Opinion: Reflections from Ecuador
I just returned from a great trip to Ecuador. I have never been there before, although I’ve traveled elsewhere in South America, including multiple trips to Peru (starting with the Peace Corps) and to Argentinean and Chilean Patagonia. Ecuador is a wonderful place to visit. The people, scenery, and accommodations are terrific, and the country, at least from a traveler’s perspective, is well-managed and easy to deal with. And I have to say that the quality of the meat, seafood, eggs, vegetables, fruit and baked goods was superb — I looked forward to every meal. The big event of the trip was a climb of Cotopaxi, a 19,347-foot volcano. My wife and I, with the assistance of a guide (mandatory allegedly) started at 1 a.m., after a sleepless night in a crowded refuge at just under 16,000 feet. After six-plus hours of mostly headlamp climbing (which produces its own version of motion sickness) using crampons up a glacier and through an icefall, we popped out on the sunlight summit to supe...