After some time back at work, all of a sudden one week, Ecuador´s independance day sprang up without me really noticing. The country kindly moved the public holiday to a Friday and luckily for me, as well as a few million Ecuadorian´s, we all suddenly had a 3 day weekend. Decisions on what to do came and went like England´s aspirations of winning a world cup, before it was finally decided that we should all head for the Quilotoa Loop.
The Quilotoa Loop is a bumpy ring-shaped road that travles from the Panamericana far into the backcountry of the Cotopaxi Province, in the central part of the Andes. The road passes a number of indigenous towns with colourful markets and local fiestas, but essentially, the road loops around Quilotoa - a huge and spectacular volcanic crater lake. I headed off with Elena and many of the guys from the hostal for a fun packed adventure. We only had a few days so we couldnt do everything on the loop - but we were going to cram a fair amount in, at least as much as we could.
The first part of the journey was to bus it down from Quito to a rather loud and smoggy city, Latacunga, which if nothing else has done remarkably well at surviving several eruptions from the ever-looming Cotopaxi Volcano. Latacunga is the access point to the Quilotoa loop, so from here we then took the stunningly beautiful scenic bus ride onto the small and windy road that reaches our destination.
We eventually reached a small town where we stocked up on our supplies and then took a pick-up truck taxi onto the start of one part of the loop where you can trek. It was going to take a few hours but eventually we would end up at the town of Quilotoa, perched above the crater lake. Immediately after setting off on our trek though, one of our amigos got into a spot of trouble with a local. This part of Ecuador is home to one of the largest numbers of indeginous locals. Here they dont speak Spanish but their ancient language of Quichua. Each is dressed in very traditional clothes, and most of them out on the farms here often have a small llama attached to their arm. Here, the people conform to centuries-old ways of life. If you want to see some real South America - this is a good place to start. Unfortunately Chase decided to take a photo of one of these llamas and apparently, also ended up taking a snap of one of the locals by mistake too. Immediately we have two old ladies chasing after us demanding money for the photo. When Chase refused, they grabbed him and wouldn´t let go. We eventually managed to escape but only just, after one of them managed to through a large stick at him. They followed us on our trek for maybe an hour after that incident.
After some amount of time walking, we eventually reached a small town. It´s not on any map that we could find but I remember it being called Cocha or something similar to that. Due to the festival period, the entire town were out having a huge town fiesta. It was quite amazing. Horse parades and dancing, lots of eating of weird local dishes and much consuming of alcohol was generally the main activities on show. In fact most of the town was completely drunk by the time we got there. We joined in with the festivities mainly by also drinking. Eventually everyone crowded round a large fenced off area before letting out some bulls. It wasn´t a bull fight, i.e. they didn´t have matadors nor did they kill the bulls. It was purely for entertainment, in which they would let a bull into the arena and then drunk locals would test their nerves by teasing and mostly running from the bull. To get into the spirit of the whole thing, myself, Chase and Nate (another American we were with) decided to give it a go. I can tell you, it was pretty scary getting in with a two ton bull. At one point it came straight for us, and I can honestly say that I have never run so fast in all my life. The locals took great amusement in watching us foreigners running from their bull. After enough scary encounters we carried on with our trek.
It was another good two hours walking, on dried up river beds and through the lush countryside of the Andean mountain range. The views were stunning, before we eventually we made it to the town of Quilotoa. Perched above the crater lake, Quilotoa is a small town (population just 150) with stacks of hostals, though most are ramshackle type places. We stayed in an old looking building, which was part of a farm, but which had a large enough room to house us all and a fireplace, which was much needed. At 3900m above sea level (almost half the height of Mount Everest), this place gets cold, especially at night. Most of that night we spent huddled around the fire, eating and drinking hardy food to warm the bones.
The following morning we went to check out the crater lake. Its a gasp-inducing sight. This once was a dominating volcano that eventually blew its top. Its sides collapsed in on itself and all that was left was a large deep crater. Over time it filled up with water, now leaving a huge crater lake. The locals call it the eye to the sky and if you ask them how deep the lake is, they will tell you its bottomless. I would believe them too, except I work for the Instituto Geofisico, who constantly study this lake, so I know it is 240m deep!!! The lake is full of dangerous gases too, as they continue to seep up through the water from the depths below. The rim of the crater is about 400m above the lake, but feeling young and fit, we took the trek down to the water. Rocks here are naturally volcanic and ash in places makes your journey down some what hazardous. At the bottom, its an awesome sight, and equally peacful. It was nice just to rest on a volcanic rock in the sun and look out on the lake. Climbing round the side of the abyss and you can see some parts of the lake still bubbling with gas. This volcano certainly still has some life in it.
All of us are by no means young or fit people so there was no way that we were going to walk back up to the rim. Instead we decided to take horses to the top. Naturally I got the horse with the dodgy saddle, so most of my time was spent trying to stay on my horse as the saddle wobbled from side to side at the amusement of everyone around me. It was a windy road up and the horses certainly like to get close to the edge when-ever they can, I think just to scare the hell out of their load. It was a fun ride up nontheless and definately more relaxing than going up on foot.
After more photos from the top it was finally time to head home. We took the bus back to Latacunga and eventually on to Quito. It had been another great trip, full of danger, excitment and volcanoes. This country is definately built for someone like me. However, it was time to stay in Quito for a while. I think my weekend trips would have to come to an end, just for now. For I had many things planned in this capital city, and I was sure that each of them would be as exciting as the last........
Thursday 26 August 2010
The Quilotoa Loop
Mindo x 4
When I headed back to Mindo for my fourth time, it was pretty similar to the previous encounters. I went with a great bunch of people, did some amazing things and generally had a really good time. One of the long term volunteers at the Secret Garden Hostal (Esme) was leaving and she wanted to go somewhere for the weekend, to say a final goodbye. It was decided that Mindo would be the ideal weekend get-away. Along with us came a host of people from the hostal, Jens and his girlfriend (who had just arrived from Germany) and my work companions Elena and Jan, plus a host of all their friends.
Mindo was its usual sleepy (and slightly hippy) self. We arrived there on Friday night to get a full weekend of fun cramed in. Canopy swinging was top of everyones list and a forth time round actually didnt disappoint. Its always a very different experience, usually because of the different people you end up going with. During the weekend we also found time to head back to the butterfly farm where I have now become quite a pro at attracting the colourful flying insects to bury themselves somewhere on my body. The walk to the butterfly farm, through cloud forests and past rivers is always stunning so going back to the zoo of butterflies is always an easy decision.
As a little joke, Jens and I also persuaded everyone to go to the frog concert. Last time, the two of us had visited this interesting show and while it was kind of interesting and equally kind of fun, we were not really that bothered to view the whole event for a second time. Unfortunatley, our sarcastic jokes of telling everyone how amazing a frog concert really is wasnt taken so sarcastically and in the end it was me and Jens who were being persuaded to return. The joke would eventually end up on all of us. The frog concert was pretty rubbish. The last time Jens and I headed there we were only joined by perhaps 10 other people. That was perfect numbers for the show, especially when you have to take the night time trek around the lake with your guide. Unfortunately this time about 60 people turned up so the concert became somewhat chaotic and out of control. Screaming kids blocked out most of the frogs beautiful singing voices and the guide struggled to deal with so many people when trying to explain frog behaviour whilst walking us all around a small lake. By the end of it all, the others wanted to kill Jens and I.
We did make up for it however, by taking everyone to the waterfalls. Actually, I had only ventured to the waterfalls on my first visit to Mindo so I was quite excited to go back. You have to take a very high cable-car across a cloud forest valley which is pretty amazing to see. When you reach the other end there are two paths, each leading to different waterfalls. We decided to go for one of the waterfalls that I had never been to before and this one you can swim in. After a 20 minute walk through some jungly terrain we arrived at the waterfall, not so high but certainly powerful. At its base was a perfect, yet freezing swimming pool, for everyone to splash about in. You could also pay a dollar, to climb a ladder and jump off a high rock ledge into the pool, an activity know around the world as cliff jumping. Everyone forgave us after that!!!
We finished our adventures by eating as much pizza as our bellies could handle, lying in hammocks and drinking in the chill-out bars that are sctattered around town. It was another perfect weekend in Mindo and is certainly the reason that I keep returning here. However, I do think its time to go for a different weekend spot next time. I mean, Im sure ill be back here - its inevitable but maybe not for a little while now, well, maybe not for a little while now!!!
Volcan Reventador
During the very weekend that I was splashing around in rivers and insanely jumping off of bridges in Baños, a young English student was flying into Quito. Her name was Elena. Elena is currently studying Geology back in London and had contacted the Instituto Geofisico way back in January about doing some work experience here in Ecuador. Mario, my boss read her email and thought that she could certainly help out for a couple of months, but because she was English speaking, as is often the case here when that other popular language other than Spanish seems to come around, I was put in charge of overseeing the whole thing. Over the next few months I planned Elena's two month internship - essentially, I would be her boss. You know something in the world has gone very wrong when it comes to be that I have become a boss, but still I took the opportunity with relish.
During Elena's first week at work there was an opportunity to get her out in the field for a day, a trip with one of the geologists to visit a crater lake. I have been trying to get out in the field for a while now as I have only been on a few scattered trips here and there. Seismic data processing needs to be done so it's sometimes difficult to get out and up close and personal with the volcanoes. However, after weeks of bugging my boss to let me get out of the office and with Elena off on a field trip on her first week, I think Mario felt he should let me stretch my legs, and there just happened to be a trip going out that week too, to the volcano - Reventador.
Reventador means "The Exploder" in english and its quite aptly named, for in 2002, with just a few hours of precursory activity, this volatile volcano sprang into life with massive force. It was the largest eruption to take place at Reventador in historical times. The eruption created a 17km high ash plume and sent pyroclastic flows surging up to 7km from the cone, while andesitic lava flowed out of its U-shaped crater. It last erupted in 2009, continuing to create some hefty bangs whilst sending a stream of different lava flows down its flank. Yet this 3562m high stratovolcano, has actually done very little damage over its past eruptions. For Reventador is located in the Reventador National Park, out in the Eastern Andes. Lying some 5 hours drive north east of Quito on the edge of the Amazon Jungle, its remote location means that when it does live up to it's name, there are very few people there to witness it. Nevertheless, it's an important volcano for us volcanologists, and so monitoring it's current state is a continuous process. A group were being assembled to head out to Reventador for a number of reasons. One part of the group were going to fix a seismic station on the volcanoes flank. Another was off to instal a camera, which would take constant snaps of the volcano action, whilst another part of the group were going to take gas samples. I was going along for the ride and to naturally help out where-ever I could. For the general public, most people dont venture too near to reventador. Its remote location means it's pretty difficult to get to and there are only a few places to stay nearby. This means that over the last 10 years there has been almost no notable cases of damage or loss of life. I mean, you would have to be fool to get close to this exploding beast, this unpredicatble fiery chamber - so as true volcanologists............off we went!!!
There were nine of us in all. The two vehicles took the 5 our drive through pretty amazing Andes and Oreinte scenery. At first we stopped off at a communications tower where we had to make some checks regarding our seismometers out on the volcanoes flanks. We were some miles away from the volcano, but even from here we can tell if the data is being sent correctly. We later headed off to the Reventador National Park and our base camp - Hosteria Reventador. The hotel was pretty nice, with great big bedrooms and a tv / pool room close at hand. Yet it was the hammocks and swimming pool complete with slide that dominated proceedings while we were not working. Every now and again cockerels would barge their way through the dining area too, or being out on the edge of the jungle, a parrot would come and sit by your side. You could say it was a good working environment. However this hostel also had another suprise that would help out our work situation even better, but I didn't even realise this until the next morning.
A bright 5am start marked the beginning of the one day that I would get to spend out on Reventador. It was going to be a good day though - one I will certainly never forget. From the hotel, the volcano is a good 4 hour trek, and being on a tight work schedule, we didn't really have time for that. So, hidden around the back of the hotel is a small gravely area which I would soon realise was our landing pad. There were so many of us and all doing completely differnt things on different parts of the volcano, the Institute, like it often does in these situations, hired out a helicopter and pilot. It wasn't long before the helicopter was darting to and fro between the hotel landing pad and the volcano. Dropping people off in one place and collecting others in another.
Soon it was my turn for a ride. I have never been on a helicopter before and I doubt I will get to go on one again under such unusual circumstances. For I went with Silvana, a geochemist and volcanologist who was there measuring gas samples from the volcano. I was asked to hold a small piece of equipment called a spectrometer. Essentially what would happen is; the helicopter only has one side closed on it, the other is completely open. I would have to half hang out of this side holding the spectrometer up to the sky while we flew around the active volcano. The spectrometer had a cord connected to a computer which Silvana was holding in the front seat and taking the readings that were being produced. The spectrometer can detect gases in the air as well as their quantity and this was a useful measure for us volcanologists. The flight was incredible. While I was perched on the side of this helicopter with just a small car sealtbelt holding me in, we sailed high above the clouds. The views of the Amazon and Andes combined were very special, and as we soared up and around the flanks of the volcano we could see far off peaks, like the volcano Cayambe, which peaked its snow capped summit through the clouds. The helicopter flew right into the crater and around the still very active cone. Smoke and ash rose from its top. Below you could clearly see the numerous old lava flows that had swept down the volcanoes flanks in years gone by. Above the clouds and half hanging out the chopper, tightly gripping this small and very expensive devise became more problematic. It was freezing up there and the wind continuously pushes your arm back, making the whole thing very tiring. Yet it was the unbelieveable views of forests, waterfalls, and volcanoes which kept my attention firmly off the arm aching activity. Im not sure that I will ever have a better helicopter flight than that in my life.
Later that day I headed off again, this time with Pablo. He was being sent onto one of the old lava flows to instal a camera. When set up, the device would take a picture of the volcano every 5 minutes. It would be left there for a few months and then all the data (thousands of photos) would be collected. We got back on the helicopter and set off for Reventador once more. The helicopter cant land on jagged and rough lava terrain, so it meant that it had to hover a meter from the ground so we could jump down, hopefully without twisting or breaking an ankle. We landed onto one of the 2002 lava flows just fine and began to work. The camera doesnt take too long to instal and the plan was it would all be done in 20 minutes at which time the chopper would come back round and pick us up. During our installation we were suddenly both very startled. Reventador lived up to its name. A huge loud thuderous noise was heard coming from the volcanoes crater. A few seconds later this was followed by a large ash column rising high into the air. The volcano wasnt erupting but it was certainly clearing its throat. The worrying thing about it all though, was that just a few hours earlier I had been seated in a helicopter almost brushing past that cone where the explosion had initiated. If that had happened while we were still up there flying around, things could have turned out quite badly. That explosion certainly wasn't expected and it definately makes you think what might have been. Still, we were fine so we carried on with the task at hand.
We continued installing the camera. Unfortunately by the time we had finished clouds had swept in and there was now no chance of the helicopter coming to get us from our current position. Luckily, volcanologists come prepared, so we radioed our intentions in and with our GPS device - we set off. The idea was to walk over the old lava flows down to an open clearing where there was a seismic station currently being fixed by two of our colleagues. We would meet them there before radioing in to get picked up. We could even see the site we were aiming for, but getting over lava is no easy process. Its hard, jagged, often loose boulders and spikes that make for a very slow and careful footed walk. It took an hour and a half to reach our destination. This probably would have taken just 20 minutes if we were trekking on flat land, but here the lava flows swayed up and down so it was a constant scramble across. It certainly reminded me of Frodo and Sam in The Lord Of The Rings, walking over endless mounds and pillars of volcanic rock. It was a moody place out here too especially as little could be seen with the ever dropping clouds.
We finally reached the station and our friends and we were soon back on the helicopter and in the comfort of the hotel. It was a job well done and a fantastic day, though for now - my work was over. We stayed that night in the hotel and a few of the others went out that morning to finish off their jobs. Yet by 10am everything was complete so we packed up and took the slow ride back to Quito. It was a field trip I will never forget and a good learning experience. I hope I get to continue seeing and doing such amazing things through work, as really, thats why I'm out here. And if it's taught me one thing more than the anything else............it's that I will bug Mario just that little bit more now!!!
Friday 13 August 2010
Back In Baños
As the World Cup slipped away for another 4 years, my life in Quito started to return back to its familiar routine. This generally involved volcano work during the week and either going out in Quito or literally going out of Quito, for the weekend. With quite a few long-termers hanging around and so many of them getting itchy feet to see other places besides the capital, we all grouped together and headed off to Baños for the weekend. There was a pretty big group of us, all ready for some jungle fun and we would meet even more people that we knew when we arrived. It was going to be a good weekend.
Baños is an amazing place. Out on the edge of the Amazon, its a small touristy town of waterfalls, natural hot-pools (fed by the Tungurahua Volcano), great food and an extreme sports paradise. It also has a pretty good night life scene too. As you can imagine I was pretty happy to return here for only my second time.
On the Saturday, we started proceedings by jumping off a bridge. I had already done it here twice but couldn't resist just one more go. So, attached by just a couple of climbing ropes, I lept off of the San Francisco Bridge on the outskirts of Baños and plummeted some meters before conforming into a big swing under the structure. Nothing quite clears a hangover than Bungee Jumping. A few of the others had a go too (some dared not to do it), before we continued our adventurous day.
Later that afternoon, we all headed off to the next extreme sports challenge. Actually I was really excited about this one. In the whole time that I have been travelling so far (for the last 2 and a half years pretty much), its probably the one extreme thing that I have never managed to do. I had opportunities to do it. In fact some of the places I have travelled through were some of the best locations in the world for it, but for some reason or another - it just never happened. So, that afternoon in Baños a group of perhaps 10 of us took the hour drive out of town, hit the river and went White Water Rafting.
We first got some brief instructions from our guide, before splitting into two groups, boarding our rafts and taking to the water. I believe most of the River was grade 3 which is about somewhere in the middle for the violence of rapids. It was a bit worrying however as we did have one young English woman in our group (Ella) who couldnt actually swim and no one bothered to mention that to the guide. The usually non-stop talking Ella was silent the entire trip, I believe just praying that it would all be over as quickly as possible. In total the event last about an hour as we wound our way through rocks and rapids downstream. The rest of the time involved cruising on the gentler river sections and trying immensly to soak people in the other raft with our paddles. The best parts for me were obviously fighting the giant rapids and trying to stay in the raft at the same time. Actually no-one fell out during the entire trip. Overall, it was a lot of fun and everyone had a good laugh, including Ella in the end. I will certainly go for another round at some point but certainly I'll need to move up to a grade 4 at least.
The rest of our time in Baños was moslty spent eating and drinking in the restaurants and bars around town. The only downside to the whole trip was I came back with a scar on my nose. Essentially, someone through a skull at me. It's on odd way to obtain a scar I'll grant you but it happened nontheless. In a bar in Baños, there is a huge out-door garden complete with raging fire in the middle, where locals and tourists alike spend their hours hugging the warm fire and drinking a cold beer. Around this bar though is the most odd collection of memorabilia, including an old tv set, a bicycle, a trumpet and an old skull. We also had in our group a hilarious young Irish woman who above all likes nothing better than to swig out of a whiskey bottle at most points during the day. The combination of a drunken Irish woman and a garden full of funky memorabilia can only end in disaster - as it did. It all happened when she decided she just had to play the trumpet. She grabs the instrument with immense vigour but without realising that one of the horns from the skull was wrapped around the trumpet at the time. The result was to fling this animals head half-way across the garden and straight onto my nose. I guess accidents do happen and often more frequently when a drunk Irish woman is involved, but still we all took it in fun and I just added it to the collection of the many scars that I seem to be collecting lately.
Overall, It was a great weekend with a great group of people. In a way it was a shame I would have to return back to Quito. It would be nice just to hang out here for a while. But still, volcano work needed to be done and I dont know anyone else around town who can process seismic data from volcanoes - so, off we all headed back to the capital to begin a new week. Actually, I would later find out there was a nice suprise for me. I had no idea at the time but I was going out in the field. At last, after such a long time stuck in the office, I would get the chance to see some more volcanoes close up, and as it turned out, it would end up being the best field trip i've ever been on.............................................
Tuesday 10 August 2010
World Cup 2010 Comes To End And As Usual My National Team Bow Out Early
So far in the 2010 World Cup, my national team, England, have done pretty terribly in the competition. We have some so-called world class footballers, but as is so often the case for England, they dont play together as a world class team. So when England were drawn up against Germany in the last 16 I went into that game with a lot of hope and pride but little confidence. The night before the game, my German buddy, Jens, popped over to the Secret Garden Hostal with his lap-top and on the terrace, above the twinkling lights of Quito's historic 'old town' we sat there reliving some of the England Vs Germany games of old, which he had been downloading ever since our nation's fates were tied together. I had the great 1966 final to enjoy and he had some other, less memorable games - ones in which I dont believe anyone really cares or worries about.
We watched the game in the Mariscal with a mixture of English and German fanatics. I dont need to describe the horror that then proceeded. I can complain that we had a goal disallowed that was so clear cut, the incident became more laughable than that of annoyance. The Germans around me said that was revenge for the 1966 final, in which England had a little help from a Russian linesman. But Russians or not, the point is, no England fan could really complain - we wernt good enough. Our players throughout the tournament didnt show enough fight. If I was playing for my nation, if I was representing 51 million people I would be bleeding and sick on the touchline before that final whistle sounded, if that was required. I saw nothing of that from these over payed morons that were gracing the worlds biggest football stage in the name of my country. As I walked back through the Mariscal, before me lay a sea of German fans, cheering, singing and waving flags. For me, it can only be described as walking through the gates of hell. I went back to my room and straight to bed.
The rest of the World Cup at least was a joy to watch. I was actually more upset when Ghana were so brutally kicked out of the competition than that of England. Here in Ecuador, the locals were cheering all the South American teams and so were delighted when the quater-finals came around. Unfortunately, like me, they were also very disappointed at the later stages.
I watched the final - also in the heart of Quito's bar district. There were many Spanish shirts out on display but orange was generally the colour on view. It wasnt a great final but without doubt the best footballing team won, so I have to say a big well done to Spain. They are full of world class players who actually combine to create a world class team. They deserved it all. A good job also by South Africa too - the hosts did a pretty damn good job. Of course it will take about 3 months to stop the ringing from my ears after those damn Vuvuzelas were blasted out of every tv set in Ecuador, but still I will have good memories of the tournament overall. Its a shame my nation were so utterly useless - but still, theres only 4 years to wait.................................
Wednesday 4 August 2010
Mindo.................Again!!!
Just a few days after the incident, the story - involving myself, Leanne and the night of the taxi kidknapping had now spread across a number of hostals and probably most of Quito. People would come up to me saying "hey, did you hear about those two people who got kidnapped in a taxi the other day". Sometimes I would tell them that one of those people was me, on other occassions I would just pretend I knew nothing about it. It became pretty boring and quite a chore for both me and Leanne to relive the whole event, answering the same questions, so as the weekend approached we decided to skip town. The choice to get out of Quito for the weekend was easy, and the choice of our destination was perhaps even easier still, for a third time, I headed off to Mindo.
Along with Leanne and myself, came Jens, a very cool German friend who has been living in Quito for maybe 4 months now. He's doing an internship in Forestry, but for some reason which I have never really understood (I dont think he knows either), they wont let him go off to the Jungle (where the trees are), and instead keep him locked away in Quito with me. He's one of my longer term buddies and in a week or so, I would have to endure alongside him, a game of football between my nation and his, in the 2010 World Cup last 16. Oh how I couldnt wait for that!!!
In Mindo, the three of us later met up with some other guys that we knew and all of us spent a great few days together. Naturally everyone wanted to go canopy swinging, and so for the third time, off I went to swing above the trees. I love doing it so there was no need to ever complain. We also found time to head back to the butterfly farm which is always nice for a relaxing afternoon. On our first evening too - we went to a frog concert. At least this is how it was described to us. The whole thing was a bit bizarre. Here I was, expecting to see frogs lined up in a row while a conducter waved his stick around and yet - it wasnt quite to be. Actually it was pretty interesting. By the side of a large lake, hundreds of frogs were bellowing out thier distinctive sounds. The guide walked us round this lake at night and gave us an explanation of all the frogs and their behaviour. We also saw other night time wildlife as Mindo is in the heart of the cloud forests, so as you can imagine - the place is full of strange creatures, especially bugs. Apart from those delightful activities, we just ate a lot of pizza & home-grown chocolate in the shape of brownies and swang about in hammocks. It was the perfect get-away. I know I will be back in Mindo again - it's inevitable. This place really has become my second home, and with being just a few hours away from Quito - why not???
We all returned to the countries capital and continued pretty much where we had left off - answering questions about the taxi night. A few days later, Leanne left, continuing her travels on to Colombia. We certainly went through a lot together and which I for one will never forget. I hope I get to see her again some time - though I doubt I ever will. If we do ever bump into each other out on the road though - we will certainly be sure to get in the right taxi!!!
Well, I guess I still have Jens - oh and that game of football - which had now, all of a sudden, crept up on us both............................
