This blog was created a long time ago, long before Elin believed in the magic of the internet. The title of the blog comes from an essay by David James Duncan in his semi-autobiography, My Story as Told by Water. If you haven´t read it, check it out. The essay is about the purposeful withdrawal out of our normal lives...stepping out of the rat race or the mundane in order to recieve a new frame of reference or just to experience life without distraction...to just be, in a strategic sense. It just so happens that our trip to latin america was just that, a strategic withdrawal...
Though somewhat egocentric, this blog is an attempt to allow our friends and family to experience our travels with us as well as hear about what we have gained from our purposeful trip to the south lands. We will do our best to update with stories and pictures, but it will not be play by play.
We have been in Ecuador for 2 weeks. The first week was spent with the Reverend Paul Reichert (who is our good friend that was ordained online last september and performed our marraige ceremony). Paul is also our ninja triplet, in that we all share the same birthday. Paul and his wife Beth live in Quito, which is the capital city of Ecuador. It is a typical latin american city with nearly 2 million residents. There is a beautiful old colonial part of town with numerous cathedrals, plazas and musuems all echoing the history of spanish control. The old town has just recently become safe for tourists to visit it´s mysterious streets and buildings.
There is almost a line drawn in the cement where the old town ends and the newer part of quito begins. They are literally called the old and new, Quito Nuevo y Quito Viejo. The new town is filled with modern malls, gated communities and embassor complexes.
Paul works 30 minutes outside of Quito at an amazing place called El Refugio (The Refuge). It is an old hacienda that has been converted into a retreat center/adventure camp. The property consists of 300 acres, including the side of a mountain(11,000 ft), two peaks and a ridge, a ravine which is spawned by a huge zipline, a high and low ropes course, a huge tree house (we are talking swiss family robinson here!!) horses, llamas, a big pig, a shack full of guinnea pigs which are considered gourmet eating. Paul runs the program side of the retreat center. He facilatates groups of youth from Quito and the surrounding areas, with the purpose of raising up leaders and cultivating leadership skills.
Our first week was spent checking out Paul and Beth´s life in Ecuador. After we got our barrings, we ventured off on our first excursion to the town of Otovalo, home of one of south americas largest indigenous markets. It was a sprawl of colorful artesanos items for a fraction of the price that it is worth. We arrived the day before the big market day, which is wednesday. So we just purused the market and got harrassed by the vendors. We stayed the night in a cool backpackers hostal. It had a courtyard of hammocks hanging from a huge avocado tree and an outdoor fireplace that was perfect in the cool mountian evening. On market day we struck early and filled our small backpacks with beautiful handwoven items...gifts for friends and family:) After the market expereince we hopped a bus for the more peaceful town of Cotacachi. We spent the night at an amazing old hotel that had a spanish hacienda feel to it. Cotacachi is famous for its production of leather goods. There is a whole street of stores bursting with leather coats, boots, bags, belts, hats...all so stinkin cheap! We almost snag a sweet slicker for Elin but could not part with the cash.
From the northern highlands we headed to the coast, which is where we are writing from now. We hitched a ride with Paul and Beth in their sweet old school Land Cruiser. The roads out of Quito were unreal...cut right into the sides of the mountains...we dropped from 10,000ft to sea level in a course of 6 hours, passing through cloud forests and taffy making towns. Paul and Beth hung out with us and played on the beach for the weekend and then headed back to Quito.
We are in a sleepy fishing village turned surf spot called Canoa. It is an up and coming tourist spot that bumps on the weekends and is silent during the week. We are staying at the Hotel Bambu, which is on the edge of the beach and has the classic tables in the sand coastal vibe. We are taking spanish classes from a cute spanish girl who is also a fellow traveler, who decided to set up shop for a few months in Canoa. Every night we go to her simple wooded house and practice our spanish at her table. It has been a great way to gain insights on this town and this country.
It is here in Canoa that we getting to practice our strategic withdrawal skills. We are without plans, agendas, time limits, obligations...we dont even know when we will be leaving here. We are spending the days reading, writing, talking, praying and being still...and oh yeah, eating huge plates of seafood, surfing and looking for treasures on the beach...
We stayed in a huge river-side cabin...we think they hooked us up because we told them it was anniversary. It was luxury done in the most simplistic way...such creative uses of wood and stone...it had 25 foot ceilings with sky-lights in the thatched roof, a bath tub laid in stones with huge double windows that opened onto the lush forest...no electricity, only candles and oil lamps...we were speechless.
-roasting Cacao beans-
