GMT +13

Matamata

POOF. I am in New Zealand. I had barely begun to write about the Amazon, and it has been radio-silence here about the Galapagos. And already I have dived (dove? doven? doved? dived myself?) even further into the Southern Hemisphere, the only hemisphere I had never before been to.

I am going to do some back-and-forth dances for a minute. I want to keep up to date on the blog, but occasionally I will intersperse pictures from Ecuador.

First, it was probably the longest 3 days of my life to get here.
Baltra, Galapagos -> Guayaqil -> Quito -> Atlanta (12 hour layover) -> Los Angeles -> Sydney -> Auckland -> 2 hr drive to Airbnb.

That trip was hands down the longest/most consecutive flights I have ever suffered in my life. No sleep (except for a few hours stolen in Atlanta) from (local times) 6am Monday - 7pm Thursday. FOR 66 HOURS.

I zoinked out immediately at the Airbnb. I haven’t slept so deeply.

Which is too bad, because it was one of the most beautiful Airbnbs I have ever seen. A feijoa orchard near Matamata (a pretty famous one, it turns out, hosted by a Dutch-turned-Kiwi family that have won many national sustainability awards for their work).

Come again? FAY-ZHOW-UH?

I had never heard of it either! But it is a magical delicious fruit that from a distance looks like a lime + avocado hybrid. From close up it tastes like tart tomato, pineapple, and other flavors that I don’t have words for. It’s sweet, tart, fruity, and would be excellent in an apple-feijoa crisp. This is going to be more popular one day than kiwis, I bet. Or at least will be a household name. You heard it here first!

Looky here at this majestic farm life:

feijoa images: Milkwood.net

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