Valet, my mule please

Normally I avoid turning over my camera pack to furry, dull-witted beasts of burden -- but enough about airline baggage handlers. That's my Lowepro camera pack roped down atop a mule after arriving safely at Santa Lucia Lodge, situated high atop a ridge in the cloud forest of northwestern Ecuador. Our duffels are wrapped in plastic and strapped on either side. Virtually everything at Santa Lucia -- all the materials to build the lodge and cabins -- were carried by mules up the muddy trail that climbs 1,640 vertical feet in less than a mile and a half. This remarkable lodge is the economic centerpiece to a community conservation reserve which protects some of the best remaining cloud forest in Ecuador. Here's a link to Santa Lucia's website: http://www.santaluciaecuador.com/index.html