Blog - Open Road Carsons

Planes, Trains, and a Taxi

July 26, 2022 by Kari Carson

We were beyond excited to be on our way to Spain at long last. We were ready to go. Our bags were packed!

But speaking of bags, it was hard to know what and how much to pack, especially for when heading to a place with four seasons. We originally limited ourselves to a big suitcase and a carry on each. Then at the last minute, we decided to take our camping backpacks because we hoped to do some backpacking while here. Even if we don’t backpack, I figure we can put any extra stuff in them when we head back to the US.

Anyway, here we are at the Greenville-Spartanburg airport …

Our flight schedule was pretty great. We flew from Greenville to Charlotte and had a three hour layover. Then we left Charlotte around 6 pm and arrived at 6:50 am in Madrid, Spain.

Excited to be on the plane from Charlotte to Madrid

We didn’t sleep much on the plane. We were ready for sleep around 10:30 (there were too many fun games to play and shows to watch on the plane!). That only left 2.5 hours for sleep and breakfast at the end of the flight. It was pretty strange to be eating breakfast at what was 1 am for our bodies’ clocks.

We planned a long layover in Madrid because we didn’t know how our flights would go and how long it would take to get through immigration. As it turned out, there was no line to wait in. So, we had MANY hours to kill in Madrid (8 am until our train to Granada at 2 pm). Ugh. I won’t do that again!

We had all of our luggage, so we didn’t go out to explore Madrid. I wish we could have because it would have been a much more pleasant way to spend the day.

We sat in a café in the Madrid airport for a while, where the girls had their first traditional Spanish foods – a bocadillo (Spanish sandwich) and a tortilla española (omlette). We ate, colored in coloring books, and read for most of the time waiting. Then after two hours, we took a subway from the airport to the train station with all of our bags.

Thankfully, the subway wasn’t full, but we definitely got some stares because of our large amount of luggage. And moving around with all of our bags was not fun either. It was cumbersome, to say the least.

At the train station, we ended up finding a restaurant with air conditioning, and we camped out there for another few hours. The girls played Google’s No Internet Game for hours, and I was painfully tired after two more hours of waiting. My eyes hurt, so I couldn’t color with Ali anymore. On top of that, I didn’t count our deck of cards before we left… It turns out that you can’t play too many games with 44 cards.

I think the girls handled the waiting better than me 🙂

Aaaanyway, we finally got on the fast train to Granada… just three and a half hours to go!

A big smile before I dozed off to sleep.

The girls didn’t sleep a wink, but maybe that was because of a stop by the candy store in the train station.

They look a bit like monsters, but Serena and Ali did EXTREMELY well with all the travels.

My eyes were closed much of the train ride, but every time I pried them open, I saw hundreds of miles of olive groves and arid landscapes.

As we neared Granada, we saw the fires in Andalucía that we’d heard about. There were helicopters dropping water on them, so I’m pretty sure they weren’t prescribed burns.

It is so dry here. It is usually dry in the summer, but there was less rain this year than in the past. And, the outside temperature read 42 degrees! (That’s 107 degrees!!!)

Welcome to Granada!

Thankfully the extra large taxi I’d arranged was waiting for us, and we were able to get into our house easily.

We were so grateful for a safe and smooth day of travel. We arrived, and all of our luggage made it the whole way too.

It was time to celebrate!

Our first drinks and tapas. I introduced the girls to Fanta Limon, and they’ve had many since.

At this point it was 8 pm in Spain, which was 2 pm on our bodies’ clocks. Serena, Ali, and Chad hadn’t slept for about 30 hours. Did I mention what amazing travelers Serena and Ali are?!!

We capped off our night with a five minute stroll to the San Nicolas overlook for the sunset over the Alhambra.

And with that, we headed home, hauled our beds up to the air-conditioned third floor, and slept for 12 hours.

More adventures ahead!

Why did we move abroad? And why Granada, Spain?

July 26, 2022 by Kari Carson

Why are we moving to Spain? Many people have asked us that.

After all, life is good and very comfortable at home in South Carolina. We live in a beautiful place and enjoy our community. We have a nice home and wonderful family and friends.

But sometimes, we like to mix things up, get out of our comfort zone, and change the scenery. That’s what this trip is all about.

Our prior travel adventures

When it comes down to it, Chad and I both have a bit of wanderlust.

Even on our very first date, which was a hike to a local waterfall, we talked about exploring new places and countries. When we were dating and newly married, we traveled together inside the US and to Costa Rica and Mexico. In 2009 we took off of work for 4 months and traveled in Spain, Peru, Chile, and Argentina.

During all of these travels, we dreamed of someday spending extended periods of time outside the US when we had children.

Once we actually had kids, we began by hauling them around in baby carriers on road trips to the western US and to Mexico for a couple of weeks. Traveling with kids had its fun moments, but it was also much more challenging than we expected!

But it was rewarding enough that in 2017, when the girls were 3 and 5, we spent 17 months living in Cuenca, Ecuador. The girls went to local schools; Chad blogged and wrote a book; and I taught English. It was fun to connect with a new community and live our day-to-day lives in another country. It was a wonderful experience, and we wanted to do it again as the girls got older.

Us at our one of our favorite hangouts in Cuenca, Ecuador

Need some space for creativity

Fast forward to 2021, and Chad started thinking about writing another book. Even before he mentioned it, I realized that we’d be living abroad again. As his book contract started becoming a reality, he brought up the idea of us living out of the country.

When at home in South Carolina, we spend a lot of time visiting friends and family or going to community meetings. But when living abroad, we have less of those (in the beginning anyway). This frees up big expanses of time for creative projects like Chad’s book. For this and many other reasons, I was on board.

Which country should we live in?

So, we’re taking a trip now. But where should we go? The world is wide open. We could go anywhere.

I initially liked the idea of going to Argentina. I love Latin America, and I’ve wanted to spend time in the northern Patagonia region of the country. Chad and the girls, however, liked the idea of going to Europe. The girls got into Greek and Roman mythology through the Rick Riordan books, and they really wanted to go to Greece and Italy.

Chad and I also wanted language learning to be a part of our experience abroad. This meant that the UK was out, and we weren’t too interested in learning Italian or Greek at this point in our lives.

Germany became a possibility that Chad and the girls talked about. Chad wanted to rekindle his German language skills that he studied in high school and college. The girls were interested in going to a place where both sides of the family have heritage roots. I was slowly won over because I decided that I could spend all of my time learning a new language and enjoying the beautiful countryside.

But as we started watching more YouTube videos about Germany, we were deterred by the many dark and cold days of winter. We’d definitely visit, but Germany was out.

Spain then made it to the top of the list because the girls could bring back their Spanish, which they’d mostly forgotten in the four years since we left Ecuador. Chad and I could both improve our Spanish, which has also gotten rusty. And, Spain is a beautiful country where people seem to value slow time – something we love.

What city in Spain?

Now, where in Spain should we go?

We liked all of the parts of Spain that we had previously visited. I studied in Salamanca in 1997 for five months, and Chad and I spent six weeks traveling around Spain in 2007 to Salamanca, Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Granada, Valencia, and Barcelona.

Barcelona was one of our favorite places, but we heard that school is mostly taught in the Catalan language, which wouldn’t help the girls’ Spanish.

We also have very dear friends from Clemson that live in Santiago de Compostela, the terminus of the famous Camino de Santiago. It was an appealing possibility to live near close friends in a small and beautiful city that also had access to the outdoors (something we love).

But although we missed our friends and wanted to spend more time with them, I also love the idea of learning my way around a city on my own. That adventurous aspect is one of the allures of traveling for me. But more than that, I couldn’t shake one of the first things I read about Santiago de Compostela on Wikipedia – “Heavy winter rainfall.”

Dark, rainy winter days weren’t how imagined our year in Spain. I sighed because this was also one of my motivations to move to the southern part of the US – to get away from the gray winters in my hometown of St. Louis.

As of December of 2021, we still hadn’t chosen our destination. So, to help us decide we met online with a couple of specialists on relocating to Spain as a foreigner (Jackie with familymoveabroad.com and Christine with youryearinspain.com). We also learned about taxes and the type of visa that would allow us to live in Spain for longer than 3 months.

During our calls, we mentioned that we weren’t sure what part of Spain we were headed to. In a very quick side comment, Jackie mentioned the possibility of Granada. That reminded me that we really liked Granada when we traveled there in 2009.

So, we started researching Granada more. It is a very sunny and beautiful place. It has universities, a big international population, and lots of tourism. We fondly remembered our visit to Granada watching a Flamenco show, drinking sangria, and touring the breathtaking grounds of La Alhambra. We also liked that the outdoor haven of the Sierra Nevada mountains are just outside of the city.

So, after some walks and long talks, Chad and I decided Granada would be our home.

View of the Alhambra fortress in Granada

Visas, paperwork, and translations – oh my!

Deciding where to live may have taken us a while. But we were only getting started because the process of gathering the documents needed to apply for a residential visa was enormous! The steps included:

request birth and marriage certificates
get documents apostilled by the Secretary of State for each state
find a Spanish translator and get the documents translated
pray all the documents arrive on time
gather financial records to prove we won’t be working in Spain
get Spanish health insurance
pray we get approved for health insurance
scan everything
double check everything
make copies
triple check
make more copies ???

Preparing the Visa application became my job this spring, and I feel the need to document it here for you 🙂

I had to send the visa application documents in a box. They didn’t fit in a large envelope!

We turned in our applications at the end of April, and we found out at the end of May that we’d been approved! We were so excited and immediately made our plans to fly to Miami to pick up our visas in person, as required.

Celebrating after picking up our visas in Miami outside the Spanish Consulate office!

Packing & final preparations

It was exciting getting ready to move to Spain, but as we began packing up our home, it reminded me that THIS is a big reason many people don’t move abroad in the first place! It’s a big task!

We packed some things, stored others, and purged as much as we could. We also found a wonderful couple to rent our house for a year, and they were ok with us leaving it furnished. That meant we didn’t have to pack up the kitchen or move the heavy furniture!

Phew!!

It was also a relief to know that the house would be in good hands.

The sadness of parting

As we prepared to leave for a long period of time, we really began appreciating the little things about our home and our community in Clemson. For example, we savored falling asleep to the sounds of the cicadas and the woods behind our house. Knowing that we’d be moving to a city, we wouldn’t hear those sounds for the next year!

And, of course, we were sad too. We were going to miss our family and friends.

To get our fill, in June we vacationed with family in Montana and at Lake Hartwell and friends in Washington. And in Clemson we filled our days with gatherings, lunches, coffee, walks, runs, dinners, and beers to try to spend time with as many friends as possible before leaving town.

It was wet and 30 degrees in Yellowstone in June.

We love tubing on Lake Hartwell with family

I wish I also had pictures of the slip-n-slide.

After a few intense games of pool volleyball 🙂

See you soon?

We hope to see you if you decide to visit us while we are in Spain! Interestingly, many more people have offered to visit us in Spain than in Ecuador 🙂 Perhaps it’s because Spain was the number two tourist destination in the world in 2017?

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Photo credit – Alhambra on the hill – By Slaunger – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35203662

Cajas National Park

October 18, 2017 by Kari Carson

One of the things that excited us about living in Cuenca was nearby Cajas National Park. We imagined ourselves heading to the park at least once a month to get out of the city and be surrounded by nature. Well, 6 months passed, but we finally visited Cajas National Park!

Getting to Cajas was kind of a mystery to us at first. We were very hesitant to pay the $50 for a guided tour, and we weren’t sure about paying $25 to have a taxi driver drop us off when we weren’t familiar with the surroundings. We also thought about taking a bus towards Guayaquil and just hopping off in Cajas, but we didn’t have any maps or really know what to expect.

So, when Chad’s parents came to visit, we decided to buck up and pay for a guided tour of Cajas. We were glad we did!

Our guide shared his expertise on the flora, fauna, and history of Cajas National Park.

Cajas National Park is about 110 square miles at elevations between 10,100 feet and 14,500 feet above sea level. Our tour took us to two very different areas of the park.

Laguna Llaviuco

Our first stop was Lake (Laguna) Llaviuco. We took a 30 minute van ride from Cuenca to the eastern side of Cajas National Park in a low cloud forest.

Ali was excited about our hiking adventure!

The hike around the lake was very enjoyable. The flat terrain made for easy walking, and our guide talked with us the whole way about the history of the area and the flora and fauna.

Lake Llaviuco is 137 feet deep. This U-shaped valley was carved by glaciers.

As we entered the park, we stopped for some family pictures at this covered bridge over the headwaters of the Tomebamba River.

Cajas National Park provides 60% of Cuenca’s drinking water, and two of Cuenca’s rivers (the Tomebamba and Yanuncay- whose shores we love to run along) originate here and eventually drain into the Amazon.

The road to Laguna Llaviuco dates back to the 1950s when a brewery was built here to use the cold mountain waters to brew beer for Cuenca. The brewery no longer exists, but parts of the building are still standing.

At one end of Lake Llaviuco you can see the brewery from the 1950s.

We first spied the brewery from afar.

Here’s our family picture at Laguna Llaviuco with the cervecería (brewery) in the distance.

And then we walked farther and got a closer view.

Long since closed, the brewery is now a nice grazing ground for alpacas.

Serena and Ali are great little hikers, and this time we keep them motivated by collecting interesting (fallen) leaves and rocks we found along the way.

Serena and Ali on the trail with their collection bag.

We loved the descriptions of the local plants from our guide.

This plant is interesting because instead of one main vein on the leaf, it has several.

This is the Angel’s Trumpet. It has hallucinogenic properties. There are also yellow and white varieties.

Chad and I have seen the Angel’s Trumpet around Ecuador and on the Inca Trail in Peru. This plant has hallucinogenic properties, and apparently it can also make people sleepy and forgetful. Our guide told us that his grandparents used to let the kids play with the flowers so they would fall asleep. The parents could then do their work in the fields!

We saw lots of bromeliads and some orchids too.

An orchid along the trail makes a great snack for hummingbirds

Here are a couple more pictures of our hike around Lake Llaviuco.

Laguna Toreadora

Laguna Toreadora was the second stop on our hiking tour of Cajas National Park. It was much different and colder than our first hike.

We headed above the forest line to this high alpine tundra (páramo) at 3870 meters (12,696 feet!).

Laguna Toreadora is one of the 270 lakes in Cajas National Park

Lake Toreadora is just off the main highway between Cuenca and Guayaquil (Ecuador’s largest city). Below is a sign that marks the road that passed through here connecting Cuenca to Guayaquil before modern highway.

There is a monument at the top of the mountain pass to commemorate the many natives that died carrying heavy European goods (like furniture, pianos, and CARS!) from the Guayaquil port to Cuenca, which was very isolated and hard to get to less than 100 years ago.

We weren’t very considerate of our visitors. Nancy and Tom came to Cuenca from Georgia just 3 days before our visit to Cajas, so hiking was no easy undertaking at this elevation of 13,000 feet.

We walked

and walked

and walked down

and up

and stopped to catch our breath and soak up the beautiful scenery.

Mama and her adventurous hiking princesses

Serena was leading the hike and wondering what was taking us all so long. The elevation didn’t seem to phase the girls one bit.

Our guide showed us the way and told us about the area we were hiking in.

Plants have to be very hardy to survive at this high, cold climate. Here are a couple of flowers we saw a lot of.

The Flower of the Andes (Chuquiraga jussieu) is a low shrub native to Ecuador and Peru. Hummingbirds like to feed on their nectar.

The flowers here grow low to the ground to survive the cold and strong winds.

Polylepsis “Paper Tree” Forest

We also hiked above 3300 meters to a Polylepsis “paper tree” forest that remains in the park. These gnarly trees thrive between 3500 and 5000 meters and make great firewood for those living at high elevation. This partially explains why there are not many left in this area.

Another view of the hike in the Polylepis paper tree forest

Here are some other views of the hike at Laguna Toreadora.

The trails here are in good condition. Thankfully it wasn’t rainy. We would have been a muddy mess.

You can see the wooden walkways that help when the trails are muddy

The landscape in the high Cajas tundra is a stark contrast to our verdant foothill forests back home in South Carolina.

Lots of people head to Cajas to go fishing. The trout here are delicious!

When we were done hiking, we headed to one of the restaurants along the highway through Cajas to warm up and devour a lunch of potato soup and super fresh, local trout.

Locro de papa (Potato soup) is a delicious traditional soup here. We were so hungry after our hiking that we forgot to get a picture of the trout 🙂

What a tasty end to a wonderful day!

More Visitors in Cuenca

October 16, 2017 by Kari Carson

We are loving Cuenca. But we were starting to get homesick for family and friends after 6 months in our new home. So, when Chad’s parents came to visit in July it was the perfect time.

Nancy and Tom visited us for two weeks. We spent the first few days touring Cuenca, and then we visited other areas of Ecuador that we had yet to see.

Serena and Ali were super excited to see their Nana and Grandpa!

We started off Nancy and Tom’s visit with a tour of the historical downtown.

This is the Monasterio de las Conceptas, which was the first convent in Cuenca. At one point 400 nuns lived in this cloistered convent, but now there are only 26 nuns here.

Then we went to Parque Calderón, Cuenca’s main square.

And we took a ride on the tourist bus

Cuenca’s downtown is beautiful. You can see the strong French influence in the architecture after the independence from Spain

We also strolled through Pumapungo

This is a recreation of what the residences of Pumapungo once looked like.

We had a special treat with this visit to Pumapungo because one of the gardeners explained the gardens to us. He even let us try a fruit that was new to us, the chamburo.

Ali was an especially big fan of the chamburo

While Nancy and Tom were visiting we also went to a birthday party picnic on the shores of the Yanuncay River.

We love to run along the Yanuncay River with the strong scent of the eucalyptus trees.

This birthday party for one of our Canadian friends had most of the blonde kids in Cuenca in attendance 🙂

We had a bonfire complete with hotdogs and smores at the birthday party

After relaxing some in Cuenca, we headed out to visit other areas of Ecuador. More posts to come soon with those adventures!

Showing Off Cuenca to Friends

October 16, 2017 by Kari Carson

In April one of our favorite people in the world, our good friend Anna, came to visit us in Cuenca. We had so much fun hanging out and showing off our town!

We walked around and toured our favorite spots.

Anna and I on the shores of the Tomebamba River

Here’s another scenic view of the Tomebamba River, which separates the area where we live from the historical downtown.

The houses on the Barranco seem to hang on the side of the cliff overlooking the Tomebamba River

Here’s a picturesque patio of a restored colonial convent with the cathedral next door.

We hung out and exercised at the nearby Parque de la Madre.

That’s the observatory in the background.

And of COURSE we went to the markets.

This is the herbs section of the market, where you can find plants to heal all maladies. I was buying some eucalyptus leaves.

Anna sampled some local fruits.

Two of our favorite fruits… granadilla (left) and pitahaya (dragon fruit).

And we enjoyed a treat at Tosta, our favorite bakery located on Solano south of the roundabout with Remigio Crespo.

We sipped cafe con leche with our chocolate croissants (yummmm!!)

Bus tour

We took a double-decker bus tour of Cuenca. We like the overview of town and history of Cuenca shared on the tour bus.

The tour starts here in Cuenca’s main square, Parque Calderón

This is the cathedral with its beautiful blue cupolas on the main square.

Chad and Ali were excited for the bus tour

The view of Cuenca from the Turi mirador (lookout point)

In the distance you can barely see the 3 cathedral cupolas from atop the the tourist bus as we headed back to the downtown.

Plaza de San Sebastian

We took Anna to one our favorite places…. San Sebastian Plaza. In the olden days, this was the site of bull fights, but now it is a quiet picturesque square with a delicious Belgian brewpub and some tasty cafes.

The fountain of San Sebastian plaza. One of our favorite beer places is behind us.

The owner of Jodoco is Belgian and makes some of the best brews around.

Pumampugo

Cuenca has been inhabited for thousands of years. The first evidence of humans in the area dates back to 8060 BC, but archeologists believe Cuenca was settled in 500 AD by the Cañari culture, who called it Guapondeleg (translated meaning is “land as big as heaven.”) The Inca came to the area and defeated the Cañari in 1470s, and the Inca emperor Tupac Yupanqui ordered the construction of a great city named Pumapungo (“Door of the Puma”). Today, you can visit the ruins and gardens of Pumapungo.

Pumapungo is the site of the Incan palace here in Cuenca. The royal gardens have been recreated to showcase local crops.

Once all kinds of animals lived on the royal palace grounds, but now there is a pond, an aviary, and llamas.

Ali and Serena love to come here to see all the birds. These parrots are particularly talkative.

Anna and I enjoying the walk around the gardens of Pumapungo

Extra-Special Times

I love making art with my super-creative friend, Anna. So, when she was in town I found a class making mandalas.

Anna is a talented artist with a fun whimsical style. I keep hoping more of her creativity will rub off on me.

Anna and I had a special friend date to a spa at the local hot springs.

Our skin was refreshed and so smooth after the mud baths, but my favorite was the soak in the hot springs and underground hot and cold contrasting pools.

The underground contrasting hot (104º!) and frigid pools were my favorite part. It left us feeling reinvigorated and also kind of woosy.

We finished off our time at the spa sweating in the box saunas

What a relaxing day!

Anna’s visit was ending just as Holy Week was beginning. We stumbled upon the reenactment of Jesus’s way to the cross. The girls didn’t understand why we weren’t stopping to help this man when people hit him and he fell to ground.

We culminated our visit together with our own special last supper… CUY!

Eating Cuy (guinea pig)

Guinea pig has been eaten in the highlands of the Andes for centuries. Many locals still love to eat cuy, so we got an excellent recommendation for a traditional cuy restaurant.

Tres Estrellas was a tasty restaurant with all kinds of traditional food.

We called ahead to reserve our cuy. It was fresh off the spit.

The cuy is quartered for easier eating. The crispy roasted skin is most people’s favorite part, understandable since there’s not much meat.

We weren’t quite sure what to make of the eyes, ears, and teeth on the table!

Ali posing with her new friend, ahem, dinner

Get your paws off the table had a new meaning at this meal

Anna had never had baby back ribs quite this tiny!

Serena was the least enthusiastic eater. (To her credit, she was a bit under the weather)

We rounded our our meal with some traditional side dishes… potatoes, mote pillo (hominy with eggs), and local Pilsner beer.

We look forward to more visitors. You are free to opt out of the cuy, though :).

A 7-Day Family Tour to Quito, Mindo, & Otavalo

May 11, 2017 by Kari Carson

One of the best things about traveling is sharing the experience with those you love. This post is about a wonderful week we spent traveling with my (Kari’s) sister, niece, and nephew during their spring break. It has a LOT of pictures plus some commentary. Think of it as a scrapbook of our travels in Quito, Mindo, and Otavalo.

Small Country, Many Choices

It was my niece and nephew’s first time traveling to South America, so the pressure was on to make it a memorable and positive experience. In planning the itinerary, I wanted them to get a glimpse of some of the diversity this small and beautiful country has to offer.

So, we began in Quito, which is the national capital and a UNESCO world heritage site for its beautiful colonial splendor. We also planned to visit the cloud forest with big trees teeming with life in Mindo, just a couple of hours west of Quito. I also hoped to soak up the volcanoes, mountains, and indigenous cultures around Otavalo, just a two-hour drive north of Quito.

Our week-long visit included tours of Quito, Mindo, and Otavalo

Arrival in Quito

Kim (Kari’s sister), Kaitlyn (Kari’s niece), and Phillip (Kari’s nephew) were happy to be off the plane when they arrived in Quito at 11 pm Friday night. Their five-hour flight from Texas was uneventful, but nonetheless, it was wonderful to be on the ground.

I was eagerly awaiting them as they stepped out of immigration. But I was surprised and excited that they were one of the first to come through the lines. I told them that bringing only carry-on bags would pay off!

We then took a taxi to our hotel and rested for the night.

Phillip and Kaitlyn’s first visit to South America. Welcome to Ecuador!

Day 1 – Colonial Buildings, Cathedrals, & Cafes

The next morning we went out to breakfast in a beautiful old colonial building just off the main square, Plaza de la Independencia.

I love the inviting indoor patios of colonial buildings. We ate at the Cafe del Fraile restaurant on the second floor.

Just after breakfast, Chad and the girls met us. They flew up from Cuenca that morning because Serena had an overnight outing with her classmates we didn’t want her to miss.

Ali and Serena were so happy to see their cousin Kaitlyn

Churches in Texas and much of the US can’t compare in size and grandeur to the ones here in Ecuador, so we wanted to visit at least one. We walked a couple of blocks from the main square to the Basilica del Voto Nacional, a neo-gothic church constructed in the 19th century.

Lovely stained glass windows adorned the church

The Basilica also has impressive views of the whole city from its rooftop. Only Serena was brave enough to climb to the top with her trembling and afraid-of-heights-but-trying-to-disguise-it mama following her. To get to the lookout tower, you first have to cross a narrow catwalk made of planks (YIKES!).

Never would this be allowed in the States. One slip or broken board and you’d fall from above the high arches of the Basilica’s entrance. Did you see how tall those arches were?

Walking the catwalk above the Basilica’s arches to get to the stairs to rooftop views

From the first level, you can see one of the details that makes this a uniquely Ecuadorian church. Instead of the gargoyles that you might find on a European or American Basilica, this one has animals from the Galapagos Islands!

See that cupola up there at the top? Yes, that’s where Serena and I were headed!

Then we went up steps and more steps that seemed to be suspended in mid-air even though they were attached to the support of the tower.

Here’s brave and smiling Serena ready to climb the stairs/ladder to the top of the basilica

Here’s a better view of the stairs that were going up up up!

The second set of stairs. Almost to the top! My palms are sweating again as I type this remembering this climb, clutching Serena and the stair railings.

Once my legs stopped trembling, Serena and I enjoyed the spectacular views from the top of the cupola. Between the clock towers, you can see El Panecillo, a famous landmark on a hill above Quito that we visited the next day.

It was getting cold and windy, so Serena and I hurried down… carefully!

On the way back to the hotel, it started raining, so we ducked into a cute cafe and had some sweet bread, coffee, wine, and beer.

Did I mention how fun it was to be together?!

You can’t beat a hot tasty beverage, beautiful smiles, and good company on a rainy day!

Day 2 – More Quito Exploring & Bus Trip to Mindo

On Sunday in Quito, we caught some street performers doing a traditional dance from northern Ecuador.

Then, we went to El Panecillo, for spectacular views of the city and fun photo ops.

On Sunday afternoon, we were ready to hit the road. We took a 2.5-hour bus trip to Mindo, a smaller town high in the cloud forests.

The main square in the small cloud forest town of Mindo.

I was excited to visit the cloud forest in Mindo. We love our city of Cuenca, but we often fill our need for tall trees and clean air. So, Mindo was a perfect get away.

Our home-base in Mindo was a lovely hotel with cute cabanas and a delicious breakfast of eggs, coffee, fresh juice, and fruit salad every morning.

Day 3 – Butterfly House, Zip Lining, & Chocolate Tour

On our first morning in Mindo, we walked up the road to the Mariposario (live butterfly exhibit).

Kim had record highs for number of steps on her FitBit during our time together in Ecuador.

Hundreds of butterflies fluttered through the air above our heads. Many of them made themselves at home on the kids who were, of course, sweet as flowers. They kids even let the butterflies lick bits of banana off their fingers.

Phillip was kind of freaked out by so many butterflies and was ready to leave soon after we arrived.

One of my favorite things about the Mariposario was the exhibit that showed the different stages of a butterfly’s life.

It was so cool to see the butterflies emerging from their chrysalises and letting their wings dry out!

Later that same day, Kim, Kaitlyn, Phillip, and I saw the cloud forest up close and personal as we zipped over the treetops suspended from cables. It rained, and we got soaked. We had lots of fun, though I couldn’t admit it until I was safely back on the ground!

Ten years earlier (pre kids), Chad and I also did a zip lining trip in Costa Rica. This time, I didn’t feel the same kind of carefree rush as a mama of two precious little girls.

Happy, wet, and safe on the ground with an adrenaline rush buzz.

Although the day already seemed full, it wasn’t over yet! After zip lining, we headed to El Quetzal Artisanal Chocolate Factory for a delicious chocolate tour to end our day.

Cacao trees grow in warmer, lower areas of Ecuador, but this place buys the fruit and knows just what to do with cacao. They have a wonderful tour that shows the whole process to make chocolate, our favorite of sweet treats.

A cacao tree. The fruit can be reddish, brown, or yellow.

The sweet goodness we all love is inside this hard, gourd-like shell.

The cacao seeds are inside these sweet white fruits you can eat.

Here is where the cacao beans are dried out before they are covered to ferment before processing.

We learned so much about how chocolate is made.

Did you know that white chocolate isn’t true chocalate? The only part of the cocoa bean it has is the fat – called cocoa butter. This is extracted when the rest of the cacao bean is ground to make chocolate.
Did you know that 70% chocolate is 70% cacao and the rest is sugar?
Milk chocolate is (obviously) normal chocolate with milk mixed in.

As much as we enjoyed learning about cacao, our favorite part of the tour was EATING it! Our tour hosts brought out a big tray of different chocolates. One side of the tray had samples with different percentages of cacao (70%, 80%, 90%). The other side of the tray was 70% chocolate with different flavors mixed in (cacao bits, sea salt, spicy aji pepper, and ginger).

We also got to taste pure chocolate that had just been ground. It is really bitter! Chocoholic Chad still loved eating the pure stuff. But for the rest of us, it tasted much better with some sugar mixed in. It’s amazing how the flavor changed and suddenly I could eat it by the spoonful!

As if we had not had enough chocolate, they finished our sampling with rich, chocolate brownies with chocolate sauce to pour over it! To help the brownie go down, we had hot tea made from the cacao shells! Yum, yum!

We sampled different kinds of dark chocolate: 70%, 80%, 90%, and 70% with ginger, with aji (chili), with bits of cacao, and with sea salt.

Mindo’s El Quetzal Chocolate Factory makes a cacao tea from the cacao bits and the most amazing brownies. The small cup is 100% pure cacao that we sampled alone and mixed sugar into too.

Day 4 – EARLY Bird Watching & Bus Trip to Otavalo

We got up at the crack of dawn on Tuesday to go bird watching in the cloud forest of Mindo. Early mornings aren’t the best time for teenagers or kids under 7, but it is the best time of day to spy birds.

Kaitlyn was sooo excited to see birds at 5:30 am. Can’t you tell?!

We weren’t exactly in the middle of the woods, but we did get to see some beautiful birds.

A toucan we spied through a monocular. We actually got to see quite a few toucans that morning.

We got to see this hawk up close as s/he swooped down, almost took off Chad’s head, nearly snagged a baby toucan for breakfast! Chad never got a thank you from the toucan for saving its life:)

I’m glad we dragged this guy out of bed.

And with that, our time in Mindo had come to a close. We all wished we’d planned to have one more day to relax in Mindo, but we had reservations at a hotel in Otavalo. So, we took a bus back to Quito and caught another to Otavalo.

Serena and Ali loved being with their cousins.

On our way back to Quito, we passed the Middle of the World Monument that marks the equator. (Interestingly, though, the monument is in the wrong spot.)

Otavalo

The last city on our tour was Otavalo, famous for its natural sights, strong indigenous presence, and huge crafts market. I was looking forward to glimpsing the huge volcanoes and crater lakes nearby and seeing some of the famous crafts in the area at the market.

We got to see a few sights in Otavalo before heading to bed for the night.

The church in the main square of Otavalo

Day 5 – Learning to Haggle, Fresh Food Markets, and a Pizza Party

On day 5, we did some shopping in Otavalo, mainly at the Plaza de Ponchos, aka the handiwork market. Visiting markets is one of our favorite experiences in Ecuador. I do love shopping. Hahaha!

Phillip learned to haggle while buying some socks. Kaitlyn got a really pretty necklace pendant. Kim and I got some matching scarves, and Kim also bought herself a stylish poncho.

It was hard to get a picture of the whole market. Just imagine hundreds more stalls just like this one.

After shopping at the artisan market, we stopped in a cafe for a tasty lunch and some relax time before heading out again.

I really wanted Kim and the kids to experience a fresh food market in Ecuador. These markets sell everything from chicken feet to whole pigs to tomatoes to papayas to apples. The market was impeccable here in Otavalo as it was brand new. We didn’t snap any pictures of the delicacies you can find in the fresh meats section (probably because some of us were holding our noses and walking rapidly through that section).

The newly built Mercado is clean and very large

We did take some time and savor the sights and smells of the fruit section of the market. Do you see the green oranges? All of them are like that here in Ecuador. You can also see mangos, tree tomatoes, guavas, papayas, and babacos.

Later that night at our hotel, we had a pizza party. We got lots of personal pizzas and had a fruit tasting from some of our purchases at the market.

Sapote. You have to cut it first, really. The orange-ish fruit pulp tastes somewhat like a pumpkin.

We all liked the granadilla fruit. Although it kind of looks like fish eyes, it is really sweet and the seeds have a nice little crunch to them.

We all loved the pitahaya (dragon fruit) and were careful not to eat too much. We enjoyed its refreshing properties and thankfully not its cleansing ones (as in clearing out your whole intestinal tract with one rapid run to the restroom:/).

Day 6 – Volcanic Lake, Scenic Views, & Haggling For Leather

We were ready for another adventure after our shopping day in Otavalo. So, we headed to a volcanic lake, Laguna de Cuicocha. I just couldn’t wait to see the other nearby volcanoes, but when we got there it was really cloudy. Nonetheless, it was still beautiful, and we were floating around in one big volcano that was now filled up by the water of the lake!

Laguna Cuicocha (the crater of a dormant volcano)

The hotel and restaurant at Lake Cuicocha

We didn’t spy the other volcanoes, but we did take a boat ride to the island in the lake before it started raining.

We navigated out to the middle of the lake.

And we went through the canal of reeds between the islands.

We took lots of photos at the lake. I couldn’t choose which ones to include here. How could I with all these beautiful people?!

What a beautiful and adventurous family!

This one of all the grandkids is for Mimi and Papa

After our visit to Lake Cuicocha, we went to the town of Cotacachi, which is famous for its leather goods. Phillip bought a new belt, and Serena and Ali got little kitty shaped coin purses. We all enjoyed a tasty, warm lunch together.

Most meals in Ecuador look like this… meat, a big helping of rice, a salad, sometimes potatoes and a fried plantain. A soup comes first, and dessert finishes off the meal, for less than $4 usually. Delicious!

Church in the main square of Cotacachi (just about every square in Latin America has a church on it)

Day 7 – Horse-Back Riding, Ancient Hacienda, & Meet-Up With Friends

On our last day in Otavalo, Kim, Kaitlyn, Phillip, and I went to nearby San Pablo del Lago to visit Hacienda Cusin. We toured the grounds of this estate built in 1602.

Phillip, Kim, and Kaitlyn at the 17th-century estate

Inviting nooks to relax all around the hacienda grounds

Kim decided she’d rather stay here next time she visits instead of the budget accommodations I arranged for us.

Beautiful gardens surrounded the hacienda

Llamas were included for the full Andean experience

Just think of all the things this tree has witnessed in its lifetime!

I’m not sure when Phillip and Kaitlyn last rode a seesaw. The llamas patiently waited for their turn.

The llama wanted his picture taken with this smiling tourist.

After a brief tour of the hacienda grounds, we hitched up our horses.

Kaitlyn looked like a natural on her horse

Kim got extra FitBit points after this ride (Don’t tell Andy, her dad. He thought she got more points than him from walking!)

We took a leisurely ride around the outskirts of town.

This was the best view of the volcanoes the whole time we were in Otavalo.

I liked seeing the old adobe houses along the way.

Kaitlyn and her horse took the lead and kept looking back for us slowpokes.

Phillip’s attempts to get his horse to run were futile. He took his sweet time.

After our ride, we sipped some hot cocoa and shared a tiramisu at the Hacienda before heading back to Otavalo.

Chad and the girls had their own adventure at a park while we were horseback riding.

They were just hanging out when we got back.

For our last meal in Otavalo, we got to have lunch with friends from Clemson who have been living in Otavalo for 3 years.

It was great catching up with Elizabeth and Rockey and exchanging stories of life abroad.

I have to include this picture of Phillip and his new friend. He made fast friends with fuzzy four-legged friends everywhere we went.

After our tasty meal and wonderful conversation, we took our last bus ride together back to Quito.

Back to Quito & An Upscale Hotel (Relatively Speaking!)

For our last night together in Ecuador, we stayed at a more upscale hotel in the modern section of downtown Quito called El Mariscal.

We enjoyed an Italian dinner together after our last bus ride.

“I’m tired after all of these adventures.” Isn’t she sweet?!

Day 8 – Relaxation, Sharing Memories, Going Home

For our last day together in Ecuador, we slept in and then walked around enjoying our last bit of time together in the parks, plazas, and markets of Quito.

We stumbled upon this artisan market and outdoor concert as we were walking around.

Kaitlyn and Ali had enough of the markets at this point.

We ducked into this restaurant to avoid the rain. It was basically a sports bar that felt like we could have been anywhere back in the States.

At the end of another fun day in Ecuador, Kim, Kaitlyn, and Phillip headed home on the 11:15 pm flight to Dallas-Ft. Worth. What a special week we had together in Ecuador!