Long bus rides are great times to do a lot of thinking. And on this trip, I´ve quite often found myself staring out the bus window, lost in thought. I call these De Botton moments, inspired by the slightly melancholy contemporary philosopher´s observations on travel and the human condition. But´s hard to avoid self reflection in lengthy thoughts like these. It´s hard not to dwell on the bigger questions, to muse on decisons made, to take … Read entire article »

Before starting our trip, Sarah and I only had a few items that we considered “must do”  while we were in South America. One of them was to take some time (3 – 4 weeks) to stop and study Spanish while living with a local family. Our original plan was to do this at the beginning of our trip. But we never quite found just the right place in Colombia and decided to wait until Ecuador. In … Read entire article »

Parque Cajas or Cajas National Park is located about a half hour cab ride away from Cuenca. Why our group of 8 or so Spanish students found ourselves heading to the park in cabs instead of a bus is kind of a long story involving… an early morning car accident, a missing guide, conflicting advice from locals, a series of “full” buses headed to Guyaquil, and a few headless chooks (me included). But all was … Read entire article »

Wow… it´s been a while since we posted a Photo of the Day. Since coming to Ecuador, we´ve taken a little break from the road to spend a month studying Spanish in the city of Cuenca. After a few hours research and a long day of visiting potential schools, we decided to attend the Amauta Foundation Spanish School. We also moved in with the Cordova family, a short 15 minute walk from the school, to … Read entire article »