Finally, my camera arrived and I am ready to move on. However, while waiting around in Quito, I made many new Ecuadorian friends and it's not so easy to just up and leave. The result is an invitation to visit Puyo, close to where the jungle begins in Ecuador. I am kind of going that way anyway so I figured why not. I arrived in Puyo with my friend Maria, whose mother and father are a nurse and doctor respectively and own a pharmacy. They put me up for free in on...

After returning from the Galapagos Islands, I have kind of made Quito my home base for a few weeks. Unfortunately, like an idiot, I lost my camera that served so well for 16 months. Fortunately, I purchased the exact same camera on an E-bay auction and they are getting quite cheap! Unfortunately, it's taking a while to get here. Fortunately, there's plenty to see and do here in Quito to keep me entertained. Unfortunately, I can't show you pictures of any of it du...

A couple weeks ago, I left Cuenca on the afternoon bus to Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city. From there, I planned to arrange a trip to the famous Galapagos Islands where Charles Darwin formed his theory of evolution. Along the way, the bus had to stop at a roadside repair station to change a flat tire. While I was there, I met an old, very excitable, indigenous man that was so happy to see people, he ran out of his little store to greet everyone personally. I as...

After the Devil's Nose train ride in Riobamba a couple weeks ago, I split from my little travel group and returned to Baños alone to see more of the town and surrounding area. But after just long enough to get my laundry done and take some more photos, I got bored and took off for Cuenca, Ecuador's 3rd largest city and supposedly it's prettiest. It definitely is a pleasant place, with cobblestoned streets and old Colonial architecture. Here, I met up with Z...