When I first read about this theater turned bookstore I immediately thought of you Kari, so this is for you and everyone else who loves books and beautiful old archecture. I wish you could have been here to enjoy it with us.Think grand old theaters of the early 1900's -- ornate, extravagant, heavy with gold accents on curly cue motifs-- then add in a couple million books and you have El Eteneo.

We met our newest best friends the day we walked into our hostel in Barracas, a Buenos Aires barrio they claim as the birthplace of tango, but which translated means old, beaten down and forgotten.Franco and Siskazi are two career women who have traveled the world together with their two children, Ahka (14 year old boy) and Tumi (9 year old girl). They both work in sales for a computer company in Capetown and were really interesting to visit with. Before we parte...

It's Sunday and we just had to get out of town so we hired a driver to take us to Termas de Papallacta for the day. It's touted as Ecuador's most luxurious hot springs. To get there we passed through some cool little towns and somewhere along the way got a view of 5,897 meter (19,347 ft) Cotapaxi, too--one of the highest active volcanoes in the world.The drive over the pass was really lovely even though the mountains were shrouded in uncompromising c...

For a few hours early Saturday mornings you can catch the cacophony of the animal market, but come before breakfast because it's all over by 9. Indigenous living in nearby pueblos bring for barter their goats, chicks, hens, piglets, lambs, llamas--you name it. It's a squashed together melee. I elbowed my way in by following on the heels of a bag of guinea pigs. At first it's just noise and motion, but as I stood there surrounded, a sort of organizati...

When I see a mountain sneak peaking out from the clouds I absolutely squeal, I'm so excited. I don't know if any of you do or not, but if you do, you may enjoy sharing the view out my window. Our flights were from Cusco to Lima, then another to Guayaquil and the last one to Quito. The one from Guayaquil to Quito flew over the spine of the Andes mountains we'd not been able to see for 2 1/2 months.That's right. We've been here almost 3 months ...