On my recent trip to Ecuador I visited the north side of Cotopaxi which was about a two hour drive from Quito. We hiked around the foot hills of the mountain and at times were slightly above 14,000 feet above sea level. The picture above was taken from about that altitude. The following is a poem I wrote about this mountain and Quito.

Cotopaxi
{Terry Culkin}

Standing in the middle of the world

looking toward the mountain base

the wind takes my fears

the clouds fall around me

and slowly take me in

I close my eyes, I am back there tonight

hiking towards Cotopaxi

white with mixtures of grey

nothing but soaring birds, nothing but pouring rain

pouring

I do not make it to the top

each breath will no longer take me

but those visions

like looking down from a star, forever

and so I find the air too thin,

descend

10,000 feet above sea level

the face of god carved into a mountain

Quito spreads like a fountain

an addiction the altitude bleeds

and I am free

flying, flying from the heart of the city

I close my eyes, landing on Cotopaxi

Tags: Cotopaxi, Ecuador, Hiking, Poetry, Quito
| Posted by Terry | No Comments »

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{by Terry Culkin}

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Green eyes squinting towards the sky,

a deep breath in, her mind escaping back inside.

Only moments ago she was on the far side of the glass.

Her memories linger on words, black type

letter by letter; traveling a thousand miles per second.

Never saw her lips move, a two-dimensional

picture sent and received, typed and entered.

Years of conversations in ones and zeros,

smiles and laughs echo in cyber space –

never met the girl on the far side of the glass.

Sharing our secret stories, those

dreams and fears locked inside,

a confessional booth through telephone calls

cyber chats over a digital line.

Never to hear her voice from the next room,

slide my hand through her hair,

smell the smoke when she cooks,

watch her eat from across the table.

Is this reality or a virtual hell?

Can you remember a face of someone you never met?

Can you find love thousands of miles away?

Even though our hands never touched,

pushing her further away is a sin.

However, our lives physically apart,

countries bordering between,

the gravity of the Universe,

keeps her on the far side of the glass.

Tags: Internet, Poetry, Travel
| Posted by Terry | No Comments »

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During my adventure in Quito, Ecuador I went to the TeleferiQo which is close to 14,000 feet high over looking Quito. Well Quito is only in the 9,000 range so I didn’t start from sea level. Inside the lobby there was this sign, which, I can understand everything but the top guy. No Dynamite!!! This is the first time I have seen that, and I’ve seen some pretty interesting signs. The question is will this sign make it to the USA or Europe??? Will we have to put up the obvious? No guns, Knives or Dynamite allowed inside. Sometimes we need to stat the obvious and at other times no one should be carrying around an extra stick of Dynamite!

Tags: Ecuador, Humor, Photos, Quito
| Posted by Terry | No Comments »

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