Onward

January 2, 2007

We’re on the plane now to the Galapagos. I wasn’t able to post the last transmission at the airport, so you’ll just have persist a little longer in your mundane lives without your Daily Dose of Dave (now there’s a blog title!).

This might be a good time to give you the big picture of the adventure on which I am embarked. I’ll be spending the next three months traveling more or less clockwise around the Pacific. I am accompanied in the first part of this endeavor by Kathy, my beloved wife of (I better get this right) 22 years. Together we will visit the aforementioned Galapagos Islands, then return to Quito for one week of touring in the highlands of Ecuador. Onward to four days in a jungle camp in the Amazon where mosquitoes are reputed to have wing spans of up to four feet and be fully capable of carrying small children away.

(It is appropriate to establish here another blog ground rule – don’t expect me to attribute good lines I steal. But for the record that one was from the Inlaws – a comic masterpiece. The original that is, with Peter Falk and Alan Arkin, not the crappy remake which should be avoided like mosquitoes with four foot wing spans.)

Assuming we survive our voyage through the heart of darkness (did I mention the nano-piranhas that are reputed to swim up the urine stream of anyone foolish enough to take a leak in the river?) we will ascend to the Peruvian Inca city of Cuzco. Kathy will ride a train up to the fabled lost city of Machu Pichu. I, on the other hand, invigorated by the exertion of molesting endangered species in the Galapagos, cavorting about lava-spewing volcanoes, and playing hopscotch on the backs of Amazonian crocodiles, will hazard the four day expedition to Machu Pichu along the Inca trail. The dangers of that route are storied, what with 14,000 foot peaks, abominable snowmen, and copious piles of llama turd blocking the way. Or I may chicken out and take the train. Please amigos, no wagering.

After Machu Pichu, Kathy returns to the real world in Connecticut – someone has to earn a living and I elected her, unanimously. I continue on to adventures yet unwritten. My plane descends now and I must go (I have a childish fascination with taking photos from plane windows). Hasta Luego.

Your faithful correspondent,

Walkabout Dave