Ecuador volcano spews rocks, villages evacuated July 14, 2006 QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano spewed ash, gases and molten rocks on Friday, forcing authorities to evacuate four nearby villages after the crater registered its most volatile activity since a 1999 eruption. Tungurahua, located about 81 miles south of Quito, has been increasingly active since May when it shot out large clouds of hot gas and prompted officials to ren...

Wow, what an afternoon! We arrived in Riobamba today. We plan to check out the town tomorrow and then ride the famed train down the devils nose mountain on Sunday. While walking around town this afternoon a man grabbed my arm and told me to turn around and look behind me, the Tungurahua volcano was spewing ash everywhere and as I type (its dark now) you can see the fire and lava flying out the top of it... all the way from here in Riobamba! The TV news is o...

Yesterday we went out to Dinner with Carlos, the doctor I met at ABEI last year. We talked about future volunteering opportunities at ABEI in Quito and about how we can get donations to them from the USA and what they need. Today we visited Carlos at ABEI. Some of the children that I worked with last year are still there. We met with one of the administrators at the clinic and got her contact info. to set up volunteering opportunities at ABEI. We also donat...

The tour in Otavalo was well worth the money that we paid to have our guide and transportation. We went with Runa Tupari Native Travel ( www.runatupari.com ). We left early in the morning and visited indigenous families who lived along the outskirts of Otavalo and also visited some beautiful lakes and a waterfall. When I was in Otavalo I bought a DVD for a couple of dollars that was taken June 2005 during the towns sun festival. It is about 45 min. long and has e...

Hello from Otavalo! We got here yesterday afternoon. The bus ride is only a couple of hours north east from Quito. I sat in the front of the bus, literally a few inches from the windshield, which made the driver's crazy driving even that much more exciting! haha! Today we spent the day at the large saturday market. Tomorrow we will be going on one of the local tours offered in this town. We will visit some indigenous communities around in the outskirts of Ot...