Last night in Mantanita

Tomorrow is a translation day   

I move from one place to another.  

I try and put appropriate attention to getting to the right place.  

So far it's worked out. 

The Guayaquil bus terminal was probably the most challenging with its size and mostly indigenous clientele.  

That is to say it wasn't geared towards gringos.  The last week I've used my Spanish more often.  

I still suck.  But I'm trying and that comes through.   And  probably picking up more than I realize now.    

My back is finally complaining about the beds I've been on. This most recent the softest.   

Tomorrow I've hired a driver to show up at 730 for a sometimes four hour ride to Guayaquil airport. 

My plane is at 140 so I've built in time for things to fall to shit and still make flight.  Not the same without Edie's precision.   More of a blunt instrument than an elegant ballet.  

I do have "junior" picking me up at the airport and taking me to his dad's hotel.  The place exudes charm so I'm excited to spend 2 nights there outside of Quito.  

Airport is an hour outside of town and a wreck nearly made

Me miss my flight to Cuenca. So I'll chill tomorrow night.  Then Friday is wide open so I may hire junior to take me to the craft market.  

First thing Saturday morning I'll be headed to Mexico City then LA then pdx.  Wake up in Ecuador.  Lunch in Mexico and dinner in LA before pdx just prior to midnight.    Sunday I wake up in my own bed for the first time in four weeks.      

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Tuesday in Montanita

Tuesday.  On the beach.  At Shanka beach bar.   

Went into town as usual    Chatted with my friend who owns the pipe shop.  He was interested in the pot legislation in the states.  

We talked about doing business here in Mantanita.  To my eyes it looks overbuilt from a business standpoint 

But labor costs are lower so the amount of customers its takes to keep a pace open differs here.  

Also it's seasonal. 

Through dumb chance I am here for the best weather and the fewest crowds.  

In January this place is packed with Europeans.  

So I guess it's a bit like Christmas shopping for US retailers.  (Or summer for Yogurt Shack).  You make enough profit at one time of year to let you stay open the rest.    

Reflection time.  It seems

Forever ago that I

Landed in Quito.   I'm glad I journaled and took as many photos as I did because of such a crowded palate of images.   Experience.  People.  

I can hope this trip helped me

See through the viewfinder 

Rather than the mirror.  

Never was that more acute than this morning when the first thing that popped up was the unasked for photo from exactly two years ago. 

It was a view of Frizzel campground.  Last time the parker four were there together.  

That annual event took place this weekend. My son in NYC and his dad somewhere on the beaches of South America.   

No matter how fond they are

We can't go back to where we've been.  We can only dream new dreams

Maybe better dreams

Before the last revolving circle ends.   

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What day is it?

So it's Monday but I've lost track of how many days I've been on the road.   On the bus into town I sat  next to Jennie Devine.
No shit that's her name.
Ecuadorean but spent time in U.S.
She said
You will get lost in Montanita
I said.  It's not that big
She said that's not what she meant.
Now I understand

Having lunch at Ibiza
You know you made a good impression when you've been here only three days and the staff calls you by your name
Or the name you've been given by your smokin hot 7th grade Spanish teacher.
Gregorio
Seems to fit

A little more so since I've not found my comb for a week.
I feel a little bit like James Bond at the beach at the start of Skyfall.

After lunch I'll head back to beach and watch the waves.  Today I'll sit under an umbrella
Yesterday I pulled the dumb gringo stunt.
It was heavy overcast
Damit.   How many times did I read how much uv comes through the clouds when you are on equator.
Felt sick last night.  Hydrated and went to bed early.  Woke up still a bit out of it but have shaken it off.  

Adios V

July 10

Loja airport. 

Nice and new.  Beautiful setting. Of course in the Andes you have to look hard for someplace flat enough for a runway.  

Quite the ride from Vilcabamba. Up and down the mountains and windy roads. I count among my blessings that I don't get car sick. 

Yesterday and today at Madre Tiera people were coming in for a conference on a controversial medical treatment known as MSS.  Seems it has an almost cult like following among those with interest in alternative alternative Medicine.  

I haven't had time to Google it but part of it seems to involve taking a tincture of a bleach like liquid.  Supposed to heal a number of ailments.  

The leader of this group looks like Danny Divito on vacation. Even better he comes with a Don Corlione whisper speech.  

He told me that he is always hounded by CNN and other news outlets.  I didn't see any there.  

They also operate under the mantle of being a church so they can take their medicine as a sacrament without running a foul of the law.  

I spoke to a woman from Arizona who said she has been to another one of these seminars and wanted to see what was new. 

It's been three weeks on the road now.  Two hour taxi to Loja.  Then a 45 minute flight to Guayaquil. Largest city in equador and its major port.  

After spending the night there I'll find a bus for a two hour ride up to Montanita for my first beach experience here.    

A closer look at el cento. Vilcabamba

How many times have I said we don't see things as they are

We see them as we are.  

Probably what's going on with Vilcabamba 

It's a mismatch between the last several weeks in large cities and my own clueless expectations 

It is a magical setting 

And maybe that is the point. In Quito and Cuenca, life came

At you. Big. Noisy. 

In V it just is.  

Like a Norman Rockwell image of men just sitting outside a barber shop and watching seemingly nothing happen.  

So goes the moments here.  

It's perhaps a little like Master Doug taught us about photography 

Wait for the tree to tell you how it wants to be photographed 

Here you have to wait to see life unfold at a pace you are not used to.  

It's buzz is that it's the valley of longevity.   Maybe or maybe those ancient looking gringos are really really old. 

Sitting at an outside table having coffee and a brownie that the waitress convinced me dipped well in coffee. 

A Dutch woman sits down next to me and asks if I mind she smokes.  Usually I do but I was eager to engage a local.  She looked 60.  Slender.  Had a unique Dutch/English accent. Said she was a landscape designer but made bad choices in Amsterdam.  Visited here and never left.  

We talked about gringos with lots of money coming here and building huge houses.  

There was sustain in her voice but an acknowledgment that rich gringos are the only ones willing to pay to design landscapes.   

She moved along and I finished my brownie and coffee   The waitress takes my plate and I've been sitting here for maybe 20 minutes.  

I watch people come and go.  

There is a couple talking to a street vendor.  They've been trying out maracas.  For at least ten minutes.  Listening to the sound.  I never realized how each one has a different sound.   Even pitch is different.  I may need to come back tomorrow and try some myself.     

Day 18. The zen of nothing

Yesterday may go down in the books as the art of doing nothing.

I got up about 8 AM and went down for breakfast to the main lodge. After a relaxing breakfast of eggs homemade bread, and fruit salad, I headed back for a shower before the start of my three hour spa.

This sweet brown eyed lady who was going to guide me through my spa apparently spoke no English. And my form of Spanish didn't seem to register with her. So we spent the next three hoursgesturing and giggling as we tried to figure out what came next.

So she took me to a room with bathrobes and said to me, Todo.  

As I stripped down naked, I hoped that this was truly what she meant. It was.

We then began with a 45 minute facial. It was my first real facial and I really loved it. Then it was off to the steam room. It took longer than it should for me to understand that I was to go into the steam room a total of three times and each time I emerged she would hose me down with cold water. Very cold water. 

This took almost an hour though frankly I lost track of time.  

Next it was time for the sea salt scrub. I began by laying down on a massage table and had a generous quantity of some sort of Oil poured all over my body. Then I felt big globs of sea salt being placed around my body. And for the next half hour that was scrubbed all over my skin. Then she flipped me over and we did the other side. Then she motioned for me to stand up. I looked myself over and I looked like some sort of lubricated snowman.  

We moved to another room with a shallow bathtub and she brought in a big ceramic pot filled with warm mud. She then motioned for me to cover myself with this mud, which I did. However she wasn't satisfied she said "mas. Todo"

I guess I didn't take it on thick enough. So I used about two more quarts of mud to cover my entire body. This seem to satisfy her and she smiled and said Bueno.  Then she motioned for me to stay put for what seemed like a half an hour until the mud pretty much dried. Then she filled up the bathtub and I scrubbed the mud off. I have to admit there was a child like sense of joy of playing in this mud and rubbing it all over me. Next to the shower and my spa treatment was over. It had in fact been three hours. I marveled at how I completely lost track of time.

It was now about 1230 so I headed down to the lodge and decided to treat myself to a cheeseburger and French fries. My first American indulgence in more than two weeks here in Ecuador. It was pretty good.  Next it was nap time. After about an hour I got up and came out and laid in my Hamic. Did some reading and did some writing. Went down to the lodge and completed my final travel plans to the coast. And then it was time for dinner. A wonderful Italian feast last night and some more great Argentina wine.  

Conversation then for an hour with some local dudes who were spending a couple of months in south America. And then back to my room for some reading and time to call it a day. 

Day 16

Day 16.   Vilcabamba

Spent the day in downtown V.  It's Downtown is about the same as Canby.  Like most cities here it grew up around a church and town square.   It's just all in miniature.  

The big buzz about this place was the presence of lots of potheads who have made this their home.  

Not so much.  I think Portland has a higher density.  

It is an interesting collection of folks tho.  There are some folks who were pretty successful in their careers and moved here. 

I met a few of them at a coffee shop this morning. One fellow is intent on acquiring Spanish fluency.  He spoke with some

Disdain of gringos who come here and don't bother to learn the language.  I ran into one of those in Cuenca.  

Who am I to judge.  I can understand it takes more work to learn a language and in Cuenca and even to some

Extent here in V a person can get by with limited or no Spanish. Still it seems like

learning the language is a sign of respect for your host country. It also opens up more opportunities to engage locals.  

For now I'm back on the patio of my bungalow and back in my hammock and looking out

Into the big green valley ringed with sharp mountain peaks.  

I can see coming back here.  But I can also see myself visiting a different South American country each year.  After all there is a huge continent where I poorly speak the language.  

Tomorrow I am staying onsite for a three hour spa session.  I went for the whole thing except the colonic.  I need

To save something for my next trip.    

The van ride, even anticipating it, was the most stressful part of this trip so far. The highest leading cause of death in Ecuador is traffic accidents. 

So here I was, getting in a van for a four hour ride through twisty Andean roads. 

Let me add at this point, that this little socialist country has excellent back roads. 

So here I am, all packed up and ready for the van trip. And I'm waiting on the designated street corner for this Van.  

Around the time he was supposed to be there, a driver shows up. I fill out the paperwork for the trip. And then I am joined by this wonderful and crazy collection of travelers from around the world.

There is a couple from Australia (actually a mixed marriage -- she is from New Zealand). There is a woman from Austria. She speaks German, French, and English.
In addition there is a French man who now lives in Canada. We get on our way about a half an hour late. And we drive. And drive. 

Now those who know me well, know that patience in terms of things like travel, is one of the things that I'm seeking to better myself on this trip.  

So we have been driving for what seems like hours, and I look at my phone and I see we still have 2 1/2 hours to go. Ok let's reach.  

Gratefully, the conversation is great. The guy from Australia fixes on the fact that I'm from Oregon. He says, hey don't they have a great college football team?

Then the Frenchman asks we think the Cavs could win if all players are healthy. 

You can imagine my questions on European rugby were not as nuanced. 

So we arrive about six.  There is a mixup and I'm being left at another spa and on my own to get to my place.   

Did I mention I am tired. Stressed. Hungry and grumpy.  

The Aussie tries to help. 

"It's all right mate."

He's right.  As I told my kids and my students

Patience and flexibility are the two keys to success.  

I just find them more work than being grumpy. 

So I nicely (channelingEdie Baker) say

Say I could use your help. Seems I'm here when I thought I would be somewhere else.  

A phone call. 

One dollar 50

And taxi is dropping me off.  

There are stairs not a ramp up the hill.  

Will this hell never end?!

I have to carry.  Not roll.  My luggage.  

I walk into the lodge and a woman who looks like Eva Longria says excitedly

You're greg!

Ok.   This is getting better.  

She takes me to my bungalow 

More steps.  

Somehow I don't mind it as much now.  

Ten minutes later I'm at the outdoor dining with some fine Cabernet 

And soon a vat of great lasagna.  

Ok.  So I guess I can deal with this.    

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4th love from latitude zero

So much of the past year is a blur  Most days are indistinguishable from one another. 

But there is one day that is different.  

I know where I was.  What I was feeling.  

It was in Sauers driveway. A place I loved for its sense of community.  It's sense of humanity. 

So much the same 

Ronnies blackberry desert 

Nancy's joyful laughter.  Rusty in her sunglasses always keeping a gentle eye on me.  Stobie yelling.  "Ready for another drink Parker?"

I hear it's called cognitive dissonance.  Where the mind and the body are in disconnect.    

My body was doing the same thing it always had on that same day for more than a decade.    

Yet my mind felt a disconnect.  

I remember Brian was never more than a few feet away from me.  As if ready to catch me were I to fall.  

Finally I could stand it no more.  Even though this was a place I knew I was loved and a place I loved.  

It was a place I couldn't stand to bear another moment of the conflict of the past and present 

I remember thinking.  I'll never be able to come back to this place because of the conflict between memory and reality. 

That was a year ago.  Today I am literally a quarter of the earth away from there.   And I miss it dearly.   

I will be there next year.  
I am ready.  

Catching my breathe on Day 12

 Last night I went to a rock concert sponsored by the American Embassy.  I thought it was funny that many of the songs they played for a Independence Day celebration were British bands.     I would have picked Springstein songs.      melloncamp.  

Went to Goza.  My favorite outdoor spot.  Ordered their good Malbec and later their chicken crepes.   

Got back to the apartment late and their was Divorced dave from Denver.  Pilar my delightful equatorial landlord

And a new couple who were staying.  

We stayed up late talking.  Got up normal time.  Headed to Cafe Austria for some coffee Americano and fruit, yogurt  and granola.  

I was not feeling 100%.  So figured I might be worn out from a week of pretty aggressive high altitude walking.   

So back to apartMent for a nap

Got up a couple hours later and felt much better.  

Found a art show online and walked to a new neighborhood.  Cool stuff.   

Now dinner.  How about inca bar.   Bartender recognizes me.  I remember he spent 10 years living in Norman OK.  I tell him my uncle taught there for many years.   

The local gang talked me into a hamburger.   Pretty dang good with what I would

Call homemade potato chip/slices.     

Now I'm back on the banks of the Tomebamba River.   When I'm back in Canby I'm going to

Try and figure out what the secret will be to getting a park on Riverfront we own.    

July 1. Wednesday

Sitting at a window table at Cafe Austria.  European feel.  Just a block from my apartment.

Yesterday I negotiated my first solo taxi ride. Went to the Mall del Rio.  First time in ten days that I felt physically off.  Bought a ticket for the Spanish version of Jurraaic World. Still pretty good even without understanding diolog well.
Left before the movie was over due how poor I felt. Bought some Gatoraide and rested for a bit and actually got scared about how I would negotiate if I got feeling even worse.
But a key element of self reliance is being self reliant.
I was disoriented in this giant mall so I found one of the ubiquitous guards and asked where I could find a taxi.  He was so kind. Walked me all the way to the outside taxi stand and asked another guard to call a taxi.
In 20 minutes I was back in my apartment.  Drank some water and ate my last Cliff bar (yes I should have brought more).  Then laid down with a stomach ache. Took an Alkaselzer and fell asleep for a couple hours.
Got up about 7:30 and had some more water and felt better.  A knock on the door was from another Gringo who lived in the apartment Downstairs.  He asked if i had dinner yet and said no.  Let's go.
We went to an outside cafe and I had some dinner and wine.  Still not feeling 100% but doing much better.  A second glass of wine and Dave told me his life story.
He lived in Denver as an aerospace engineer specialized in weather satellites. He worked with and met Elon Musk to get his satellites in space.
He decided to come to Ecuador for a month to try and get a new perspective on life. He told me his wife last year began an affair with her boss. He moved into an apartment and wanted time away to reflect.
We walked back to our apartments in the warm late evening air.
I thanked him for knocking on my door and suggesting dinner.  I thanked him for the opportunity to share our stories.  We exchanged email addresses and suggested we keep in touch to see how our lives progressed from that shared meal together.