To Quito

Well I was going to try and write a daily diary but I have been gone a week and here I am finally jotting stuff down.
Friday 15 June
Left work and got a ride to the airport from Wayne (we left at 1:30) and I got there in plenty of time, switched airplanes in Cincinati and made it too Charleston. Mike met me and we went out for a beer. In Charleston you can get a 32 ounce mug of Dos XX (Is that how it is written?) for $5 and that includes chips and salsa - what a deal. The beginings of a cold have hitten me (and as I write a week later haven't really left)
Saturday 16 June
Got a tour of the base and went shopping for a new mp3 player - my Iaudio mp3 player has a major problem with the plug for the headphone thus rendering it inoperable. I elected to go for the Zen Vision:M. 30 gigs and can load and show pictures and can also show movies in the .avi format (next year) - the only problem is that it uses ID3 tags to organize the music - nothing is perfect.
We went out for dinner (mexican) and had another of those 32 ouncers. We were planning on going downtown but got screwed over by 2 taxi companies - so we said the hell with it and walked to a place to eat.
Sunday 17 June
Went down town and I smoked son number 1's ass in pool - I believe it was 6 - 0. Had fun and ate dinner at the apt. (pizza)
Monday 18 June
Thank god for small miracles. Sunday the train was 12 hours late - Monday it was only 1 hour late. The train ride was fine - no dining car this time and the guy next to me had his earphones way too loud - I am too nice of a guy and said nothing. Met a lawyer from Miami that is 2 years younger than me and left Cuba in 68. He had some interesting stories - he just got his brother out last week - an arranged marriage with a mexican women got him the right to leave Cuba to travel to Mexico and then he crossed the border. Once you cross the center line of the bridge you are on american soil and if Cuban can stay. His wife is also Cuban - he met her over there and married her (3 days before 9-11) and it took 1.5 years to get her here - much longer than before 9 - 11. I didn't realize that Cubans could travel to Cuba to visit relatives - footnote to wife - he encouraged me to go for a visit. Once I got to Miami I took a taxi to a motel. I told him cheap, near airport with shuttle - It was $57 and worth it.
Tuesday 19 June
Got to the airport with my usuall million hours to spare. Had no problems. The airport in Panama was something - tons of shops for people with tons of $. There was no shops to buy a bottle of water or gum or newspaper. There was 1 cafeteria - crazy. The good thing is that you don't have to go thru customs and immigration if you are in transit - much better than the US or even Mexico for that matter. Arrived in Quito on time and took a taxi ($10) to the hostel - paid in the terminal - very easy. Got to the hostal and checked in. Beer is $1.25 for .6 L which is about 21 oz I believe. Pilsner is my new favorite. Hung around the hostal BSing (How is that spelled?) in the evening.
Wed 20 June
more to come