Tough Day in Quito

Folks:
We saw the inside of the banking system here in Quito. It started with the search for the best tour to the Galapagos. We managed to find it in a nice classy catamaran whose prices were beat down to $850 by an Aussie couple before us. Airfare to the Islands is about $850 for the 2 of us and there is a $200 fee to enter the Galapagos so there now was the issue of raising the $1700 for the tour. We try not to carry too much money around as it is more to lose. After we used our VISA for the air tickets, some idiot decided to ignore the call I made last week to tell them that we would be travelling in Ecuador, and stop any further use of it. My Credit Union debit card did not work and the Presidents Choice one did, but there is a daily limit of $600 and we leave in the early morning. The CIBC one did not (it was their Visa too). We sprinted back to our hostal and gathered our travelling cheques and the other (MC)credit card. We were able to get $500 on the credit card and cashed in our travellers cheques (they seem difficult to use and you are charged a commission on them. Bottom line: we share a cab with the Aussies tomorrow at 5:30 and will likely not have internet again until Feb 13, when we return to Quito and work our way South toward Peru and Bolivia.
BTW Joy has done 4 sketches so far.
Jim