Each New Year’s eve, Ecuadorians get a stuffed doll and pin all of the bad stuff that happened in the previous year to the doll and then light it on fire. The idea is that you’re getting rid of all of the bad things and starting fresh in the new year, presumably so that you can build up a bunch more bad stuff to burn the next time around.

The building of these life-sized dolls is quite the industry. We saw dolls for sale everywhere. Dolls on street corners, dolls stacked on trucks. Bus drivers tied them to the front of their buses.

Pin your disappointments on these guys, add a little gasoline, and watch it all go up in flames.

Unfortunately we went to bed too early to see the festivities (after setting off our own fireworks in the park nearby!), but the next morning when we got up I canceled my morning run because of the haze of smoke in the normally clear Andean skies. As my friend Ed commented, good for the soul but bad for the environment.

On New Year’s Day, Quinn turned six years old. We made him his favorite pancake breakfast, watched him open his birthday gifts in the morning and went to the park. Later we made chocolate cake.

Quinn was super excited to get a new car for his tiny N-gauge electric train.

Happy birthday!

Grammy and Papa wanted to see the beach before they left to return to cold Colorado, and we had booked a hotel room for them in the quiet beach town of Olón where we camped a few weeks ago. We loaded everyone in the van and headed for the coast. We were shocked when we arrived. The holiday had transformed the sleepy town where we had had the beach nearly to ourselves to something that looked like Miami Beach on the weekend. Cars were parked everywhere, but despite our fears we were able to drive through town to the beach and find a spot to park.

The drive down to the coastal plain from Las Cajas National Park (at 13,600 feet) afforded spectacular views.

Grammy and Papa had a third floor room with a view to the beach. If it had had reliable running water it would have been perfect!

They could see our campsite from their room.

Quinn and Papa played in the sand and surf.

Witt took a surf lesson, trying to build on the little he learned way back in Sayulita almost a year ago.

You can never get enough sunsets on the beach.

After two nights in Olón, we returned to Guayaquil where we spent the night in the nicest Holiday Inn I’ve every seen. I’ve never been served champagne at check-in at an $89 per night hotel! The next morning we said a sad goodbye to my parents as they headed to the airport to begin their 4-leg, 14-hour journey back home.