“All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”
– Martin Buber
Four inches of grey snow, still falling, starts me on my way
in the early Maine morning. Slush
and rain follow as the bus travels south from Portland to Boston. Such bleak days make it easier for me
to leave home – to leave friends, family, and my beloved daughters and
grandchildren.
I am looking
forward to being nestled in the folds of the deep green mountains of
Ecuador. In the Andes I am
nurtured and renewed, physically and spiritually, as has been my experience since I traveled to Machu Picchu in
the Peruvian Andes when I was 25.
There is something here that lifts me above myself and takes me beyond
the hectic routine of life in the United States.
Arriving at my AirBnB after midnight, I have to remind
myself to drink lots of water and to breathe deeply and slowly to try to avoid
altitude sickness. The inn is a
quaint place in Tababela that is about five minutes from the Quito Airport and
45 minutes from downtown Quito.
One has to circumvent mountains, valleys and rivers to get from the
airport to the city. There is no
direct route ... except as the condor
flies.
The first morning is beautiful, clear sun, with luxurious
white clouds. A flock of birds
sings me awake. Tababela is a small peaceful town – a half hour walk is
sufficient to explore the streets, small stores, and garden park where I sit on
a bench to eat an apple and some chifle (chips like potato chips but made from
plantain).
I purchase prepaid time
for my Ecuadorian SIM card in my phone. Technology has changed SO much since my
first trip here at age 17 when it took three to four weeks for a hand-written,
airmail letter to go home to the States and another block of time to receive a
response. Now, instantaneously, I
can contact those I care about that are half a hemisphere away.
I am annoyed that I do not escape altitude sickness this
time but it’s basically just a foggy headache accompanying the following two
days of drizzle and downpour rain.
I get to repose, reflect, and reach out to those far away. Not unexpectedly, my uncle passes early
my second morning here. It is also my brother’s birthday. And it is Inauguration Day. I
experience an amalgam of wide-ranging emotions. It’s a bit of a blessing to do so in my mental fog. 
Each day, at breakfast and dinner many boarders pass through
the lobby. Some here just
overnight, others for extended stays.
We exchange travel experiences, ideas of moving through and living in
Ecuador. We are temporary friends,
kindred spirits. A young Brit is
heading to the seaside to surf and take Spanish language classes. A couple from Florida are arranging to
become ex-pats here and are having a house built near the sea. Two American twenty-something ladies
have just arrived from Cuba and are ready to explore the Andes. A Canadian mother, with her precocious
and adventurous six-year-old daughter, has lived here near ten years, is now
single and seeking to return north with her girl and their tiny black dog. A real estate agent from
Charlottesville is exploring options of purchasing property in the southern
Ecuadorian mountains after exploring the region’s towns for six years.
We share snippets of travel life, names
of lawyers who help foreigners, information about buses and air flights, all
around coffee, our included breakfast, or a delicious home-cooked dinner.
Facebook photo album: 2017 Ecuador Photos #1
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