This was the week for ”administrivia,” like dealing with insurance, getting my absentee ballot ready to mail, etc. I was on my own running the house this week, so grocery shopping and cooking were also on the list of to-dos. Nothing too exciting!
I finished reading “Sense and Sensibility” and “Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead,” and started “Monster of a Land,” by Lauren Hough (thanks for the recommendation, Joan!). John and I watched a good Israeli series, “Unconditional” and we are thoroughly enjoying the Dutch series, “The Perfect Lie.”
This week marked a year of calling my three congressional representatives in Washington every business day. I’m not sure they pay much attention to what I tell them, but it’s good to stay in touch with them! Try it!
This was a pretty laid back week. John and I went to a party yesterday afternoon that was nice. Today I sat by the pool and yakked with Mellisa, then John and I went to the movie theater to see “Verity.” It was fun – I haven’t read any of Coleen Hoover’s books, but I may need to because this movie was pretty clever.
I chatted with Lea and Rachel last Sunday afternoon, then on Saturday I had a good long visit with Stacie who recently arrived in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. I had some back and forth with a former employee about her bidding and wrote a letter of recommendation for another former employee.
John and I watched the three “Star Wars” movies from decades ago. They actually held up pretty well, and it was fun to see them after watching (and enjoying) “Andor.” We watched a decent series called “His and Hers” and started “War,” which looks like it will be a fun series. We were happy that a new season of “Slow Horses” came out. Hooray for good tv!
I finished reading “Heartwood” and enjoyed it. Now I’m reading “Drive your Plow over the Bones of the Dead,” by Olga Tokarczuk (I love the title). It’s a bit of a denser read, but I’m enjoying it.
Sunday morning we disembarked in San Cristobal and flew back to Guayaquil for a last night at the Hotel del Parque. We had a lovely dinner at their restaurant, Casa Julian. The next day we started a long travel day back to Guyana via Panama. We left the hotel at 11:30 AM, transited Panama, and finally got home around 3:30 AM Tuesday morning. Our cruise-mates Brian and Jason were with us through to Panama before they split off to go home to Chicago. John and I spent a lazy Tuesday at home.
We really enjoyed our trip! I promise more photos soon! (BTW, I fixed the photos from the last two blog posts.) We saw so many interesting creatures: marine iguanas, land iguanas, giant tortoises, dolphins, a few Galapagos penguins (who evidently don’t hang out in large groups like in Antarctica), a lone flamingo, lots of sea lions and their babies, and fur seals with babies. We also enjoyed the snorkeling and seeing cool fish, marine iguanas feeding on algae, and curious sea lions. The ocean was beautiful, the boat was very nice, and the food was good. We also enjoyed the other passengers on the boat, as well as the crew!
Our last day we visited the Charles Darwin breeding center for the giant tortoises.
Hanging out with Chuck
We finished “Andor” this week, which prompted us to watch “Rogue One” (the next in the Star Wars series), which prompted us to start the Star Wars movies again. We also watched a couple of episodes of “Ted Lasso.” I’ve been reading this week: I finished “Erebus” by Michael Palin (yes, from Monty Python), “Mattering,” by Jennifer Breheny Wallace, and “Look What You Made Me Do” by John Lanchester; I started “Heartwood” today, by Amity Gage.
Last Sunday we flew to the Galapagos and boarded the Theory. It was an amazing week of exploring on a small boat, along with three other couples. We had a blast visiting several of the islands and snorkeling. We saw marine iguanas, land iguanas, penguins, a flamingo, fur seals, sea lions, and,of course, the giant tortoises.
John and I landed in Guayaquil Thursday night and are staying at a beautiful old hotel. It was previously used as a retirement home and a home for other people in need, then was relocated “brick by brick” to the historic part of town. It’s in a park setting, complete with a small zoo next door. It’s really lovely.
We were thrilled to learn our friend Jenae just arrived here to be the consul general, so we met her for dinner last night. We’ve worked with her in both Juarez and Buenos Aires— it was fun to catch up with her and have some yummy Ecuadorean food.
With Jenae in front of our hotel
Yesterday our friend Francoise picked us up for lunch and some sightseeing. We rode the cable cars over the (really wide) river and then over the urban areas. It was a neat way to see the city. Afterward we had lunch at a small local place that was delicious.
John and Francoise
Earlier in the week we kept Nugget, the little pug, for two nights. She’s so cute!
