World traveler asks me, "Why go to USA in Ecuador?"

Good question -- even if asked with a note of one-upmanship from someone who backpacked in Mongolia.

He was looking at the ABC News report (found near the top of the right hand side of this page.) He said it made him cringe. All those American ex-pats. What's the fun of that?

Not sure I am doing this for fun. In fact, no. I am traveling alone to a place I've never been to prove to me -- the inner voice especially -- that I can do this.

Look, for 25 years I was part of an extended family with extensive and elegant travel skills. I would merely have to show up at the airport and next thing I knew I was in a cool hotel room someplace cool.

Now I am on my own and it is time to embrace that. Yes, there is some terror at the idea of leaving bucolic Canby for the unknown. But time is running on the scoreboard. It's the fourth quarter and it's time for an audible from the line. Even if that audible is a "hmmm, now what do I do at a closed airport at 2 a.m. in Columbia?"

I can see no other path before me than to challenge myself in doing things I've never done.

Having said that, there is a very practical and obsessive-compulsive part of me that says, let's manage this project to guarantee the highest percentage of success.

Cuenca does that.

Ecuador uses American currency. I won't be befuddled as I so often am in Mexico (Did I just tip fifty cents or fifty dollars?)

It is a university town. In fact, five universities which makes it a young and vibrant place.

Cuenca, yes, does have a large ex-pat community. It means I will see a lot of gringos and be tempted to hang with them and talk English rather than Spanish. But it also means a huge support network.

So I could choose to backpack across Mongolia and make the point I am trying to make -- or I could start with Cuenca and exercise those atrophied travel skills.

Hey, if I want adventure, the Amazon forest is two hours outside of Cuenca. Two German tourists just spent three days lost there.

So by Mongolian standards, it is a more modest approach. Fly to NYC. Fly to Guayaquil, Ecuador and find transport to Cuenca. Get a place to stay and thrive for at least 30 days. 

It's a start. And it's my start.