T. Brown 1st MRB

Hahah cmon, I've been here almost 2 years, I have searched. Those ruins aren't really worth visiting, especially compared to any in Peru or the link I mentioned earlier. It has been reduced a lot, mostly due to its proximity to Quito. Mitad del Mundo is kind of the same, super touristy and not even the actual equator site (there is a small tribute to the actual long/lat site about 10 mins away from it).

There is a huge collection of Inca ruins in Ecuador called Ingapirca, a good distance from Quito, but I think Peru holds more Amazon/high-elevation ruins (think Machu Picchu). I haven't seen ANY ruins since moving here, but it's also not something I'm super interested in so I may not be well-informed. If you research and find anything else out, I'd love to know...my last year here will be spent exploring everything nearby.

Quito is way too high elevation for the carrying mosquitoes to exist, so in this city...no worries. Barely any bugs exist here at all. If one wanted to go to the coast, they might want to think about it, but after the quake it is kind of hard to get there, and not very safe nor fun. Still rebuilding the roads. Even with all that said, unless you're pregnant or wanting to get the significant other pregnant, it's really not that big of a concern for us living here. They recently raised the incubation period, which sucks, but if you get it, you may not even show symptoms. Possibly a cold/flu like period. Lots of updated info here: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/alert/zika-virus-ecuador Quito, Mindo (the place the pics above are from), Banos (another high-traveled touristy area I'd recommend seeing) and most places in between are all too high elevation for the mosquitoes to survive, so we don't worry.

Name: Dantyツ aka Maj. Slait [24th ID] Steam I.D: STEAM_0:0:176254160 Reasons for the Ban: CHEETS Recommended duration of ban: FOR A MILLION FUCKIN YEARS Demo Provided?: N; he joined 2 or 3 times last night with obvious aimbots, would flee soon as I joined specs....BUT you can look at his gameme link and it's pretty clear : )

All about timing. I'm part of a few Expat groups on FB that will frequently feature SUPER cheap flights from particular airports. The most recent was $350 round trip from Houston to Quito, though I don't see it around now. Quick cursory search has some around $700 from Richmond 2 weeks away, but I didn't clear cookies or do any of the other tricks to make it cheaper. I'll happily post links of the cheap flight deals as/if they appear. Miami --> Quito seems popular too, often goes cheap.

So I just did a final fishing trip with buddies who will be leaving in a few weeks and it was fucking FANTASTIC. In case anyone who hasn't followed along is reading, we travel about 2.5 hours outside Quito (capital of Ecuador) to a place called Mindo. Is a cloud forest, super high in elevation, very diverse in flora/fauna, and is known because the clouds settle into the mountains/forests....hence the name Cloud Forest. Looks like this in the early morning I finally fucking got to play with and photograph my first wild snake here in America South, a Big-scaled Sipo. Super mean snake, notoriously ill-tempered. Rainbow caterpillar I've said it before but I'll say it again, Ecuador is ridiculously cheap to visit and absolutely breathtakingly pretty, and you all know ME; I'll be here another year, will happily help guide people around. My hostel in this cloud forest was $8 a night and was NICE. Whole 3 day fishing trip cost maybe $80 total for me and my gf. It's ridiculously affordable. Hilton here in Quito has the nicest rooms, penthouse suites, for $130 a night. That's like, high end. DO IT. COME. Lots of my friends are leaving this year after teaching here the past 2, so I need company.

Name: Yirek Steam I.D: STEAM_0:0:172630346 Duration of Ban: Perm Reasons for the Ban: Cheets Demo Provided?: Y, will upload it shortly, my internet keeps stopping it. Comments: Was fairly blatant, he was all shakey everytime he shot, tracing ppl through walls, didn't need much proof.

none of you people look like what I expect you to look like from your voices and getting shot by me in vidya games. me after climbing a cliff in Canoa, Ecuador (one of the hardest hit by the past earthquake 2 weeks after I was there, most of what you see in this photo is rubble now) My Ecuadorian kitty My halloween make-up from a few years ago

Name: Perihelion ✪ Steam I.D: STEAM_0:1:50660427 Duration of Ban: Permanent Reasons for the Ban: Came into server yelling racial slurs and tking everyone Demo Provided?: Y/N Comments:

Name: Fuzzy b]Steam I.D:[/b] STEAM_0:1:12102341 Duration of Ban: Perm Reasons for the Ban: Racism Demo Provided?: N Comments: Is pretty regular user, used racist language, figured if one wants to be lenient they can reduce it.

Name: Fieser Fettsack Steam I.D: STEAM_0:0:14970929 Reasons for the Ban: TK many many times Recommended duration of ban: Perm; he's on a week now but I recognized name so looked at his past....geeez Demo Provided?: N

The way the guy narrates this is fascinating.

ME TOO. There was power outtages, but right now it's on and fine. I'm being told that Quito survived without damage because of the elevation; while we're relatively close to the coast, we're 3000 meters above sea level....that's a lot of ground to absorb all the energy. Anywhere else in the world, we'd be fucked too. Plus at this elevation, there are no mosquitos or bugs....it takes a few days to acclimate, but I guess it's worth it!

The odd thing is, I feel much safer now. We've had 2 quakes in the past year that I felt, neither of much significance, but since both my gf and I grew up in Tokyo with very strict building codes, we've always wondered if this building could withstand something big. There was never much concern while in Tokyo...those are built for quakes. Now that I went through that and its still standing (even with a few cracks), I feel better today than I did a month ago. Still, if it had hit any closer, the loss of life would be MUCH greater, probably including my own. Guayaquil, the biggest city in Ecuador (2+ million population, Quito has 1.4) suffered a bit with a collapsed overpass and a few compromised constructs, and they're about 70km closer to the epicenter. We're still feeling aftershocks ever so often, as to be expected. My cat is freaking out anytime a truck drives by now : (

So I've posted on FB about my safety, but got a few steam PM's about it and realized I'm not friends on FB with everyone so should probably let ya'll know I am OK. It was fucking intense. I'm in Quito, about 150km away from the coast, and it hit hard here. I'm in a 11th floor apartment, and even after growing up in Japan, few in years in California, this was, by far, the most intense earthquake I've ever felt. I had to hold onto a wall to steady myself, TV/mirrors fell down, and even this far away, at such a high elevation (meaning there was a lot of ground to dissipate the energy), there are now cracks in the drywall and possibly foundation of the building. Crack That's my bedroom now I had visited Canoa, a beach town in Ecuador, about 15 days ago. It is now gone. I posted a 100+ pic album on FB, I'll add link here, hopefully it works (she made it public) FB album All the friends and people I know here are ok too. It was a 3-day weekend, lot of us traveled around, but fortunately no one had chosen the coast for this weekend. My gf was in Peru for a work conference, she had no idea it even happened until she got back to the hotel room around 11pm and got on Skype to talk to me. If you want to donate, please do carefully. This is the official PNUD account info link, and of course Red Cross has stuff up. This city has organized a fuckton of relief efforts already, I'm really proud of them, but of course there are people who are fucking shit up. Few reports of relief trucks robbed on way to the coast, of people being shady and taking funds for themselves, so if you do donate, please research it a lot (even the link I posted, research it beforehand, make sure it hasn't changed. Trust nothing unless from a direct official source). Police have stepped it up today though, it is really amazing to see the Ecuadorian public services making an effort. This is a third world country after all... SO yea, I'm alive. My cat is alive. Friends are alive. HUGS

Name: MAKE Steam I.D: STEAM_0:1:3936935 Reasons for the Ban: TK Recommended duration of ban: PERM Demo Provided?: N; He joined, played a bit, then mowed down team with MG and fled server. I did a few searches, he needs a perm ban. Many bans for same thing

Name: Brahman Steam I.D: STEAM_0:0:62556954 Reasons for the Ban: 5th TKing ban today Recommended duration of ban: Perm, fuck this guy Demo Provided?: N; http://www.1stmarineraiderbattalion.clanservers.com/index.php?p=banlist&advSearch=STEAM_0:0:62556954&advType=steamid&Submit to his numerous bans.

I haven't experienced anything, but was playing earlier today and people whined periodically....though they tend to do that a lot. May be worth a shot

awww yeee foy

There really was something special when Parker joined in on realisms... (canadian brown < me)

I'll give you a year. February is the best time to visit, so you have until 2017!

That's about 8 days of continuous flying, or roughly 25 days of a 8 hour work day. I'll message you in a month, maybe start working on the ridiculously impossible travel visas for the islands now : )

: D NICE! So what needs to be done for you to apply to airlines? How long a time we looking at before I can request a private charter to Galapagos

NICE, congrats! I tried looking at photos in first post, but got error...maybe bandwidth got exceeded? Upload on imgur pls

It really seems like the public cares more about what you did then the people responsible for sending you to do it, but at the same time....we're so disconnected from war and the military, other than a late-night ad on TV for the Marines, showing glorious helicopter jumps and uplifting rock music, that it's all for some reason. Maybe we can't handle the reality, or maybe we can if we were given the chance. Either way, it's not working how it is now and it infuriates me to no end.