Ecuador-able 8/29/08

Greetings to my friends and loved ones! A new countdown to a new adventure, this time in Spanish...can you say uno, dos, tres?! C'mon, we're going to Ecuador!

Meg and I leave on August 29th for two weeks in Ecuador. The first week we will be studying photography and in depth Spanish in Cotocachi, in the High Sierras outside of Quito. We will be on the line where the equator splits the world! I definitely plan to straddle that line and be in two places at once. (I recently did that on the line that divides Georgia and Tennessee, but it just doesn't carry the same weight as "Northern Hemisphere, Southern hemisphere", you know?) The highlands boast mineral spas, hiking, craft markets like Otavalo, and splendid raw countryside, fuel and fodder for our eager cameras, all on the outer edge of the Amazon.

The second week we will journey down the Avenue of the Volcanos, ride on top of the Devil's Nose train down the harrowing mountain switchbacks from Riobamba, spend a day in colonial and historic Cuenca (the Incan ruins of Incapirca are there), drive to the coastline city of Guayaquil and fly back to Quito on, I'm sure, on some little propeller puddlejumper!

At least, that's the plan! If you "traveled" with me to France, you know things don't always work out as expected...and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So, fellow armchair travelers, be looking for my letters. I love sharing what I see and do with you almost as much as I love seeing it myself.

Hasta la vista...see you later!