Guayaquil, Equador With trepidation we parked our motorcycles outside the orphanage and waded through the sea of children accumulating around our bikes. Picturing cramped rooms full of lonely children our expectations drifted towards the somber. But all reluctance quickly melted away when each of the 24 girls introduced their name, age and favorite activity. Full of smiles and hope, nearly all excitedly listed dancing as their first choice. Which was quickly followed by reque

Once again our technique of sending out random emails to prospective missionaries pulled through in Ecuador. Throughout our travels we've tried to connect up with MAF, Missionary Aviation Fellowship, and in Ecuador we happened upon one of their largest operations. photo by SWLocated in the former oil town of Shell, MAF flies 4 planes into the thick green jungle of Eastern Ecuador. 50 percent of the flights serve as medical assistance, the other half is devoted to missionary t

Volunteer opportunities abound in Xela, a product of the large influx of language school students. Projects range from medical and nutrition to farming and reforestation. We visited Chico Mendez, an ambitious reforestation program that planted 10,000 trees last year. Created and operated by Armando, a native Guatemalan, the grassroots campaign is driven by a handful of dedicated volunteers and a shoestring budget. Fueled by a simple concern for the environment, their attitude

Well, looks like we'll be heading out finally on Wednesday morning and take a fairly direct route to California despite our previous plans of spending time in Oregon volunteering at Young Life's Wild Horse Canyon. Young Life has done an amazing job of making that place into a youth camp and hopefully we'll have time on the return to check out the progress on that place. I'm sure the biking would be pretty sweet also, but we'll hit that up after the journey south. These last f