"Los Andes son como una mujer"
("The Andes are like a woman.")
-Juan Andres, an Ecuadorian friend from work, sharing some local male insight

"Zack, you've got to get down here," and the wheels were set in motion. Zack and I don't travel together unless hiking boots and a harness are on the packing list, so we expected no less than an adventure on this trip. He arrived Friday, and our plan was to hit Ruccu Pichinca (15,406 ft.) Saturday, Cerro Imbabura (15,190 ft.) on Sunday, and attempt Nevado Cayambe (18.996 ft.) on Tuesday night. The first two went off without a hitch, almost too smoothly. The last, and the subject of this photo-tale, turned out to be 36 hours of intense highs and lows that only a glaciated peak over 5,000 meters on the equator could provide. Here's the story...

"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.

"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...

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.

"Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. 
Just walk beside me and be my friend."
-Albert Camus

While celebrating the Ecuadorian defeat of Spanish forces on the Pichincha volcano almost 200 years ago, Lynsey and I decided to venture east of Quito for our holiday to support a good friend, John, in a kickboxing showdown. After the battle, we were glad to find that the area was home to wonders ranging from the biggest waterfall in Ecuador to the freakiest birds we've ever seen in a cave. Two overnight buses back and forth to Quito allowed us to stretch this weekend just long enough to again appreciate how small, diverse, and vast this country truly is.