The New Cathedral and some cool grafiti in Cuenca

'Mital del Mundo' aka The Equator

Hello From Cuenca

So Lindsay and I decided that Quito wasn’t for us and high tailed it to Cuenca. It was a pretty fun experience because we weren’t able to buy plane tickets ahead of time due to erratic internet service. So Monday morning we packed up, paid our hostel owner, and took a taxi to the airport hoping that we would be able to buy tickets on the spot. Believe it or not, it was really easy and an hour later we were in Guayaquil and 30 minutes after that, Cuenca. The plane ride was so short they literally started the descent one minute after they finished ascending. So in a little over 2 hours we were here. It would’ve taken 12 hours by bus but it also would’ve been a beautiful mountainous drive. We didn’t get to see any volcanoes piercing through the clouds during our flight (which we heard was a common view), but we did see an amazing mountain range coming out of the sea of clouds.

Cuenca is much more our cup of tea. It is a smaller more manageable size and it has a lot of art. We are currently staying at ‘EL Cafecito’ hostel and bar, but tomorrow we move into our own apartment. We found an apartment for rent right along the river and close to downtown. It’s nothing special but it is big and cheap. We also didn’t need to sign a year long lease which is really nice because it is looking like we might not be here that long.

That brings me to another realization that we have had. It being that we might have a harder time finding a job then we expected. It sounds like it is really hard and expensive to get a work visa in Ecuador and they don’t allow the border jumping for a couple days to renew tourist visas. Who knew? But that doesn’t mean that we will be home any sooner. Now we are thinking of spending 1-3 months exploring Ecuador and then continuing south. Travel Peru, manage the mountains through Chile, and ultimately make it to/near Mendoza. Wine anyone? We’ll be in touch soon. Hope everyone is doing well and braced for the snow that I hear is coming.

-Jeff (Beacon)

Quito in 24 hours

Hello friends,
So we just realized yesterday morning (I am not sure if you are all aware) that Jeff and I bought one-way tickets to Ecuador. Was this an inside joke that we missed….hilarious.
Really though, we are in fine shape: we ended up missing our connecting flight in Miami but were pleased to find out that there was another one to Quito in a few hours. We arrived to our hostel with our bags and no problems. The owners are friendly and the hostel is sparse, just the way we like it.
Today and yesterday was spent walking around Quito, ate Ecuadorian food, drank their beer, and contemplated how we can make this or someplace close our home. Quito is an ok big city; so far we have not fallen in love with it (we are small towners as much as we might not want to admit it). We went to the botanical gardens today and saw beautiful orchids and got off the smoggy street for awhile. If you want our first impression, it is that we probably will move on from here, maybe Cuenca early next week. However, we do have plans to meet my old teacher on Saturday so maybe she will show us why she has chosen Quito over any other place.
We are happy, we are humble, we are on adventure and will have a great time no matter what happens.
Lindsay (Red)
P.S. there is a four-legger at the hostel. His name is Rocco and his is clean and Jeff can pet him.

38 hours and counting

I don't know who to start our first blog. There is so much I want to say but can't find the words for. I am going to have to get over this if this blog is going to be successful (and I am committed to this being successful). I guess you are reading this because you want to know where we are and how we're doing. Well, we haven't left yet for Ecuador but the day is approaching fast which is why I am now typing this instead of actually preparing. Procrastination wins again. We are doing really good. Wow, I am not being very interesting right now. I promise that I will get better at this so that you will want to keep checking in and reading. It will be easier when we are actually on our adventure.

All I really want for this first blog (besides making sure that it works) is to tell everybody how much we love them and how great you guys all are. We are very lucky to have such great friends and family. By far the hardest part of leaving is leaving all of you. We will really miss everybody and want to keep in touch. So please leave comments whenever you want on here or send us an email. Just because we will be in Ecuador doesn't we don't want to know all about whats going on here. Thanks everyone for everything.

Jeff