Too Many Lattes

Last night I wrote a quarter of my thesis by a fireplace in a cabin about four kilometers outside of Otavalo. It had no Internet connection, which was probably for the best. On the whole, very Thoreauvian, unless you count the borrowed laptop.

So I've decided to stay here one more night in hopes of returning to Quito tomorrow with half my thesis behind me. I'm not sure what my advisor will think of it, as it's mostly practical and anecdotal, not theoretical, but Eli and Orazio seem to like it so far. Which is what matters, as the idea is to help them, not to secure a place in the annals of academia.

Today I worked off yesterday´s blackberry pie and caramel flan by hiking 14 spectacular kilometers around a volanic lake. It was the most up-and-down hike I`ve done in a long time, maybe four years, and I felt every bit of the altitude (3,000 meters.) I clearly need to get back in shape; I've been drinking too many lattes.

What I'm reading: A Death in Vienna, by Daniel Silva. The body count so far: two Israeli women, one Israeli boy named Dani, and a top Israeli spy (except he's only in a coma.) I suspect representatives of some other nations will be dying soon too.