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.