What a difference Mendoza, Argentina, is to Ecuador. While we arrived only yesterday, it is really striking how different it feels to be someone that blends in to the crowd, whereas in Ecuador we really stood out as tall, pale-skinned Gringos.

So far, Mendoza has been a a really disorienting mix of the familiar and unfamiliar. (The disorientation is aided by the fact that both Gary and I are still experiencing rocking motions from having sailed the Pacific for 7 days.) Mendoza´s blue sky, gentle sun, neighboring mountains, and urban-town composure feel a lot like home-sweet Boulder in late Summer, right down to a leafy pedestrian downtown mall. Meanwhile, the dated architecture feels very 1950´s, as does the people´s very European concern for their public appearence in stylish dress and public grooming. No chance of seeing an obsese waddler in sweat pants here.

A interesting paradox is that while we stood out in Ecuador, we did not get many appraising looks, since we were just another pair of gringos. Meanwhile, in Mendoza we are getting lots of appraising looks because here everyone is checking out everyone else.

Upon arriving in Mendoza, tired after about 12 hours of travel, we did something we have not done in more than a decade -- eat McDonald´s. It is shocking how good the meat in the McBurgers around here is. Argentina is a big cattle country, and Argentines really like red meat, so we are guessing that McDonald's cannot sell burgers here unless they use decent meat. It´s odd that some American consumer products are better abroad than at home. In addition to the McDonald´s tasting better, Coke does too - because in Latin America Coke is still made with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup.

On the left is a downtown shopping mall at 2 pm on a weekday afternoon. People here take their siestas really seriously. All the stores are shutdown from 1 pm to 4 pm.

There seems to be a curiously large number of people in Mendoza limping, or walking around with the help of crutches or various types of braces. I have also seen quite a few shops that specialize in selling orthopedic supplies. I´m not sure what´s going on. The driver-safety standards do not seem to be any more insane here than anywhere else in Latin America. Most of the limpers (but not the folks with crutches or braces) were young men, which suggests that they may have been injured playing soccer. But again, young men play soccer all over Latin America, and this is the first place where I see so many limpers. Any ideas out there?

Finally, another odd, first impression is the extreme levels of public courtesy and rudeness. On the courtesy side, it is not unusual for strangers to open doors for us. In one case, a fellow passenger on an elevator insisted that I disembark before him, even though I was behind him in the elevator.

On the rudeness side, people can be comically aggressive about trying to cut in front of you in line. On the afternoon we arrived, I was waiting to buy a cup of fresh grape juice from a street stand. A girl of about 10 years of age came after me, used her elbow and shoulder to push me aside and get a more prominent spot at the counter, and started rapping her coin on the counter, hoping to get the sale person´s attention before I could.

In another case, Gary and I were at a market and while the cashier was making change on our purchase, a fellow came from behind us, slammed down the item he was buying, and started waving his money and asking the cashier to ring him up, in the apparent hope that the cashier would stop our transaction to service this fellow who just arrived at the counter. The cashier did not seem the least bit surprised at this behavior and simply ignored him.

Finally, at a barber shop, where I had been waiting for 15 minutes for a hair cut, an old guy came and successfully cowed the barber into taking him before me. I left.

Hey, for people tuning in who do not already know us, we also have other travel journals at our web site, rickandgary.com

Kicker Rock - Galapagos Islands

The room is rocking back and forth in Quito as I (Rick) sit at the computer at the Intenet Cafe. This is the after effect of being on this boat in the Pacific for 7 days. Neither of us had sea sickness, but boy there was a lot of rocking and my equilibrium has yet to recover.

Nevertheless, it was a great voyage among the islands of the Galapagos, with amazing wildlife. Besides, Charles Darwin did get seasick, hugely seasick, in 1831 when he sailed the Galapagos as a 24-year-old natural historian.

Below is one of the world-famous Galapagos Giant Tortoises, along with Rick in a shell formerly occupied by one. "Galápagos" Islands was named for these giants, which means tortoise in Spanish.
















Here are sea lions resting on the rocks, with peguins swimming in front of them, followed by a sea iguana. Practically all the wildlife on the Galapagos has no fear of humans, basically because there has been a relatively small history of hunting by humans on these islands. It is a bit of the blow to the ego when iguanas will pay you no attention when you are one foot away, but will run under a rock if a hawk shows up 500 feet away. Baby iguanas make a tasty snack for the Galapagos hawk which is at the top of the food chain. The hawks will even eat sea lions when hungry enough.


Below is a marine iguana that Gary got a great shot of by climbing under the ledge on which this iguana is sitting. While we liked these reptiles found only on the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin did not care for them. He thought they had a "stupid" demeanor and even called them "imps of darkness." There were places where they were so plentiful and unafraid of humans that we had to be careful to not step on them.

These are the most poular birds on the Galapagos, with the catchy name blue-footed boobies. They are cutely awkward on land and will even do a little mating dance with you if so inclined. But they are incredibly graceful when dive bombing for fish. The islands are also home to the red-footed and Nazca boobies.

The "Sally Lightfoot Crab" is also a common site on the

black lava fields at the ocean shore. They scurry away when approached, but will quickly return if you remain still a few minutes. Sometimes they will crawl right over your feet or a nearby iguana.

The island on the right is typical of the many volcanoes we sailed past, including Daphne Major where landmark studies on the evolution of finches were conducted by Princeton professors Peter and Rosemary Grant and described in the Pulitzer-winning book "The Beak of the Finch".

The islands are geologically young at a mere 20 million years for the oldest and are actively building on the youngest. The last eruption was in September, 2005.

The Galapagos penguin is the second smallest penguin in the world and the only species of penguin to live in tropical waters. The cool ocean currents make them endemic to only the two most western and youngest islands. Again, they are completely unafraid of humans. This photo was taken within three feet as our panga (small boat) past by several times with motor running and cameras clicking.

Another bunch of beach bums!