Birds, Bailes, and Bad Geography in Northern Ecuador

***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 […]

Quito: Just Another Latin American City

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 […]

Lima: home away from home

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 […]

The Breathtaking Mountains of Central Ecuador

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 […]