cajas

imagine the wind whipping your face at fifty miles per hour as it scours the practically barren landscape.
well that is not exactly how it was but it could have been.
not far outside the throbbing cuenca, is one of the most beautiful parks i have ever been in - cajas national park. 4450 meters above sea level is at its peaks where it is mostly tundra. but about 270 lakes are scattered about the large park and the vegitation is breathtaking. from the delicate flowers to the hardened cactus like plants, the land, apparently devode of life, is teeming with life.
if this was not enthralling enough, you step from the wind-whipped highlands into dense forest with serpentine limbs and a lush verdant floor. itfeels as though it is made for a horror movie. but it has a particular beauty to it.
once you make it out of the forest (if you ever do) you can go travel further down in elevation until you reach the cloud forest which is the equivelant of a rain forest at high elevation. this forest has birds of every color.
if i can ever return to ecuador, i would really like to spend many days in the park. you can camp whereever you want but the weather is extremely erratic and temperatures drop precipitiously at night.
an adventure for the future...

gringoland

this past week i left the back room of ecuador (where i did not encounter gringos (foreigners) at all) to the third most important ecuadorian town of cuenca.
six hours south by bus, cuenca is an old colonial town with tremendous charm and appeal. unlike most of ecuadors cities which are dominated by exhaust and cement block, cuenca seems like a misplaced european town. thriving and loaded with good restaurants and bars, it was a blast to walk around and take it all in.
when i would go out to eat, i would be sitting and chatting with people from all over the world - though primarily europeans. it was a welcome change to talk english...
the joys of traveling are many. i have absolutely enjoyed observing this beautiful and entriguing land. however, it is so much fun to be able to connect with relatively like-minded people from all over the world.

chimborazo

to climb a mountain.
to climb a volcano.
this morning three men ventured out onto the highest mountain in the world as measured from the center of the earth.
sitting 6268 meters from sea level it is not only the tallest mountain in ecuador it was considered to be the tallest mountain in the world for some time.
myself and two new friends (alberto and javier) made it past the second refugio (refuge) but decided to turn back for lack of experience, gear, maps, etc.
but nevertheless, it was thrilling to be so high. unfortunately the clouds shroaded any view of the valley below. but the weather was tolerable and not too windy.
no great feat but enjoyable all the same.

trying to sleep

imagine being allergic to cats.
imagine being allergic to mold.
now imagine trying to sleep in a house with cats and mold.
more.
now add snoring in the room next door (but separated not by a door but by a shower curtain).
now add incessant dog barking outside.
now subtract thirty degrees fahrenheit.
is there a chance of sleep?
hardly.
but add two benadryl, being super tired, and a solid dose of God´s grace, sleep came.

ecuadorian justice III

gas prices in ecuador are low. $1.48. there is oil here.
gas prices are fixed. fixed by the government.
all gas stations have the same price for gas.
except for gas stations owned by the government. they can sell their gas more cheaply than others.

ecuadorian justice II

getting into an accident in ecuador is dangerous.
well, yes, anywhere it is dangerous to get into an accident.
but in ecuador, if you get into an accident you go to jail.
indeed, even if you are the wronged party (you are the one hit by another) you go to jail.
because of the bureaucracy it can take up to a month to get out...

ecuadorian justice I

a man (let´s call him juan) i met felt the result of latent animism.
juan was unjustly fired from a job by a man who did not like him.
if this was not bad enough, the man who fired him shortly there after died abruptly and without cause. however, it was interpreted that juan had placed a curse on the man now dead because of the firing. though he denied doing so, his community ostricized him for almost five years.
the result of being wronged twice over, brought him closer to God.