We're all dreaming a dream but we think it's "real life." So A Course in Miracles teaches.
Part of our dream was visiting Cuenca, Ecuador, which we've done as outlined below. Another part involves freelance writing for Allan and art for Becky. Yet another, house sitting across the United States.
Who knows what the next dream will dream us?
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
On Tuesday Allan wrote this...
"Well..." (like Ronald Reagan used to say), here we are still in Hillsborough, NC.
Saturday night we had fun meeting Bob and Karen, long time friends of the home owners here. Becky cooked up a big roast complete with carrots, onions and celery (not mirepoix) along with some spices and flavors that made for a superb meal. Karen brought along her fantastic blueberry pie made with only the freshest ingredients, topped off with a little Bryers (not "carb smart" -- instead, the real good ice cream that's not good for you) -- vanilla ice cream. To say the red and white wine and the dinner were all good is a gigantic understatement. More like "deliciouso."
This pic, taken with my iPod, reveals that we were poor hosts....
their wine glasses are empty! But that didn't mean that the
conversation waned or that our wonderful guests were not
at their peak of interresante et amustante
We talked about history, about North Carolina, about one anothers' lives -- so many topics. It was a huge amount of fun getting to know Karen and Bob, even just a little bit. By evening's end we hugged warmly, said goodnight and wished one another good fortune.
Karen and Bob - super folks!
Now, the other day when we met Joyce, she advised that we should really take time to get into Hillsborough to check out the art galleries. And if hungry, to eat at The Gulf Rim.
So we did.
I tried to buy Becky a pair of crocheted silver wire ear rings at one of the art galleries, but she said she's already got too much jewelry. (But hey, where can you find crocheted silver wire made into jewelry??? That is so rare and so neat! Just imagine trying to crochet with silver wire! My friends, I can't even imagine how the artist came up with that idea...much less actually accomplished those beautiful pieces of jewelry she made.) Instead I bought a small print of a very cool acrylic painting from an New Age-y artist known as Carmen. As we left, the sweet lady at the art gallery suggested we visit the hardware store in town.
So we did.
It's been there for over 60 years. It's a total mess inside. There is no known computer program that could even approximately keep track of the inventory in that store. The only way to know what's there is to ask. Then, the man who's run it for the past 40 years will say, "Well, give me just a minute." When he comes back he's got exactly what you want. Only he and God know where he found it among all the piles of stuff, junk, flotsam and jetsam that stock his shelves. It's an amazing place and I'm so glad we went there.
And there Becky found a fuzzy paint brush she needs for some of her art work. She asked me, "What do you think of a woman who turns down a $40 pair of ear rings for a $3 paint brush?" I told her, "Hey babe, you're a cheap date." hahaha
So downtown Hillsborough was fun. We had lunch at The Gulf Rim -- Becky had a hearts of palm and avocado salad, I had the seafood mix. Wonderful.
All the style guides for freelance writers tell you to never begin a sentence with "And" or "But."
But, Monday was probably the high point of our trip to NC. We drove about 2-1/2 hours to Wilmington, a sea port city and the largest city in NC. My only prior experience with Wilmington was back in the 1990's when my son and I drove over from Atlanta to go deep sea fishing. Neither of us caught anything worth noting, however I did "catch" a gigantic, miserable, unrelenting, disgusting, never-ending case of sea sickness that lasted about eight hours and drained me of virtually all life, all energy and all wish to continue living.
This trip was much more fun. Becky and I went to the visitor's bureau and talked to Mary Ann there about the entire Cape Fear area. We checked out the board walk ( a 2-mile walk along the Cape Fear river that eventually dumps into the Atlantic ocean.) We got some ideas on where one might want to live in the area. And we collected a duffel bag full of literature.
Kure Beach, one of four or five in the Wilmington area
You see, this house sitting adventure has been largely about finding a place we'd like to move to and live out our lives. Maybe, after just a couple of house sits, we've found a good place: Wilmington and its environs.
More to come. And in the meantime, many BIG THANKS to our wonderful hosts and home owners (Chris and Jeff) here in Hillsborough -- for choosing us to watch over their property. It has been a great pleasure and we've enjoyed this visit to a wonderful part of the USA.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
On Thursday evening Allan wrote...
Becky is still wearing the cast on her right arm from having broken her wrist. So I'm writing for both of us today.
We're house sitting in Hillsborough, North Carolina, enjoying a beautiful home situated at the edge of what the owners call "The Hundred Acre Woods." And indeed, there are well over 100 acres filled with cedar trees, hardwoods and -- due to a hurricane that blew through during the mid-1990's -- quite a few downed trees. The owners have blazed trails all through the woods where they walk their dogs a couple times each day.
On Tuesday, our first night here, Becky and I played a few hands of cards then retired for the night. "Retiring" included getting the two dogs -- Maggie and Blue -- situated on their very own leather couch. They like to sleep with blankets and stuffed toys. So we put them to bed and said "good night." Then, about 4:30AM we were awakened by their footsteps in the hall outside our bedroom. In a flash both of them jumped into bed with us, followed a while later by one of the two cats. Neither of us ever quite got back to sleep.
Maggie snoozing with Becky
Blue just had to get under the blankets
The cats eat on the counter top to
prevent the dogs from getting
their food.
Becky and dogs walking in the woods
One of many historical memorials around town.
We went into Durham today to look around and found a mountain of information at the Visitor's Bureau. So we took a short walk around some of the downtown area. The city has some of the feel of Portland. For example, we ate at a restaurant that is very green -- they recycle almost everything, use only LED lighting, buy locally and make virtually all their own ingredients. Further, with the huge campus of Duke University, Durham is a top example of a college town. There's lots of culture here and plenty to see and do. Durham just might make our short list of places we'll eventually move to. Time (and more travel) will tell.
This is actually Stop #41 on the Walking Art Tour of Durham. Either
that, or something a little kinky (LOL)
We decided to explore a bit on Wednesday by visiting Seagrove, NC. It's a small town that's home to dozens and dozens of pottery makers. We walked through a couple of the galleries until Becky found the piece that she says goes so well with the colors in our living room.
We're having a local couple over for dinner on Saturday and hope they can tell us a bit more about North Carolina and some of its cities. Maybe they'll give us some ideas about which cities are "the best." Becky and I are both curious about the coastal and Inner Banks towns. Maybe we'll drive over to the coast one day next week.
Today we had a beautiful sunny day in the mid-60's after an entire week of gray clouds and rain, day and night. We headed out to the Portland Saturday market, which is all about crafts, artisans and--oh yeah--more dreadlocks, tattoos, beards and hippy styled folks than I've seen since 1965. Nice. Peaceful people. Social conscience.
The market runs from March until Christmas eve every Saturday and Sunday. It's on the Willamette riverfront and was filled with people seeking sunshine after a dull week of rain. Becky bought a skirt and I picked up a tie-died t-shirt for my little four-month old grandson. After some wandering we stopped at the Mayflower Cafe for an early dinner, then headed home.
_______
I've spent quite a bit of time writing articles during the last week, most of it for IdeaLaunch and Constant-Content. I've had a lot of help from Bernie--the cat who likes almost everyone he meets.
Bernie seems to think (if I can wax anthropomorphic for a moment)
that sitting on my keyboard will somehow get him even more attention
than usual. Or maybe he just wants to get his POV into the article.
I don't know, but he is very determined.
Then, if dominating the keyboard isn't
enough, he climbs up on my shoulder and
just hangs out while I think and type. Hmmm.
Some kinda wonderful cat companion.
Today I took the dogs for a walk up the long hill that leads to the blackberry patch. There's an uncut field that runs along-side the path we took. Right at the margin of that field there are occasional stunted, scrappy blackberry bushes growing--in spite of having been bush-hogged the last time the field was cut. They're only a couple feet tall and have very few berries on them. Yet Diesel, the lab/retriever mix, must have had a hunger for fresh fruit. He happened to pass by one of those tiny bushes, sniffed around until he found a berry or two, then ate a few of them right off the plant. To my surprise, he walked another 20 yards, straight over to another lone bush, and again snatched the berries off the bush. And again a few yards further up the hill.
I've never seen a dog eat blackberries. He does like raw carrots, and always searches for a certain kind of grass to eat when we take him on his walks up and down the road. I was curious why dogs might eat grass and things that grow from the dirt. One web site had this strange explanation: "...because dog diets are primarily made up of herbivores, that grassy taste [dogs seek] may be reminiscent of the cattle or lamb product they had for dinner." Personally, I think he's eating to get the balance of fresh food and fiber. Who can tell?
Becky and I have been in Kalama, WA for exactly two weeks now. We're enjoying the picturesque scenery replete with mountains (The Cascades), the Columbia River in the distance and countless towering Douglas Fir trees with branches so thick they stand like giant, bristly brushes ready to scrub the sky. Or something like that.
One foggy morning around 7AM. A beautiful day followed.
Columbia River at the Kalama river walk area. Late afternoon.
The two dogs and cats we're caring for are sweet and affectionate little guys. One of the cats has befriended me and claimed my lap and my shoulder as a couple of his preferred places to hang out. Diesel, the retriever mix (see pics on prior post), is a giant puppy in temperament. He seeks out affection at every turn, loves to run like the wind and is a big-time grass eater on his daily walks. Guess he's at least part vegetarian. Sandy, in spite of her age, is spry, active and accustomed to getting up close and personal -- standing with front feet on your lap while she gazes into your eyes as if she's just found her new BFF.
Today we went to one of Portland's seven farmer's markets. It's on the campus of Portland State University and thus is known as the PSU Farmer's Market. See portlandfarmersmarket.org for much more info. It's not as big as the Fiere Libre market in Ecuador, but had a decidedly different feel.
Almost everything here is organic, free of all chemicals. Locally grown.
For those who love meat, this guy has it all.
We passed on the meat but have to admit that
we were curious about the yak and elk.
Here we had a "Moneyball" breakfast. Shitake mushroom gravy
over delicious biscuits with an egg over easy topping it off.
Yes, a different feel...
There is something about Portland. It feels like a throwback to earlier days in this country when people smiled at one another as they passed on the street. Where no one is a stranger. On the free streetcar ride yesterday we watched a woman sit down next to a man and strike up a lengthy conversation about cats, just as if they'd known one another for a long time. That doesn't happen on the subway in NYC. Or on the MARTA train in Atlanta. Drivers motion you to "go ahead, take the turn" to let you into traffic. Shop owners are always ready to chat. People here are polite and friendly. Just this week there was a newspaper article about descendants of Lewis and Clark, of expedition fame, who decided to make amends to indigenous American Indians for thefts committed by the original Lewis and Clark hundreds of years ago. The little Portland newspaper has an entire column dedicated to charitable events happening this week, highlighting socially conscious people doing things to help their brothers and sisters--with complete details on how you can get involved. Finally, yesterday while we were eating lunch at a Bridgeport Brew Pub, Becky started a conversation with a waitress about her beautiful hair. Another customer, a lady sitting by herself at the next table joined in. After a few minutes of discussion about shopping, this lady named Jane offered to drive us to her personal favorite shopping area in the 23rd Avenue district. And she did, saving us a half-hour walk. When we arrived at the shopping district Jane showed us how to take the streetcar back to where our car was parked. Sorry to say, that would probably never happen in Atlanta. Not the "striking up the conversation in the restaurant" part, nor the "I'll drive you there" part. THANK YOU Jane.
Yep, it's different than the ATL. I like it a LOT.
I'm just beginning to find the great food here. Becky and I had lunch yesterday at Bridgeport Brew Pub (which, BTW, runs its own charitable activities). Check out www.bridgeportbrew.com for info. I was tempted by the "meat pie," as I've got an on-going interest in what is commonly called "Shepherd's Pie." But I stuck to my veggie dietary focus and decided to go for the "Vegan Extravaganza" (not their words) and ordered one.
It's what I call the "Veggie Extravaganza"
Sooo good.
I'm glad I did. If you read any of Carlos Castaneda's books about don Juan back in the 1970's, you might remember how Carlos described don Juan's eating habits. He said that don Juan became totally focused on his food and its eating. Nothing interfered. Nothing intervened. The great master, don Juan, was eating...and doing nothing else. That's how this meal was for me. Lots of "live" food including kale, black beans, corn, avocado, peppers, quinoa, sweet potatoes, a bit of soy and more--all heated to perfection. Deliciouso!
Yesterday while in Portland we also went to Powell's bookstore. Amazing place. Becky picked up a few art books at great prices, while I succumbed to a Robert Heinlein scifi story I don't think I read 30 years ago: Tunnel in the Sky. The store has several stories in two buildings. Here's a map of the store. It came in really handy because the place is huge.
Powell's Bookstore gettin' around map. Amazing place.
We wrapped up the day in downtown Kalama where Becky did some antique shopping and found some neat stuff. Kalama is a small town but it's got several antique shops, a grocery, a Subway, a liquor store, drug store, Poker Pete's (super pizza place) and all the basic things one could need. Here's a look down "Main Street."
Kalama WA main street
That's all for now. Time to stir up some of that great food we bought today at the PSU Farmer's Market!
Once again the anticipation and waiting for a certain date has "reached fullness," as Michael Valentine Smith said in Stranger in a Strange Land. This week we traveled from the hot-box that is Atlanta to the cooler climes of Kalama, WA to house sit for almost seven weeks. Our hosts, who left yesterday on a nation-wide grande voyage trip to visit friends and relatives, greeted us Friday night with a great "meet the neighbors" get-together. They've been very thorough and thoughtful. They gave us a complete tour of their home and property; left us a "quick start" document that details all the workings of their house; a variety of flyers outlining things to do in the area; a link to their travel blog; and a vehicle to use while they're away. I can't imagine any host being more thoughtful and welcoming.
This morning at 7AM I let the cats and dogs out, fed them, walked the dogs (although didn't make it to the top of the 34% grade that runs 1.5 miles up the "foothills"), brushed them, cooked breakfast, chowed down and...now...will get back to some writing jobs that have been waiting for a quiet day. I think the animals are all ready to lazy around on this rainy afternoon.
Diesel is stretched out under the dining room
table, at my feet, as I type.
Sandy has her favorite place downstairs and is just relaxing.
Bernie (left) and Cinder are recovering from a busy
morning hunting. Cinder was seen with something brown
in her mouth as she crossed the back yard early this morning.
On Sunday Becky wrote...
Allan and I have care of the home and pets, and we are getting down the routines our hosts requested. We feed the dogs--walk the black lab mix Diesel and little blond dog Sandy in early mornings, brush them and give them a treat. Bernie and Cinder are gentle, mature cats, who hunt and prowl and then nap indoors part of the day. They sit on our laps at night for TV watching. One big yellow/white and the other dark gray.
The environment this morning is so quiet, I can hear only rain draining off the roof, the dog's breath, and this keyboard right now. Neighbors, a dozen of which we met at the cookout welcome, are widely spread out over Green Mountain acreage, some of the homes upscale, mansion-style. Friendly people at first, and then friendlier after a few more drinks. (I provided Red Diamond and Bogle Merlots, and we drank it all up.)
The landscape around this beautiful modern cabin is heavenly with the giant Douglas firs, rolling mountain views that seem endless. The whole property is surrounded by dark rail 3-slat fencing, nice for the dogs. Plenty of pasture land, tall wheat grasses, and sitting areas on every side of the house, including around the workshop and office building about the same size as the house and just as pretty. Amber colored wood paneling makes up the entire 3-level house inside and outside. LaDonna is a Master Gardener, and has tastefully arranged pebbles, creek rocks, boulders, moss, and varying ground covers in and around her flower gardens, making it appear as though it has all been here forever. I'll be brushing up on my watercolor painting skills, since this medium required the least bulk of tools and paints to pack and transport. Everything around here already looks like a watercolor painting, so it should not be too difficult to get the hang of the watery medium over the next six weeks. Visually, it's pretty much perfect here. The temp high is about 70 degrees today, and we aren't using heat or a/c. We have a wood stove in the downstairs TV room and a shed full of aged wood that has that pungent woody scent all of us has enjoyed in our fireplaces (that is, before we switched to gas logs)....
The towns around our Green Mountain retreat are small--2,000 to 36,000 population and only 9 to 20 miles away. We are very near Mt. St. Helen's volcano park and will visit on the next sunny day this week. We will be taking pictures in the next few days when it is predicted to be sunny and mild. Doug says it rains here about 60 percent of the year, so we have to be patient for those blue sky days, but when the light finally shines on us, it is worth the wait.
Now, at the end of August, I've got some info to share on my "new job" as a freelance writer for various web properties. Back in July I began investigating various sites like TheNovicesGuide.com, Skyword.com and Yahoo's AssociatedContent.com. Since then I've written a couple dozen articles for them. I continue to find other sites that also look interesting, so I decided it would be worthwhile to build a simple web presence that provides samples of my writing. Just as Becky and I used Google's excellent "sites" service to build a house sitting and pet sitting web site, I've again used Google to build a site filled with writing samples. I call it "Allan's Words."
I've posted links to articles, sales pages, press releases and documents in other formats--even including some samples (as PDF's) from the manuals and advertising brochures I wrote during my eleven years as a writer and editor for Picker International, and as a freelancer working with (now defunct) Dimension Studios in Cleveland, Ohio. Hopefully the site helps prospective clients decide whether I can help them create the written content they need.
I've learned that various web properties each have their own method of calculating how they value an article and, therefore, how much they pay the writer. For some, like Yahoo, it's a combination of a few dollars "up front" and the number of page views one's article receives. For TheNovicesGuide.com it's a flat $20 per approved 1000-1500 word article. At Skyword's Gather.com news site, pay is based entirely on page views: Once a threshold of 150 page views is reached, Skyword pays a couple dollars for that article.
What I find a bit disappointing regarding page views is also a commentary on our human nature. Let me explain...
The number of people who view my articles is largely based on the popularity of my subject matter. So while I might have expertise in a particular area, or might find a topic that I can passionately write about, those often are not popular enough to garner a substantial number of viewers. The result? Little or no revenue from those fun-to-write or otherwise informative articles.
To discover what is popular, the web offers some great tools. One is the Google Trends page that shows what's "hot" on any given day. Another is Yahoo's Buzz Log. Check either of them and you'll find that perhaps 17 or 18 of the top 20 search terms have to do with people in the entertainment industry. As testament to the popularity of entertainment industry topics, I found that the top writer for Yahoo has over 20 million page views. His topic: "Hollywood Gossip." Of the articles I've published, the top page view earnings came from a review of the American Idol tour show when it came to Atlanta. Climate change, political topics and news commentary came in very distant seconds.
What does that say about human nature? To me it's a sad comment that a gigantic majority of Internet searches are about topics that have almost nothing to do with one's everyday life and the issues that are important to one's well being and that of our neighbors. I find it a bit disappointing that people are so focused on those "fluff" articles rather than meaningful topics. Of course, any critic could find many reasons to say "Hey Allan, that's just your opinion." And of course they'd be right.
But personal observations aside, the heavy focus on those topics makes it a bit harder to find subjects that will reliably get page views. Skyword.com has some well-designed tools in its Gather News program that help identify popular topics, but the program manager advised me that those tools are "still new" and might not be as accurate as one would hope. So rather than spending a lot of time hunting for "popular" topics, as I did for about a month after getting started with Skyword and Yahoo, I'm going to focus more time on writing where pay is based on the quality and word count rather than page views.
I'll update this blog in the next month with a couple of sites that look extremely promising, after I've had some experience with them.
Until then, the next excitement Becky and I are anticipating is the upcoming house sit in Kalama, Washington. We've been fortunate to find that Becky's son will live in our house while we're gone. It won't be sitting empty as it was during our month in Ecuador, and that gives us both a sense of comfort and security.
Well, it's been just over a month since we returned from Ecuador. It was a good trip and we had a lot of fun. The people there were wonderful. We especially enjoyed the expats, who we got to know better than the local folks simply because we all spoke the same language.
And now, back home, I'm back to basics. This blog is about "Adventures in the Dream." The "dream" is something we get from studying A Course in Miracles (www.acim.org). Without a lot of explanation, it simply means that everything we experience is just a dream. Not a lot different from the dreams we have at night; those dreams that don't make much sense if we remember them in the morning. We're all living seemingly separate dreams as individual people. There's a lot of thought underpinning this concept, which I'll leave anyone who's interested enough to find on their own. This would be a good place to begin.
So what's this dream dreaming for me lately?
As a retired person not ready to just put my feet up and sit back, I have wondered what kind of work I can do on my time, on my terms, working from home. Some kind of contract position. Last month I began investigating various web properties that pay freelance writers for their work. I've found three so far that are legitimate, and I am now working for all of them. More on this another time.
Becky and I also decided to investigate house sitting. It's a way to visit other parts of the country and live like a resident for an extended period, rather than as a tourist. We look forward to getting the flavor of different parts of the country. (We'll stick to the USA for now, maybe venturing outside the States later.) Our first house sitting engagement is for a wonderful couple in Washington state who'd like us to watch over their home and property near the Columbia River, and their beloved two dogs and two cats for about six weeks. We're excited.
◄☼►
On another, very faraway topic, the DAWN spacecraft is about to go into orbit around the asteroid Vesta, I believe on July 16th. Here's the story from the mission website at dawn.jpl.nasa.gov:
"Dawn’s...is orbiting one member of the main asteroid belt, Vesta, before heading to gather yet more data at a second, Ceres. Dawn's goal is to characterize the conditions and processes of the solar system's earliest epoch by investigating in detail two of the largest protoplanets remaining intact since their formations. Ceres and Vesta reside in the extensive zone between Mars and Jupiter together with many other smaller bodies, called the asteroid belt. Each has followed a very different evolutionary path constrained by the diversity of processes that operated during the first few million years of solar system evolution."
◄☼►
And speaking of space-y things, looking over the DAWN website I found this picture. It reminded me of Carl Sagan's "Small Blue Dot" story. He asked NASA to turn the Voyager camera on Earth as it headed out toward Jupiter. The Earth appeared as a pale blue dot. Sagan, entranced by the sight, wrote a powerful lament, a story, if you will.
Well, this artist conception of what Earth, the Sun and Mars look like from the asteroid belt certainly does an equal job of reminding us how small and insignificant we are. Often I'll think of this picture, or Sagan's blue dot picture, when I feel put-upon by some circumstance in life. Remembering how inconsequential and unimportant I am in the grand scheme of this dreamed life usually brings a smile to my lips and puts my "worries" in perspective.
Here's the impassioned story Carl Sagan wrote:
From this distant vantage point, the Earth might not seem of any particular interest. But for us, it's different. Look again at that dot. That's here, that's home, that's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there – on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds.
Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.
It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.
Diana and Doug Ham - from Vancouver - at Fiere Libre market
Allan wrote...
While in Cuenca, we really enjoyed the company of Diana and Doug. They were fun to meet and we want to stay in touch to learn about their travels and eventual move to Ecuador. Doug says some of the banks in Ecuador are paying as much as 6-7% interest on deposits - far more than any US bank will even dream about. That's just one great advantage expats have in Ecuador. Plus, depositing in an Ecuadorian bank apparently simplifies the visa process. We wish them the best in their exciting cross-continent venture! On Sunday we were glad to get together with Colin and Janice who we'd met in Cuenca. They have an exciting life as what I'd call "professional house sitters" who have lived all over the world: most recently in Alamos, Mexico; with they're next house sitting stop on the island of Grenada, just north of Venezuela. You can see their blog and pins in the map at www.wanderingstrays.com.
They had spent a couple days in the coastal resort town of Salinas, and another in Montañita, further North on the coast. The travel agent we talked to had recommended against Montañita because it's a "party town" and we wouldn't get any sleep there. Sure enough, Colin said the entire place was filled with surf shops and surfers, and "We were the oldest people in the entire place. One bar was handing out shots of rum but they didn't even offer us any!" LOL. Read that as: Montañita is for young people to party full time. Colin said the loud music didn't end until 7 AM. (Wish I had been there 40 years ago!!!)
We talked and walked the Malecon, then had dinner. Colin showed me many pictures of their life in Alamos, Mexico and I found it alluring. The drug wars on the border with the US don't seem to have penetrated that far south, so between the warm friendships Colin said they developed and the overall slow, friendly lifestyle, Mexico sounds like it could be a nice place to spend some time. Finally, we parted company as they headed back to Cuenca for a couple weeks before flying to Grenada.
Here are a few minutes of video showing our walk through the gardens.
We've put a bunch more pictures of the gardens in a Picasa album at: http://goo.gl/jA5lE
You can get your bottled water
here "Con Gas" or "Sin Gas" - which means "with"
or "without" carbonation. I prefer "con gas". LOL
A random observation...Water in Guayaquil isn't safe to drink from the faucet. So everyone drinks bottled water. They even give us a couple of free bottles to brush our teeth with every day here at the Hampton Inn. People on the street shout out "Auga, auga, agua" selling bottled water to the passersby.
I like mine with gas.
Well, speaking of gas, I got some more from American Airlines today. We were thinking of stopping off in Miami for a couple days to hit the beach. I made a direct call to the AA agent in the USA (using gmail's "call a phone" service) and - once again - it took about 15 minutes to get a ticket change fee. Once again, the agent had to put me on hold for several minutes and consult some kind of "ticketing fee" office. What's the deal with AA? Anyway, they finally came back and said the change fee to stay a couple days in Miami and then finish the trip back to Atlanta would be $150....each!!! "Why so expensive?" I asked. "That's our standard fee for the change." Hmmmm..."So if that's the "standard fee, why did it take 15 minutes to find it?"
Oh well, times have changed and AA isn't the airline it used to be. So we'll head out for our very own hacienda, turn the water and A/C back on and get a good night's sleep in our own beds.
The next trip...well, we're not quite sure yet, but we're already working on it!<hr>
Thursday was our sixteenth anniversary - the first we've spent out of the country - and we decided to have a nice, romantic dinner at el Jardin restaurant, just down the street from our apartment. Becky had picked out the most desirable table a couple of days earlier when we made our reservation, so all was in order when we arrived.
We sat down at 7PM, the first to be seated that evening. A waiter came by to take our order and I thought he was just a bit perfunctory. Not rude at all, but maybe just a bit too formal and hurried. We ordered our drinks, our appetizers and our entre all at once, which seemed just a bit unusual and hurried. The bottle of wine arrived along with the seemingly required dinner rolls and we sat quietly waiting for the comida to arrive.
At a certain moment another waiter came by and said "Senor Ramsay? We must move you to another table." As he directed us to the next table, just behind us, we sat down to a beautiful display with a heart-shaped red candle burning at the center, a string of pearls surrounding it and white roses and rose petals spread across the table. [pic] Our new waiter was joined by another, and for the balance of the evening we had the close attention of both gentlemen. Fantastic service and a delicious meal.
What had happened? Our new friend Gerard - who just the day before took us on the ultimate sight-seeing ride to see Cuenca from the top of the mountain - knows the owner of el Jardin. As we parted company after the ride to the mountaintop Gerard said, "What time do you eat your anniversary dinner? I'll make a phone call to Senor Duran." And indeed he did. Thank you Gerard for a wonderful evening that celebrated our anniversary, and also our new friendship with you. Muchas gracias, mi amigo.
Roast pig, veggies, potatoes browning in the pan, dirty dishes,
running a one-stop eatery, but without the sanitary
standards we expect at home.
Friday was a surprise as some kind of Montezuma's Revenge caught up with me. I was quite pleased with myself for having eaten adventurously over the week, including a plate of roast pig with hand tossed veggies served by the same hand that took payment, that handled dirty dishes and other sundry tasks I'll never know. Or, maybe it was that corn scramble I ate at Ingapirca. Or some fruit or veggie I picked up at the Fiere Libre mega-market the day before. Whatever it was, I found myself living in the smallest room in the house for most of the night, downing as many anti-D pills as the instructions for use allowed.
My big concern was not having to be up at 6AM to catch an 8AM ride to Guayaquil. Instead it was the worry about being able to make the three hour ride without needing an emergency bio-break!
Fortunately, with some discomfort, we got on the van to Guayaquil and arrived without incident about 11AM.
On the ride we talked to a gentleman from NYC who happened to be a doctor working in rural and indigenous areas of Ecuador as part of an outreach foundation. He offered some ciproflaxin (used to treat bacterial infections) and a few good old Pepto Bismol. He gave us some advice on how he avoids Motezuma's Revenge by loading up on cipro and also on metronidazole before he heads out to the jungle or outlying areas. He also remarked that Cuenca was probably the safest city in the country, both from the standpoint safe drinking water and of low crime rates. He warned us about crime on the coast, saying he'd been robbed there himself.
Well, struggling along after almost no sleep and with the growling stomach, adding crime and robbery to the mix didn't sound too appealing. So we hatched plan B: forget the coast and spend the night in Guayaquil, then fly home Saturday. Good plan, but like the Course in Miracle teaches, it seldom pays to plan (with the ego mind) - as if we think we are actually "in charge."
As the van ride to Guayaquil ended, we unloaded our six (yes, too many!) bags from the van and were immediately surrounded by two men grabbing our bags and carrying them off to their "taxis" -- ready to take us. Literally. These unlicensed, fake cabs are often a good first step to really being taken. There are stories about Guayaquil being a dangerous city and most travel sites strongly advise against any but officially registered taxis that carry a certain logo. I shouted at the guys, "No taxi No taxi" and got a splurge of Spanish as if they didn't understand. After some more aborted conversation they finally gave up. I called the Hampton Inn, which sent a car for us and delivered us into...heaven. A full size Hilton/Marriott-class hotel with a wonderful English speaking staff. A modern bathroom. No covered trash can next to the commode. A king size bed. Air conditioning. All the comforts of home. It seemed perfect.
I called American Airlines and, after a long wait while the agent computed the ticket change fee, including about 5-6 minutes on hold while she apparently consulted her boss (!), she calmly announced that the change fee would be $424 each, or almost $850 total for Becky and me. No thanks American Airlines. What a ripoff. Is someone taking a kickback? Or is it just another sign that the once proud and quality airline business has become nothing more than another cash hungry hog. No surprise, as I think back to our flight to Ecuador when one of the flight attendants told us how much she hated her job after 22 years, how underpaid they are and how their retirement program has been gutted.
Becky went to the front desk and negotiated a better room rate so we can stay here until the scheduled flight home on Tuesday. I went to bed at noon, slept until 7PM, went out for a light bite with Becky then went back to bed until about 9AM Saturday. Woke up feeling OK and we hit the streets of Guayaquil to see what there is to see! Saturday morning Google maps showed us that we're about 3-4 blocks from the #1 attraction in Guayaquil, the Malecon, a boardwalk that runs along the Guyas River, which in turn empties into the Pacific Ocean. "Boardwalk" is not really the right term. It is a huge park that incorporates restaurants, food courts, an IMAX theater, a phenomenal garden, museums, a playground for kids, shops and tiendas -- all in view of the river -- on a beautiful walkway.
Tour boat on the Guayas River
The Malecon walkway - it goes on for a couple miles
One of many overpasses in the Malecon walkway. Underneath,
on the lower level, you find 100-150 vendors and shops,
a complete "shopping mall", the first in the city.
Remembrance honoring famous Ecuadorians
Just a tiny part of this 3.6 million population city
A tall ship at port. Guayaquil is the port of entry
for all Ecuador. The country's largest city.
We left the hotel at about 1PM and didn't get back until 5:30. A full day walking, and what beauty. My initial skepticism about Guayaquil and its bad reputation is unfounded, at least in the area of Malecon. It's heavily patrolled by security and police. The entire park was filled with families having fun, eating ice cream, watching the kids play in the playground. And young lovers in love everywhere. Becky even saw one couple smooching while the guy was taking their picture at arm's length with his cell phone LOL.
The Malecon Garden is the high point of the entire walk. The architects and designers outdid anything I've ever seen anywhere; at a certain moment it occurred to me that this garden must have been heavenly inspired. Beautiful.
I hoped to put a video in here showing at least a little bit of the beauty of the gardens here. But we are having a tough time finding a PC, here at the hotel and in Internet cafes, that will read the 8GB memory card from our camera. So most all the pics and videos so far have been from my iPod. Uploading those has to be done by wi-fi and most ISP´s here are fairly limited in servicing larger uploads like videos. So we´ll try again tomorrow to get some video put up here. I´d really like to share the gardens with everyone. In the meantime, here´s a neat thing about iPod: no matter where you travel, you can always find your iPod, and hopefully, your personal location. This pic shows where we are today. If you saw the original map with all the detail exploded out, you´d see that the location it shows is only about 1/2 block away from our actual street address. Pretty neat, ¿huh?
Tonight, Saturday, we had a nice sushi dinner. Sunday our friends from Canada may hook up with us for a while. Monday we may go to a movie. Tuesday, fly away home.
The trip to Ingapirca Tuesday was long on the bus, but satisfying at the site! A guide walked us along the winding paths of the "ruins" of the Inca civilization, telling the story in both English and Spanish. The site was reconstructed in recent years, 1970 and 80´s, although much of the foundation is original using no mortar of any kind, but rather cut to size and shape with a method of fire and water, and then stacked row by row. A small modern village faces the Inca village site, steep hillsides and llamas grazing, cool breezes in the 60's and the bluest of skies.
After the tour, the group was invited to shop handmade crafts and textiles, or have a lunch break at the Inca site restaurant. The beef stew consisted of a full plate of fresh beef, white rice with soft cooked eggs on top, and a delicious vegetable salad inside a lettuce leaf. Also included were potato fries and a small Pilsener beer. The beef stew was definitely not Dinty Moore.
This trip was a 6-hour total trip and we were wiped out once home. The photos do not give a clue as to the ancient beauty of the lines of the Inca community site. Most times, you just have to be there, right?
Tour Group approaching the Temple of the Sun
Inca Site Llamas
Walls around the Temple of the Sun
Allan Wrote...
As Becky said, Tuesday was Ingapirca, a Canari and Incan ruins north of Cuenca. According to those who know, the Canari people were the first to settle there, calling their establishment "Cashaloma" which means "place where the stars pour from the heavens." I wish we could be there at night to see what must be a phenomenal sky.
Becky peeking around the corner as we got underway for Ingapirca
Becky and I got up early, caught a cab to the bus station, and hopped on board a tourista bus headed for Ingapirca. We had debated a little yesterday whether we wanted to take a 2 hour bus ride, each way, for an attraction that one could see in just two hours. But we decided to make it happen. And I'm glad we did.
The countryside was wondrous to me. Most of the 2 hour ride was a climb uphill through the Andes. We left Cuenca with maybe 20 people on the bus, but as we traveled farther, people began to get on board at every little country-side bus stop. Pretty soon we had people standing in the aisles...some young folks, and many women dressed in the traditional garb: a shawl, often used to carry a baby, a bunch of vegetables or some other load. I noticed time and again that the women who came on board, often with little kids, almost always had a smile on. These are country people from small villages and towns. Such a difference from what we see on MARTA and other US public transportation! We also saw a few Canadians on-board, college age students who had been here for the past eight months studying International Relations in Quito.
The ride actually did last even a bit more than 2 hours, and here's a video of the last few minutes before we reached the archeological site of the Ingapirca ruins. As you can see, there isn't much to keep the bus from falling off the road and into a gigantic rollover. But the driver has probably been navigating this particular dirt road for years, so while you can let your "helpless passenger's" imagination run into a fearsome place, it's probably very safe in spite of appearances.
It seems the Canari people built Ingapirca as an observatory, a temple, or [see what the web says]. Sometime in the late 1400's the Inca's from Peru came through the area and, as our guide seemed to suggest, took over the area and subdued the Canari people. Well, we didn't feel too subdued when we saw the rather friendly and curious llamas who let Becky get up close and personal.
The whole area of Ingapirca ruins sits atop a mountain the gives clear visibility to every point of the compass. Our guide explained that this location gave its inhabitants a clear view of any potential invaders. Here are a few pictures and a video that show you our first glimpse of the site. [vids and pics]
The "walls" that appear in these pics were actually 6-9 feet high, and roofs were covered with straw. Today the walls are gone and you see only the base, or foundation, where the walls were erected. [pics]
Calendar Stones
The stones with holes in them are interesting. The large one has 28 holes, one for each day of the lunar month. Another has 13 holes, one for each of the 13 lunar months, while yet another had seven holes representing the days of the week. Incas lived 13 months of 28 days each. While the guide didn't explain quite how these were used, she did indicate the Incas used them as a calendar to help them time their planting and harvesting each year.
The "Temple of the Sun" was a sacred place. It housed the top priests, top soldiers and, of course, the "Virgins of the Sun." These women were required to live in the Temple for three to six years and to perform various activities -- weaving, cooking and other chores. They were also chosen by those "most important men" to be wives. Here's a video showing all 360-degrees of Ingapirca taken from the Temple of the Sun vantage point.
With just about 40 minutes left to have a quick lunch, we boldly walked into the only restaurant on site...and found it full of school children, probably early teens. I stopped to look around, and every single table was filled, with no place left to sit. I probably had a confused look on my face and just stopped to look around. All at once the kids started laughing and a couple of them called out in English, "good afternoon" with lots of laughing. It was a kind and warm welcome, I thought, and shouted out to them "good afternoon" as well as "buenas tardes." I asked a lady outside if we could eat here and she said "claro" (of course) -- just sit at the table outside. Soon we had a menu in Spanish and English, and moments later a couple of cervezas and two gigantic lunches. Becky already described hers above; mine was called a "mote" or, in English, "corn scramble." Delicious, but so much we couldn't eat it all. And just about $4 each.
And finally, here is some breathtaking scenery of the Andes taken on the ride back home.
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Tuesday night we went to Tiestos, reputedly the best restaurant in Cuenca. Wow! At the close of the meal the head chef delivered our incredible dessert to the table, beautifully presented. I searched for a few words to express how much I enjoyed the dinner and started out saying, "Your food is the best meal I have had...." - and I was going to say "in the last 20 years" or something like that. But what came out was a tribute that brought a big smile to his face and a warm handshake: "Your food is the best meal I've had in my life." And it was just incredible. For example, the expected bowl of bread came with not just a pat of butter, but instead with eight different condiments ranging from minced pears to aji sauce to several unidentifiable little dishes of veggies, fruits and spices. Then, the macadamia chicken for two was presented with another eight side dishes ranging from fingerling potatoes to cous cous to rice and a wonderful diced cucumber garnish. Wow and wow again. Here's what we faced at the Tiestos dinner table. And BTW the little flowers on the chocolate dessert plate were made with fruit compote - they're not part of the pattern of the dish! All of this: just $22.
Dessert
Thursday we dine at el Jardin** for our 16th anniversary dinner. That should be another fine dining experience in a romantic, beautiful setting.
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Wednesday began with an adventure with new friends Doug and Diana from Vancouver. They're on an exploratory trip here in advance of moving to Cuenca next year. They learned of a gigantic local market called Fiere Libre that brings together everything one could want at a market a couple times each week -- with the largest gathering of vendors and customers on Wednesdays. So we hopped the #7 bus and in minutes got off at the market.
If you walked every aisle you would walk for several linear miles. I find it amazing that one small town in one small South American country can have so much food and clothing together in one place. Uncountable stalls with people selling fish, chickens (dead and alive), fruit, vegetables and quite a few things I couldn't definitely classify or identify. When you say to a person, "Que es eso?" (what is that?) you of course get an answer in Spanish. So as for the plants I asked about that look like tiny daisies, I can only say they are boiled in water and used to flavor other foods. The tiny "moyas" turn out to be some kind of blackberry. The "sapoto" is a fruit with a slightly sweet flavor and with several very large seeds inside.
No matter what you want, you can buy as little as you want -- say just enough to make tonight's meal -- or as much as a 50-75 pound bag -- of beets, corn, grain, etc. A filet of fish, or an entire tuna fish over 3-feet long. The scope and size of the market is truly staggering. I made a minute or so of video but it can't begin to show the diversity and size of this wonderful place. For me, Kroger, Publix and all the rest will forevermore be totally lacking, second rate places to buy food. LOL. But of course food is not the whole story. You can buy remote-control outdoor TV antennas with rotators to let you watch TV stations no matter whether they're North, South, East or West from your home. You can buy shoes -- Diana found a pair for $5 (after haggling from $20) and Doug found some Levi jeans for $20 (before haggling). Fun fun fun and more fun.
Guinea pigs (cuy, as they are called) are typical food here
Chicken eggs & one ostrich egg - something for everyone
The market
Fresh fish - sure was smelly!
And more fish...
Gigantic bags of veggies
A pet begging at the market - Not to be eaten!!
After the monster market, we went to the local market on Calle Larga for lunch. We all had to find the bathroom and of course, being a public bathroom, had to buy the necessary paper product (maybe a few feet of it) for 10-cents each. LOL. Seems what we take for granted in a public facility isn't quite the same here.
But at the local market, I finally had a meal made from one of those pigs that are roasted whole and served along with corn, veggies, potatoes and a nice glass of blackberry juice. It was juicy and delicious, especially after adding a splash of spicy aji sauce. We noticed that the local market has some visitors who come through a couple times each day, just to see if anyone has left them anything good to eat. Here's a pic of one of them -- the four-footed variety. So OK. Health laws are different here too. LOL. It's interesting though: pet dogs for sale at various outlets are almost all very small breeds. However, dogs running loose on the street are all mongrels more in the 30-pound range, and most all of them are pretty scruffy. They don't take to human attempts to pet or admire them. They're creatures of the streets and people are not among their friends, except as providers of an occasional snack.
Finally, to wrap up the day, we met with new friend Gerard, a very thoughtful, kind and iformative expat living here in Cuenca - and also A Course in Miracles student. Gerard took us on a grand tour of Cuenca as seen from the high mountaintop near his country property West of the city.
Gerard & Becky at one of the Stations of the Cross
