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Published: August 29th 2022
360 Drone View
...of my neighborhood. So cool! One silver lining of being 'stuck' in Baños during the country-paralyzing strikes in June was that Colin and Lori stayed for a week in my rental apartment and in his boredom, Colin had tons of drone fun all around my neighborhood. Many thanks to Colin for sharing these amazing pics with me - now my blog followers can get a real feel for the magical river valley where my house is situated! Enjoy the series of pics of my home, La Cabaña de Chocolate, located on Via al Salado in the Bascún River Valley at the base of Mama Tungurahua Volcano.
The indigenous road blockades lasted for about 9 days, but shortly after the strike was lifted the jungle access road was blocked again, this time by mudslides and rockslides. There are only two main roadways leading over the Andes and into the Amazon Basin and one of them passes through my town of Baños. Now, one of the tunnels had been blocked by a huge boulder, the size of a two-story house! During the 4 days it took workers to dynamite it to bits and dislodge the pieces, there
My House From Above
So cool to get a drone's-eye perspective of my home. You can even see SuzyQ parked in the driveway. were dozens of semi-trucks parked along the main road all through town. Rather than making the six-hour loop back up and around to the alternate road east, these drivers took their chances that our road would soon be cleared. It was disconcerting to creep along the narrowed road, now lined with tractor trailers.
June, July, and August are the rainiest months in the eastern Andes; what's referred to as 'winter' here. We had some ridiculous rainstorms this year; at one point we experienced 36 hours of constant, non-stop downpour (hence the mudslides!) accompanied by howling winds up to 45 mph. The violent weather revealed a half a dozen leaks in my newly-built bedroom. The small ventilation window over my shower was streaming water from above...a literal interior waterfall! Fortunately, it only gushed into the tiled shower area! Not so lucky with the leaks in my closet and along my staircase. I had to scramble to protect my hardwood floor grabbing buckets, bowls and towels.
As I crossed to the other part of my home, I was greeted by lakes and
Surrounded by Green
In this pic you can see that although my house is very close to the one beside it, there are also wide open green spaces all around. puddles in my kitchen and dining room. Water was streaming down an interior wall, damaging my artwork and pooling on the countertop which then dripped down to the floor. The window frame seeped moisture, damaging my wallpaper. I was in a panic as I shot photos and sent them to my architect. During the following weeks, in between rainy periods, my architect and his workers did everything possible to solve my leak issues and to their credit, they didn't charge me a penny for supplies or labor. Many friends also had interior moisture problems during these windy rainstorms...hopefully they will not be a regular occurrence!
One Sunday, once the big rock was cleared from in front of the tunnel Shana, Maricarmen, Julie, CiCi & I drove down towards the jungle to have lunch at Swiss Bistro's Finca de la Vaca in Cumandá, just across the river from Mera. Usually Shana holds her breath as we cross the rickety suspension bridge which crosses the wide Río Pastaza. This time we were finally able to cross on the brand new fancy bridge - tons of concrete! We pass several lovely waterfalls on the
A Dip In The Waterfall
Julie and Maricarmen played in "Car Wash Falls" while Shana and CiCi and I looked on. way to the restaurant and this time, no one was parked by the one we dubbed 'Car Wash Falls'. Maricarmen was all ready in her swim suit and eager to jump in for a refreshing swim!
When Lori and Colin moved out of the apartment, my cleaning gal asked if she should make up the bed with clean sheets or leave it stripped. I asked her to leave it made up, saying out loud, "You never know who might show up and need a place to stay." That very night around 8:30 pm Margarita and Polo drove up - friends of Shana's who live 4 hours away whom we hadn't seen in over 4 years! They wanted to visit Shana but feared it was too late that evening to show up at her place (yes, she was already in bed by then). They asked me about economical lodging nearby, so I offered them my place for $20 a night. They ended up staying 4 nights...a nice little chunk of change in my pocket.
I decided not to post my rental unit on
Rooftop Tetris
Here I can clearly see each part of my house, including the three roofed areas I have added on during the past six years. AirBnB, but I did publish pics on a number of expat pages here in Ecuador. At one time or another, everyone comes to visit Baños so I'm hoping that friends and friends of friends who see it posted will come along and stay here. I have it advertised at $100/week (or portion thereof) or $300/month. That may not sound like very much to you from where you sit reading this blog, but here in Ecuador the current minimum monthly salary is $425. Most one-bedroom apartments here in Baños rent for $250-$350 a month, so for a studio/efficiency apt on the edge of town, $300 is even a little bit on the high end.
A friend of a friend is trying to sell a piece of land down near the jungle. She was here with her husband several months ago and they stayed in an AirBnB apt in town. This time she returned on her own and she is renting my place for several months. When she showed up and asked about availability, I told her that the space was already reserved for three nights at the end of her first month's
Very Old Friends
I met Simon and Patty in Quito way back in 1989 ~ I played a part in their early romance. stay. She agreed to pay a pro-rated amount and stay at Shana's while my other visitors were here. Who were these short-term guests, you may be wondering. It's a long story!
When I was teaching in Quito in 1989, a young British guy (Simon) asked if I'd give him Spanish lessons. He had fallen for an Ecuadorian girl (Patty) and wanted to ask for her hand in marriage. Needless to say, he was one of my more motivated learners! They married, moved to England, and had two kids. A few years back their daughter was here in Ecuador on a volunteer month, so I got to meet her then. Patty and I had been in contact via facebook and she said that she loved seeing all of the artwork I'd done at my place. Their family was planning a visit back to Ecuador and wanted to stay with me, but they would be six people in all. I told Patty that I could offer them 3 rooms, each with a double bed and a private bathroom for $20 per person per night including breakfast. Yes! They would love to stay here!
Breakfast for Six
Elegant Dining for my Houseguests So I did a deep cleaning of my art room/library (carefully lint-rolling the last of the quilt-making threads from every surface!), cleared my personal stuff out of my bedroom, and got the studio apartment ready.
It was fun to have the house full for a few days. I slept in my old room in the back of the house where I now have a single bed made up like a sofa. I fixed everyone breakfast in my dining room their first morning here, and stocked the studio apartment kitchen with food for them to get their own breakfast the other two days. Alas, Simon wasn't feeling well most of the time they were here, suffering from exhaustion, lack of appetite, coughing, sneezing and diarrhea. Just before they arrived in Baños, they'd been staying up in the mountains on the flanks of Cotopaxi Volcano, so Patty surmised that Simon was probably suffering from soroche (altitude sickness). He felt a little bit better their last day here, but within hours after they left I came down with a raging fever and a banging headache that lasted 36 hours, so I went for a COVID test.
Serena at Sunset
More artful photography from Colin. Serena the Sirena glows dramatically against a dusky skyscape. Note the painted algae. Yes, we live in topsy-turvy times when negative is positive and positive is negative. I tested positive for COVID and spent the next two weeks in isolation, watching series and documentaries on Netflix. My symptoms retreated soon after that first intense onslaught. My renter is a nurse practitioner and she helped me interpret the results of my COVID test. It appears I might have previously had COVID (and not known it), since I the test results showed high levels of long-term antibodies - which would hopefully help me to kick it quickly now. For the first week I had a scratchy throat and irritating cough that kept me up most nights. I followed my renter's suggestion and performed repeated saline cleansings of my nasal passages and then gargled with watered down apple cider vinegar to loosen and lessen the viral load and acidify the environment.
The day after I got my COVID diagnosis, I heard from a former student. I'd been helping Rob to polish up his rather creative spoken Spanish before he went to the US for a few months. He's
Recreating Algae
Using the painted algae as a model, Fabian helped me mirror the style using tile pieces. back and was asking if I know anyone who rents vehicles here in Baños. Well, I wasn't going to be driving anywhere during the following week and for some reason I trust this guy who mounts volunteer dental missions all over the world. SO, in an effort to make lemonade out of this huge lemon I'd just been handed, I agreed to rent my car to him and his buddies; 6 days for $50/day. We drew up a contract after I confirmed that my insurance will cover him as a driver to whom I've given written permission. At least I was earning $ while stuck in isolation.
I am so very grateful to friends who checked in with me daily to see how I was feeling. Many thanks to Maricarmen who went shopping for me and stopped by to see if there was anything more I needed. Thank you to friends who came by to take CiCi for walks on the days I couldn't even make it out the front gate. CiCi was a sweet little nursie pooch, staying right by my bedside day and night. Our pets DO know when
Edging the Algae
Using a palette of shells and pebbles, I finished off the algae mosaic. we're not feeling well and they know just what we need in the way of kisses and cuddles.
As promised at the end of my last blog entry, here are some photos of the art projects I've most recently completed. Serena la Sirena (the mermaid mural) was needing something beneath her tail to balance out the image. I decided to replicate the painted algae clump with a mosaic of about the same size and shape. When my new fridge was delivered of course I saved the rigid cardboard corner pieces, knowing they'd be useful for something at some point! Now I was able to use each length of stiff packing material to lay out the colored ceramic I planned to use for the new algae plant. Fabian had helped me with several other of my wacky mosaic projects, so now I felt I could trust him to fill in the outlines of each algae leaf with the contrasting tile bits I'd broken and chosen.
In the meanwhile, I sifted through boxes and tins and jars full of beachcombing finds - treasures I'd
Completed Project
I had so much fun embellishing the edges of this mosaic portion of the mermaid mural. collected over the past decade. I sorted them into groupings of similar size, type, color, texture - all the while planning in my head how I would use these magical bits to edge each frond of algae. The sifting and sorting processes were just the beginning of the fun I'd have in the following weeks. To create with material of such natural beauty was truly exhilarating and I let the project take me on a journey of movement and creativity. I felt sheer bliss, relishing the hours I'd spend each afternoon (when it wasn't raining). I'd wait until the sun dipped behind the hillside so the wall's surface would be shaded. Then I'd carry over the plastic table with its carefully classified and categorized treasures. I'd load up the special exterior adhesive silicon pistol, and I'd enter the zone - affixing beauty to my ever-emerging mosaic creation.
I will close now so I can get this entry published and as often happens there are more images than words to describe them, so please do scroll down to see more pics and click 'next' to see even more. Thanks for reading amigos!
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Tamara
non-member comment
So cool to see your home from above, Jill! It's also wonderfully inspiring to see your continued materials exploration and your new mural. I recently came across one of my big shell and pebble stashes, much of which was collected on our long walks near Alandaluz. Wonderful memories with you, my dear friend. xoxo