Ecuador: A Balanced Travel Perspective

” Visionary decision-making happens at the intersection of intuition and logic.” (Paul O’Brien)

There’s never a perfect time for Ruth and me to travel these days but the opportunity cost of foregoing our next adventure must be seriously weighed with the personal value of actually going. In the case of next week’s planned adventure to Ecuador, I can therefore make a good case for conducting this upcoming journey from either a rational or intuitive perspective. So I’d like to proceed forward with this entry by showing such a balance minded mindset of both obvious logic and more deep seated emotions below to clear the air of any lingering travel apprehensions. As a side note, I just found out in the last day that a strong earthquake of 6.8 on the Richter Scale hit Ecuador yesterday near the Pacific coast, with the epicenter fifty miles away from our landing city there at Guayaquil.Of course I’m staying tuned in for current developments about this natural disaster, but with great relief I’ve been told by “Gate One” our travel company, that the trip will definitely go on.

ECUADOR FROM A RATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

I just celebrated my birthday yesterday so what better gift can I envision than embarking on an appealing travel experience abroad. Certainly with lingering personal matters going on with both sides of our respective families, those ten days of exploring Ecuador will also give my wife and me a nice mental health break from this impending crisis at home. Having completed several trips with “Gate One” before, we also have full confidence that their experienced tour guide choices for this adventure will serve us efficiently. With twelve pounds of weight loss in the last month as well, I look forward to being in better physical shape for hiking on this occasion. But if my cranky knees act up along the way, I’ll bring two walking sticks to maintain better balance as needed.

ECUADOR FROM AN INTUITIVE PERSPECTIVE

Ecuador in my mind appears to be taken straight out of the plot of one of my favorite novels – The Celestine Prophecy. For as several of the insights in this fictional account of a lone adventurer stick strongly in my mind, I realize there are hidden lessons to be learned from Ecuador’s unplanned chance encounters. So I dare to spontaneously experience Ecuador culture during our ten day tour that covers (1) densely populated cities, (2) mountainous Andes regions and (3) wild equatorial terrains. In fact those coincidences have already started as I’ve informally conversed with several South American born individuals in my yoga classes who’ve whetted my curiosity for exploring such homelands I’ve never seen. It relevant to me that I’ve also noticed my increasing interest in listening quietly to classical or New Age music most notably combined with light yoga sessions. For during those occasions, I am insightfully realizing that any negative thoughts about traveling through Ecuador do pass through my mind temporarily but eventually will be gone. In further exploring my intuition, I’ve arisen on several mornings, sensing a need to explore a new physical appearance, unshaven with a long sought intention to regrow my beard. Thus as I take a break from South Florida madness to hopefully enjoy Ecuador, this might be the ideal time to begin that experiment.

Most likely then, I’m in for a strong test of my physical stamina and emotional status during this arduous ten day journey upcoming to Ecuador next week. But I choose to overcome any lingering doubts, fears, or other unspoken apprehensions. Let the test of will begin. For I’m most certainly “up” for the challenge.