Anteaters eat ants, and then they get hit by trucks.

Our last week in Ecuador melted our faces off day after day with it's greatness- we went to Canoa, a beach town that we love (we went there a lot last year when we were living in Ecuador). We met a couple of fellow Sumaskans (Summer Alaskans... my new gift to the dictionary). One day we rented a truck and driver, and with our new friends traveled around to several other beaches. We were lucky enough to see the fabled 'Arco de Amor,' aka the Love Arch... and from the side it looks like something out of a Tim Burton movie:
Also on that truck trip, we saw a dead anteater in the middle of the road! And I have never even seen an alive anteater! But if I did, it would have looked something like this:
And we were also lucky enough to be in Canoa for 'Canoa Day,' the annual celebration of the town. Because it's in Ecuador, it has to have a 2 hour parade- because no celebration is worth it's salt if there is no parade! Everyone knows that! This girl was the queen of something, maybe the Queen of the Kindergartners, but alas she had no retinue or ladies in waiting or anything. It is awful lonely being at the top:
And, finally, a last picture of a Beckley in Ecuador. Here I am, in a stunning self-portrait, saying, "Wooht! Ecuador! Yes! And I'm in a cave on the beach! So great! Woohty woohty wooht!"

We went! We worked! We left!

Our last post featured us just starting out our days here in Ecuador, and now this one will feature our ending days here. The much-anticipated job did not work out well, and so we resigned (and then jumped for joy and clicked our heels like leprechauns). We regret nothing about the whole ordeal, because every step of the way we felt like we were doing the right thing. We are disappointed, of course, but not regretful. I think that to die without having any major regrets would be the best thing ever (and I also think that I stole that idea from Paul of the Bible).
Here is the recap on our 9 days at the job:
The location is beautiful there, and there are no flat areas to be seen. Here we are on top of a ridge (we got to do lots of hikes- the good part of the whole thing) overlooking the hotel we worked at- it was made up of a lot of buildings. I believe this is taken looking south:
This next picture is taken at about the same elevation (10,400 feet) as the hotel, but more east, on a plateau. I'm laying on my belly, praying like hell that the edge of this cliff doesn't break off:
Now this last in the trio is of me at the bottom of the canyon you see in the second picture. There is an elevation difference of about 3,500 feet. Luckily Taylor and I have never been effected by altitude, and so the hikes were really fun:
The sunsets were also pretty spectacular. The tiny point of a peak you can see in this photo is Illianiza, an 18,000 foot volcano. We got a better view the next day on our drive out of the failed job, and it's actually a twin-peak mountain that has to be one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen:
The little town our hotel was outside of was very tiny. Here is the main plaza of it at 3 in the morning, when we were waiting for a bus out of there:
And, finally, a really awesome building we walk by a lot here in Quito. Last year here in Ecuador and again this year we have noticed that a strange obsession with castle designs is all the rage. I think this is a business of some kind:
So now we are mentally preparing to return home, and excited for the plethora of Christmas cookies that we will be eating soon. This has been a silly adventure, but at least it's going to be a memorable one. And please excuse my cheesy phrasing, because we're in a cafe that is playing 90's radio hits, and I think the cliches are getting to me!

Ecuador, Ecuador.

We are now in Ecuador, back again in Quito, and it feels the same as it did when we left last year. Getting here went smoothly- much better than last year, except for the fact that Taylor got a nasty cold from an inconsiderate person on one of our plane rides.

So now we are waiting (semi-patiently) for him to get better so we can go to our new home, a five hour trip from here. It´s raining like crazy, and I´m in a slightly-sleezy, super-trendy internet cafe, full of young expats who boastfully speak Spanish fluently, all the while looking condescendingly at the tourists seated at the next booth over, as if to say- Yeah, I am so much cooler and better travelled than you are, if you haven´t notived by my awesome language skills. One thing we have noticed in our travels in that those foreigners who have been in a country a long time get a wierd sort of superiority complex that they love to lord over all the newly arrived foreigners. It´s a protective measure against feelings of fear and a slight disconnection with the society you´ve chosen to live in.

So on the whole, we are so excited to be back here- we get to go meet our new bosses and coworkers in a couple of days and get settled into our new life! Yea!

(By the way, if this post makes no sense it´s because the music in this internet place is so bad that it has paralyzed the thinking part of my brain.)

Beware the Mustachioed Man.

Our good friend Marie came to visit us this weekend, and we had a jolly good time. Jolly good. We went and saw 'The Darjeeling Limited,' and our love of Wes Anderson was increased ten-fold. Taylor also showed us that he is six movie seats long:
Bend has a women's Roller Derby league, and the awesomeness of the game melted our collective faces off. It was the Skull Rollers vs. the Wicked Pussycats, and the Pussycats' mascot is Cat Boy (or so we called him). Cat Boy needed to tinkle, and we caught him zipping back up. By the way, he's wearing roller skates, and his costume doesn't include eye holes, so he is one talented 6'6" cat:
Finally, Taylor showed us his arsenal of BB guns, and we shot the living dickens out of the High Desert:

Go, Señor Doctor, Go!

While we wait for our visas to be processed so we can leave for Ecuador, we have been taking advantage of the great weather that Bend is known for. Unfortunately, my head has ballooned in size, and taken on the characteristics of my dad's face:
The doctors are at a loss for a cure, and so I am patiently waiting for their research to bear fruit. My mom decided a trip to see our relatives in California would be just the trick to take my (now enormous) mind off of this sad calamity. And it did! I have great relatives, and I only wish I could spend more time with them.
We went to Ikea, and I was impressed by their army of shopping carts. Those Swedes are prepared for anything:
On the drive back to Bend, we saw a blink-of-an-eye town that's claim to fame is possessing the World's Largest Grindstone! They could have chosen a more dignified location for it, though:

Pets on Parade!

This is my tribute to the 4th of July, since we didn't do anything this year because we were in the middle of the woods.

It's always fun to look back on old pictures and laugh at a)the outfits, b) the haircuts, and c) the activites. This picture features all three of those things- I am wearing a red tank top that I had sewn myself (I remember thinking it was so cool...), my sister and I are both sporting less than flattering haircuts, and we are proudly participating in the annual 4th of July Bend Pet Parade. And in the left side of the picture is some lady dressed as a jellyfish... which was a totally normal thing to do in the totally awesome Pet Parade! Kids who didn't have pets pushed toy baby strollers with their stuffed animals riding along, and I remember seeing a lot of red wagons carrying fish bowls with clearly suffering goldfish. And the best part were the free popsicles after.

Magic Magic.

In an effort to lighten things up concerning our driving trip, because it was really fun, here are four silly pictures of memorable events.
We stopped for lunch at a lake in the Yukon, and there were two gray jays that ate bits of our sandwiches out of our hands (Taylor informs me that he has had loads of gray jays eat out of his hands before, but this was all new to me):
That night, we camped at a supposedly closed campground (the signs said closed, but the gates said open) and Taylor was getting a campfire ready to start, when it started all by itself!
One of the best stops on the Alcan is the Liard River Hot Springs, and everyone who is cool stops there for a soak. A blizzard started the next morning, and the air was freezing cold. That's why Taylor looks like a marshmallow- a marshmallow drinking Coors Light:
But I wasn't looking much better. The combination of prescription glasses and beanies is a very unfortunate one indeed:

The Car, With Us, On the Road.

Every time I try to write an intro for this post, I erase it, because what can I really say about the trip down the Alcan. It was over 3,000 miles, and took us about 9 days, but those are just numbers, and numbers can't tell a story.
So, first, here is a list of the animals we saw in herds and flocks: buffalo, caribou, stone sheep, black bears, sandhill cranes, big horn sheep, arctic swans, wild horses, and a lone fox. So great.
We saw a lady die, we saw trees dying, and we saw a wild horse dead with his legs frozen out parallel to the ground, just like a toy. I guess that's what happens when winter is coming.
We almost died, too, trying to cross the Canadian Rockies in a forty year old car without chains and in the middle of a blizzard. I've never been in a position before where I thought, "Well, I guess this is it." And what do you do then? Nothing, because when we die isn't our choice, and it's so terrifying to realize that. But we didn't, and a miracle is all that can explain why not. It's also terrifying to realize that God is everything, and we are these little nothings, and it's God that decides all.
But we ruled the mighty Alcan. We melted it's little face off with our very presence. It's already crying, dreading the day we drive back up to Alaska.

Going South, We Are. Enjoy It, We Will.

Today Taylor, Volvo, and I are heading Outside (to southerners, that means the outdoors, but to the northerners of this fair country, that means anywhere that's not Alaska).
And even though we are both staunch Protestants, today merits a prayer to St. Christopher, the patron saint of (among other things) travelers, cab drivers, lightening, automobile drivers, Havana, fruit dealers, holy death, and toothaches. So a prayer to one of God's most holiest has us covered in most every way. Those Catholics aren't taking any chances, it seems.
North to the Future!
South to the Past!
East to the Present!
West to the...