It’s BANANAS!

 


It’s BANANAS!

We left the beautiful island of Portete and said goodbye to the sweet animals, the walks on the beach, the naps in the hammocks, and finally, the mosquitos. We learned a lot there - about things we want for our future and things we don’t…along with being provided with a lot of time to just be and do the things we want to do. Most importantly, we learned how to assassinate mosquitos - feel free to reach out to Condor for technique and details. 

After leaving the beach, we made our way toward the capital of Ecuador, Quito, to explore this area for a week before our next WorkAway. We ended up back at 10,000 feet and in the beautiful Andes, just in a different country. We started at Quilotoa Lake, a massive crater with stunning turquoise waters. We hiked the rim of it all the way around, getting to experience the beauty from all angles. We made our way to some smaller towns, getting to meet locals, see women and men dressed in their indigenous clothes, and experience a little deeper what the Andes mountain range here in this small country has to offer. Everyone was so nice and welcoming to us, wanting to stop us on the street and ask where we were from, and giving us sweet gifts. We then made our way to hot springs, nestled in the mountains where we had the perfect hot springs weather - cold and drizzly. It was definitely more of a “fancy” place where they turned the pools into a spa area and we got to wear our super cute swim caps! It was a truly lovely place to relax and be in the natural waters of Mother Earth (Pacha Mama as she is called here). 

We have been at our current spot for the last 2 weeks, in the amazing cloud forest of Ecuador. It is a similar situation where we are house-sitting, watching 2 dogs, and working on miscellaneous projects around the house. This location has been full of unique fruits, rainy days/nights, bird watching, and training a Rottweiler puppy. This town is known for its chocolate as there are many cacao plantations…have you ever tried a chocolate bar with cardamom!? YUM! It is also know for its large variety of unique birds - people come from all over the world to do some birding. There are many waterfalls and rivers with just untouched beauty everywhere you turn. And the icing on the cake is that at about 4,000 feet elevation here, there are hardly ANY mosquitos. :) 

One of our favorite activities here thus far was cutting down a banana tree to get the bunch of bananas. Banana trees grow very fast, and are cut down once the bananas are ready to ripen off the tree, then another banana tree grows there. It was a funny experience to figure out how to go about cutting down the tree, with YouTube offering some help, but ultimately just having to try it with our own two hands. Thankfully no one or thing were harmed in the process. Now we have about 175 bananas and a TON starting to ripen. So, if you’d be so kind and leave your favorite banana recipe in the comments, I would love that! My only ideas so far: lots of banana bread (of course) and lots of banana ice cream. 

We have about 3 more weeks left at this location before exploring a bit more of Ecuador and then landing in…COSTA RICA! Crazy to think about approaching 1 year of travel in April. Although there is always an ebb and flow of how we are feeling during this journey, we are so grateful for all the experiences thus far. We don’t feel “done” quite yet, so we are continuing to practice taking it day by day, month by month to see what life presents next. 

Love and miss you all! 

Con amor, 

Abby y Connor 

Sunrises on the beach <3 

Some pottery time

A solid hammock nap

Drinking mate on the beach with my love!

Goodbye mosquitos and sand flies…
we won’t miss you 

Hello Quito, Ecuador - 
new metro system, who dis?!

Quimbolitos - a yummy, corny goodness

Connor’s coconut shrimp pizza -
“Best pizza I’ve ever had.” - CZ
Real quote. 


Quilotoa Lake - with my friend Panchito 

Look at this massive crater!

Can you spot the rare Andean animal up on the ledge?



Local market with all the goods 

Sweet, little cabana along the way

Those Andes though…

Sweet farmers gave us some habas (fava beans) to try. 
They also asked us to say hi to their sons in 
Los Angeles when we go to California 

Hot Springs!!!



How many journals can 2 backpackers carry?

Introducing… our new pups!
We got Chia 

And sweet pup, Chonta 

Our patio in the cloud forest 



Shampoo ginger flowers - 
you can actually use the gel for shampoo!

Hey bamboooo

Had to try out the chocolate ice cream!

Cacao pod - this is where ALL your chocolate comes from!

Beautiful fruits and vegetables from the market 

Our harvest!

Connor spotting some toucans 

Riding over the cloud forest 


Hike of waterfalls



Look at all this unique fruit - guaba and babaco

Guaba - also called ice cream bean because 
it’s texture is kind of like cotton 
candy/ice cream around the seed 


Dealing with landslides from all the rain - 
Took out the electricity pole 

Look at those babies turning yellow!

A whole BUNCH of bananas




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