Between Yachana Lodge and Loretto…
“Please be a traveler, not a tourist. Try new things, meet new people, and look beyond what’s right in front of you. Those are the keys to understanding this amazing world we live in.” Andrew Zimmern
Ecuador – As a child growing up in the Misssippi Delta, I was painfully shy and dreaded interactions with strangers. A loner, I thrived when roaming the outdoors, inspecting wildflowers along ditch banks or immersed in the dense canopy of the woodlands, where I might sit for hours in hushed tranquility.
My favored destination on my childhood roamings were big trees in dense areas. – Ceiba tree Near Rio Napo – Ecuador
I am grateful for young-adult opportunities of teaching art as well as speaking to groups as ‘A Gardening Artist.’ I realized that we all have strengths and weaknesses, and that unique threads connect us all. Slowly I grew comfortable with interacting with strangers, and now I embrace those opportunities to know my fellow man.
After leaving Yachana Lodge on Good Friday, friends Stephen and Xiomara and I embarked on a journey that presented many unique experiences which almost always included the locals.
It was fun to see the old fashioned bus loaded with happy people.
There was one section of road where we got out and walked while Stephen drove.
One charming and polite person climbed aboard near Yachana. He credited his very-good English skills to Yachana Lodge’s training center! Douglas, the owner of Yachana, had told us about someone in the area that was producing a very nice wood-smoked coffee, and that very person was our guide for the next hour of the trip!
‘Pull up to the green house,’ he said, and Stephen laughed to see the actual greenhouse for young coffee plants!
Their precious daughter!
What a beautiful couple! She is an archaeologist!
Their coffee is presently not in stores but it’s worth finding them if you’re in the Narupa area! I’ll update that info when the label is back in my hands!
Stephen and Xiomara showed me some of their favorite places along the Sumaco National Park as we ascended the ‘eastern slope’ of the Ecuadorian Andes.
Papallacta to Baeza to Cosnga to Narupa to Loretto to Yachana
Stephen and Xiomara visit with the lovely owner of Cabana Cascada Hollin.
We stopped to see the waterfalls and a stop-over spot they enjoy when working in the Sumaco area or on their way to Yachana or the Yusani.
We continued our drive until we approached the petite community of Cosanga; I asked Stephen to stop at the roadside restaurant to see if my friend Cecilia was there. Cecilia was a life-safer while helping with the Pachamama Bird Journey in March.
She was standing in front as we approached the restaurant, so I ducked while he asked if there was someone named Lisa in Cosanga. “No,” she stated then resumed her tasks.
Stephen went inside, and I sneaked out and waited for her to look up.
Our visit was quite brief, but it was fun to watch her break into that million-dollar smile!
Next stop would be the larger community of Baeza, where we planned to spend the night at Cabanas & Pizzaria Kopal. Stephen phoned his friend to warn him we’d be stopping by, as the restaurant only opens at the end of the day.
The deck is the most-recent addition to this lovingly-built restaurant/cabana – most of the work was done by the owner.
I saw the white walls and immediately started brainstorming!
We checked in and went for a walk while waiting on the restaurant to open. Across the highway and up a quiet street was a quaint neighborhood. Cascading flowers graced the windows of one tidy home.
While looking up and admiring the flowers, I was rewarded with the smiling face of the owner, who graciously allowed me to take her photo!
While Xiomara visited a little tourist-information booth, Stephen and I enjoyed visiting with the neighborhood children – all hopeful to interact with the gringos!
Xiomara came outside about the time that Stephen was telling them he was 100 years old! They didn’t believe him, especially when the soccer scrimmage began!
We were a bit cold, but these children appeared comfortable in the Baeza climate!
Over dinner I mentioned to the owner, whose home country is Holland, that I had paints and brushes and would be glad to paint something on the bathroom wall. After tossing around ideas, he wondered if I could paint ivy. The next morning he seemed surprised that his idea had taken root and sprouted during the night!
It will be fun to return to this sweet little area and see if the ivy has grown!
Before leaving, we walked through the village and happened upon the Flower Lady!
I am so thankful to be cured of my bashful nature! Otherwise I would be missing amazing cultural and human experiences! If you’re stuck and unable to take a wanderlust detour, check out this week’s submissions for the WordPress Challenge.
Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Oh Lisa, beautiful places, beautiful people 🙂
Yes, they are beautiful, and so accepting of a stranger’s presence! Thank you!
I enjoyed making this trip with you, via your photos and text! 🙂
next trip you might venture down to baeza — or otavalo — or mindo — or — there are so many places to see! but the same is true in your country!
We actually did overnight near Otavalo and spent a wonderful day wandering around the market! Jamaica is extremely beautiful too. Our Blue Mountains are perhaps my favourite place in the world…
That’s great that you were able to visit a few other areas; the colors of Otavalo are amazing. Your own Blue Mountains sound lovely!
Lisa, this looks like a very fun trip, and the photo of the rutted road reminds me of my days working in the Magdalena Valley in Colombia. I love wood-smoked food, and wood-smoked coffee sounds wonderful. I hope that you are doing well and that all your mosquito-born maladies are better. ~James
Your comment sent me on a search for ‘Magdalena Valley’ which looks like a lovely area with lots of amazing birds. I think that Colombia’s image is better now, and more tourists are going there…
We’re dodging mosquitoes on the coast.. the dengue is around, and I suspect the zika and chik are as well. I need to stop by the clinic and find out if it’s a different strain of dengue or the same from two years ago!
Even some of my younger friends continue to suffer with the chikv joint-related pain, so there’s a bit of comfort knowing it’s not just the older patients with lingering side effects!
Lisa, the Magdalena Valley is absolutely beautiful and a wonderful spot for birds, but when I was there, it wasn’t such a great spot for gringo oil men. But, it’s a life memory that I won’t ever forget. Glad you have a reprieve from dengue, etc.
Thanks! The owner of Yachana Lodge was also first in the country thanks to the ‘gringo oil men’ — he was a translator, if I understood the story right. Have you read Wade Davis’s ‘One River?’ — since you’ve spent time in that area, it might be of interest.
No I haven’t but will check it out. Thanks for the recommendation.
The ‘coffee guy’ got into the car and was holding that big thick book. He is the third person in the past six months that I’ve seen reading the book. I read it years ago, what a lovely biography of Shultzes as well as a personal story on the ethnobotany trails.
Beautiful Lisa! I love interacting with people especially when traveling. I always talk to everyone even if I don’t know the language I try. Love this post and experience.
Thanks, and I am sure that your recent Costa Rica experience was a great way to teach your children by example – how interacting with the locals can enhance the moment,… — and it’s all about moments!
Yes so true Lisa.
You live in the real world. The rest of us live in Wonderland — and that is not a good world to be a part of! Delightful as always! Many thanks.
Thank you, Hugh. This comment means a lot. Perhaps one day our own country will learn to be as accepting to strangers as the Latin culture is to strangers like me!
You’re living an amazing life. Here’s to flower ladies the world over! 🙂
you live a pretty amazing life as well!
your gps has tweaked a lot lately!
you would like baeza; it had that same vibe as la macora – ? sp?…. but it was more upscale!
So many beautiful smiles. Thanks for capturing them for us, Z.
Thank you! Their smiles are infectious, especially when experienced in person!
Thank you.
That was just lovely to read and yes thank goodness your not shy anymore. The ivy was amazing little gift, especially with the shadows behind the leaves made it pop! your posts are a joy!
What a sweet start to the day you’ve provided; thanks! So sweet, I think I’ll hop across that ocean and have a cup of coffee in your world! Set one more place at your table!
O.K. will do!
oh have not posted on le marche magic in a min. been traveling… so I have been posting here. europeancamperadventures.wordpress.com/
ha! i’ll switch buses!
hahahahaha
SHY? I would have never thought that…however I am grateful you aren’t anymore and that you share these amazing adventures you go on…makes me think every time we are traveling around…hmmm I wonder what is over there? or down that road? and often we go off the beaten track to explore! It is always so rewarding. Love the pictures…and the Ivy…what a great gift to them.
that made me laugh! yes, so shy that i blushed quite often, and i dreaded/detested school ‘events’ —
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The ivy is beautiful – just the right touch – and that smile is, too. I’m intrigued by the wood-smoked coffee! You know Seattle is a big coffee town, and I do love my espresso every afternoon. I also like the smell of wood smoke, and smoked foods…
I visited Costa Rica years ago and toured a coffee finca – loved it – so I have an inkling of your sojourn through the mountains. I too am glad your shyness was overcome!
thanks! i first thought the ivy was an odd request until i looked for reference images.. he probably misses the ivy from his home country!
i’ll see if i can send some of that wood-smoked coffee via the magic carpet! or i’ll send the magic carpet to retrieve you and introduce you to that lovely couple!
Whenever I visit your blog, and I know you’ve been through some tough times in recent years, I always want to visit Ecuador,a country, I admit, had hardly been on my radar. This post just hammers the feeling home a little further. Lovely.
What a lovely comment! Thank you so much.
Yes, I think it’s the amazing spirit of the people that makes this country so special, but oftentimes I wonder if the gps setting of 0-00-00 or near it plays a part. there’s a special energy here that many can ‘feel’ or sense….
Delightful Lisa! Did you grow up in Ecuador? I had always thought you moved there as an adult. Did I misconstrue the first part of this post? Enlighten me please. Thank you.
No.. and I realized when I read it again late last night that it’s misleading with the ‘Ecuador’ introduction… I should probably write, ‘written in Ecuador..’
I’m visiting your pages right now, and here you are in the pop=down notices!
Beware the formerly shy! I laughed at your comment about your childhood, and appreciated it. As I’ve said here and there, I was so shy as a child, the family joke was that I couldn’t bear to read a recipe aloud in front of them. I’ve wondered how different life would have been — how different I would have been — had I been handed a camera when I was 8 or 9. You can’t be shy and retiring if you want to take photos — at least, so it seems to me.
I did have just a gentle quibble with the quotation at the top of the page. It’s certainly true that we need to look beyond the end of our own nose, but this seems not quite right: “look beyond what’s right in front of you.” It could be taken to suggest that the “good stuff” always is “out there.” In fact, learning to see can happen anywhere, including our own back yard.
yes, you are right about the good stuff, as when one learns to see, it’s everywhere! but – ha, there’s a ‘but,’ i have witnessed so many people who race from trendy spot to trendy spot and don’t veer one street off the main to interact and appreciate the local color – or try new foods, hmmm, i’ve yet to try the grubs that are a popular food in the amazon!
as for the shyness, yes, i would blush if anyone called attention to anything i did – good or bad, and if i did anything that brought harsh criticism or scolding, i was so affected – am still am… and to stand before the class and recite a poem – oh my, no no no! on retrospect, however, i loved the spelling bees! i’ll bet you did too!
basketball, track.. i played/participated, but never wanted that ball thrown to me if the game was close, etc…
I tried the fried termites in Liberia exactly once. Honestly, they weren’t bad, but it was the idea of it all that I couldn’t get over. On the other hand, when I ate fruit bat, I didn’t know what it was, and it was quite tasty. I did have a bit of a start when I found the “W” shaped bones in the bottom of my bowl, but it certainly could have been worse.
I do not know how I missed this charming post. I was just cleaning up the inbox and there it was, sequestered down with some emails I am waiting to answer. Thank you so much for bringing us along on your adventures! I, like you, especially love the people of Ecuador and go out of my way to see them and visit.
Wonderful, wonderful photos Lisa, full of laughter and love! I just love your header, and the beautiful pic of the little girl and the dog – to name but a few. What amazing journeys you have, it’s great to share them! 🙂
thanks! yes, that little girl had eyes that sparkled with life and happiness.. such a natural just perched there on the steps beneath their home!
You caught the moment perfectly!
I’m glad you worked through your shyness, too. I can live vicariously through your energy. LOVE the little girl and her dog and the little thumbs up boy. Kids, they always steal the show.
Good morning, and thank you! Life can present subtle hurdles that we don’t even realize we’re clearing.. until we look back later and marvel at what we’ve done!
That little girl with the dog was precious! So happy, yet also ‘disciplined’ not to bother the guests…. She was thrilled to receive attention from the gringitia!