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Canon Boy

Todays entry rought to you by the music of Black Star, Mos Def and Talib Kweli Present…

So I bought a new Camera Today. But I guess I’ll keep it all kind of chronologicallly ordered. Kinda. As I like to do, in the Quentin Tarantino sort of sense.

Sunday while I was nursing a hangover and blogging the girls took off to get some food for the hike they had planned. I pretty much felt like I was taggin along. Oh well, I wasn’t good for much more that day anyway.

So we eat pretty well when Liz is involved. Veggies come along to the camping trip. We bring multiple stoves because we have them and because we can cook a sauve on one while cooking pasta or something on the other. Salt and Pepper. Olive Oil and Soy Sauce. Chopped garlic and Ginger, if we had it. I’d be eating Ramen and Instant Oats if it wa just me.

We got going around 9am Monday. Cabbed it to the bus terminal and we were off to Cajas National Park, $10 entry fee. We paid it while the who bus of 30 or so people was waiting,… waddayagonnado if there’s no ranger station near the trailhead. We hiked in about 2 hours observing trash on the left, trssh on the right, and trash on the path. Zhumir bottles. Hard candy wrappers. Yuch.

We found a nice campsite by the second lake we passed, nice if you like being nestled on empty tuna cans and 2 liter bottle. That was quickly remedied and the cigarette butts provided nice padding. We cooked a mean stir fry (well, Liz and Amelie did). I was still pooped. Mis-stepping on the way out. I’m gald I brought my non-ankle-twisting boots. They’re some heavy bastards.

That night was all about reading the newspaper (El Comercio) and progressing to the Life of Pi. I slept well. I was pooped.

We awoke to rain. The rain let up enough to cook some appely oatmeal and then it was back to the tent for a nap and some more Life of Pi, which I finished later in the day. Enjoyable book, very readable. Richard gave me a book, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha which is appartently big in England so I’ll give that a shot next. We slept. It rained. We slept some more. We played Backgammon on Liz’s game set. We slept some more. Big birds sqwaked outside our tents, of and some people arrived on horseback, set up camp, and proceeded to start fishing. I think we took their campsite. Sorry. Liz and Amelie went for separate walks. Liz got soaked. Amelie did not. It was a mellow lazy day and I was too into my book to go for a walk.

We walked out on Wednesday and picked up heaps and heaps of trash, if a heap is a grocery bag full,. we carried out about 3 heaps of trash. Well done. Back to Cuenca by bus. The girls get ready to part ways. Amelie going to the coast, Puerto Lopez, Liz going South to Loja or Vilcabamba. I might catch up with her later on. I stayed here to correct my camera situation.

Wednesday afternoon, in fact, I was trying to get my camera fixed. Inside the lens assembly there’s a little flat cable like they have in little electronics. It bend and unbends every time the zoom lens retracts or extends. After 4.5 years of active use it finally gave way. Or I broke it taking it apart. I think it wa starting to give out because it was doing the same thing for a night when I was in NYC but it started working again after a little banging around… If I did break it, oh well, fuck it. Now I need a replacement part.

I had fixing it all figured out. Saughter two cables onto the contacts that the leads in the wire broke for and closely folow the new cables along the ribbon cable that’s already there. I had a nice guy in the electronics store solder it for me but there’s just not enough clearance inside a leans to put all of it together again. I fooled with it for about 2 hours, then I went camera shopping.

Digital cameras here cost about 50% more than the low price internet vendors of the US. Today I bought a Canon A70, turns out it’s the same camera that Michael Eakes has had to buy after getting his bag ripped off in La Paz, Bolivia. On a side note I just got word from Michael and “Jarrad and Anthony”http://anize.org/volker/archives/travel/2004/02/01/salcedo_and_warubi.html that they had a succesful trip across the salt desert in Bolivia, I’m gald they got along after my long-distance email introduction.

Oh right, cameras, so they cost more here and I was limiting myself to a Compact Flash camera because buying memory is expensive as well so that’s worth avoiding. Plus, all the higher end cameras still use CF anyway. I basically picked the A70 because it was the “not so huge markup” option, I only payed about $100 more than I would have in the US. Shipping one from the US would have cost $80 or so and would have taken time, precious time.

I’m psyched to get all the positive comments on my photos from Micheal. He made me smile.

The guy at the photo store was trying to sell a Canon A40 for $495 dollars. That price is so two years ago. It ws funny. He explained to me that he paid a lot for it and therefor he wouldn’t sell it cheaply, meanwhile the thing is depreciating aloing in his display case. I could have taken it off him for $240 maybe, it costs $170 in the US, and it’s discontinued. Sometimes I don’t understant business tactics. Maybe tghe sucker who will buy it as a “New In Box” antique in 3 years in being born right now.

What else, Que mas? Tomorrow I think I’m out in the morning to head to Loja and maybe Vilcabamba, another tourist mecca but the hostels there sound just heavenly.

I had a tuna melt for dinner. The hostel has an oven. Yay.

Canon because I also have my trusty old Canon AE-1.

Finishing off with some Cannibal Ox to take the blog entry home… Reckon I’m a slow writer.

Posted by volker at March 25, 2004 10:28 PM