My counterpart's dinner table respendent with guests for my birthday "party." They cook a mean chicken in Zaruma!


The gold ingot worth about $20,000 that I held a few weeks ago. That was a fascinating experience to share with a couchsurfer who was passing through on a visit.


My dad looking uncharacteristically creepy as we visit Don Marcelo Valverde, the coffee master of Zaruma.


Zaruma's favorite youth and families volunteer overlooking the hoochy mama -AHEM- grupo femenino called Sabor (flavor) during the Fiestas de Carnaval.


During the carnaval temporada a few of us had occasion to visit Cerro de Arcos on a day trip. (Can you tell that I love that enchanted place?) In any case, believe it or not, there are two people visible in this photograph. If you can find them you'll get a sense of scale.