We took a drive to the Missouri border today, which is only 40 miles from here.  On the way back I was amazed that I had never noticed the "forest" that runs for miles (east and west) by the Keokuk exit.  Perhaps it was because it was so beautiful that I paid attention today, or because I wasn't driving, but regardless, it was stunning.

I have told Greg for years that I think Iowa is a beautiful state, particularly in the area we live in, but today just reconfirmed it for me.  Now, that doesn't mean that I wouldn't move, but if we do it will have to be someplace beautiful (Vilcabamba?) to compete with where we are right now.

Wow, talk about a LONG day!  We left Vilcabamba yesterday at 2:45 pm for the trip to Loja to catch the plane for Quito.  The ride to the airport is not a hasty one, the roads are really curvey (obviously since they are mountain roads) so it takes a while.  It isn't that many miles, just that long (about an hour and a half.) 

When we got to the airport in Loja, paid the driver, got our bags and walked up the steps to the airport I remembered our camera was in the backseat of the taxi…Greg ran out but he was already gone!  Great!  At least I had uploaded all but the last three pictures.  Then I found out (from Cyn) that they didn't display on the site (I'll fix them in the morning…too pooped now)

We flew from Loja to Quito, then on to Quayaquill (which we didn't know we were going to do, Delta didn't tell us that stop on our tickets).  The gal that sat in the seat next to me was coming back "home" from Atlanta so she flew into Quito and then the Quayaquill leg.  She was charming, 28  years old, college student that wants to come to the states to get her masters in GA because USA men are better (and taller) than the men from Quayaquill….funny!

In Loja we went through security, then again in Quito, then again in Quayaquill where it was both secuity and immegartion, then security in Atlanta (and customs and immegration) and then into Des Moines.  At least we didn't have to do security in Des Moines to get off the plane!  Not only did you go through security in Quito at the checkin, you did it again at the gate!!  In quito we also had to pay the deportation fee (or what ever it's called) that was $40.80 per person.  You usually have to pay to get into a country, Ecuador charges you to leave!

When we arrived in Des Moines we were both beat, but had a meeting to go to, then looked for office space, ate lunch and started the drive home.  Wouldn't you know, I-80 had a semi overturn and burn (minor injury to the driver) so the interstate was closed for about an hour and a half while everyone sat there waiting for the fire to be contained, when we got by the semi all that was left were the rims of the tires…a heck of a hot fire!

After grocery shopping, a shower and checking emails and phone messages it was time to call Cyn and get this posted so I can go to bed.  I looked at auctions for tomorrow and decided not to even think about it…going to sleep in…hopefully.  Then it will be normal stuff like laundry and listing and web work.  Must be home!

We had the privilage of having dinner with Jon Cypher, co-owner of the spa.  He has a rich history as a broadway actor (even in Evita…my favorite!) and on Major Dad, Hill Street Blues and other movies and TV.  We have had the privilage to call him a friend while we are here, as with his wife, Carol Risen, a brilliant scientist and peace activist.  What a joy!

I also wanted to put in a picture of Cristian so Cyndi can see who she emailed.  He is the GM of the Spa and a terrific guy.  It has been a pleasure to get to know him some and hear about his fabulous family, wife (a ballarina) and his two daughters.

We will miss them all!

Jon and Carol will be here in the morning, Carol has a big group coming in so she will be super busy, as will Cristian, but it will be good to see them, and perhaps visit a bit before we leave.

Greg helped Carol on the net this morning and so I thought I would post a picture of the setting of where they worked, not all that tough of a location!

Tonight we are having dinner with Carol and Jon to say goodbye.  We'll miss them, they are treasures found in a far away land!

I got a lot of pictures loaded in the www.taguanutearring.com site today, there are lots more items to list, just am running out of time!

We had a lovely evening with Jon and Carol, Carol and Greg worked on the computer and Jon and I visited up a storm!  He's a very interesting gentleman, glad to have had a chance to meet him.

While I was waiting for Jon to come up from the Bamboo House (yes, that's what it's called) I had a chance to look around outside.  They have a wonderful set up for bar-b-ques and a lovely garden area.

    

I told my husband this morning that I wasn't ready to leave.  This place is beautiful and we seem to get so much done!  Not only enjoying the location, the peace and ability to be creative has been wonderful.  I have built a new website, met lots of interesting people and hope to be able to help the financial situation of some of the local artists by selling their creations on line.

Greg has been busy helping Carol with her website, working with her on her computer, educating her on things that she has had questions about, hopefully it will help her do the things that she wants to do.  They are working on it now while I am thinking about going and getting a foot massage….how's that for equal treatment??

We leave here around 3 tomorrow to be in Loja in time to catch the flight to Quito where we will go through customs to board for our 9 something flight to Atlanta.  Back to the real world.

Greg had a good meeting at the college yesterday.  They are extremely interested in having him on staff.  That's the good news, the bad news is the pay scale is really low.  It would mean we would have to come up with alternative income generating sources to make it work.  It is something we feel deserves serious consideration since the accredidation of the college is high.  Greg said it reminds him of the University of Iowa as far as size and layout.  The major difference there is that it doesn't snow here so it won't be awful to get around.  We are still talking about it.

We need to get things going at home to generate income, we have ideas and will go to work on them as soon as we return.  Iowa Beautiful is still a viable site that needs the right people to sell the advertising, we will be working on that.

We are so glad that we have come here, never thought it would be as appealing as it is, just thought it would be a nice break, but I have never been someplace that I wasn't ready to go home when the time came before.  Interesting concept.

Ok, so Greg told me the other day that I had gotten much better on the website and was doing well.  I truly believe that when he gets back from Loja he is going to recind all those remarks!  I am totally frustrated on how to do the page on the vegetable ivory items I bought….not the content….the loading of the pictures (which I know how to do) for the display page.  Now, I know I know how to do it, I just plain can't remember!  I need Greg! 

Hopefully he is enjoying his time at the college and will have great stories to tell when he returns, until then, screw it, I'm going to take a nap!

We had quite a busy day today.  We looked at properties around the Vilcabamba area, two WAY up in the mountains that had a wonderful view for a goat.  I really don't like being that high and I really don't like roads that are so rough they make your bottom and back feel like they have just gone 9 rounds with a heavy weight boxer!  Now, that being said, the view was outstanding.  You could see for miles and miles.

We then went and looked at a site that was closer into the village, it was much smaller but more level, good road access, water, electricity and more comfortable for me.  After discussing it we decided that we are going to stick to our original plan rather than let emotion and the spur of the moment direct our future.

Then last night Greg helped Carol with her website.  It was a delight to be at their home and join them for dinner (brought up from the hotel).  While Greg and Carol slaved away Jon and I visited about a wide array of topics, from film to broadway, from family to life experiences.  He is a bright, delightful host, I truly enjoyed my time visiting with him.  Greg also enjoyed working with Carol so the night was a success.

Before Jon got back to the main house I had the opportunity to go out in their yard and look at their bar-b-que area and rock garden area.  Here are a couple of pictures of the beautiful arrangement they have done with their yard.

It was a delightful way to spend an evening, good conversation, good wine and food, and a little work thrown in.  We thank Carol and Jon for their wonderful hospitality.

I went online to check out the new site Hotel Reservations to see how easily it worked and the variety of options it offers to the traveler, whether domestic or international.  I must admit that I was pleased with how easily it works, the wide variety of offerings and the fact that it not only gives domestic travel and hotels but also international options.

So many of the sites just offer domestic information that for those of us that are traveling internationally it just doesn't work well to use them.

As a hotel owner for a number of years I was really interested in how the listings of the hotel options came up.  Was there a good selection in the town?  Was the booking procedure easy?  Did you get a confirmation?  With this, I found that the site worked well.  Sure, they take the information from other sites on what the hotels have to offer and their rate and they don't list all the hotels in certain towns, but that's not the problem of the site, it's the problem of the hotel owner for not submitting them to the web. 

In order to provide good service to the user the managment team of the travel site needs to stay on top of the changes, offer incentives for the buying public to purchase from them vs another site and have a smooth, easy to use site.  It appears to me that this travel site meets all of those requirements.

If you are a traveler looking for hotels in cities around the world you are going to want to check this site out.  If you are a hotel owner you are going to want to submit your infomation to the site in order to get listed.  It's a site that will be used by more and more people all the time and you won't want to miss the opportunity to showcase your hotel!

Let's help spread the word about the alternative site and see if they maintain their quality in time.  Sure hope they do!

Today was windy, very windy, in Vilcabamba, Carol said it usually is like this in August but that it started early this year…whee!  It's not that it was cold, just windy.  Tonight will probably be pretty cool, more blankets for the beds and we will be fine.

We went into town today to see the market and the artisian show.  It was really kind of neat to see since it brought back memories of Kenya and the markets there.  The artisian show didn't have a great number of vendors so the things that we were hoping to find were not available.  Not that we really need anything, but hey, might find a treasure.

            

Anyone want some fresh fruit or freshly butchered pork??

    

Inside the building there were more shops.

         

We went into a hardware store and looked at the appliances they had for sale, they had really neat washing from Korea and really pretty nice gas ranges along with the regular array of stuff in a hardware store.  The dress shop is rather small and very crowded.

   

Out on the street there was they guy on a microphone telling people how wonderful his product was for cooking, sounded a lot like the guys at the State Fair.  There was also this shop with the coconut carvings that I thought were rather cute…no, I didn't buy any!

     

We had lunch at the cafe on the corner, in fact, everytime we ate in town we ate here, good food and nice people.  While we were there this St. Bernard took his people for a walk, now, I know that the Andes are high but I didn't realize that they would need a St. Bernard there!!  No snow (in the Southern Andes, there is in the Northern).

  

I had the most delightful day, regardless of the shape my fanny and legs are in now!  Carol, Juan (the trainer) and I rode for about 5 hours today.  We left the resort around 10:30 this morning, rode into Vilcabamba which is probably a mile or so from the resort.  We rode on through the town and out into the mountain area behind the town, up some gentle mountain roads that were dotted with homes, a beautiful river (more on that in a minute) and a manufacturing plant.  Oh yes, and there is "The Forgotten School" there too where kids and teachers go everyday but they have no supplies, desks, chairs or anything.  Carol said they call themselves the "Fogotten School" because no one seems to care that there are kids that desperatly want an education and teachers that want to teach and have to do the best they can with nothing.

The river that flows beside the road has an area that is like a bay (don't know what you call it when a river has a pool) that Juan let his horse walk into.  So, of course, I thought I was supposed to too, that the horses probably wanted a drink.  Made sense to me.  Well, my horse LOVES the water!  It started kicking up its front feet and then it's back feet, playing in the water!  Juan said to take him out so I did, but I must admit, it was funny being on a great big horse that was playing!  I have ridden for years and never experienced anything like it, it was a hoot!

Then we rode up more roads, looking at the beautiful mountains, the flowers growing everywhere and listening to the cars and trucks that came up behind us and moving the horses off to the side of the road.  The drivers were very respectful of the horses, they slowed way down and didn't yell or honk or try to spook them as some in other countries would have (and have) done.

I thought that riding up hill would be difficult but it wasn't that at all, it was riding DOWN that caused the stress on the legs and butt!  Oh my gosh, I realized how old I was (or maybe just out of condition for riding) by the time we got back to town for lunch.  Now, I was fine until it was time to get off!  My legs were so pooped the right one didn't want to swing over to dismount!  Juan stood beside me and I leaned my hand on his shoulder which gave me the angle to dismount without falling on my face!  Bless his heart!!

We visited with some locals while we ate (and all the way into town we said "Hi" (well I did, Carol and Juan said "Ola") to all the people that we saw.  It was kind of neat, some of the young ones responded to me in English!  When we got to the cafe there was this delightful old (and I mean OLD) man that walked up, said hi (in English) and started past.  Carol asked him to sit and have something to eat, it appeared that he could really use it.  I believe he is one of the old ones from the valley.  The valley is know for being one of 3 places on earth that people live to be well over 100!  We saw a couple today that were well over 110!  Seriously, and they were walking along doing thier business just like a younger person!  Amazing.  As we visited with this gentleman, he said he spoke English and French but no Spanish.  How strange to find that in town!

When it was time to leave the cafe, I had Juan bring my horse to the curb and that gave me the necessary height to mount without looking like a fool.  Again, Bless Juans' heart!

Carol said that we should ride the horses around the square a couple of times to show the locals what happens when horses are taken care of, feed well and trained.  The horses that Carol, Juan and I rode were abused horses that she has taken in and Juan has trained and worked with to get them into the fabulous condition they are in now.

Carols' horse had been so abused that it had broken the leg of one trainer, smashed the face of another and wouldn't let anyone get near him.  It's a beautiful black stallion, wild as wild can be to everyone except Carol and Juan.  The horse actually adores Carol.  She was not a rider when she bought him, had ridden about 2 times as a child.  She didn't realize that the horse was a danger, she just thought he was beautiful (like the Black Stallion books she read as a kid….so did I).  She said when she went to ride him, he looked at her like she had to be kidding.  She said he let her up and has never given her a bit of trouble.  The horse must have known that she loved him and wouldn't hurt him and knew nothing about riding and took pity on her.  They are quite a sight to see, Carol with her white hair flowing beneath her black hat and the horse proudly kicking his hooves out to the side in some step that I can't remember the name of, but it was beautiful to watch.

We rode around the square twice with the horses literally prancing as they showed off.  It was a great time.

Juan graciously told Carol that I was a natural rider, that there isn't a horse on the place that he would not let me on.  What a nice thing to hear after not riding for so long.

We left town and rode a "back way" back to the resort, it was a little more than an hour ride past the monestary where the nuns are cloistered, the school and church in some little village (about 5 houses) and the old peoples farm that Carol has written a grant for ($1M) to continue to raise organic foods to feed the people.  Then across a bridge that was just wide enough for the horses (after letting a motorbike across first) which was quite high over the river.  Now, you know how fond I am of heights.  Had visions of my horse thinking, hey, I can dump her here and be done with her…kindly he didn't and we made it safely across.  It was pretty, just not something I was prepared to relish until after the fact.

We got back to the resort and I got to see where the horses are pastured and where Juan and his family live.  Then back to the main entrance where I dismounted (again with the help of Juan) and said goodbye to Carol and Juan.  Juan's son took my horse back to the pasture and I limped my sore legs and even more sore butt to the main level, grabbed a cup of coffee and sat there until I thought my legs would make it the 42 steps to our room!

When I got here, Greg was feeling pretty nasty.  Carol had told us, when we arrived, that eating so much fruit and healthy food could really mess up your digestive track, today was his day.  He went to the spa and tried to get that to calm his painful stomach down, that didn't work so he went to Cristen and asked if there was something he could get, that Carol had warned us about this and that there was something the natives use to calm things down.  Cristen said yes, that they would go pick some herbs fresh from the gardens, make some tea and bring it up for him.  Anyone that knows my husband knows that he hates tea and coffee, but he was so miserable that he sipped it (Cristen said not to "drink" it but sip it) and that it really did help.  He still feels nasty but not as bad as he did.

Tonight is festival night in town, it's Saturday and they celebrate with music and dancing in the streets every Saturday night.  Carol was planning to go and wanted me to go along.  I told her it would depend on how I felt and let me tell you, the thought of going anyplace other than dinner tonight was more than I could have done!  Carol must have fallen asleep too since she didn't come down for dinner.  She said that she hadn't slept last night, was busy answering emails and working.  Hope she did get some rest and will wake up in the morning feeling refreshed!

It actually gets cold here at night, there is no heat in the rooms so you bundle up in blankets when it's bedtime and try to get warm.  Tonight I thought, shoot, close the curtains and maybe that will help.  I think it probably will, even though they are really thin, and blowing out, but at least it stops some of the breese that cools everything down so much.  It's actually not bad at the computer right now and last night I 'bout froze doing this, so it's better!

Tomorrow we are going into town to the market, it will give us an opportunity to see other crafts and get to know the town a little better.  We are looking forward to it, unless Greg is still feeling nasty that is.