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Zipline Adventuresses!
Katharine and I are all geared up, ready to fly over Cantalapiedra! In my last blog, I told you about the Canopy Zip Line adventures that Katharine and I had at Cantalapiedra. Attached are some photos of that fun and adventurous day.
I said good-bye to my Alandaluz friends (for a few months) and drove up the coast again (this time with Katharine), stopping to visit Nicola in Bahia de Caraquez, taking the car ferry across to San Vicente, and making a detour to Rio Muchacho Organic Farm for lunch and a look around.
We continued on to Punta Prieta and back to my favorite beach. One morning we took a long walk up to the caves and found a secluded inlet where we did some yoga on the sand. That night the Inn at Punta Prieta was hopping with partiers, so we joined the gang for a bonfire down on the beach. I was introduced to a handsome man (almost my age) who is a mosaic artist. He said he´d love to come down to Alandaluz and help me with some projects, but only if he can stay at my place. The problem with Eduardo is that he´s a typical Latin male, twice divorced and with a
Canopy Zip Line Adventure
Wearing a harness, I get attached to the metal line with a pulley. A huge glove lined with thick leather is my braking mechanism. Such views!! string of girlfriends at any given time. He is very charming, and not at all used to rejection...we´ll see if he still wants to do artwork with me after I make it clear that I´m not interested in being one of his many amantes.
Alas, Katharine had to head back down to Puerto Lopez to finish her last week of teaching, but I continued on up into the mountains and to the big city. Marcelo, the owner of Alandaluz invited me to stay at his home in the hills above Quito. He was leaving for two weeks to present at an Eco-Tourism conference in Chile, but I wasn´t alone in the house very much since the Alandaluz offices are there as well. I enjoyed getting to know the staff, and once I got accustomed to the altitude, I took long walks in the 275 acre eucalyptus forest just above the house.
Everyone who works at Alandaluz has been just wonderful to me. Klever, the financial administrator, took me to meet a lawyer who will help me to get my investor´s visa paperwork underway. If all goes well, when I go to LA in February, I´ll be
Canopy Zipline over Cantalapiedra
We travelled to the Alandaluz organic gardens at Cantalapiedra in the Ayampe River Basin. The farm is named for the singing stones as the water rushes over them. able to get my passport stamped at the consulate there and return to Ecuador with my new status as a permanent resident. I am so fortunate to have been introduced to a great lawyer, and to have people who know the system helping me along every step of the way. I feel very loved and cared for here.
Katharine arrived in Quito and stayed with me here at Marcelo´s the 2nd week he was away. She and I enjoyed going shopping and preparing meals, things you don´t often get to do when you´re in travel mode! Such incredible luxury to have fast internet access right from the house (after the super slow cyber cafés on the coast) the convenience of being able to do laundry (washer and dryer!) while we played scrabble and enjoyed the views frm the terrace.
Klever took a day off work to accompany me and Katharine to Mindo, a subtropical valley 2 hrs north of Quito. The attached photos can´t begin to capture the beauty of the flowers, birds, butterflies and river valley...but they try!
Katharine and I took a 3 day trip north to Otavalo and surrounding villages. We
Cesar Agusto on the Canopy Zipline
This handsome Colombian served as our "canopy flight" guide and he´s also an entymologist who took us on a fascinating and informative walk thru the bamboo forest, fruit orchards and to his butterfly incubation lab. stayed with my friend Ceci and her son Keiru in a village near Otavalo. The weather was wonderful and we enjoyed touring handicraft markets, picturesque towns, woodcarving workshops, and nature reserves.
Back in Quito, I visited my landlords where I lived 18 yrs ago. When I lived there, their daughters were in their early 20´s- they now have children and grandchildren of their own. The small family complex of four apartments has been spruced up and one of the daughters lives in my old apt. I have been invited for a big family meal with them next weekend.
We had a wonderful Sunday outing to Pappallacta hot springs with the Alandaluz cook and housekeeper (Fanny) and her family (92 yr old mother, husband, daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter) Ever since I first went there in the 80´s, I´ve been dreaming of returning to these natural volcanic hot springs beside an icy cold rushing mountain river. Exhilarating.
Just before I left Atlanta, a good friend told me that I wouldn´t need to worry about finding work, work will find me! SO true -- I´ve been offered the opportunity to present a teacher training workshop to university instructors
"Gabarra" Car Ferry from Bahia to San Vicente
To avoid a 45 minute drive on an earthquake and El Niño damaged road, I paid $3 to bring Morci across the bay on this car ferry. Quite an adventure! in Ecuador´s 4th largest city (Riobamba). I met the owner of one of Quito´s oldest and most established Spanish schools (so many travellers come here to learn Spanish) and he and I are discussing the possibility of creating a branch of his institute on the coast. He said he´s like me to run the school and train local teachers. We´ll see what becomes of this and many other ideas bouncing around. The more people I meet, the more my story gets out there, and the more amazing opportunities come my way.
I feel so content with my choices & decisions and the direction in which they are guiding me.
I´ll look forward to hearing from you all, and hopefully seeing you here in Ecuador!! Love Jill
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