The Lares Trek and Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu. Who hasn’t seen the photos of the idyllic Inca mountain town  and talked about it in 8th grade Social Studies? It’s one of those places you learn about and seems so far away. I spent a summer in Ecuador and almost booked a flight to Cusco because I wasn’t sure if I’d ever […]

Hiking in Huaraz

  Before beginning this trip, I saw some photos of this bright blue lake that was high in the Andes and decided “we are going there.” This blue lake happens to be a glacial lake located near Huaraz, Peru – Lake 69. We crossed into Peru about 2 weeks ago and have been steadily making […]

Cuenca – Our Future Home

  Will and I left Cuenca with plans to return in roughly 30 years to live out retirement in this beautiful city. It is the 3rd largest city in Ecuador and has quite a large population of ex patriots as it is. But who can blame them (or future us) -the city sits at 8,200 […]

Cotopaxi Volcano Adventures

  Will and I both reached our highest elevations hiking when we hiked up Cotopaxi, the highest active volcano in the world which stands at 5,897m (19,347ft). I should clarify, we hiked to about two thirds up the highest active volcano in the world – but that’s still pretty high. Cotopaxi is in a national park […]