We're Not in Kansas Anymore!

We now know how Dorothy felt when she landed in Oz.  Except in our story, Oz is Munich, Kansas is Ecuador, the tornado is a long plane ride, the yellow brick road is the German public transportation, and the good witch is Fatima and Jan (our B&B owners).  After the countryside of Ecuador, it seemed we had landed in the perfect place - no litter (very little anyway), quiet subway trains, buses that were as smooth as butter, toilets that could accommodate TP, drinkable tap water, pampered dogs, smooth dark beer, edible raw vegetables; it was by far the largest cultural difference we've experienced, to date, including traveling from Portland to Buenos Aires.  All of this Ozness comes at a cost though - exorbitant prices, traffic sounds instead of nature sounds, and lots of smoking.  The worst part of being whisked away to Germany is all of the tall, thin, light haired people.  Where are all the munchkins?   Even though we very much miss our friends and family we're not trying on the magic red shoes in hopes for a way home yet.