Welcome!

We are titling our blog site "volcanoes & cathedrals". Literally speaking, the highlands in Ecuador can be described by these two words. Figuratively, I'm sure we'll experience some "volcanoes," considering we will be traveling with small children, in a third world country, barely knowing the language. My hope is that we will also encounter the "cathedrals," the awe inspiring moments, the connections with people, and the broadening of our perspective.

The first two volcanoes occurred already. One, I was floored by the cost of travel immunizations. Our bill topped $1,100. Just Yellow Fever was $85 per person, and that is required if you want to get back into the USA. Two, though we ordered passports 11 weeks ago, they were not arriving. Suddenly, the extra cost of expediting was, in hindsight, pretty worth it. Our option now was to go do all the paperwork over again, pay all the fees again, by going downtown to get temporaries. Only, all the appointments for that were booked. Blake didn't sleep much for about a week, and if he was up at 3am, he'd call the place where they were processing our passports back east. "They answer right away when I call then." In contrast, if you are calling later in the day, and you choose any option but the operator, you basically get hung up on! "Sorry, call volume is too high. Good-bye." Click. The passport people knew him by name because he was persistent, and, told him, "oh, you still have plenty of time!" Well, OK then! A luxurious six days before we travel, the beautiful fed-ex package arrived.

See you south of the equator.

-Trudenski