Hey, We're Back From Ecuador!!

We're back in the beautiful Colorado Rockies. Our trip way down south was absolutely wonderful. The weather was amazing as always...about 65 to 75 during the day and about 50 at night. Central Ecuador has been having quite a drought for the last year or so and things were a little drier than normal however we started getting a little rain while we were there and everything started greening up very well. Our caretaker had planted corn that was barely up when we arrived; it was about two feet tall when we left.

Our friends that went with us had a great time. It was their very first trip to South America and going as we did, not as tourists, was a real experience. We lived among our local indigenous neighbors, rode the local busses as our transportation and shopped in the local outdoor markets. We were fortunate enough to attend a local neighborhood fiesta (everyone had a great time watching the "Gringos" dance) as well as Carnival in Paute and Paute's 150th Anniversary celebration a couple of weeks later. Our friend, Larry was determined to try the Ecuadorian delicacy, Cuy (guinea pig) while we were there but never got it done. He tried a lot of other weird things though. He's much more adventurous than me.

We had great times with our Ecuadorian friends; we were invited out to several wonderful meals at various homes. We wanted to make a trip to Machu Pichu, Peru while we were there, however while there was a drought in Ecuador there was non-stop rain in parts of Peru and there were a couple thousand tourists stranded trying to get to or from Machu Pichu. That will just have to be an adventure for another year. We did go to the site of Inga Pirca though which is fairly close to our home. It's an Inca historical site that is quite famous.

We also got our medical and dental needs taken care of while there so it wasn't total vacation. The quality of the care and the prices are absolutely amazing when compared to the same in the US. The small town of Paute has a brand new clinic where we met a wonderful young dentist who speaks great English. She was thrilled to be able to practice her English as well as do a little dental work. By the way, Ecuadorian dentists don't use Novocain. They just do what they need to do without pain. What a concept, huh?

Anyway, we are thrilled to be back at our little piece of heaven in the Colorado Rockies after spending seven weeks at our little piece of heaven in the Andes Mountains. Please enjoy the little slide show that I put together below.