Geo: -1.47201, -78.327One of the greatest things about this is the people we meet. They have a certain something about them. It's more than a curiosity--it's like a drive to actually see and taste for themselves what's out here. Sometimes they're searching for something inside themselves. But because we live in such a wonderful country, most of us are content to be safe in our comfortable, predictable lifestyle. It's just so........comfy. Extensive travel is difficult. It's uncomfortable. Your curiosity has to overcome the pain. After a week in cold clammy Quito-- which has no heating whatsoever-- we'll never look at our thermostat at home the same way again. Just this week we met two young attorneys from Chicago who up and quit their jobs to explore from Mexico to Ushuaia, Argentina for 6 months. They'll go ... read more

Geo: -0.223151, -78.5127It was always just a line on the map, the Equator. It was just that south of that point they called hurricanes something else. Later I heard a draining sink swirls to the left down there, but come on, really?There are certain laws of nature that just ARE, aren't there? Water swirls to the right, days are longer in summer, temperatures are colder in winter--isn't that what we've believed all our lives?As we remember what our guide said, in 1792 French scientists tried to determine the exact location of the equator. They saw it crossed seven countries and since the most civilized was Ecuador they marked the spot here at Quito, the highest point at which it crossed the earth. They came really close. Now that we have GPS, we can see they were ... read more

Geo: -1.56124, -80.8072If you're into miracles, try the one unfolding in Puerto Lopez. In a fishing village far from the drugs and violence of the big cities, lie the drugs and violence of the small cities. Here you find the culture of 13 year old mothers and 12 year old dropouts. And poverty. Strangling poverty.An then comes an idea. Fredy, our teacher here at La Lengua language school, came to Puerto Lopez 10 years ago looking for a new life and instead gave life to an idea that is changing teenagers in this teeny speck of a town.It began as he watched boys playing futbol on the beach (we call it soccer). Wow, he says, these kids are good. They're naturals! That's it. I'll start a club to teach these 16, 17 and 18 year olds ... read more

Geo: -1.56124, -80.8072We were out to lunch today and met the neatest people. Being the shy person that I am I offered my wife to them as their photographer. This immediately created a bond between all of us. They took pictures. We took pictures. We laughed. The one man that spoke English tried to explain why they were there and his wife immediately started jabbering excitedly to Karen.It's always exciting to meet people who are thrilled to meet you. That was the experience we had at that moment. It was a brief encounter but as we left there were hugs and kisses for all.We'd taken a local bus to Ayampe, a small fishing village down the coast from PL and were wandering about trying to find a restaurant called the house of corviche (Cabina de Corviche), ... read more

Geo: -1.56124, -80.8072I know. I know. We haven't written for a long time, but we've been really busy having fun. Remember talking about going over to the main offices of our school while we were in Quito? Well Ligia the director, whose office is in Quito, is here in PL for the weekend with a student named Ensu (which probably isn't spelled right, as she's South Korean) and we've been having a ball.Ligia is such a kick! Saturday morning all of us went to the fish market--Raquel, too: Bob and 4 women. He loves being king--they keep telling him in this country the man is king and he seems to be adapting pretty well.Shawn, the fish market wasn't ANYTHING like the market in Chennai--you'll see in the pictures. Later Raquel made ceviche, as she said they ... read more