Talk to Us About Living in Ecuador

If you are a regular Ecuador blog reader and you keep one foot in the US and the foot that belongs to your heart in Ecuador, we need to talk.  I mean literally, we need to talk. 

It seems the expat bloggers of Ecuador (yes I'm one of them) are filling the internet with pictures and information about what it is like to live in this beautiful country. 

Now you have another way to convince that foot that is anchored in the US to step outside for a minute and start living in a place where the weather allows you to walk outside comfortably daily, where quality health care costs fractional to the US, where homes can be bought or built reasonably, and where the locals still like North Americans. 

If you'd like to consider moving that stubborn foot click on the link below

http://learnecuador.intuitwebsites.com/

I'll be waiting for your email appointment.

Otavalo Livestock Market

I'm pretty sure if you come to the livestock market in Otavalo on Saturday morning you'll have a good feel for some of the Ecuador farm traditions.  Suffice it to say, the hogs aren't going to make it to the Iowa State Fair.  Then again, nobody ever said hogs have to be pretty to taste good.  In Iowa we move our pigs about prodding them with a cane.  In Ecuador, they're on a leash.  Do you suppose Arnold Ziffel was from Ecuador?

 Likewise, the cattle won't make it to Aksarben or Des Moines either, but if you like livestock auctions this will be like none you've ever seen in America's heartland.

The Children of Cotacachi

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Look at their faces!  Such innocence, joy, hope, and love comes from the little ones in Cotacachi.  It was their faces that first made me fall in love with Cotacachi.  I was in Parque San Francisco that day and the sun was typically strong keeping me toasty warm despite the cool early morning Andean air.  I saw a little indigenous girl like the one in the picture lower left dressed in her immaculately clean white embroidered blouse with her younger brother in tow.  I'll never forget the sweetness and genuine familial affection shared between them.  It warmed my heart and I knew this would be my home.  I heard someone on the street the other day talk about how the children behave here.  There's no tantrums, no shouting or screaming, no bullying.  I wish I had grown up here.  I'd at least know how to speak Spanish by now.

Iluman

Iluman is a village that lies at the base of Imbabura along the Pan Am highway between Otavalo and Quiroga.  We have some new friends there, Alfonso and Maria Rosa, an absolutely delightful couple.  Don't let the Ralph Lauren t shirt fool you.  Alfonso still knows how to weave an alpaca blanket the old fashioned way.

He's not afraid to demonstrate his ancient trade with a blonde haired gringo boy either!

 Rachel will be taking some hand-made merchandise back to the US with her and some of it will be from Alfonso and Rosa.  Alfonso and Rosa weave and market alpaca blend blankets, ponchos and scarves.  All you need to do is spend one night under one of their blankets and you will be sold!  Rachel and I keep them on our love seat for those chilly Andean nights watching movies.  We get so cozy we often miss the closing credits.  I hope the customs agents don't get too picky about her suitcase full of alpaca blankets.

Alfonso met a few of us in Cotacachi with his pickup and played taxi driver to take us up the mountain to Iluman.  It was well worth it for us as buyers and Alfonso had a banner day.  It makes you feel good when you see this young couple succeed at making and selling a quality product at a value price.  Whatever they do, they must have the formula.  They are building a new house! 

While hundreds of artisans compete with each other at the huge market in Otavalo, Alfonso and Rosa open up their house to a focus group of buyers on appointment.  Oh yes, they sell at the market too, but clearly they have discovered a marketing venue that can't be beat.   They treat you like royalty in their home and even try a little English while you fumble around with Spanish.  Then when you are done shopping, they take you to your front door with your bag full of goods.  At the end of the day everyone was delighted.

Bus Drivers in the Imbabura

Meet hermanos (brothers) Fausto and Jorge.  They are a bus driver team that have been pretty special to us as we travel back and forth between Otavalo and Cotacachi.  When Fausto is driving, Jorge is collecting the fares from the passengers.  Likewise the roles are reversed when Jorge is the conductor (driver).  They are warm, friendly, and forgiving of our malo (bad) Spanish.  They are cordial and courteous to passengers and drive with great care.   After writing some less than complimentary reviews of the bus drivers in Cuenca I really felt a need to express our great relief and happiness that the drivers here in the Imbabura are almost the opposite of their city counterparts in Cuenca.  There are typically two passenger seats up front by the driver and Rachel and I are quick to grab them when possible.  You get to see everything along the route and learn a little Spanish from Fausto and Jorge. 

Our First Anniversary

We met when we were 12.  Forty seven years later we got married.  A lot happened in between for both of us but our life is together now, perhaps the way it was supposed to be.  This past year in matrimony with my lovely Rachel has given me more personal growth than the previous 59.  I think growth happens when you love someone that much.  There are challenges to be sure, but what doesn't kill us makes us stronger right?

A year ago today we were roaring about in Rachel's Miata through Mark Twain National Forest on our honeymoon.  We had been married earlier that day in a civil ceremony in Tennessee by a minister who was 'on duty' at the courthouse.  After our simple ceremony we lunched at a Kentucky Fried Chicken and laughed to tears by our approach to our new life together.  It was good preparation for Ecuador.



We were going to go to Lago Cuicocha today for a romantic four hour walk around the serene and mystical lake.  As fate would have it the sun just didn't want to come out today so we spent a little more time being cozy this morning.  Then it occurred to us that we should best celebrate our first year together the way we started it, at Kentucky Fried Chicken.  So we hopped on the bus to Ibarra.

I love you Rachel.

Tumbabiro

Sometimes a unique and wonderful lifestyle is waiting for you in a place no one has even talked about.  Phil and Sandy have taken that path less travelled.  It takes some real courage and faith to create your own heaven on earth where few gringos have even trod.  Tumbabiro is such a place.

Rachel and I were honored to be among the invitees to Phil and Sandy's fiesta.  We're pretty sure the auspices for the fiesta were some birthdays among the guests, somewhere in the past six months or perhaps the next 6 months range.  You see fiestas in Ecuador don't have to be real specific in intent.  They are just fiestas.  Actually Fernando's daughter was turning 13 and was festively attired for the occassion.  Fernando is Phil and Sandy's personal botanist extraordinaire.  Some people might be too quick to call Fernando the gardener until they see his work, or should I say his art.

Fernando has personally travelled all over Ecuador in search of unique and sometimes endangered plant life.  Sometimes that rare species is on a mountain top and sometimes it's along a snake infested stream in the jungle.  But no matter where it might come from it will be happy and healthy under Fernando's tender care and Tumbabiro's idyllic climate.

I'm pretty sure Adam and Eve didn't have this kind of comfort in Eden, but Phil and Sandy manage pretty well in their German engineered home.  With internet access and Direct TV on the big screen, the quiet solitude of the tropical paradise can be broken when you've had your fill of nature's splendor.  The man who lived here before had to return to his native Germany but left a legacy for Phil and Sandy to enjoy the rest of their life.   Thanks for inviting us to your Ecuadorian Eden!