Nearly two months ago now I showed you this building which at the time, was being "demolished" by hand. Work went on for a few days and then there was silence for weeks...until last night when my husband and I thought that a semi-truck was being thrown around by a huge gorilla...yes, last NIGHT. Ok, so it only lasted about five minutes - we determined they had to demolish just enough of the front of the property to be abe to park the bulldozer and then they returned at 7 this morning...and have been going strong ever since. It feels like we are living in the midst of a three-hour long earthquake as with every BOOM of the shovel, our home shakes. I hope they're done soon!

Today's post includes two photos as I couldn't decide between showing the demolition and the "protective gear" that the driver was wearing (click to enlarge). It is sooooooooooooo dusty - I cannot begin to imagine how much cement dust this guy is inhaling even amidst his wraps.

Love Birds...

Ok, I don't think these are really love birds, but I am amused by the fact that there were a good dozen of them in a huge long cage at the place where I went to get a haircut today. Whoduthunkit? They were very social and chattered up a storm when the kids and I went near their cage.

Just a human interest photo, taken about three years ago in a rural village here.

Remember the building I showed you awhile back? Well, thought I'd give you an update on the progress...and remember, it's always more interesting if you click to enlarge! We think the shape of it is rather odd so are curious to see the finished product.

Apparently the ice cream shop below this dome shaped roof ran out of chairs and so these guys were forced to sit on the roof...or something like that. ;) (sorry to take so long to post today - I think I'm still in recovery mode from yesterdays post)

I'm still shaking...

ok people, this is the most horrible picture I have ever taken but it's probably because I was shaking with fear at finding the World's Largest South American Cockroach in my silverware draw. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH" Did you hear me scream when I opened the drawer? OH MY GOODNESS!!!!! Because of the altitude, we do live in a relatively bug free environment with the exception of silver fish which seem to thrive in every nook and cranny of everyones home. Now for those of you who know me, or have killed bugs for me in the past, you can imagine that I was instantly sweating profusely as I tried to determine just how to rid myself of this near 3" monstrosity My second thought however after the "OH MY GOODNESS", was "how can I quick get a picture for the DP family?" As far as photo ops go, he was perched quite well on a bright Tupperware lid for a child's glass and he really was showing himself well - all 6" of him...but by the time I dashed to get my camera (here is where some dramatic creepy music comes in)...he WAS GONE. I instantly picked up the phone to call my husband, certain that he would have some sort of secret XRay vision that could transcend all the way from his work to help me find it. Alas, I am sorry to say that he was useless...except that he encouraged me several times to go and ask Manuel, our wonderful building caretaker to come and help me.

I thought I could be self sufficient however and so put on my super industrial strength orange rubber gloves (nothing can transcend the glove...), the longest, heaviest jeans I own and some big shoes (I know, I know, Mom and Dad, you are remembering now the snake incident in your basement many odd years ago - think the new owners ever replaced the toilet that we broke with the sledgehammer?). I was also armed with a can of Raid that had approximately one spray left in it. I was ready.

After poking around in the silverware drawer with a long handled spoon and realizing it was not there (IT WAS NOT THERE!), I then pulled out the draw next to it (the towel/wash cloth drawer) and gingerly began shaking each item in there. Nope, no cucaracha there either. "Oh my land, it's getting serious..." I thought "he has moved to the food cupboard." Knowing the food cupboard was much deeper and fuller than the silverware drawer, this called for the long handled broom which I used to move items to the front of the cupboard before removing them with my rubber gloved hand to put on the kitchen floor. Too many long moments later...there he was, all 10" of him, lurking in the far back corner of the cupboard wiggling his antenna at me as if to say "you can't catch me scaredy girl". He didn't know I had one small spray of Raid. Before spraying however, I quickly took aim with my camera, cursed the fact that he had chosen the darkest place to hide and took the photo - you see how well it turned out. After the photo I picked up my can of Raid, aimed carefully and sprayed mightily. He MOVED! He RAN! He leaped over tall soup cans and fell behind a LOT of things that I was not in any way shape or form going to move to try and find him and so I ran...ran to find Manuel.

Into the elevator I dove praying that Señor Cockroach was still stunned by said small spray of Raid and not running to jump onto my pillow. As the elevator door opened, there before my eyes bless his heart, was Manuel AND our landlady. "Manuel! Ayudame POR FAVOR! Hay una insecta GRANDE en mi cocina!!!" (Help me PLEASE! There is a HUGE bug in my kitchen"). Well, good ol' Manuel, he has helped me before when we had one of those gigantic moths in our house (doesn't anything come in a small size here??) and so he smiled that smile of his that says "Ah, Señora Lisa, you are a funny Gringa but I will help you." So up we all went. Back in my kitchen, we were all just sort of looking at the cupboard when all of a sudden he fell out of the cupboard and onto the floor. He was a good 12" in length. Of course I screamed and scared the bageebees out of everyone, but at least they were alerted to the fact that I had found him. Manuel grabbed one skinny little paper towel and caught him as he was running across the kitchen floor and then grabbed one other skinny one too - I guess to smoosh him with - I couldn't watch.

.

All in all, it was VERY traumatic...can you tell? The landlady said they come in on bananas and I said "we haven't had bananas for a looooong time", and she pretty much said "well, they're tiny when they ride in on a banana...did you happen to notice the size of that one?" hm, right, point well taken. I guess he's been hiding for awhile. Anyway, Manuel smiled that smile again, the land lady gave me a hug and I was left with my shaking hands...which by now have recovered as I've been writing...but I still have to upload the photo which means I'm going to have to see him again. Perhaps I'll refrain from looking...I think he's crawling up my arm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whew! The day is nearly done and I haven't posted a picture yet, so it's to the archives I go. This is the view from our dining room window...hope I haven't posted it before. That's Mt. Cotopaxi in the distance.

Oops! I forgot one :)

Hi everybody! I forgot that I had wanted to include this brief video of the music that was provided at the top of Pichincha. I inlude the above photo too, but it really is more fun to hear the music. ;)

Breathe deeply...

This will be our last day on the lovely mountain. I hope you enjoyed the fresh, crisp air!

Up, up and away!

Some of you have asked how we got to the top of the mountain and this photo gives you the answer. It takes approximately 8 - 10 minutes to get to the "top" of Mt. Pichincha via this relatively smooth ride. I say "top" because while you're really high up when you get off (14,050 ft.), there is still a lot of climbing that you can do to get to even higher destinations via walking paths. Whew! I tell you though, it really takes the wind out of you being that high, and so while we did walk quite a bit higher than where we were dropped off, there was still plenty of trail left when we called it quits for some banana bread and water before heading back down!

This is my favorite shot from yesterday and I should save it but why not put it out there. ;) I have never been at the top of Pichincha when these beautiful red grasses are in bloom so it was an extra special treat for the camera. If you click to enlarge, you will better see the beautiful patchwork of the mountainside as well as the city in the distance. The day was a bit cloudy, but that was to be expected for this time of year. As one of the friends I was with said (hi Sheryl!), you can really gage how high we were based on the cloud level...pretty cool.

So I had a wonderful morning today with an unexpected trip to the Teleférico with some new friends from the States. This is me at the top of the world (well, at about 14,000 feet actually). It was c-c-c-cold and w-w-w-windy. :) I'll show some more pictures in the next couple of days.

Here is an archive photo and not a great one at that, but it shows the city of Quito from inside a cable car of the Teleférico ride up Ruccu Pichincha mountain which I have mentioned before. The city is laid out like a banana in the valley of the Andes so very long from North to South and narrow from East to West. Click this photo to see the detail of the city a little more clearly (through the windows of our car!)

" Buzzzz"

Some pretty pom poms for the last few hours of Saturday :) (I almost forgot to post today!)

Anyone know what this crazy looking flower is called?

POP!

I hope you're not tiring of these lovely flowers...because as I have said before they ARE my favorite thing to photograph...and remember we're on a color tour!

Two buds...

Yes, more roses, but these are still on the bush and so lovely in their readiness to pop!

This is one of my favorite shots so far - and I do encourage you to click to enlarge this one to get the full burst of color. :)

There are lots and lots of these bushes around Quito, in a variety of colors. Today's selection is fuchsia. Enjoy! By the way, did anyone notice the cool green bug on yesterdays flower? I felt a little bit of kindred spirits with Isabella and her lizard. :) I actually did not notice the insect until last night when I enlarged the photo and saw him sitting there.

Drove by a home that had a huge amount of climbing rose bushes that went from one end of their yard to the other. Hundreds of blossoms were hanging out of the fence and this photo is a result of that. Oh the aroma!!!

A color tour

The kids and I took a little drive yesterday (per my 6 year olds request) and so we stopped here and there to snap some photos of flower colors in the neighborhood. I shall share them with you over the next few days. My original goal that started this drive was my quest to find this tree above. I was on a street a couple weeks ago that I had not been on before and there was this absolutely BRILLIANT tree FILLED with these yellow flowers. I could barely see the tree for the flowers. While I wish I had gotten back sooner to photograph it (you can see that many of the flowers have died) it was still lovely to behold. Come back for more!

Again for your viewing pleasure, more roses. :) I confess that while I was at the grocery store today I bought these for you all as you seem to like them and I don't seem to have gotten my buns out into the neighborhood lately to take pictures of anything else. So enjoy! And if you click the pic to enlarge, you might just smell them. These smell the best of any roses I have purchased here...like an old fashioned garden rose. Beautiful. :)

My camera is back! But I'm still in the house, so I'm sharing my lovely $1.19 a dozen red roses with you today. :) Remember I told you about roses in Ecuador? If not, click here.

Todays post features a cute little Sea Lion from the Galapagos. I have supplemented it with a video as I love seeing the masses and hearing their sound. :)

A friendly pelican to share your day. Think this guy knows Nigel?

Mr. "I'm looking for a mate" Frigate

Todays Galapagos post is of the male Frigate bird. From the pelecaninformes website: "Male frigate birds are black with a patch of red skin at the throat that is the gular sac. During courtship display, the male forces air into the sac, causing it to inflate over a period of 20 minutes into a startling red balloon. As males tend to display in groups, the effect is magnified. Then the males sit quietly in the low shrubs watching for a female to fly overhead. At this, the males waggle their heads from side to side, shake their wings and call. If the display is attractive enough, then the female will land and sit beside her amour."

Sally Lightfoot

Here we have a Sally lightfoot crab, also from the Galapagos. My rechargeable batteries sort of blew up in my charger yesterday (don't ask me how that happened?) so my camera is not functioning at the moment...and so I hope you will indulge in a few days worth of Galapagos pictures that my husband shot while on the Islands. Might I suggest that you click to enlarge this one. :)

Whoops! I just realized I had not yet posted a picture yet today. This is a blue footed booby bird from the Galapagos Islands. Isn't he cute? :)

Theme Day: "Men at work"

Today is theme day in the Daily Photo world, and todays theme is "Men at work". Of course there are men (and women) working all over this city, but I thought tonight brought an especially delightful shot as the fellas working on that building I showed you awhile ago, are now working at night as well (click photo to enlarge if you can't see them very well!). I spoke with a friend of mine tonight who lives even closer to this site than we do and she was none too happy about the new night shift moving in. ;) As you can see, it is pitch black out but they are managing to work via the assistance of a couple of spot lights. While taking some pictures, all of a sudden it went completely black and all the men began yelling "la luz! la luz!" (the light, the light) but they did get it back on. Thank goodness as I was sort of holding my breath waiting for one of them to topple.

Theme day occurs on the first day of every month, and there are more than 60 DP bloggers participating in todays "Men at work" theme day. Take a quick tour around the world to check them out. Enjoy!

1 (Greenville SC (USA) ) -2 (Hyde (UK) ) -3 (Tenerife (Spain) ) -4 (Albuquerque, NM (USA) ) -5 (Stayton, OR (USA) ) -6 (Rotterdam (NL) ) -7 (Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) ) -8 (London (England) ) -9 (Richmond, VA (USA) ) -10 (Sydney -Sally (Australia) ) -11 (Newcastle upon Tyne (England) ) -12 (Constanta (Romania) ) -13 (Evry (France) ) -14 (Lubbock, TX (USA) ) -15 (Szentes (Hungary) ) -16 (Villigen (Switzerland) ) -17 (Mumbai (India) ) -18 (Tel Aviv (Israel) ) -19 (Twin Cities, MN [USA] ) -20 (Jakarta (Indonesia) ) -21 (Houston -Candice & Megan, TX (USA) ) -22 (Budapest (Hungary) ) -23 (Singapore - Zannnie (Singapore) ) -24 (Dubai (UAE) ) -25 (Singapore -Keropokman (Singapore) ) -26 (Madrid -Dsole (Spain) ) -27 (Mazatlan -Kate (Mexico) ) -28 (Nelson (New Zealand) ) -29 (Vantaa (Finland) ) -30 (Kyoto (Japan) ) -31 (Tokyo (Japan) ) -32 (Joplin, MO (USA) ) -33 (Auckland (New Zealand) ) -34 (Sequim, WA (USA) ) -35 (Menton (France) ) -36 (Minneapolis, MN (USA) ) -37 (Istanbul (Turkey) ) -38 (Sydney -Nathalie (Australia) ) -39 (Sharon, CT (USA) ) -40 (Seattle, WA (USA) ) -41 (Anderson, SC (USA) ) -42 (Monte Carlo, (Monaco) ) -43 (Milano, (Italy) ) -44 (Grenoble (France) ) -45 (Wailea, HI (USA) ) -46 (Guelph, ON (Canada) ) -47 (Melbourne - John (Australia) ) -48 (New York City (USA) [Ming_the_Merciless] ) -49 (Cebu (Philippines) ) -50 (Bandung (Indonesia) ) -51 (Antigua Guatemala (Central America) ) -52 (Hamburg (Germany) ) -53 (London -Jonemo (UK) ) -54 (Hong Kong ) -55 (Stavanger (Norway) ) -56 (Paris (France) ) -57 (Naples, Florida (USA) ) -58 (Saarbrücken (Germany) ) -59 (Shanghai (China) ) -60 (Quito (Ecuador) ) -61 (Zurich (Switzerland) ) -62 (Joensuu ( Finland ) ) -63 (Aliso Viejo, CA (USA) ) -64 (Cheltenham (England) ) -65 (Brussels (Belgium))