Sunsets, Horses & Ships Oh My!

The last few days have been spectacular here - it is sunny every day - and the surrounding area pays the price. It's a veritable desert here - but it makes for a dramatic location to enjoy sunrises and sunsets, and get a good dose of Vitamin D from mucho Sol.

The sunsets are amazing. It's been a while since either of us have been to a place where you could get such clear views of the sunset - and with no clouds here hardly to speak of - we can see the sun seemingly melt into the horizon, reflecting rays off the ocean like it's boiling the ocean.

It's a photographers paradise. It's a surfers paradise. It's a yoga paradise. It's truly nourishing to the soul. We are considering staying here until the beginning of November, and then likely venturing into the Sacred Valley area past Cusco - checking out the Machu Picchu and Ollantaytambo areas.

The last few days have been interesting - with the full moon shining so brightly here - a couple military ships docked off the point and then yesterday we had jet fighters fly over three separate and distinct times throughout the day. Made for some great photographs though - probably a routine done by their military. Not everyone can afford to have a dedicated "Coast Guard" like the USA, so it's likely the Peruvian government uses their navy for these purposes as well. Especially when you consider it was not long ago that Peru and Ecuador were warring over their border...but those days are over with Correa and the replacement (and 25-yr conviction) for ex-Peruvian President Fujimori.

We'll be taking a horseback ride here soon, on the beach, but we've not done yet - we can take our time though since we'll be here all month. We haven't taken a lot of time to explore the local town a whole lot either, but it has a quaint little open air market for food and other things - reminds us of somewhere in the orient or something (like Saigon or Thailand maybe, don't know - we've not been there yet, but based on pictures it's what our imagination brings to mind).

For Ivy's birthday on Monday we went and tried the 'thermal mud bath' that is outside of town. It's basically in the middle of a nowhere desert, passed a dried up river bed, with goats and sheep (pathetic looking sheep) wandering the dried up forest...it was weird, like being on a

different planet. But we got to the 'thermal mud bath' which was nothing more then a whole in the ground with bubbling hot water coming out of the earth. The mud at the bottom was a dark green, and supposedly very nutritious and healthy to the body. Aedan loved having mud all over his body!

The food here with Banessa (from Argentina) our Chef is really some of the best food we've ever had. It doesn't hurt having fresh fish and seafood right here, all sorts of herbs and spices available, and fresh fruit and veggies at hand! But she is an incredibly talented chef, with excellent

presentation and an amazing ability to pair things for amazing taste sensations. They even made a wonderful chocolate mouse and mango cake for Ivy's birthday!

It was a memorable day for all of us - and a much needed escape from the events unfolding around us in the world.

It's a tough life we're living here - so many decisions we have to make every day - beach or pool? Surf or jog on the beach or lay in the sun? But one thing is sure - yoga every day at 10am - between breakfast and lunch and typically after a brief romp in the waves and relaxation in the sun. We've got a great routine here, and it's hard to imagine being anywhere else right now - which tells us this is exactly where we're meant to be. So we're enjoying it and soaking it all in.

We're on top of the world.

And I'm having fun pretending to be a photographer...so enjoy the pictures of paradise - a little place we currently call home...

Mancora, Peru

We found out that the extended tourist/business visa (12-9 Visa) has been changed to only be 90-days in Ecuador...

So we decided, after much deliberation and discussion, that heading to the beach sounded best. We wanted something relatively easy to get to - and we stumbled upon a little surf town on the northern shore of Peru called Mancora.

The trip here was filled with the usual curvy and half-paved roads typical of Ecuador - full of lush forests and beautiful vistas.

We come to the international highway - which had a bridge being upgraded, which we crossed after following the construction workers (who waved us on very energetically, it was odd), only to find the immigration offices were no where to be found. We had crossed into Peru illegally

*gasp*. Our taxi driver wisely suggested we get properly stamped for our stay in Peru and we went into Huaquillas - the border town with Peru.

We found out that we had to get 'stamped' out of Ecuador before actually 'entering' Peru - so for those reading this who plan to come to wonderful Mancora - word to the wise, stop on the lefthand side of the road and Immigracion de Ecuador BEFORE crossing the border into Peru.

The market in downtown Huaquillas was bustling when we arrived, around lunchtime, forcing us to go around to the outskirts of town (by the dump - oh what fun). Once you go over the bridge into Peru you'll go for a ways - leaving the town - and come to a military stop point. Just on the other side is the Immigracion de Peru - where they charge you to park, a guy offers to help you fill out the immigration forms (for $1 each, which you find out AFTER - but no surprise regardless), and then you go inside and get a 90-day Tourist stamp. We find out later that our taxi driver was charged $20 to get the truck into the country - oh well...

You drive for about two hours, through crazy extremely dry desert terrain, intermingled with rice field after rice field - so basically they're diverting all of the water to the rice paddies and everything else looks like the Sahara - crazy.

Not too far and you start riding parallel to the beautiful ocean - but the towns are small and very poor - truly 'dirt' poor. Really makes you appreciate how blessed you truly are...

You eventually get pulled over by the Policia - asking for documents - good thing we turned around and did that! That would've sucked. A bit further, in the middle of nowhere, you encounter a large Customs facility - where they stop and open up one of your bags - promptly ripping open a zip-lock bag of aluminum foil-wrapped essential oils and open a few bottles of herbs...then they let you go merrily on your way with a "Gracias" and "Bienvenido a Peru".

Not too far after that you pass Punta Sal - where Hemingway wrote one of his novels - look it up 'cuz I can't remember.

We eventually get to Mancora - an interesting little surf town with a ton of restaurants and open air craft market. We take a right just passed the really nice quaint little church and enter a sandy little road with shops on each side - there are moto-taxis that look like Balinese rickshaws all over the place! You basically drive all the way to the beach and take a right on the last "street" - which is nothing but sand. Drive amongst the little private houses hiding behind

walls about 20 feet tall and arrive at the door "Samana Chakra" - a little place we found on the internet that specializes in yoga and great food.

It's like finding a little paradise in the middle of the desert - surrounded by nothing - but with waves and wind that reminds me of San Francisco. It's a cool breeze as we walk up to our private bungalow - the workers here all help us unpile our 'house' of bags in about a third the time it took Lenny (the taxi driver from Vilcabamba) and I to load it that morning. We walk up and in to a huge bungalow with french doors opening onto a little green grass just before the beach - the waves crashing right outside!

The open air bathroom - literally NO ROOF - is amazing, and the full moon the past few nights, with Venus blazing brightly, is stunning. The beds are fresh and soft (finally!) with a wonderful

cool breeze.

Our chef just got back from Argentina yesterday night and the food is amazing! They blend chinese spices with fresh seafood - well it can't easily be described! Yesterday we had a private yoga session with Stan, an older gentlemen from Scotland that has been studying yoga in India for a while - yoga is included in the price, as is our food.

This morning we had another private yoga session (no one else is staying here right now!) and tomorrow we hit the surf for some private lessons with the son of the lady of the house (Louis). I think we've found paradise here - and with an almost 3:1 exchange rate, it's pretty darn cheap too!

The sunsets are amazing - and the trip into town this afternoon highlighted the wonderful German cafe (Angela's Place) with Strudel and an extensive diverse menu. The beer here is WAY better then in Ecuador - like 10 times better - and with more then just two options (both pilsner).

There are tons of younger surfer type people here - seemingly a lot of Brits and Euros - but it's nice to see that we're not the only whities here. And believe it or not but our server here is from Boulder, taking a break from a semester of college - small world indeed!

So, I don't see us leaving anytime soon - this is our new home for now - and we'll see where we go from here; but for now - we're loving life. Tomorrow I learn to surf with my wife. Now that's sweet.

Oh, and there's a little three year old girl here that is the daughter of one of the cooks and ground-keeper - she's adorable, and Aedan is in heaven!

Cuenca

We had a wonderful opportunity to be in Cuenca most of last week after being in Cotacachi for a little mini-vacation. A friend of mine is from Cuenca so we were given some good ol' Ecuadorian hospitality. The people here are so kind, humble and eager to help - we are very grateful for their wonderful congeniality.

I was in Cuenca to review a potential clients needs, but while there we were able to tour the countryside and the wonderful city. It is obvious why this city was the first World Heritage Trust Site in the world (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuenca,_Ecuador) - it is beautiful, with Inca, Spanish and Canari ruins scattered around (pre-Incan civilization that existed around the same time as the Olmecs, or a little after http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olmecs). Here is a picture of one such ruin that has all three civilizations building one on top of the other - and this is at an intersection right in town by one of the rivers!

We had heard of a wonderful artist named Eduardo Vega before we arrived and so we were hoping to make it to one of his studios while in Cuenca. While being taken on a quick tour of the city after being picked up from the airport we were delighted to find out that our host was good friends with Eduardo. Juan took us to his studio up on the hill overlooking the city and we were able to meet Eduardo right then and there! He currently doesn't export any of his wonderful ceramics to the USA so we are pleased to become his sole distributor to the USA!

Here are some samples of his wonderful works of art - both functional as well as beautiful; made of the finest ceramics...

There are some beautiful designs and artwork that you just don't see anywhere else, especially of this quality - he's one of the best known artists in all of Ecuador. His work is exported to Spain, Italy and Australia - to name a few - but not to the US...yet!

Here is an entire dish set of custom ceramic 'art' by E.Vega that is just gorgeous! When we get our house built down here we'll be buying a set like this for ourselves!

I will post more pictures of other artwork and items from Eduardo Vega on the Orange Mandolin website when we get ready to launch - but wanted to give you some idea of what they look like now.

We were also able to go into the countryside to the south of Cuenca to see Juan's country hacienda. It was a beautiful day, albeit cold and misty - but it reminded us of Scotland. Lush and green with lots of streams and lakes surrounded by mountains on all sides - just a wonderful place to raise some horses and sit by the fire enjoying some hot chocolate and cafe con leche!

Lots of cows, horses, llamas and wonderful scenery everywhere you look.

We truly enjoyed our trip and I am looking forward to heading back up there this weekend to review the proposal with the prospective client.

San Antonio (Ecuador)

Sorry it's been awhile since the last post - we were in Cuenca for the past week and didn't have internet very often at where we were staying (a friends house). So let me get you caught up as best I can...might take a few posts...but we're back in Vilcabamba so I have a (little) bit more time and stable connection.

While we stayed in Cotacachi we visited some of the surrounding towns (Ibarra, San Antonio, etc.) and what we've found is that basically every little village has its own speciality. From a specific dish prepared a certain way, to a certain specialized craftsmanship.

While going to Ibarra we passed through San Antonio, a very quaint little village at the base of a beautiful volcano...and they happen to specialize in wood carving and wood furniture. Amazingly intricate.

When we went into Ibarra we could see the snow-capped volcano in the distance - I'm not sure of the name...

We were amazed at the custom woodwork in San Antonio, and pretty cheap considering how large and well done they are. In almost every case the actual artist is the owner of the shop

and right there to greet you. A few of them even invited us back to their workshop just behind the door in the back of the store to show us some 'work in progress' items.

The man that made this horse head spends three months on some of the intricate designs - very detailed and ornate.

There are some large works of art as well - here's one that is still a work in progress...you can see the artist standing next to it, which gives you an idea of the dimension this piece has - it's made out of a single tree trunk!

Here are some other beautiful pieces of wood we saw...it's all

wood with some wonderful painted flowers highlighted.

They take custom orders, doing furniture, wood trunks, mirrors, you name it - and very reasonably priced.

Here's a wonderful reproduction of "David" in all wood.

Tomorrow I'll update you on the many things we saw when we visited Cuenca - like wonderful ceramics, Incan ruins (right in the city), Spanish ruins - many still in use - and some great architecture.

Ciao for now!

Otavalo

Yesterday (Friday) we went to the Otavalo Mercado (Market). We went on Friday instead of today because Saturday's are supposedly just crazy and too busy - so we enjoyed the entire market to ourselves, which was pretty nice and relaxing believe it or not.

The market is jammed with a ton of different handmade textiles, ranging from alpaca rugs, blankets, sweaters, socks, to wool ponchos, silver jewelry, stone work, hand carved gourds in amazing detail, to hats and t-shirts.

We made it about two steps in to the market (literally) and bought three alpaca blankets for $15 each. Negotiations are about as easy as it gets...all you do is start to walk away and they drop the price. Keep walking and they end up giving it to you for what you offered to begin with...

These gourds are just amazing in detail, telling stories about the indigenous life in the Andes, myths and legends.

The craftsmanship here goes beyond expectations. If you're used to seeing open markets in Mexico or other places then you'll be delightfully surprised at the quality of materials and design; and the prices are a steal!

We found some excellent silver jewelry - but we were caught off guard with the stamp of "950", which we had never seen before. We are used to "925" so we were a little gun shy - so we ran over to an internet cafe to research what the heck "950" was and if it was legit. If you know anything about silver then you probably know that the numbers represent the % of silver in the jewelry. That silver is so soft they have to mix something like copper or nickel in to make it stronger - so the "925" means 92.5% silver. Thus we found that "950" means it's actually BETTER silver, having 95.0% silver in it! Obviously Ivy was pleasantly surprised by this little fact and we ran back and purchased her some jewelry - amazingly cheap!

So, needless to say, we'll be exporting some 950 silver jewelry back to the US of A!

It is a little more chilly here in Cotacachi - around 50 degrees in the morning since we're at

around 7500-8000 feet above sea level; so buying a wool poncho and some alpaca socks was a good idea. Ivy loves her soft and warm socks...

We'll be heading out to a volcanic lake near Cotacachi this afternoon - so check back later for some pictures of the area here - it's stunning. Reminds us of Italy and Spain.

Cotacachi

We were supposed to come back to the States today but after having a positive response from a potential client in Cuenca we had to make a last minute change of plans. So we flew into Quito as planned but instead of jumping the flights to the US we decided to catch a taxi up to Cotacachi. This is an area highly recommended by Gary Scott on his "Ecuador Living" website, and for good reason. We are staying at his hotel here, which is very clean and nice.

We've met some wonderful people, from Canada, Italy, the US - and the local people here are very friendly - even more friendly then down in Loja, Vilcabamba and Cuenca. Cotacachi is very clean, and decent sized, with a warm southern European charm and feel.

Near here is the largest indigenous market in all of South America, it's called Otavalo. We will go tomorrow morning bright and early to avoid the weekend rush - apparently Saturdays are a little crazy, so we'll go on Friday instead. We'll post some pictures of the market manana.

As for Cotacachi, well if you like leather goods, and I'm talking handmade leather jackets, luggage, hats, chests/trunks, belts, boots, and beautiful saddles then this is the place for you! We made some incredible purchases today and below is a picture montage to give you a feel of the things we'll be looking to export into the USA via the Orange Mandolin Fair Trade Company (www.orangemandolin.com)...

This is a collapsable all leather rolling suitcase - it's huge! As you can tell by the zippers around the bottom half you can collapse this down to a carry-on size piece of luggage. This one has a natural leather finish but it also comes in dark brown and black. A bag like this, of this size and quality would probably go for around $650 possibly even up to $800 up in the States. We got ours for $78! It has matching smaller bags, a large duffle-bag that also collapses into smaller sizes, and then a small duffle-bag that does the same.

Here are some different styles of all leather - very high quality thick leather luggage for under $100 each.

If you like shawls and scarves they have some pretty cool hand-knit leather ones for only $22.

Ivy is getting a custom one made, for the same price, and the lady said she can have it ready by Monday morning before we fly to Cuenca. Pretty incredible when you see the craftsmanship...

Or if you like pure wool shawls with designs and all sorts of colors they have that too.

There are tons of beautiful leather purses - all different designs and colors...

They also have pure silver jewelry, handmade, with semi-precious stones...

If you like leather jackets, especially shearling like I do then you'll love the deals down here -

this is a handmade all leather shearling mens jacket. I paid $1000 for mine back in the States, this one is only $298 down here before your 'cash' discount!

Or some beautiful handmade leather coats and vests for women for just over $100!

We have too many pictures to post here of all the nice jackets, vests, coats, etc. But they are all very beautiful, soft, and high quality leather - something we really didn't expect to find here.

We ran across this amazing store where they make handcrafted leather trunks and chairs - some with wood, some painted, some lined, and just gorgeous! There has to be a market for this back in the States!

Here are some more pictures of just amazing trunks and chests made of leather and wood - all hand crafted right here in Cotacachi, Ecuador.

These are worth some money!

There are also some incredible hand-crafted leather saddles, briefcases, and the list goes on...they said they'd deliver the saddle to me down in Vilcabamba for a whopping $15 - I almost fainted.

Here's the briefcase I purchased - you could maybe find this back in the States for about $500 or more, down here - $180. My Macb

ook Pro 17" laptop fits in it perfectly...eat your heart out!

If you - or someone you may know - is interested in any of the above items please email me at amarsh@orangemandolin.com ! We will be uploading some photos and more information on some of the above items on our website for Import into the US shortly - with retail prices that are cheaper then you can find in the US for items of this high quality and craftsmanship!

Until tomorrow - Hasta Luego!

Sábado

After a few days of cool rainy weather we were blessed this morning with a wonderful sunrise over the mountains! The weather here at night is just incredible for sleeping, nice and cool, with a light mist in the valley in the morning - absolutely stunning.

This is our view from the deck off the master bedroom facing the east. You can see the river down below, which provides us with perfect white noise.

We decided to head on down to the pool here at Hacienda El Atillo since it's sunny, warm, and we needed some relaxation. Here is a view of our pool...as you can see there are not many clouds in the sky today! Aedan loved the little swimming pool; we had our own private "swim lessons"!

It's been an interesting first week here in Vilcabamba, Ecuador (the Valley of Longevity). I attended a government meeting last night where the assistant to the Minister of Environment and Health came and gave us a wonderful propaganda powerpoint demonstration of just

how similar every government is these days.

Saying one thing and doing another. It's sad really, but at least the majority (if not all) of the 'gringos' here are interested in being actively involved in ensuring the environment is protected, that renewable energy is used extensively, waste management is improved, and recycling programs are instituted. We'll see how that all goes over time.Things are coming together for the Beyond Building and Construction Company (BBX) that I've been wanting to pursue down here. I have already met at least one prospective client, and am meeting another one early next week. I'm working with a wonderful couple from New Zealand here that share our same passions and are trying to stay removed from the imported politics from the other 'gringos'.

We went into Loja (the nearest 'large' city to us) on Wednesday to start and get acquainted with what it has to offer. It's an amazing city, with lots of charm and amazingly clean. It is interesting though that many of the items seem to be lower quality then what we are used to in the USA. But there are still tons of things to choose from that you'd need for day to day living. Here's a picture of their HUGE indoor market.

As you can see there are tons of fresh fruits and vegetables. They also h

ave an entire area dedicated to fresh meats of all kinds...bakin

g area, cooked foods, clothing, you name it - and some really good cheese.

It's interesting to note that the Spanish word for Saturday (Sabado) also means Sabbath - which is the Hebrew word for Saturday and is a Day of Rest according to the Old Testament (Exodus 20:8-10).

This is just a little tidbit and clue as to the fact the Iberian Peninsula (modern day Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Gibraltar, and part of France) was originally settled by the ancient Israelites. The word Iberia means the same as the word "Eber"ia/Heberia which means "Hebrews Land".

So, enjoy your day of rest, wherever you are today - and remember there is more to life then money, clothes, and shelter. The true fundamental need in life is Love - and not love of self, we're good enough at that already.