-Jeffery Rasely
In this case, I was chasing an angel. While there's much to report these days, I thought I’d start with a fine little tale about a well-traveled ring and how it finally made it to the place it belonged.
The South of America |
|
“Chasing angels or fleeing demons, go to the mountains.” -Jeffery Rasely In this case, I was chasing an angel. While there's much to report these days, I thought I’d start with a fine little tale about a well-traveled ring and how it finally made it to the place it belonged.
24 Comments
"Let the beauty of what you love be what you do." -Rumi For the holiday break this year we headed back to Vilcabamba, a small gringo-outpost in the south of Ecuador. Our specific destination in mind was one of our favorite spots in all of Ecuador - the cabins of Rumi Wilco. A small nature reserve just outside of town, Rumi Wilco is owned by two kind biologists who have made it their life’s work to run and operate an eco-lodge and reserve (with hiking trails, etc.). Lynsey and I find ourselves at our most relaxed, and our best, at this reserve and figured it was probably the best place we could bring in the holidays. Disconnected from it all, it took a moment of stepping back to get a glimpse of which direction to step forward. “I tramp a perpetual journey.” ― Walt Whitman, Song of Myself Friends, family, and readers, hola de nuevo! Time has flown since our return from the U.S. in August, but in the good kind of way where a steady, fulfilling routine gives way to a stream of days and months. Though rains made Cuenca grey through most of September and October, a streak of sun has now found us, intense and beautiful at 8,000+ ft. to warm the days before the chilly nights. News abounds on the work front, adventure front, future front, and just the everyday life front. Yup, it’s just life now in Cuenca. "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them." -Henry David Thoreau, Walden - This quote is dedicated to Lynsey and the well-designed castles she's steadily building as we speak. With one year under our belt, we came back to Cuenca in early August after 5 weeks back in the U.S. It already clear that this year will unfold very differently from the first, and will build the bridge into what comes next. Here are some snapshots, thoughts, and news (big and small) about the beginning of the continuation of our life here in Cuenca... Over three days moving through the quiet mountains I took lots of photos, and had plenty of time to let my mind wander along with my body. Below are a few snippets of thought inspired by the place... Day 1: Route-finding "School's out for summer!" -Alice Cooper With the end of the school cycle, Lynsey and I, like most teachers I know, were fine and ready for a little escape to recharge our batteries. Lynsey had just finished her first full school year, no small feat, and we both had officially fulfilled our original contract at the school. A year ago we might have said that it would be now that we may come back to the U.S. That, of course, is not how things have turned out. The people and landscapes of Ecuador have charmed us, and left us with a curiosity and an itch that there is much more to learn.
So, what I'm dancing around here is the fact that we were more than happy to get out of Cuenca for a mini-vacation to the southern regions of Ecuador - made even better with no immediate prospect of work responsibilities waiting for us when we get back. We decided to visit Vilcabamba, a small town with a reputation that precedes it, and from there venture into the mysterious Podocarpus National Park. “Everywhere is walking distance if you have the time.” -Steven Wright National parks were set aside by countries all over the world to, amongst many other reasons, give people a chance to escape into the natural world to see how they measure up against forces beyond their control. In this sense, Cajas National Park is a glacially-carved wonderland of uninhabited landscape waiting to be explored. This last weekend I ventured into the park with Zeke, a fellow ex-pat who has put in a considerable number of hours and days making his way through the contours of these mountains. New to backpacking, Zeke has learned backpacking as "trial by fire" in the misty, grassy, and often uniform peaks and valleys of the park - losing and finding his way out of a few incredible solo adventures. For his last jaunt, he imagined a grand north to south route through the park, and together we found a brief description in my hiking and climbing guide to Ecuador that gave us the gusto we needed to plan the trek. By Friday at 2:45pm, we were departing the small pueblito of Miguir along the main highway to Guayaquil in hopes of reaching Soldados on the southern road three days later. The thing was that this trail is not on the park map, so our plan was to route-find our way north to south across the park.
“The old school of thought would have you believe that you'd be a fool to take on nature without arming yourself with every conceivable measure of safety and comfort under the sun. But that isn't what being in nature is all about. Rather, it's about feeling free, unbounded, shedding the distractions and barriers of our civilization—not bringing them with us.” -Ryel Kestenbaum Most of our friends, and most of the country for that matter, decided to head to the beach for Carnival. Somehow the promise of crowds, cocktails, and 24/7 bass beats didn't inspire Lynsey or I, and luckily our friends John and Janet proposed an intriguing alternative: hiking Ecuador's Inca Trail for three days to Ingapirca (Ecuador's most famous Inca ruins site). Vamòs, it was decided - we would spend Carnival with good friends and open space through yet another spectacular portion of this little gem of a country.
This pretty much sums the coast up
Four buses got us from the mountain to the coast. The vibe couldn't have been more different from the intensity of Cotopaxi, but it was a welcome change. Much of our experience on the coast blended together as a mix of hammocks, sand, sun, and caipirinhas. I do, however, want to share the story of an unforgettable day in Muisne, a strange and remote island town where we had a ¨tour¨ we wouldn´t forget anytime soon. Before that, here are some photos from our first explorations of the northern coast at a quaint little ´eco-refuge´called Playa Escondita. Happy new year friends, family, and web visitors! Two days ago Lynsey and I got home from a 20-day circuit around Ecuador, and there is much to share. We´ve decided to break the trip up into three parts: Volcanic mountain fun, the Cotopaxi experience, and our cruise down the coast. We hope everyone had a great holiday with friends and family, and know that you all were missed! We figured the next best thing to being with those closest to us would be to tour around and get to know our new country - so here are some things we discovered! The map below denotes the first two legs on the journey. It´s interactive so you can zoom, switch to Google Earth, etc. to get a better sense of the landscape. Enjoy! View Discovering Ecuador in a larger map |
Like + Share
Authors
Follow Us
Previous Posts
All
Archives
November 2014
Weather |