Send us a text

As you’ve already heard from me, I was in Ecuador in early- to mid-November on a trip lead by Tyler Andrews, whose many impressive FKTs landed him here on the WASP earlier this year.  There were six of us on this expedition, including my travel sidekick, Jack.  Our other leader was 22-year old Ecuadorian native Beto Dávalos.  I ran with Beto on an early day of the trip while we were getting acclimated to Quito’s 9300-foot elevation, on a beautiful 20 km-long trail that stretches from a place called Cumbaya, yes, that’s its actual name, to another part of the city.  Along the way, we passed farms, modest neighborhoods, mansions, and ran up and down a canyon that included a spectacular waterfall and through three tunnels that were as dark as caves.  Beto also told me about his battle with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, or GBS, an autoimmune disease that causes the immune system to attack the peripheral nervous system.  You might recall a WASP episode earlier this year with Brad Kelley, who fell victim to the same disease, but who has had a remarkable recovery to complete the Kona Ironman, and recently attempted a quintuple-Ironman, yes, five Ironmans in a row.  As you’ll hear now, Beto has had a strong recovery and has a big challenge planned ahead on Aconcagua, the highest peak in South America.  He also has now gained the perspective of a much older person for someone so young, and hopes to pass that along to others.  We did have one glitch in recording this episode from his home in Ecuador.  My cat Babe, who always sleeps on top of my office TV’s satellite box to take advantage of the warmth coming off of it, decided to slumber on top of my soundboard late in this chat and pushed to button to stop recording.  So I’ve had to fill in a bit of this conversation with Beto where we talked about a short film being made by a Mexican filmmaker about Beto’s inspirational story.  You can view an excellent teaser for it on YouTube under the title Tigrana by Pablo Norza Garay.  I hope you enjoy this uplifting episode.

Beto Dávalos
Facebook beto.davalos.1
Instagram @betodavalos9
YouTube film "Tigrana" by Pablo Norza Garay

Bill Stahl
[email protected]
Facebook Bill Stahl
Instagram @stahlor