Free Internet Equals Ramblin'

Hola amigos y familia! Jansa and I are safe and doing great! We had a wonderful past 3 days in the Andes. We spent some time hiking in and around the Quilitoa crater "pictured above" and some indigenous mountain villages. It has been a very genuine experience; more than I ever dreamed.

Both Jansa and I joked as we stumbled through the Andes that no pictures or words would do justice to our experiences. This has proved to be very true; although that didn't stop us from taking pictures. After some initial debate Jansa insited that we at least attempt to write about it for the sake of his beloved mother who loooooves to hear about all details. We apologize to our experience for what will ineveitably be a poor rambling rendition of our trip, but we shall try anyways (besides, my blog name is the RAMBLIN' Corkademus, it only makes since that I ramble on incoherently about some of our trips).

Heres a brief summary of our first mini adventure. After spending some time north of Quito in Otavalo we jumped on a bus to head south to the hike around the Quilitoa Crater. We changed buses three times and witnessed quite a bit over the course of a day. Everything from mountain villages, markets, farms, children on their way to school, the impressive magnitude of Quito, the stretching slums of Quito, several volcanoes, and more indigenous mountain communities. Afet spending the night in the first of a series of mountain villages and the morning at the weekly town market we got ourselves to the Crater. No words. Simply marvelous. After hiking down to the crater and back up (1,000 feet climb) we headed on a 5 hour hike to another neighboring mountain village. Our guide book gave some simple instructions, the people we spoke with gave us some basic advice, and we took a picture of the posted map of the hike. Needless to say within 45 minutes of our journey we were completely and hopelessly turned around on one of the hundreds of interlocking trails that weave in and out of mountain huts, farms, and canyons. We did not want to come off as some American buttheads stomping through these indigenous family farms with their overstuffed, fancy backpacks. However, avoiding this intrusion proved impossible after hiking around in circles, continuing to get stuck on various cliffs and slot canyons. Turns out the different farmers proved to be our saving grace and some of the nicest people we have met. Each time we came across another farm we were greeted with kind smiles, basic conversation, and much needed guidance to get through the many valleys and trails of the Andes. Needless to say the hike was phenomenal beyond words; up and down mountains, past huts, animals grazing on steep slopes, through a small village unreachable by road, back and forth across a river, rain dumping on us during the daily mountain thunderstorm, down one side of a massive 1,000 foot plus canyon and back up the other side, capped with an arrival at our village destination completely soaked and exhausted. Yet, we were greeted with the gifts of hot instant coffee and hammocks to lie in.

We decided to spend another day and night (which consisted of more hiking that was equally as amazing but less crazy, excellent hammock time, a massive thunderstorm enjoyed from the cover of our porch, and card games with some of the villagers) in the mountain pueblo of Chegchulan so that we could enjoy the beauty that we were surrounded by more fully.

The bus ride home confirmed our thoughts on the bus system: CHEAP, beautiful views, and an absolute cluster****! The bus ride down the mountain ended up having people crammed in every corner, including the roof. Que ridiculo!

Life is good, life is grand, life is great. We will continue to ramble as the internet presents itself.

On a side note, Michael Jansa has proved to be absolutely brilliant when it comes to speaking Spanish and saving the day (this sentence was written by Michael Jansa).