Quito and El Presidente

The last couple days we have been exploring Quito, one of the largest and best preserved historic centers of the Americas. It's a beautiful city that is more modern than I would have expected. The capitol of Ecuador, Quito is surrounded by mountains and is itself at a breath-shortening altitude of 9300 ft. There aren't many tall buildings; instead, the city's 2.5 million inhabitants are sprawled across the expansive Andean valley.

In addition to the Spanish architectural legacy that makes it an attractive place, Ecuador seems to care a lot about communal spaces with many beautiful, large parks. Even though it's a big city, you don't get the sense you are trapped or totally out of touch with nature.

In a interesting tradition, every Monday the very popular president Rafael Correa comes out to wave to the people gathered outside the Presidential Palace. We were there to wave back at him. I couldn't imagine such a tradition ever happening in the US, but I did like it.

José and the Chocolate Factory

How to make chocolate (from left to right, top to bottom) according to José:

1. Grow cacao pods

2. Harvest and open them up

3. Take out the cacao seeds; ferment them

4. Roast the cacao seeds

5. Dry them in open air

6. Crush the seeds

7. Collect the cacao "nibs" by blowing away the lighter crushed shells

8. Refine the nibs into liquid chocolate, adding sugar as desired

9. Add other ingredients, like these red hot chili peppers we tried

Sunday afternoon, we we fortunate enough to take a tour of a small chocolate factory in Mindo called The Quetzal. The man who started it all was José, who grew up as a mechanic before starting his own small hotel, restaurant, and chocolate factory. While trying to find the perfect chocolate for his personal holy grail of making "the best brownies in the world," José came to the realization he could create the chocolate himself, tweaking it to perfection. The chocolate he eventually made did the trick for his widely-esteemed brownies, but also sparked a new endeavor of its own. The in-demand Mindo Chocolate is now his biggest source of income.

He said he had never heard of the word "entrepreneur" when he started his business. Only later did he realize he was one. He spoke passionately to us about never being afraid of failure and the importance of always looking for something new, something different.

100% Pure liquid chocolate -- pretty bitter but good. In antiquity, chocolate was consumed as a drink like this.

They grow many of their own ingredients for their products and delicious dishes.

The final product.

These brownies may indeed be some of the best in the world.

Started from Wisconsin Now I'm Here... in a Cloud Rainforest in Ecuador

Dave and I decided to work right up until the end -- finishing our Epic departure meeting on Thursday afternoon, packing up, and driving to Minneapolis at night. With an hour or two of sleep under our belts, we made it to Minneapolis airport around 5 am to fly through LA, El Salvador and alas on to Quito, Ecuador. We arrived safely around 1:30 am at the apartment of our friend Eric Emmons, who is teaching English in Quito for a year.

As the language changed to Spanish en route to Quito, I was reminded of one the most potent experiences to be gained from travel -- feeling dumb. Despite a couple years of reluctantly fulfilling Spanish requirements, I was for the most part at a loss in conversations with the couple of Salvadorians and Colombians I spoke with. Although I certainly feel dumb on a fairly regular basis back home, I think it's always good to be reminded that outside of your specific geographical and educational niche, you are broadly incompetent in many places and settings around the world.

We wasted no time in beginning our adventures though -- we left at dawn on Saturday for Mindo, a cloud rainforest village in the foothills of the Andes. Mindo has a population of about 3,000 people but is doing fairly well due to ecotourism. The rich diversity of rare birds and wildlife to be found in its subtropical jungles attracts Ecuadorians and foreigners alike.

From Mindo to Quito, the winding road through the mountains had us crossing the equator multiple times. Eric's faultlessly kind Ecuadorian friend Lina drove us. Because she runs a gas station along the route, she was fortunately quite familiar with the occasionally unnerving mountain road. 

From microclimate to microclimate along the way, the weather and vegetation changed almost as rapidly as our conversation did. Dave and I peppered Lina with questions about Ecuador and her views on life. When asked about religion, Lina told us she is Catholic but is open to ideas and peoples of other religions. "I don't care what people believe in," she told us, "so long as they believe in something."

In Mindo we spent the majority of our time hiking and exploring the jungle's rivers and waterfalls. We also attended a "frog concert" where we listened to the frogs at a small lagoon before walking through the pitch dark jungle to seek out large insects, frogs and spiders. We found them. A literal highlight from the night was a rotting piece of wood that glowed brightly via bioluminescent bacteria. A real life Pandora.

The town itself was quaint and the people likable. Definitely crazy to go so quickly from midwest snows to jungle river flows. Enjoying it all immensely.

Swimming in las cascadas.

The climate and vegetation changed quickly from outside of Quito (above) to the cloud forest of Mindo (below).

 We also went tube-rafting down Rio Mindo, guided by locals, somehow safely slipping and sliding over the rocks above.

 Eric's friend Daniel, who is from Quito.

Throw Off the Bowlines

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.     ~Mark Twain

Hello! Thanks for checking out my blog. I have decided to at least briefly chronicle the experiences I have -- and the ideas I run across -- while traveling the world and attending medical school.

I have just finished a busy but excellent year of working at Epic, the electronic health records company based in Madison, Wisconsin. With Epic, I had the opportunity to be immersed in the maddening complexity of digitizing healthcare in our country, flying everywhere around the United States to help physicians, nurses and pharmacists implement our software in oncology departments. It was a neat way to see the country and to gain experience in a field with tremendous potential. Finding ways to make electronic health records both easier to use and more powerful is a tall task, but one that I think will catalyze positive change in 21st century healthcare.

This coming fall, I am thrilled to begin a new chapter at Harvard Medical School. The fascinating students, stimulating environment, and palpable sense of possibility I felt there made it an easy choice. I hope it will be a long, challenging, but rewarding road.

In the meantime, I have set aside three months to travel the world with my college roommate David Matson. At different parts along the way we will also be accompanied by my high school buddy, Tanner, and my girlfriend, Noelle.

From my previous travels, I have been struck not only by how the world and current events are more fascinating afterward, but how the world becomes so much richer and larger to you. Our conception of what the world "is" is totally contained within our brains. Only by exposing ourselves to new people, experiences, places, stories and ideas does our mind's version of the world expand and take shape. We live in a shared physical world, but abide forever in our heads; I believe it's worth investing in our permanent yet changeable homes, filling the interiors of our minds with beautiful sights, thoughts and friends.

I'm so thankful for everything that I have been blessed with in life, and for anything more I might yet get to experience. Setting off on adventure and exploration, I couldn't be happier.