Introduction

In July this year, I left my job to go out on my own - but had to sit on the sidelines a few months until a non-compete expired. With my future set, and a required break, Shannon & I decided to spend a few months living abroad somewhere. We knew we wanted to be in Central or South America, wanting a Spanish-speaking country (and having spent considerable time in Spain already). After much research and debate, we decided upon Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is a small-ish city (pop. 400,000) located high up in the Andes mountains (elevation 8200 ft), a colonial town with a great deal of culture. Ecuador offered a lot of possibilities for adventure - hiking in the mountains, visiting volcanoes, vibrant markets, and of course, the Galapagos.

The rough plan was that we would try to live a somewhat "normal" life - we would rent a furnished 2 or 3 bedroom apartment, enroll our boys in a local school, hopefully find a soccer team or some other after-school activities, Shannon would take Spanish lessons, and I would spend the mornings working in our apartment (I am consulting for a few groups back home). The afternoons and weekends would be reserved for play and exploration.

And so we set out on our adventure on September 3, to return home in early November, and this is the story of our trip.