Joey Lesh and Katie Coleman: The Next Step

We´ve seen the last of Quito now. Yesterday was a day for running errands in the last big city we´ll see for awhile and then we moved on to the resort town of Baños just long enough to spend the night. Today was spent rafting down a major tributary of the Amazon into a small town called Puyo. Puyo is on the edge of the secodary rainforest and is a popular jumping off point for trips into the Amazon. We´ll only have a day but that´s what we´re gonna do tomorrow before we head off to lay on a beach and study Spanish! Rough life!

Just returned to Quito after spending three days in Otavalo, a large village/small city about two hours north of Quito. During our time in Otavalo, we visited many mastercraftsmen including a famous wood carver, leather maker, weaver, and instrument maker. It was amazing to see the incredible art of crafting things for daily use by hand – like bedspreads and purses – that we can get commercially made anywhere in the States. For example, when we visted the weaver, he showed us how he brushed the raw wool repeatedly by hand, then spun yarn, then dyed it with materials like dried worms (purple), moss (yellow), and walnuts (brown) before weaving it on his backstrap loom.

After hanging out in Otavalo with our friends Matt and Lindsay and Lindsay´s parents, Joe and I headed out to Papallacta, a town high in the mountains where hot springs flow. We enjoyed the morning lounging in the hot pools, then cooling off in the nearby river while looking at 15,000 foot peaks all around us.

Life is great in Ecuador!

Wow! The last week has been quite an adventure for Joe and I in South America. After aclimitizing in Quito for a couple of days (Quito sits at about 8,000 feet), we took a bumpy bus ride to Chugchilan, a small community high in the Andes west of Quito. After hairpin turns throughout unpaved mountain passes we arrived at the Black Sheep Inn. We stayed there for four days hiking through the canyons, down by an bright blue-green crater lake called Quilatoa, and walking up to the cloud forest where orchids and mountain lions live side by side.

On our trip to the cloud forest we hired a guide from the community who told us lots about the area{s history and many of the folklore stories some of which Joe recognized as similar to those the Native Alaskans tell. It was our first real Spanish accomplishment that we were able to spend a whole day talking with Humberto, our guide.

We left Chugchilan in the back of a milk truck to head to Saquisili, our next destination. The milk truck drove for two hours through small villages where the native people would wait by the road with buckets filled with milk from their animals. A man would collect the buckets of fresh milk and pour it into the containers in the back of this pick up truck and sell it to people in the larger towns who needed to buy it. In addition to picking up milk, the truck picked up people, and at one point, more than 20 people, a chicken and many babies were bouncing along together. One woman breast fed her baby while holding on to the side of the truck with one hand.

In Saquisili we attended one of the biggest local markets – colors and smells and sounds EVERYWHERE. Pigs, llamas, fruits, spices, watches, fabric, and wool were all for sale! It was absolutely beautiful. I was most facinated by the boiled pigs heads and chicken feet in the stalls.

Now we{re in Otavalo visiting with our friends Lindsay and Matt before they head to the Galapagos and we head to Spanish school on the coast! Adios por ahora!

After a bus ride that had more in common with a small skiff on rough water than most trip made with wheels, we arrived at the Black Sheep Inn.

Today we hiked from a lake in the crater of the volcano back to the inn, tiring but welcome after the confining feel of being in a big city like Quito.

We´ve arrived safe and sound … rather uneventful, really. We´re staying at the Hostal Alcalá and spending the day looking at language schools, going to an art museum and planning the rest of our trip!

Just got back from an AMAZING honeymoon in San Francisco, Big Sur, and Sonoma California. The weather was unbelievable, and we enjoyed good food, excellent wine, and some of the best vistas in the lower 48. Tonight we’re unpacking from that trip and packing for our next one to South America! We leave the day after tomorrow, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted. Adios!