From Quito we made our way to the site of my on-going birthday celebration, Hacienda La Cienega near Volcano Cotopaxi. This 400 year-old hacienda was both grand and cozy. The rooms have meter thick walls and fire places and actual bath tubs. The lap of luxury. The first night we went to dinner in the hotel's restaurant with the other guests when all of a sudden the lights went out and waiters entered carrying an enormous chocolate cake followed by a 7-person Andean folklore band singing feliz cumpleaños. I was sure they were heading for the large group of Germans seated across the room but they turned and headed straight for us. Since we had already celebrated my birthday in Quito I looked over at Josh but he was as puzzled as I was. It slowly dawned on me that my parents, the only ones who knew where we were, had managed to surprise me all the way from Los Angeles. You guys are the best.

The next day we made the trek to Volcano Cotopaxi. We lucked out with a fun, talkative guide, Juan Carlos, also the hotel's security guard. (Later their chef would drive us to the bus station.) As soon as we stepped out of his truck at the base of the volcano we were blown over by the cold, wet, whipping winds. The altitude left us both breathless and we moved pretty slowly, but according to Juan Carlos we managed to reach the refuge in a fairly respectable time. By then the skies had opened and we could see the top of the snow covered volcano as well as the valleys and mountains almost as far as Quito, over 3 hours away. We enjoyed some hot cocoa and snacks at the refuge and decided to push on to the glaciers above. We got to know Juan Carlos along the way and by the end Josh was practicing his Spanish with him like a pro. We arrived back exhausted and spent the afternoon reading by the fire in one of the hacienda's many drawing rooms.

We were planning to leave the next day for the Quilotoa loop, an area of small indigenous Quechuan villages known for more great hiking around a clear crater lake. What we hadn't planned on was the fact that only one bus left all day to get to this remote area, so we ended up rushing through a tour of a rose plantation across the way that morning before tearing off (with the chef) to make our bus in the nearby town. We got tickets, used the bathroom, and bought a to-go lunch of chicken, rice and plantains and made the bus just as it was pulling out.

Four hours later we arrived in the tiny town of Chugchilan - truly a one horse, one pig town. There were lots of pigs. This was the first place we'd been, apart from the Colombian jungle, with no Internet and no ATM and we quickly realized our rookie mistake: we had a total of 30 dollars to our name. The women who ran the super cozy Mama Hilda's hotel (indoor hammock, wood-burning stove and all) told us not to worry, we would figure something out. Later we found out they intended for us to return to Quito and deposit money in their account through a bank there, which would have taken us way out of the way.

Luckily our travel angels, Jessica and Peter, intervened. We met them at the first communal dinner at Mama Hilda's. They are from the Netherlands and travelling for 3 weeks around Ecuador with a private driver.They not only offered us a ride to the crater lake to hike the next day (that bought us a few more hours of sleep since we had planned to take the only bus at 6am) but then offered to drive us all the way to Baños 4 hours away the next day and spot us the money to pay for our hotel room.

In addition to being incredibly generous they were so much fun. We had a great hike with them from Quilotoa lake back to Chugchilan - a 6 hour affair along the beautiful Quilotoa crater lake and then through the largest canyon I've ever walked straight down and then up again. Along the way we met many indigenous families, some of whom were friendlier than others, and all of whom requested/demanded payment for photos. It was fairly intense but understandable - if tourists were following me around NYC snapping photos I suppose I'd want compensation as well!

The photo opportunities continued the next morning when we stopped by the Saturday morning market in the town of Zumbahua on our way to Baños. It was a non-touristy event with tons of fruits and veggies, clothing, and even sheep and cow slaughter right in the square - gruesome. I was addicted to snapping photos because the local people are so photogenic, especially the women in their vibrant traditional dress. By then we'd gotten a bit savvier: Josh would pose near my subjects while I surreptitiously snapped away. Maybe a little underhanded but what can I say - we were flat broke and couldn't afford to pay to play.

Later on we arrived in Baños - the sight of my bridge jump (swing not bungee - more to come) and a beautiful, laid back town in the valley of yet another volcano. Notice a trend? They've got a few of these in Ecuador… We're here for a couple more days before we head to the jungle in Tena - a recent addition to our itinerary. From there the current plan is to head to Cuenca and Vilacabamba before it's on to Peru, Bolivia, and then down into Patagonia. 4 months and almost 2/3 done - the time is flying.