Los Jordan Polings Vamos al Ecuador

                                         On our way home from Quito last week, we stopped over at Cotopaxi National Park, a place I always wanted to visit but never had, even though the entrance lies just 31 miles south of Quito and is essentially on the way home to La Josefina. Cotopaxi, a perfectly symmetrical snow-capped stratovolcano, is the second highest peak in Ecuador at 19,347 feet (5,897 meters) and forms part of a region nicknamed the Avenue of Volcanoes. It is among the world's tallest active volcanoes (I always thought it WAS the world's tallest active volcano, but apparently that is up for debate). Cotopaxi means "neck of the moon" in Kichwa, a name that is believed to refer to the crescent shape of its massive crater ( 8 00 m x 550 macross, 250 m deep ). Records show a total of 87 historic eruptions. The nearby city of Latacunga (where we catch our bus to head down the...

                                             Eleven years ago, Paul and I brought then-baby Dillon to Siona Lodge in the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve in the Amazon region of eastern Ecuador, commonly referred to as the  Oriente . We celebrated his first birthday there. I am not exactly sure what we were thinking, but we were young(er), adventurous and apparently invulnerable, even with a baby. It's funny how memory works. I remember struggling to get Dillon to take the bitter malaria medication. I remember holding him on my lap in the canoe. I remember sharing meals with a lovely group of strangers in the outdoor dining area. I remember jumping into the lagoon at sunset. I remember the mosquito net over our bed and the steamy night hike. I remember our animated guide, Luis. I don't really remember the birds or the monkeys. Well, we had the opportunity to revisit Cuyabeno ...

This is Joao. He is six years old. He lives with his grandparents in a little house just down the way, and he regularly comes over to our casita to play. He talks incessantly, asks a lot of random questions, and has some interesting ideas about the US that he picked up from movies he is way too young to watch. These include a belief that Godzilla is real (for real, real) and that zombies regularly roam the streets of the US. I cannot even tell you how many times he and I have discussed these two topics. Joao loves our walkie talkies and Friday pizza night. He also enjoys the Legos and art supplies. He asks for help to do simple drawings and to put together a basic Lego creation; I think he lacks confidence and experience to try himself. He drives Jonah a bit crazy because he can be reckless. He tends to destroy things, not out of malice, but some combination of clumsiness and carelessness. His adorable puppy is Lulu. Joao loves Lulu deeply, and the feeling is quite obviously mutual. ...

Our first visitors, the Okura Baileys, were with us in Ecuador for two weeks, and during week one, we had a blast showing them La Josefina and the surrounding area. It felt strangely normal to have our dear COVID family pod-mates sitting at our dining room table -- albeit it at a slightly different latitude -- sipping fresh juice and munching homemade muffins. My children were over-the-moon to be reunited with their buddy Evan, and every time I turned around, Brynna was in either Pat or Stacia's lap. We found a body of water to submerge ourselves in during four of the six days; we ate a lot of delicious tropical fruit, and Pat even made it up the hill to see the town water system (which we knew he'd love). Stacia wins the award for best attitude, despite being totally covered in itchy bug bites early in the week. Highlights of our week: On Monday, we took them to wander through Lucia's finca to sample fresh cacao, suck on sugar cane, and meander through happy cow pasture...