Beautiful Ecuador

I had a couple opportunities this week to notice how beautiful a country Ecuador is. On Thursday morning, I got a phone call wondering if I wanted to go "canyoning" since somebody was sick and they had an open spot. Sure, I volunteered. An hour later I was on my way to a spot about 40 minutes west (toward the Mountains) of Shell. What is canyoning? Well, on this morning it consisted of moving down a canyon river by various methods- walking and swimming in the water and repelling ziplining, and jumping down waterfalls. It was a pretty incredible experience. Unfortunately, since we were submerged in the river for much of the time, I wasn't able to bring the camera along for pictures. The two photos below show the general landscape of the area and our group right before we started our trek.








Then on Saturday, our family went with another family to Ambato to do some shopping. The approximate 2 hour trip on the Ambato-Puyo highway (I use the term "highway" loosely- it's 2 lane for much of the way, 1.5 lane for the rest. With all sorts of turns, descents, tunnels, potholes, and a section where there's about 1 foot of shoulder between the road and a VERY STEEP drop off the side of the mountain. But Kevin told me the road is markedly improved since he first came to Shell less than 5 years ago. Now nevermind this part when you read on.) was a beautiful ride. There's one section between Ambato and Banos near the Tungurahua volcano that is especially scenic. Once again we didn't have our camera along but feel free to google "Tungurahua" to see some pictures of the area. We're driving on the side of a mountain and you can look across the valley and see another mountain... I can't really explain it, but it was pretty cool.
I just read tonight that Ecuador is the most geographically and biologically diverse country in the world (not quite sure how that is measured). Our location in Shell is wonderful- the jungle to the east and the mountains to the west. You're welcome to come visit us anytime!

P.S. - I received no renumeration from the Ecuador Dept of Tourism for the comments in this blog.