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As of September 1, 2005 we are now in Quito, Ecuador!
The trip has begun. Before we start the pictures I would like to describe the kind of trip this will be, and how I think it will be slightly different than others. First of all, we have spent over ten years preparing for the adventure. This is not going to be a "Get on the BMW R100GS motorcycle every day and head further south". The adventure is a "HUNT". The preparation has included acquiring and reading hundreds of books, many of which are extremely rare and collectible. A few of the books are from private printings of fewer than 1,000 books. I have scanned hundreds of pictures from these old books (the collection of old books is listed on a link on the prior page). The plan is to find the same landmarks taken in the photographs from these old books, then attempt to re-photograph the landmark as it appears today. The goal is to take the new photos from the exact locations as the old photo. As we are successful, I will include, on this web site, the "Then and Now" photo's. Here are a few samples of what we will be looking to photograph.
Hope you don't find this journey too boring, but it will take time. We have planned on approximately 1 1/2 years to travel slowly, but completely through South America. We left Los Angeles on Monday, the 28th of August, 2005 and arrived in Quito, Ecuador on the 29th. The BMW is not yet here. It got lost in shipping from Los Angeles to Miami, where it was going to be put on a ship for Guayaquil, Ecuador. The shipper has now agreed to make up some of the time, and now the bike will be air freighted to Quito during the next few days.
Wednesday, the 31st of August, 2005 This is our first complete day in Quito. We walked about 8 miles through the older sections of the city, which was founded in 1585.
We had a fine Italian meal before retiring for the night. Note to Jacob, our grandson: I have told you that the water in the toilets spins one way above the equator and the opposite direction below the equator. Here in Quito (we are 14 miles south of the equator), the water spins every which way! I woke up last night around 2:00 am and realized that I had not yet checked the spin direction, but after about 10 flushes, the direction is completely random.
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