The most unpopular money in the U.S. is the most popular here. Ecuador uses the US dollar as its currency because its own currency collapsed about five years ago. The banks do not often replace US paper currency here, which can get really dirty. So, by far, the most popular money lady in Ecuador is Sacagawea . Although these one-dollar coins are practically non-existant in the country that mints them -- the United States, they are everywhere here in Ecuador.

We are leaving early tomorrow morning for the Galapagos islands. We will be on a boat there for 8 days and will be back in Quito on March 5, and then off to Mendoza, Argentina, on March 6. Luckily, if all goes as planned, we will be back just in time for the Jon Stewart Oscars. We do not know if we will have any access to the Internet while we are on the Galapagos, which are mostly uninhabited islands 600 miles west of the South American continent.