Boy oh boy I hope you're ready for some more delicious photos! Yes yes oh yay!

Ok to start with I wanted to post two more pics from the Cajas trip up outside of Cuenca last week. It was just so awesome that I the three pics I showed before don't do justice. Not like these do though, but at least you get more of an idea. Pictured above (with permission), is the superlative example of Peace Corps femaledom I went hiking with. She's really swell. Below this tree was a cave that she found and so we both went squeezing through it West-Virginia-style, minus the usual nomex flight suits and delightfully lewd mud sculptures.


To my Kiwi Krewe, I am sorry that I forgot about this picture. Hope this makes up for it. NUTELLA!!!!!! On a cliff!!!!! At 12,000 feet in Ecuador!!!!!!! YAYYY!!!!!

Just one of the things that makes this site so unique is the nightly convergence of golondrinas, or swallows, on and next to the church in the central park of the city. Just a few minutes past 6pm EVERY night, hundreds of these birds fly in from the countryside and line up as close as possible on the powerlines and little alcoves of the church. Once they get here, they usually stay put until about 6am the next morning. That is, unless there are fireworks and skyrockets going off, which was the case when I took this shot. I stood there in the park with the camera pointed upward, waiting for the next big BOOM to go off, and when it did I was ready. This is the result. I'm pretty excited about the way it turned out.

This is what the swallows look like when they're settled in for the night. You saw a similar photo a while back but this one is new and actually in focus. I've taken to not only carrying my camera everywhere but now my tripod as well. Good to have around I think.

Finally, we are in the midst of the July festivities so last night I was rocking out to several Ecuadorian musical groups right in one of the main streets in the centro historico. The place is like Bourbon street except that there are a ton fewer people, noone throws beads or gets overly drunk in public, and there is not nearly as much naked human flesh being flashed about. So I guess it's not really like Bourbon Street at all. Hmm. Well there is the Spanish architecture, I think that counts for something.