Sra Sare
Jill Sare Joined: September 2nd 2006
Logged in: February 17th 2012
Logged in: February 17th 2012
Travel Blog Posts
Hilly Old Town Quito
Hola amigos! <span> Greetings from Quito where I am spending several weeks while the paperwork for my resident visa is going thru bureaucratic channels; slower than molasses in winter! My friend Lupe is on vacation so she has loaned me her lovely apartment. I write my blog this month from a high rise city apartment with traffic sounds rushing by below! On Dec 20, back in Baños, I awakened at 5 am, used the toilet and then sat down at my computer. All of sudden I felt an intense pain in my upper gut – like a metal band tightening. I waited for it to subside but it continued to increase in intensity. I stumbled to my bed and laid down, but the pain just went on and on. I felt a wave of heat, broke ... read more
Early Morning Glow
How can I even begin to describe what it feels like to be living at the foot of an active volcano – Mama Tungurahua woke up once again on Nov 30th. Her name means “Throat of Fire” in Kichwa. My name for her is “Dragon Belch”! She last erupted in April, just before I left for the US. Since the upper slopes now had more than six months of regrowth, this most recent eruption set afire the upper level of young trees & bushes, making for dramatic fiery slopes. Huge chunks of magma burst aflame as they tumbled down, burning everything in their path. For the first few days a smoky fragrance wafted down into our valley, but then there was nothing left to burn; the lava was flowing over barren ash fields. So, I’m house-sitting ... read more
Old Grey Maxi
October is the month of neighborhood fiestas in Baños – each sector of town does a major cleaning & sprucing up, hires a too-loud mobile disco unit with huge speakers, and spends a fortune on fireworks! Because of the way the town sits down in a bowl-like valley, the firecrackers’ retorts echo off the surrounding hillsides. Even though Shana’s house is a little ways out of town and Max the boxer is almost completely deaf, he still jumps with each boom-boom (he must feel the vibration). Poor ChiChi the cat goes beserk, running for cover under the nearest bed, skittering around and bunching up every throw rug in her wake! As the month progressed, Chi began to anticipate each explosion, starting to scramble as she heard a screeching wail leading up to a big BOOM! The ... read more
View of Tungurahua
Greetings from beautiful Baños! The past month has been a time of personal challenge. I’ve experienced a kind of “kerhthunk” as I feel my life shifting gears. One major change is that I sold my truck and am getting around on foot. It feels great to be moving my body -- at least an hour of walking each day. My clothes are fitting more comfortably (even if the scale doesn’t always register significant weight loss) and I no longer get out of breath on the uphill stretches. While trying to line up some private teaching (to earn a bit of cash as well as to give myself some sort of schedule) I’ve had a lot of time for introspection. Over 20 years ago Shana worked up my astrological chart, and every few years she updates my ... read more
Scenic Clothesline
After my brother and his family headed back to Baltimore, I returned to Baños with a heaping truckload full of donations and then I went into Garage Sale Overdrive. For about I week I spent quite a few hours each day schlepping, organizing, sorting through, and pricing three storage spaces full of stuff. My thanks go out to some of the volunteers who spent time helping us get ready. On Saturday morning the Baños shopping squad was ready and waiting for the big metal gate to swing open. It seems that the BIB Garage Sales have become a very popular event in town. Where else can folks get mostly imported, good-quality, slightly-used stuff at super cheap prices (clothes $1 item, shoes $1 pr, books 10/$1, etc.) I think this was our 7th or 8th Garage Sale ... read more
Bob's Butterfly Buddy
Hola amigos! It's been over a week since I took my brother Bob and his family to the airport for their flight(s) back to Baltimore. I'm finally getting around to writing the text to go with the photos I uploaded the day they flew out. I am now back in Banos and spending lots of time at the BIB (Biblioteca Interactiva de Banos-a volunteer children's library) preparing all the donations (sorting, pricing) for our semi-annual Garage Sale! I have schlepped down several truckloads of donated stuff (muchas gracias to so many friends -- and some of their friends as well -- who contributed to this sale's ample bounty!) SO - let me go back to the end of July and catch up! I had a short job in Quito, so I rented a room in my ... read more
Snow-Dusted Tungurahua
I arrived back in Ecuador at the tail end of June and hit the ground running! Within hours of when my flight landed, I took over the wheel of my pick-up (thanks, Roger for taking care of Morci and for buying him new shoes, and meeting me at the airport) and was making the rounds to pick up donations for next fundraising Garage Sale to benefit the Volunteer Library in Baños. Muchas gracias to Maggie for using her garage to collect quality stuff from the Colegio Americano´s departing teachers. Also gracias to Jean for helping Carl (finally) clear out some his parents´and grandparents´ things. My green canvas tarp suitably humped up over the truckbed, I departed for Banos with Julien in tow. Julien is a young French-Canadian guy I met at the guest house where I ... read more
Family Reunion!!
Warning!! This blog entry (like the last) is filled with news and pictures of family and friends. If you are a blog reader who mostly likes my travelogue style writing, this entry may bore you to tears....but then again, it may not. Just be forewarned that you may have to put up with chatter about folks you've never met, as well as me oohing and ahhing about their pets and babies. Oh, and by the way - my apologies for the hoax message from the hacker who hijacked my email on June 22. Google's investigation informs me that it appears to have originated in South Africa. Hmm. Last week in May - It was great to finally arrive in Atlanta after an adventurous series of cross-country flights. My pay-as-you-go TracFone came in handy as I informed ... read more
My Poppa's 85th Bday
The first part of my US travels has been all about touching base with people from my past. I would like to begin by thanking everyone who picked me up, dropped me off, put me up, put up with me, and showed me around , fed me, and got fed up with me (hopefully not!). By inviting myself to sleep on your sofa or floor, in your guest room, your child’s room, your office or den I was able to glimpse your lifestyle and share precious time with you and your family. I loved reconnecting with various chapters of the past 30 years of my life, and in this blog entry I will tell you about my various visits. After flying in to Los Angeles via Panama City, my sister met me at LAX and had ... read more
The Manabi Coast
It's certainly been a busy few weeks!! After leaving Malingua Pamba (again), I accompanied Drew & Lark to Banos where we all stayed at Posada del Arte, one of my favorite guest houses in town. I have only been a guest here once before, and this time I was in a lovely room and had three nights to enjoy the luxury. I went to the thermal baths twice in 3 days! We took a trip down to Puyo, enjoying the breathtaking vistas and interesting sights along the way. I caught up with a few friends and all too soon we were off again. I had anticipated 8-10 hours to drive from Banos to Puerto Lopez on the coast. What I didn't plan for was ending up with a flat tire in a construction zone, and then ... read more
