Aaron and Sean in Ecuador

Way back in November, my brother, Aaron, and his buddy Sean came down to visit Ecuador, expecting a little adventure... I'm not sure if it was the type of adventure they were expecting, but then again they didn't even go as I expected. Nearly everything that you know CAN go wrong, DID go wrong on this trip. First...their luggage didn't make it for a day and we were stuck in a hotel room for nearly a whole day that conveniently had no windows. As you might notice in the pictures, it was rainy every single day they were here and in every of the 5 different regions of the country we visited. We ended up on some of the worst buses I've been on in Ecuador with some of the worst drivers. Not to be overlooked was the fact that the main airport in the country was closed for over a week (part of that week being the days they had scheduled to leave). Generally, an extra couple of days on vacation would be nice...but not when you've got appointments and other work to be taken care of that are desperately waiting for you back home. There were definitely some other mishaps and misadventures, but I'll leave something for Aaron and Sean to tell if you ever talk to them about it. Here are some of the pictures Aaron took on his brand new digital SLR camera...convenient that we had crappy rainy-light all week.

This is the typical 'dish' on November 2, the day of the dead. It's called a wawa de pan (baby of bread) and colada morada (purple fruit drink with various grains and other substances in it).

The main flea market in Guayaquil, the port town, and largest city in the country.

Me, holding hands with a statue on the famed Malecón 2000

Yep, Ronald even travels to Ecuador...

The Malecón (Riverwalk) 2000.

Famous lighthouse on top of Las Peñas.

Birds in Flight.

Tame squirrels in the Parque de las Iguanas.

One of the namesakes of the Parque de las Iguanas

Another iguana in a tree (I've blurred the edges to make it easier to see him)

A bunch of dogs on the beach. I like this picture because it shows (barely) all 3 colors of labrador in one picture. (the black in behind the chocolate on the right). The howler on the left is just trying to join in on the labrador fun.

A pelican hovering over the beach in Montañita.

A dog on the beach. Living the life...

View from outside our hotel room in Montañita.

This dog held this rock in its mouth for like 10 minutes...

Doing what dogs do: dig.

...And he's happy to be digging.

Me, scratching an itch...

Sean, looking off into the distance...

Miniature salesman.

The rock face next to Montañita.

The town drunk crying, yelling, and talking to himself.

A bird.

Can you tell we've change regions?

A cat guards its house.

Typical sight in my town. Old women working hard.

Moo.

Stray dog in Licto.

Skies over Licto.

Another typical sight in my town.

Looking down over the Rio Chambo.

Some of my students.

Grumpy Old Man.

If only this little punk would act this innocent and cute when I'm trying to give classes.

Region change, again. The Amazon Basin.

A huge waterfall that now makes its 4th appearance in my blog...

Aaron and Sean: "No, let's not leave our bags at the top of the hill with Ryan, we're tough guys and can handle 2 km of walking up and down hills and waterfalls with this stuff." They can't say I didn't warn them. Truth be told, Sean didn't complain as much as someone else.

Something new at the Pailon: climbing through a cave up underneath the waterfall. That's a LOT OF WATER.

Again, a LOT OF WATER.

Zoos in Ecuador generally look about like this...animal in cages who don't want to be in cages.

These guys don't need cages...not too fiesty, them turtles.

Me, with water falling on my head...you can barely see the water, but it was pretty painful on the head falling from 50 feet up.

Sign outside this cage: 'Don't throw rocks at the crocodile'. There are stupid people in every country of the world, I promise you.

Jumping off of a big cliff/waterfall.

A Galápagos turtle...not in the Galapagos...also not very happy about it.

Cute monkey...

I promise I'm not making fun off this guy...ok, maybe I am.

Roasting pigskin...sometimes I can't believe I eat that stuff down here.

Region Change: Shoe shiners in Quito.

The Basilica in Quito and a typical city street.

Shoe shiners at work. This guy must think he's really cool because he's paying $0.50 to have his shoes shined.

One of the many churches in Quito.

Now, THIS GUY deserves my respect.

Typical sight in Quito.

Well, that's the brief review of Sean and Aaron's triumphant tour of Ecuador. The photos of the trip look much better than it sounds, huh?