Ecuador

Jen and I spent the last ten days of our South American journey in the small but geographically diverse country of Ecuador. People often come to Ecuador to see the Galapagos islands and take advantage of the fact that within one small country you can see the jungle, the mountains and the coast. Since our trip was winding down, we decided to slow our break-neck travel pace and take it easy by only seeing two cities, Cuenca and Quito. Both are mountain cities known as having some of the best colonial architecture in South America. In Cuenca, we took it easy and enjoyed the city by walking around and shopping for gifts. We purchased a Panama hat from a famously skilled mute man who lost his voice from inhaling fumes expelled in the hat-making process. Now he relies solely on his smile and the quality of his hats to sell. In Quito we were able to hang out with Jen´s friend from high school, Ali Paez, going out to dinner with her family and later going out for drinks with her friend Crisitan. Ali lived the first five years of her life in Quito, then moved to Orange County, and only recently moved back to her native country. We had a great time hanging out with her, and Jen really enjoyed seeing a familiar face.

Last Wednesday, Jen and I flew back to Louisville, where we are comfortably recovering from our long adventure while planning our next move. We will be posting out reflections about the trip in general soon, but for the mean time please enjoy our photo album from Ecuador.