All Roads Lead to Roam

Firstly, my heart breaks for what is happening in Ecuador, right now. It truly is devastating to see the violence, vandalism, disruption and instability occurring now. I pray for resolution that can restore peace to that beautiful country. Bogotá, Colombia Apulo, Cundinamarca, Colombia Now that I passed the first long vacation for my new job, I can stop saying that I had an incredibly short  summer... or few weeks break to move countries before starting my new position. While I am appreciative of my decision to stay busy and make the most of the time I had with family and friends, it didn't leave me much downtime to breathe or hit the reset button.  At the Foo Fighters, Tenacious D and Weezer concert before vacation Walking around our resort View from the finca This break was so necessary for my own mental well-being. I'd experienced a lot of changes in my life since the start of the year, and these are just the major ones to start with: purging my belon...

Quito, Pichincha, Ecuador It’s one thing to go back to Wisconsin and visit as a tourist, but visiting a place I’ve lived in internationally is another [ wasn't I always just a tourist in Ecuador, though? Sorry, that's rather shady ]. At the end of September, a mere three months after I finished packing my bags and purging the hoard of possessions I accumulated, I got to experience this. Part spending-time-with-friends and part retrieving-the-remainder-of-my-belongings, this was the weekend I needed. Quito ... I was ready for you. I took a personal day from work to fly-out on a Friday afternoon so I could maximize the amount of time I'd have. I took an Uber to El Dorado airport and immediately I was reminded of my only other time traveling to the airport. Five years ago, on my return from my first trip to Bolivia, I had a lengthy layover in Bogotá and decided to venture into the city to explore. It took me about an hour to flag down a taxi that time, and almost a...