. Easy to do with a bike rental of 5 dollars a day, the guy who invented double suspension mountain bikes deserves a medal. Further away from the city, towards Papallacta, there is great hiking areas with lots of volcanic hot springs to relax in afterwards. The views over the mountains and especially the peak of the Antisana at 5700 meters are really breathtaking.
This are just a couple of the photos, for the rest go the main Quito picture page.