On The Move!

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Hello loyal blog readers! You may have noticed that I generally try to line up appropriate photos with the paragraph that describes them -- well, this blog entry starts out along those lines, but alas I ran out of photos to illustrate what I was describing, so you'll have to settle for the wacky pix I've included alongside my adventures! Climb on in and get ready for the ride!

I had the delightful company of 19 yr old Zach on the 5 hour drive from Vilcabamba to Cuenca. Lively conversation -- ahh – the idealism of youth – best anti-aging remedy ever! We stopped in Salasaca for lunch where I had previously discovered an amazing gourmet restaurant – a hidden treasure right on the main square of this tidy indigenous village. The owner of ‘Espai Gastronomic’ is a Salasacan Indian who went to Europe, studied to be a chef and brought back his Basque bride. Their remarkably creative menu incorporates local ingredients in amazing combinations and preparations. Zach & I shared three starters, two main course dishes (one lamb & one “cuy” – mountain guinea pig) and two heavenly desserts. Including beverages the total bill was under $20 – wow!







Zach and I parted (but we met up the following week in Baños!) and I headed to Santuario Hibiscus, a peaceful Inn created by my friends Fran & Dan. Several years ago, when they were first looking to buy something in Ecuador, Fran & Dan responded to a flyer advertising the sale of my beachfront cabanas (I had posted it at a Laundromat in Baños). I invited them to stay a few nights at my place on the coast, which they did, but in the end they decided to buy a big old house in the subtropical Yunguilla Valley, an hour SW of Cuenca (Ecuador’s 3^rd largest city). Now they returned the favor and invited me to stay at their place. They spent a year and a half reconstructing the house to include 4 rooms with private baths, indoor and outdoor dining areas, a sunny reading room, and a hilly terraced fruit and flower garden -- complete with Tilapia pond, bananas, coffee, cacao, citrus, berries and more.







Relaxing and chilling out for a few days at Santuario Hibiscus was the perfect antidote to my recent hotel job (45 long days of work without a day off!). I wandered through the gardens, enjoying the details of each blossom, spiky bromeliads sprouting from tree branches, a trickle of water over stones. Fran & Dan cooked delightful meals and we vowed to make sure our paths cross again soon – perhaps I’ll even fill in at their place for a month or so next year.







I continued on to Cuenca where I’d set up a schedule to collect donations for the semi-annual fund-raising garage sale that I coordinate to benefit the volunteer children’s library in Baños. The previous week I had posted a request for donations on two Cuenca expat websites. Seven people responded, so I mapped out where they all lived and planned my route to fit into their schedules. One of the pick-ups was a large fax machine, so the donor suggested I pull into the garage across the road from her apt. Bad idea! It was a really tight turn off a busy cobbled lane and just as I turned into the car park’s narrow entry, a big SUV was exiting. To avoid hitting him I turned hard to the right, scraping my passenger doors on the hinges of the entrance gate. Ouch! What a horrible sound, metal on metal. The SUV sped off as the parking lot owner started yelling at me for damaging his gate (hello, what about my truck?!) In the end I convinced him that he’d suffered no significant damage, loaded up my truck and took off for the next pick-up. I kept calm – hey, it was all fixable, the truck still drove, no one was hurt. Actually, I’m quite proud of myself for how I handled my emotions in this stressful situation.







My friend Frank invited me to stay at his place again, with the caveat that he no longer had furniture – all he could offer me was his camping mats and a sleeping bag. I gratefully accepted, but to my great good fortune there was a foam mattress among the donations! When Frank saw the damage to my truck he helped me cope with the following reasoning: “It’s on the passenger side so you don’t have to look at it” (true!) and “No need to hurry to get it fixed – it will deter theft, making the vehicle less desirable” (maybe true!). Frank & I went for dinner at an awesome Thai restaurant and the next morning he also accompanied me to meet some Peace Corps friends for breakfast at a funky cute café that made homemade bagels (yum!).







Frank went with me to help with the last donation pick-up; a lovely lady whose husband passed away a year and a half ago. She had a whole storage space full of stuff that she hadn’t braved sorting through. I explained to her that I didn’t have a lot of room left in my truck, but I’d take what I could and have a look at the rest of it. She insisted that she really wanted me to empty the whole space, and after seeing the electronics, photo gear, bicycling gear, etc. – I promised her I would come back for the rest. Well, Cuenca is a 5 hr drive (each way!) from Baños, so that was a quite a promise.







That same day I lunched with new friend, Bob, who has replaced me as driver/interpreter for the Water Project I’ve been working on with Engineers Without Borders. It was time for me to bow out, and Bob stepped up to the plate at the perfect time. He used to work in a Liberian refugee camp, so I guess that qualifies him for the discomforts and uncertainties of living and working in a high Andean village. Bob had just finished his first stint accompanying the EWB volunteers, and I enjoyed hearing his impressions and catching up on the progress of the project. While chatting with Bob I recalled that he’d done several volunteer stints not far from Baños, so I asked if he was planning a trip up that way any time soon. Just my luck, he said he’d been hoping to check back at the orphanage he’d helped build in Guamote and visit the folks at Merazonia Animal Rescue Center. His life is quite fluid, a bit like mine, so he was able to collect the last of the donations and drive them up to Baños within a week!





The main reason I decided to stay a 2^nd night in Cuenca was to attend a concert. Marco Missinato is an Italian composer who lives in New York. In my opinion his latest creation, Unfolding Secrets, could best be described as New Age Classical. During a run of performances in Cuenca, both his costume designer (Daniela) and his soprano (Kristin) were guests at Madre Tierra (the hotel I’d been substitute managing). I totally enjoyed meeting both of these remarkable women during their week long stays at the hotel. It was exciting to be transported by the music and to know the singer personally! Frank and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert, then the next morning I hit the road for the long drive north.







When I got back to Baños, I was exhausted! Of course the first order of business was to unload the donations from my truck. There was a team of 10 library volunteers to help out, but I confessed that I felt too wiped to learn all of their names right then. (Fortunately, I had an opportunity to meet them all at a party the following night). I got back to Shana’s, greeted the dogs & cat, and got into pajamas. I was ready to slip into bed even before dark and just then Jessie called to invite me to dinner. I told her that I was “unfit for human consumption” and took a rain check. That night I slept 9 hrs straight thru!







During the time that I was working in Vilcbamba, Shana had been visiting her grandkids in Florida. I am usually her house-sitter, but this trip the timing didn’t work out so she had a series of pet-sitters come in, none of whom was able to spend much time with the animals. The LuLus had completely dug up the garden (in protest? out of boredom? they’re part groundhog?) So, the day after I got back Karl & Boby came up to the house to help clean up the yard and fill in the doggie playground tunnels before Shana got back. Meanwhile I fixed them lunch and then we played some Scrabble. A perfect afternoon!





A friend who runs a guest house in Baños had asked me the favor of bringing back 25 lbs of coffee from Vilcabamba. Although I’m not a coffee drinker, I do love the fragrance and my truck smelled heavenly! When I went to deliver the coffee, they invited me for homemade pizza on the deck overlooking the Pastaza River. A few other friends dropped by and we had a glorious afternoon of yummies & good conversation. That same evening I took some of the friends along with me to a farewell/birthday BBQ being thrown by & for the volunteers from the library. It was hosted by our friend Marcelo (before Karl introduced me to him the first time he had this warning: “He looks like Charles Manson but he’s a really nice guy!” True & True! Before Marcelo put the marinated lamb ribs on the grill he made introductions: “Lamb meet grill, grill meet lamb!” Very funny.







Next morning, 6:47 am, I was shaken from bed (literally!) by the reawakening of Tungurahua Volcano. It seems like she often becomes active soon after I get back to town. The whole valley was clouded over so I couldn’t see anything, but a huge boom rattled windows and shook the whole house. The sky filled with chattering birds and a chorus of barking dogs echoed down the valley. I threw on some clothes and ran across the street to look down at the river. The last few times Mama T started up, a lahar (massive flow of mud and ash) gushed down, overflowing the river bed and carrying Volkswagen-sized rocks. Several neighbors up the block were hurriedly packing their cars and driving off in a panic. I thought to myself, “Hmm, maybe that house will be up for sale soon – and at a good price if the volcano keeps up!”







As I stood staring down at the still tranquil river, two tiny women burdened with huge loads of grasses commented, “It’s just the volcano…she uncorked.” I commented on the power of Pacha Mama (Mother Nature)… how awed I am by the her force. “His force!” the dwarflike lady corrected adamantly. “Only GOD possesses this power.” OK, if you say so! The road dead ends at the El Salado hot baths, 500 meters up a hill and as a stream of vehicles and pedestrians started down I realized that they’d closed the baths. Mama T continued to rumble and shake and do the “licuadora” (a churning sound that sounds like a gigantic blender). About 45 minutes after the initial boom, the lahar began. The noise of the rushing river was deafening as a dark chocolate frothing swirl tumbled down the valley in a sinuous gush, raising the river’s level minute by minute.









For the following week the Bascun River Valley pulsated with the power of nature’s awesome force. The whoosh of the rapid river flow harmonized with the volcano’s rumbling growls. WhistIing winds whipped lashing rain against the window panes. I sat working at my desk, staring across the garden at the foggy V of the hills, knowing that Mama Tungurahua was hard at work beyond. I could feel her deep bass reverberation down into my body’s very core. When the rain cleared I’d hang out in the garden hammock, drawing in her energy and marveling at nature’s exquisite manifestations.







Shana returned from her journey and we resumed our Scrabble mania (avg 3-6 games per day). As always we enjoyed cooking for one another, alternating days. On rainy afternoons (rather common) we’d watch a movie; a few times we ventured into town for errands or lunch. The advantage of living near a major tourist center is that there’s a wide variety of restaurants to choose from. Tapas at the Spanish place is a current favorite! A few friends put together a Baños book club and since I was going to be in town for the first two meetings, I signed onto the YahooGroup for the club. I was pretty proud of myself when I managed to download the readings, copy them into Calibre, change the format to MOBI and then upload them to my Kindle. It was quite a technology breakthrough for me! The first meeting of the club attracted 14 participants; an interesting and diverse group which made for lively discussion!







After almost 2 weeks of R&R in Baños, I headed up to Quito where I had a short job evaluating an English teachers’ training program. I’ve worked as assessor for this course several times before, but this time my work was a bit more complex since there was a new teacher trainer being trained. In addition to observing the course and interviewing the participants, I was also looking at the training process – sort of a three-tiered evaluation. After two days of observation and two days of report writing, I’d completed my task and had time to visit with friends in Quito.







I definitely don’t love the big city rhythm, but one of the advantages of being in Quito is enjoying international cuisine. During my week in the capitol I ate Indian food, French crepes, Vietnamese summer rolls, Arab shwarma, and both Mexican & Chinese food. I was invited for dinner at Jeannie & Bud’s and she made a delectable Indonesian meal. I also went up to Dean & Debbie’s and enjoyed her Italian cooking, complete with homemade foccacia bread. Needless to say, my time in the city was calorie-laden!







I left my truck parked in the hostel garage, as I often do while in Quito. I only took Scarlet out one day to have her damage reviewed by the insurance assessor and to complete her annual registration. After being led to the wrong Motor Vehicle center (twice!) I found out that they are now “matriculating” vehicles at the old airport (the new one is an hour outside of town and has been open for a few months). It was strange (and kinda fun) to drive out onto the landing strip where cars were parked for inspection. The airline counters were recycled to receive vehicle owners in a most efficient fashion. I was amazed that I completed the whole process in less than 20 min! Since I found myself with extra time I called my friend Alex who lives nearby. To my surprise and good fortune, she and her daughters were at home. It had been quite awhile since I’d visited them, so it was great to catch up and then we walked the girls (ages 10 & 14) up to their ballet class. The dance teacher had turned her living room into a dance studio with mirrors & barres. Great spirit of initiative!







I was very ready to leave Quito, so I met up with my friend Roger and his two adult daughters who were visiting from the US. Together we drove northward, stopping to visit a minor pre-Incan ruin site called Cochasqui. We had lunch in the market town of Otavalo, did a quick shopping and made it to Roger’s village of Cahuasqui in time for sunset. This was the third time I’d visited his home; over the past few years he’s done all the work to rehab an old farmhouse, turning it into a cozy home. We fixed dinner, built a bonfire, played 4-way Scrabble and had a great visit.







The next morning I set off early to visit the natural hot springs at Chachimbiro. I had been there once before and was dreaming of going back. Set in a stunning valley, Hacienda Chachimbiro boasts nine different pools of varying temperatures, several with power hydromassage waterfalls! After swimming and lounging, I continued back south to Casa Mojanda where I am right now. This beautiful hotel is comprised of private guest houses set in the mountains above Otavalo – breathtaking views! I’ve heard about this place for years and have been in email contact with the owner for the past few months. Great to finally meet her; this visit is a “look-see” for possible employment in the coming year.

To close, let me share with you a few new verbs which are making their way into the Spanish language. Googlear -- Tuitear (Tweet) -- & Skypear (Roger’s creation).

Thanks for reading -- Knowing you’re out there keeps me writing!

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Photos

Decadent Desserts
Texturas de Chocolate (omg! 5 diff textures of chocolatey invention) & Carrot Cake (w/carrot puree, white chocolate curls and candied ginger cubes). Cost: $1.80 per dessert (!)

Other Era Architecture
I love the "wild west" painted wooden buildings that surround Saraguro's town square.

Santuario Hibiscus
Lovely, elegant guest house created by my friends Fran & Dan. Just 1 hr from Cuenca but worlds away from the big city.

Yunguilla Valley
Springlike climate in this subtropical valley an hour SW of Cuenca on the western slopes of the Andes.

busy bees
For some reason dozens of furry bumbles were buzzing around this particular blossom!

coffee plant
Coffee berries, ripe for the picking!

Saraguro Mosaic
I had to perform some contortionist moves to angle this shot so the power lines didn't obscure it!

LuLus!
Lupe (rear) and Lucy (foreground) in their beloved garden (Shana's house in Banos). They're getting so big (1 yr old).

Mama Tungu Reawakens!
Sunset foto taken July 20th.

Sexy Mannequin
Erect nipples....and a bald spot?

Nigth Club
Lots of "nigth" clubs (aka "prostibulos") here in Ecuador -- many, like this one, are way out of town on rural roads.

Doorway "R" Rated!
sassy headless pink mannequins displays lacy black lingerie

restaurant clock
great idea for favorite flatware!

Stone Shower
I will miss my fabulous shower at Madre Tierra!

Comments

[Cori Schmit]

Keep it coming!
Jill, I really look forward to your blogs and send them on to several others to enjoy. You sure do get around! What a fulfilling life you lead and it suits you so well. Take care!