The group was all packed up that night and ready for an early 5:00 am wake up when we got the news that a city wide transportation strike would delay our departure 24 hours. So one day after our intended departure we boarded a bus and rode two hours to the head of the Salkantay Trail and began hiking. Salkantay means ”Wild Mountain” in Quechua and on the first leg… Read More

Yesterday we reached a milestone on this journey: we can now count the days we have left on our fingers. A whole lot has happened since my last post in Puno. We went from Puno to Cusco for a quick break before departing to the Sacred Valley for a week long yoga retreat. Each day consisted of 4 hours of physical yoga practice and two yoga lifestyle workshops covering topics… Read More

Peru is already a favorite among many group members. We arrived in Arequipa and I became instantly enamored with the landscape. A very dry city, home to almost 800,000 people, Arequipa is surrounded by three volcanos, Misti, Chachani and Pikchu Pikchu. The tallest, Misti, reaches 19,000 feet into the air. Jack, Hunter, Peter and I stayed with the Meza family. Mr. Meza is a volcanologist who studied the mountains surrounding… Read More

Our time in Ecuador is drawing to an end. We depart tomorrow (Saturday October 24) for Arequipa, Peru where we will begin the second half of our adventure. We arrived yesterday in Quito after ten days in the Intag region. While we were there, we learned about sustainable, organic agriculture as well as the fight between the people of that region and ENAMI, the Ecuadorean national mining company trying to… Read More

Copied from my personal blog doslenguasdosalmas.wordpress.com Alright boys and girls, its been a while, but I’m back. Since my last update we’ve been through three cities, Baños, Tena and Otavalo. Our time in Baños was highlighted by the volcanic hot springs. The city of Baños sits at the base of Tungurahua, a 16,000 foot active volcano which heats the pools of water down below to a comfortable but attention grabbing… Read More

(Copied from my personal blog doslenguasdosalmas.wordpress.com) A lot has happened since my last post and I’m struggling trying to figure out how to include it all. For starters I know all about banana/plantain farming. We worked on a farm with a man named Juan Karlos and his family. When we arrived on the farm we got a tour of the property and got to sample the goods; everything from plantains… Read More

Copied from my personal blog doslenguasdosalmas.wordpress.com So, something I failed to mention in my first blog post was the fact that I lost my passport in the Quito airport. So the first three days in Ecuador were spent in pursuit of a new passport. As of Friday I have completed my passport application in the US Embassy and I should have another in 10-14 days. Friday morning a group of… Read More

This is being posted to fulfill the requirements of a scavenger hunt. Our group is on in Quito. Don’t worry everyone is safe and having a great time!!… Read More