Went to visit some ruins here in the Zaruma area (Las Ruinas De Yacuviñay) the other day with "Miguel," the Swiss friend I stayed with in Guayaquil a few months ago, and a friend of his. It was a muddy, wet, MUDDY, WET trip, but I got some great photos for the municipality´s collection and now know that the local govt needs to do a lot more in order to save this amazing resource. You wouldn't believe the plant and animal life that we saw out there if I told you, so I'll SHOW you. Check it out. Millipedes as thick as your thumb and 9 inches long...

Incredible misty mountain hollows flattened by the hands of the ancients, littered with rock rubble from their long gone houses and fortifications...

Wild plants. The trees and mosses are spectacular, but the epiphytse, oh the epiphytes... yall gotta come down and check this out.

There is a trail right above Zaruma made by the Cañari Indians more than a half millenium ago. Along it I can find one single bromeliad like this in bloom, with a bright red flower stalk 2-3 feet long. On this hike we saw HUNDREDS of them. Here are two...

Here's what a trail looks like when you run cows on in for a few decades. It sinks into the Earth. The walls of this muddy deathtrap were almost fifteen feet high in some places. Not a place to encounter a stampede...