Hey Kids! well, not rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail will keep ME from getting to Cuenca, but I am getting ahead of myself. I spent two nights in Banos, having a really great time doing all of the many touristy things there; relaxing in the baths, going canyoning (which is, you know, only rapelling down 100 foot high waterfalls), going out to dinner, and going out for drinks with friends from the hostal. After sitting down and seeing how much money I spent in on...

Hello Hello! I am curently sitting in a nice (and cheap) hostal in Banos (del aguas santa) pretty much right in the middle of Ecuador. I left Quito last Monday to head in this direction, wanting to stop at La Laguna Quilotoa, high in the Andes along the way. My handy dandy Lonely Plant on a Shoestring describes a possible loop on unpaved roads that can be done through the tiny cities of Sigchos, Chugchilán, and finially to the Quilotoa crater lake. I haden&#...

Hey again, I am currently sitting in the South American Explorer´s Club House in Quito, where I just bought a yearlong membership. It was a little expensive, BUT there is free internet, a lot of information and the ability for people to send me letters that I will eventually get! but more on that later. Last time I wrote was from Atacames in the Esmeraldas area of Ecuador. After I last wrote... Monday the 24th: I biked a couple of kilometers down to Sua, a...

Hello!!!!! It seems like I have been here for a long time, and have yet to tell many people what is going on. I left Quito last Wednesday to try and make a trip to the coast before going back into Quito to see some friends who are studying there. Here is a rundown of the last several days: Wednesday: After being in quito for two nights getting everythign organized and getting my bike all ready to go, I left when the sun came up Wednesday morning wanting to get o...

NOT quite in Quito yet, give me two more days. Right now am in Bellingham Washington with some friends from school, packing two days early. On my flight down from Alaska to here, my two days of packing rapidly turned into 30 minutes, in which my dad and myself threw anything and everything (except the bike) into the big green duffel bag before running to the plane. Everything made it OK, but at that point I still had only ridden the bike for a grand total of 8 mi...