Magician David Copperfield Rides the Bus

Wish we had seen him.....

Just returned to Ecuador after a whirlwind month in the US.  An exhausting 38 hours of travel from leaving 'Bravo' to arrival at Adam's dad's place in Pennsylvania.  Spent a few days visiting with Lou and sister Lilli and her family before heading to Seattle for a mix of business (our house needs some repairs requiring our attention) and pleasure.  Had a terrific time visiting with old friends, swapping stories, and buying stuff to bring south that's simply not available where we now live.  To those friends we missed seeing on this trip, our apologies, hope to do better the next time we pass through.

So what's up with this David Copperfield thing, you're probably asking???  Well first, we've received numerous comments from friends(?) that our blog can't be for real....we seem to be having too much fun...we must have SOME bad days!!!  For example, check out this emailed comment from a very close buddy:  "Your blog totally sucks. Makes me feel like my ass is glued to the chair………I want some horror stories to make me feel better."  Not wanting to disappoint our readers, we had a bit of a rugged day on the 8 hour bus ride back home from Quito.  

We boarded the bus at 10:30 am.  Adam put his bag on the overhead rack, right over the seat in front of us.  We're talking 2 feet away!!!  Definitely got complacent after the US.  This was the first time we'd put anything on the overhead rack in 5 weeks of buses in Ecuador.  We were only 3 seats back from the front.  Checked to see that there was a rack support right behind the bag, so it couldn't slide back out of our sight.  Got up when we stopped for lunch.  Grabbed the bag, it felt really light.  Open up, there's his fleece jacket on top, neatly folded.  But damn, our iPad, netbook, and brand new MacBook Pro laptop had all been removed, along w/ all cables and chargers.  The fleece jacket was neatly folded and put back in the bag as it had been originally.  And the bag put back exactly where I put it.  Was it David Copperfield riding the bus?  Who knows, we just know that damn, the bastards are good.  We still have NO idea how someone took all the stuff w/ us sitting 2 feet behind the bag!!!  It really hurts, as electronics in Ecuador cost nearly 3 times the US price.  Looking for other expat travelers to contact to bring replacements down.  Yuchhhhhhh.....  Bottom line:  The warnings to keep your bags ON YOUR LAP on the buses is for real.  We even just heard of a fellow cruiser who had her camera stolen from her bag that she put under her seat.  Someone had pulled the bag on the floor a few seats back, and did the deed there.  (They now use a carabiner to clip their bag to the window curtain rope...we'll do the same!!!).  Also, for cryin' out loud, don't put all the goodies in one bag!!!  What were we thinking???

To add insult to injury, when we finally were back aboard Bravo licking our wounds we opened our suitcase, and find that TSA in Seattle had removed 2 quarts of varnish and 4 tubes of caulk.....Left their damned note "For your safety....."   Crap, over $100 of boat supplies that are non-existent in Ecuador.

Not a good day yesterday, to be sure, but sure felt great to be back aboard.  OK, let's get back to the fun stuff.....Boat chores await, then off to Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile for more adventures...