JC & KC's SOUTH AMERICAN ADVENTURE PHOTO LOG

month to month photo montages of our explorations in south 'merica

This month, January, brings you horses. This is a unique collection of horses and, indeed, mules, from Chile and Ecuador. Catherine and I encountered many. Perhaps the most memorable were in the Quilatoa loop In Ecuador. Here, horses served as both charming scenic adornments and grade A transportation. Quilatoa Lake is incredible. Hiking into the volcanic depression to see this emerald green lake was indeed one of the highlights of our trip and definitely one of the most outdoors-ey moments. The whole Quilatoa region is gorgeous and the milk truck ride we took from Chingchuran to Latacunga, Ecuador (which started with just us and an empty barrel and ended up with us and twenty people and a full barrel of fresh milk) also revealed gorgeous roadside waterfalls, farms, and an awesome Valentine's Dance advertisement.

You may also notice that Death is a prominent theme in this collage. Kcrow an I were wandering in Vilcabamba, Ecuador, when we encountered one of the famed Merry Pranksters of California from the seventees. He recommended a path to a lake of eternal youth or something like that. On that path, which led to a very scary house with very loud dogs, from which we ran ran ran, we found the remains of a shallowly buried horse. This reminded me of one of my, Jane Claire's, very favorite books: One Foot in Eden by Ron Rash. Highly recommended.

We hope January finds you all very well and that this, the first of twelve animalito collages, finds its way onto the wallpaper of your computer. Happy Happy New year.

Much Love,
JC and KC