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2019 Year 6

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The Road Less Travelled

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You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And you are the one who’ll decide where to go (Dr. Seuss, “Oh The Places You’ll Go”). 

La Mirage  Garden Hotel & Spa hosts God’s Reconnection event. Upon arrival, the manager greets us and escorts us to the Pandora Lounge for a glass of wine. We visit with friends while we wait for the other guests to arrive.  My wine glass is still full when one of the staff escorts us to a shaman. The shaman clears away negative energy by smudging each guest with a variety of herbs and smoke to capture the negative energy particles in our body. Then we receive a glass of a delicious beverage with pure gold particles floating inside. The drink completes the purification.  We are led into a room with a variety of artists presenting their creations using gold as the accent medium. The artists include Ecuadorian world-famous Eddie Mosler.  Another artist dresses like Cleopatra in a seductive dress and of course, the men are spellbound. So I encourage Billy Boy to let me take a picture of him with the enchanting Cleopatra.

After visiting with the various artists we locate our table with friends and receive a glass of Trapiche sparkling wine from Argentina. The wine glows golden with delightful little bubbles and it is a favorite of mine. The dinner includes a delightful salmon appetizer and the main course is a  TENDER T-bone steak dinner. The chef pairs each course with a specific wine.  Edible gold dust sprinkles are on the food.  Even the bottled water has gold particles floating inside. The entire event was in typical La Mirage style. Please click on the youtube link in blue to get a brief glimpse into our magical evening  The God’s Reconnection.

During the dinner at La Mirage, I began to reflect on my life and what if I took a different path instead of moving to Ecuador? I am sure everyone has the experience of jobs and bosses that you either love or hate. So when a door closes is it was because another door will open? During this golden dinner, I realize the true God’s Reconnection in my life. Simply moving from  Arlington, Texas to Cotacachi, Ecuador.  Away from family and friends and everything, I am familiar with but wow what happens is truly amazing. The move, people, language and new culture revitalize my spirit.

Now, if the gold-dusted dinner is not enough we switch gears to the annual L&S Artisan Meat Chili Cook-Off.  The owners  Shawn & Lindsay along with their 3 children are the heart and soul of the L&S Farm creating a farm to table food product that serves the expat community as well as Ecuadorians. They are both from the United States and built their business from the ground up. To learn more about their farm click on the link in blue L& S.

This year there are 14 chili entries so the competition is tough. Last year Billy Boy won with a version of  Bacon, Bacon, Bacon Chili stating “who does not like bacon”. However this year his entry of Old Buffalo Breath Chili did not win. Wonder if it is the name? Not winning did not dampen our spirits. What’s to dampen with 14 different chilies to sample along with great beer including a local draft artisan beer. A shout out to Shawn & Lindsey for creating this great community event. We had a blast! Please review the youtube slide show below by clicking on chili cook-off.

I hope you will reflect on the roads that you travel and maybe just maybe you might consider a different road you never know what you might discover.

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Red, White & Blue: North American Style In Ecuador

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Yes, we celebrate July 4th in Cotacachi, Ecuador. While we have left our beloved County founding roots are not forgotten. We had a group of around 50 folks celebrating at friends home. Bill and I were invited to help host the party. About a week earlier we got together to press out hamburger patties for freezing in preparation of the party. We were going to serve my copycat “What A Burger”.

If you are from Texas or Florida you know nothing is better than a good old cheese “What A Burger” which calls for a very thin hamburger patty. My secret to achieving the proper thin patty is to use a tortilla press between parchment

Our friends have the perfect setting for a party. Upon the guest’s arrival, they were greeted with “Old Glory” flying high and Lee Greenwood singing “God Bless the USA” from the magic music that host Danny provided. White billowy tents were set up for us to enjoy our picnic celebration. Bill and Danny were in charge of toasting the buns and cooking the hamburgers and I was given the assignment of grilling the USA Nathan’s hotdogs that were being kept warm in the sous vide. Everyone assembled their own burger and hotdog with the fixings that they liked. There was also potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad, baked beans and a cake furnished by La Mirage. We were right folks went back for seconds! There was plenty of iced tea, lemonade, beer, and wine. Honestly, when we lived in Texas we never attended just a festive July 4th celebration.  The only thing missing was the fireworks but the dogs were happy about that since nearly every weekend or holiday the sky is bombarded with fireworks. The Ecuadorians really know how to celebrate.

So why keep up the tradition of celebrating July 4th American style when you have become an expat?  Maybe it is when you are away from family and friends the traditions mean a little bit more to you.  Click on the link to view the youtube slide show of our Independence Day celebration in little  Cotacachi, Ecuador.

Hugs to family & friends near and far

Texas Annie Ecuador

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“Ugly Americans”

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I never understood the term Ugly American until my experience in Ecuador. So you might think to live in Ecuador you might worry about the Ecuadorians, Columbians or Venezuelans. So far the only folks we have had to worry with are the Ugly Americans that are rude and bring their US attitude of entitlement packed in their luggage. We moved to Ecuador primarily because it is a county where we could actually live well on our retirement plus the wonderful weather and Andean’s Mountain beauty. What we did not count on was that other folks did the same but from a different class of people. Now that sounds snobby doesn’t it but I think people have a civic responsibility to treat others with kindness, respect and pay their bills. I am no longer the President of San Miguel Homes & Gardens simply because I could not take the abuse from the terrible emails sent to me by my neighbors. Society has lost the art of verbal communication and only can respond to others in a one-sided email devoid of body language and tone.  I worked too many years in healthcare with bosses from “hell” to put up hateful nonsense.  We are simply guests in this beautiful county.  Enough said since I make an effort to keep my blogs upbeat so thank you for indulging me in this simple rant about my fellow American’s.

Consequently, my blog has not been updated since January and now we are in the middle of June! We sailed through Easter, Paseo del Chagra and now in the midst of Inti Raymi. Every night the hills are alive with music, whistles, chants and the sound of horns trumpeting. I think the Ecuadorians are generally happy while working hard but they know how to party enthusiastically on the weekends. We are not here to complain but to learn and embrace their culture.  Below is a slide show to catch up what we have been up to click on youtube.

In May our sweet I LOVE LUCY had to be put to sleep due to cancer. Lucy traveled with us from Texas along with QE and Winky. Yesterday Lucy’s journey ended after 14 years. She was the pup that always found a way to get into the chocolate and required emergency vet visits both in Texas and in Cotacachi. In Texas, she escaped an attack of 3 pit bulls she really knew how to run licky split. We are so blessed to have Amici Cannis Dr. Marcela and her Vet Tech. Lucy was struggling to breathe as the cancerous tumors were growing and crushing her trachea. The team from Amici Cannis came to our house. Bill held Lucy in his arms and I gave her some nice chocolate. Dr. Marcela administered an IV general anesthetic and when she was asleep administer the medication to stop her heart. She died surrounded by love. I know we would have not received this type of loving care in Texas. The house feels strangely empty even through Winky and Shadow Cat are still here. The hardest gift is knowing when to let go. Run Lucy run!

Hugs to family and friends!