We didn’t plan to go to the Galapagos. We first chose to go to Ecuador because we were feeling a bit iffy about travel around Peru given the political situation there. Of course, as we were planning our trip, the question kept coming up, “Should we go to the Galapagos Islands?” It’s on so many people’s “bucket list,” but it […]

After our exhausting, twisty, multi-leg bus ride down from Latacunga, we finally arrived in Cuenca, a city of 300,000+ people famous for its cathedral and universities. We ended up at Pepe’s House, a small hotel named after its proprietor’s cat, Pepe. In fact, there are usually three cats living there, but it turns out that while we were visiting, there […]

***Some of the pictures and videos don’t always show up on this post. Usually rebooting the page works. Try that if things are missing.*** Our first trip out from Quito was a week of varied adventures in the northern part of Ecuador. John and Annie Rose joined us for this whole segment of our trip, sharing their bounty of snacks […]

I don’t mean to be dismissive of Quito. I actually quite enjoyed the time we spent there. And it’s definitely got a lot of unique aspects. But, after having spent a bunch of time in Lima over the previous decade as well as visiting a number of other places around Latin America, we concluded that it felt kinda like “just […]

Is it wrong to begin at the end? Regardless, it’s my blog so I’ll do what I like. Back from a year in hibernation, let’s get into the story of the summer of 2023… Jessica and I spent a month traveling around Ecuador. It was truly wonderful, and I’ll get to writing about it…hopefully soon. But, at the end of […]

After our half-day stop back in Quito, we headed down to the area around Cotopaxi, the second highest volcano in Ecuador. We stayed at the Secret Garden Cotopaxi, an outpost of a popular backpacker hostel in Quito that was located just outside the boundaries of Cotopaxi National Park. The setting was amazing. The Secret Garden is located at the foot […]