North to South, South to North, Repeat Repeat Repeat

Since I have been in Ecuador, I`ve realized that I have been leading at least three different lives.  The first is my Back Home Life, which involves trying to keep up communications with everyone in the States.  I also have my Travelling Life, which generally revolves around being care-free and rolling with the punches.  Finally comes perhaps the most important, but at times the most looked over life, which I like to call the Don`t Get Your Shit Stolen or Yourself Kidnapped Life, which as one can imagine, involves just that.  The balance between these three lives has proven itself challenging, and so here lies my excuse in the lack of communication, and the "don`t worry I`m still alive and well" emails as of late.

Darling K.T. has finally made it to Ecuador, but Mom and Georgia have departed back toward the land of not worrying about every fresh fruit or vegetable you eat and microbrews.  Yes, I do realize that this combination is a strange one, but trust me, it`s the things you start to think about when in a country that lacks both.  Naturally, my two visitors are on a higher level of financial stability that I, and thus for the past two weeks I was travelling on a slightly higher budget than before.  It was not only a vacation for them, but a vacation for me filled with good lodging, food, drink, and of course company. 

Before they arrived, I headed South to work on a farm for a bit, and while on the weekend break, I found paradise in a place called Vilcabamba.  And so, my plans changed, which NEVER happens to me, and I decided to spend the next few days there.  I have now decided to move on from the farming plan.  As it turns out, although I`ve heard rave reviews about the organization in the U.S. and Europe, WWOOFìng isn`t the strongest program here in Ecuador.  The farms that I have encountered thus far either aren`t completely organic, or are charging money to do hard manual labor, which in my opinion, doesn`t make a whole lot of sense.  In addition to this, many of the owners have been foreigners, so the cultural aspect gets pretty depleated.  Oh well.  Such is life.  It`s not like there aren`t a zillion other amazing things to do in this country.

Here´s one from my time in Vilcabamba.  When I asked the taxi driver what the bus was doing in the river, he told me it was getting a bath.

The spider above my door at a hostel in Cuenca.  I was not a fan.

Ricardo, our horseback riding guide up toward Rumiñahui from the Hacienda Porvenir.  This place was nothing short of spectacular.

Volcán Cotapaxi.  I will climb this, among others, when I return to Ecuador.

I feel as though this represents a standard situation during Mom and Georgia´s visit.  Absolute and sheer ridiculousness, and laughing until our sides hurt.

Exploring the ruins near Cuenca, squinting at the sun from ten or eleven thousand feet.