Back Where I Started (and happy about it!)



I was really lucky that Meson had a room for me. This hotel serves as headquarters for all of Gary and Merri Scott's seminars on Ecuador as well as their international investing and real estate tours. It can be full to overflowing at times but I was lucky there was a little break when Angel and Faviola delivered me to the door.

Though I had sent Mauricio an email to say I was coming, I hadn't stuck around long enough to get a reply. Fortunately I was met with open arms by the warm staff, all of whom I considered good friends by this time. Gary and Merri were on the beach with a real estate tour so the place was quiet.


I did not intend to stay long at all, but I got sick, really sick, all stomach related. I have a feeling it was more of the same altitude problems, and I was going to have to readjust. And I also needed to find an apartment pronto as it was going to be too pricey to stay in the hotel for any longer. I was waited on hand and foot by Eduardo (pictured at right!) who brought me oregano tea and yogurt and whatever they thought I might need. He is a truly caring person! I took some comfort in knowing that I was not the only one. It DOES take awhile to adjust here, especially for those who live at low altitude, and I had plenty of company over the next few weeks as I watched many others come down with the same stomach ailment. The quality of the food at Meson is impeccable and I am certain it's healthier fare than most: quinoa pancakes, hand churned butter (it wasn't long after this that I was making my own from fresh cream), grits, delicious soups, fresh squeezed juices of every kind imaginable... but the problem is that you can't stop eating it. And as I mentioned previously, I learned the hard way that your digestion slows way down at high altitude, and it's really best to eat sparingly until your body adjusts. Something I should have been doing!


Though there is an established gringo real estate office there, I had made contact with a couple of locals to let them know I was looking for a place. Turned out it was a bad time as Cotacachi was flooded with gringos, many looking to buy and move permanently, others intent only to rent for 2-3 months a year, every year; it was among these two groups, the locals and the renters, that I made some fast friends.

Jose is a local veterinarian and life-long resident. Along with his brother M
anuel (who just returned from five years working in London and speaks perfect English) and his beautiful wife Nelli who has her own tienda selling fruits and vegetables, Jose showed me a couple of places that I would have loved to rent. Sadly they come unfurnished, which I learned is quite common.

I soon learned of another local who often helps folks find rentals. His name is Luis (pictured here with his wife Luz and daughter Rochelle), an indigenous Quechua who also owns one of the largest grain stores in the area. Luis makes small commissions from tourists and/or locals who have spots to rent. Through him, I found Rut.


Rut ("Ruth" in English) is from Spain and came to Cotacachi to do mission work about six years prior and never left. She told me that it is the rampant consumerism that drove her away from her home country (she would NOT like the U.S.!). She is now a resident of Ecuador and with her father's help, she built a small house on the outskirts of town (about a 20 minute walk to the hotel and the main square). She lives in the upsta
irs and rents the downstairs. It had been vacated on a Friday, and Luis showed it to me on a Saturday (I took it immediately!), and two other people wanted it on Sunday. I got lucky. Rut became my landlady, Spanish tutor, and my lifelong friend.

It happened that during my stay, Rut was hosting another missionary in her upstairs apartment, a young British girl named Tracey. Only 23 yrs old, she had already visited many South American countries and is fluent in Spanish. But because I fell in love with her British accent, I never asked her to speak in Spanish like I did everyone else. Tracey is a doll (now back in England). The pic posted here is the little dinner party they hosted for me the night before I had to leave. Rut even pulled out the last of her imported Spanish cocoa, a treat and an honor that I won't forget!


I loved my little apartment on the bottom floor. Sparsely furnished but clean and QUIET, o so quiet, which as most everyone knows, is an anomaly in Latin America. I loved it. Looking out, I saw corn taller than my window one direction, horses grazing in another direction, houses of all shapes and sizes in another, all set off the small road that leads down to a gringo development. Although it's possible for a car to get to the gate, it's one lane unpaved and thus off the beaten path making it that much more perfect. Just a short walk up the road leading into town lives a woman who milks her big fat cow every morning (I have never seen a happier cow!), plopped down in the middle of her half-acre lush gre
en grass accompanied by an equally happy little dog who seemed to love the cow as much as the woman. (See the pic at right for an idea of my daily walk to and from town.) ALL of this splendor is framed by the dormant, lush and verdant volcanoes, one in each direction, towering above the whole town, shrouded in clouds, then sun, then sky colors I've never seen before, and all of this a daily gift from the gods that must surely live up there on those mysterious slopes. I must admit that I initially thought that it was this scenic beauty that made me love it here so much, but I came to realize that it was the people, not the place, that made it home for me.

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