Elizabeth Erickson

Hello Everyone!
This is a few days late, but our journey has officially started. Sorry family! 🙂
So far we have started out with a few minor set backs. Our first flight was delayed out of Denver which caused us to spend a majority of two days in airports as we made our way to Guayaquil, Ecuador. The delay also led to the unfortunate event of LAN and AmericanAirlines losing our baggage. Luckily there was the Hotel Europa, aptly located just outside the airport and not far from the bus terminal. After a lot of confusion and frustration spent in Guayaquil with little to do but aimlessly waiting for our packs, we finally made it to the tour trap of Vilcabamba where we will spend the next while working at Rumi Wilco Ecolodge. We left Denver on Sunday and have yet to see our belongings (yes, that means five days with nothing but the clothes on our backs), but our adventure is in full fledge. We spent four hours this morning picking coffee. The first lesson of coffee-picking in Ecuador is that there are lots of spiders (some easily the size of 50 cent coins) everywhere. Also, leave it to me to spot the rare sighting of a snake curled up on the branch of a coffee plant.