Puerto lopez

Flew to puerto lopez today and are staying in an awesome room overlooking the ocean and can hear the waves crash as we sleep. Took a stroll down the fishing villages main drag and jose ate octopus and rice for lunch. Yuck. I am spending most of my time with the four beautiful dogs they have here :)

Patio andaluz, Quito

So we have one night in Quito before heading off to puerto lopez early tomorrow and because we had major problems with poor equipment on our Cotopaxi tour, we were given a free night here in patio andaluz. This hotel is amazing! We have a wonderful room and jose is really starting to enjoy the finer things in life :)

Enjoying lasso and recuperating

Our last full day in Lasso and we are SO sore from our climb! Just sleeping, eating, and enjoying the horses and swings here. Tomorrow Quito and the next day we are bound for puerto lopez for some beach time.

Successful summit!

Today we summitted Cotopaxi volcano! I was sure I was not going to make it but we did and it was beautiful. Super hard though: wake up at midnight and begin climbing at 1am. Then you use crampons and ice axes to hike some very steep and narrow trails through the glacier while battling hurricane like winds. Summit is at 19,347 feet/5,897 meters. Now we are totally exhausted. Photos coming soon but here is a photo of my worn out hubby

Super tired from our lago quilotoa tour

We had a full day tour of lago quilotoa, a lake in a volcanic crater. Pics to come later. It was awesome and a good hike down and up again. Tons of dust though. Then we had lunch and explored the Pujilí market where they sell all kinds of stuff including loaves of unrefined sugar. Tastes like molasses.

In the Andes

We traveled south from mindo to Quito and then caught a taxi to lasso which is near several volcanos. Sadly it's totally misted over and cold so we've spent the day in bed. I did spend time communing with the local horses though. Tomorrow we visit quilotoa and the next two days we climb Cotopaxi...19,350 feet!!!

Chocolate tour!

Our hotel el quetzal has a chocolate factory so we took their wonderful chocolate tour. It was fascinating. I had no idea chocolate came from a fruit. We learned the process and got to watch them make cocoa butter and cocoa powder and chocolate bars. Then we sampled their amazing brownies and hot chocolate and candied ginger dipped in chocolate. Heavenly.

Mindo, hammocks, dessert

We are now in mindo which is a cloud forest. They have bird watching, zip lining, tubing, hiking, etc. Our hostal is awesome with a private hammock and they even have a chocolate factory! Yum.

Quito apartment

We are now on our honeymoon in Ecuador and have the most amazing  apartment in quito. It's called Casa olmedo and is righ in the heart  of old town. Jose has been cooking and we've been relaxing and  shopping and exploring the city.

We're hitched!

We did it! Minister showed up and everything. It doesn't feel real yet though...perhaps in a few weeks.  A huge thank you to my wonderful family, amazing maid of honor, and all my incredible friends who made our special day unforgettable :)  Started posting photos here

and here

Room service!

Checked into our hotel here in cusco and immediately took advantage of room service. Jose's first time! It was awesome and now we are just resting as much as we can :)

Dinner in Aguascalientes

We had some great tours and a fun dinner in Aguascalientes before heading to machu picchu the next day. Two more days!

Friends in cusco!

Yay! Everyone is in town for the wedding now! We've been traipsing around the city, exploring ruins and eating wonderful food. Yum