¡Primera Semana en Ecuador!

Hola chicos,
Greetings from Cuenca, Ecuador in the southern part of country and in the Andes Mountains. We are enjoying a delicious cup of Ecuadorian coffee this morning which has been a rarity (we mostly only found instant on the coast) despite coffee being a cash crop here.

Im updating from John's  phone so I'll just just hit the highlights. After a day exploring Old Town in Quito, we spent the next 4 nights on the coast in Canoa, Puerto Lopez and Ayampe. We visited Isla DE Plata and Macholla National Park. We ate the best fish we've ever had which I mistaking thought was steak when the server brought it and told her 'no, we asked for the fish'!

Now we have fled the heat for the mountains. Yesterday we went on a long day hike in Cajas National Park. The vegetation was stunning and there were laguna tucked in  between rocky peaks in every direction. 

View of Quito from the Basilica. 

It was a crazy climb up metal stairs and ladders!

Naturally we found a brewery within 24 hours of arriving in country. Banditos Brewing in Quito.

Sunset over the Pacific in Canoa. It was an event every night on the coast!

Me in front of our hut in Canoa.

Machalilla national park

Em swimming in our almost private beach we hiked to.

Awesome hike in Cajas National Park

Cheap labor

View from the Mirador in Machalilla Park

We scrambled up to the almost summit of St Luis in Cajas and we're rewarded with a rainbow for our efforts! Awesome day in Cajas!

Our Great Western Adventure

Back in the beginning of 2013, Emily posed me with the question that went something along the lines of would you be willing to quit your job after a couple of years and go on an extended trip backpacking out west. At the time I was finishing school and did not even have a job, but I knew it was something I wanted to pursue. So here I am jobless and already thinking about quitting a job I did not even have for something that seems impractical and crazy to most people. 

Goodbye to 15 Hudson St. Many good times were had here and in our neighborhood. 

Its also the origin of Hudson St. Brewery!

The idea slowly blossomed into reality until it reached the point of commitment. Here we are two years later, eager for everything the trails and roads have to offer. 

Since we will be living off savings with no source of income, in addition to the fact that the wolfdog Misha will be joining us, we will be primarily backpacking out in the western U.S. wilderness areas, sleeping for free in our tent with the occasional visit to friends and family along the route. 

While one of the goals of the trip was to have as much time and flexibility to allow for a strong sense of freedom without feeling rushed, there is a general outline of places we want to see and things we want to do. We have accumulated nearly a dozen wilderness area maps that are waiting to be put to use.

Thanks to my brother Jason and my parents, we are dropping Misha off in Charlotte and taking off for 19 full days in Ecuador to kick it off. We had such a blast in Honduras last May but the only thing we wished we could have done differently was to have more time out there. With both of us quitting our jobs, we decided to take advantage of the time off and allocate some of our savings towards another international trip. Especially since the flight will end up costing more money than we will spend the entire time there.

We are departing April 6 for Ecuador and hitting the road April 29 a few days after getting back in the U.S. We are hoping to be able to live off our budgeted savings until the end of September, at which point the plan is to pursue new opportunities in the Seattle area, keeping the Great Western Adventure in a perpetual state.

Driven by my obsession with maps, I created a general outline of the route we have tentatively planned. If anybody wants to meet up along the way, please do! 


https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=zpnijnkR-qlY.k-Go7ybNXTUs

Em on grassy peak on the AT this January

John and Misha at Clyde Smith AT shelter in January