Arrival in Ecuador

I have been in Ecuador for 11 days and it is the first time that i have had to write in my blog.  That certainly says something about my time here.  I have been having way too much fun to sit and write.  I have been taking a few minutes each day to post a few photos on my Facebook but that is about it. It has been a most interesting journey.  It started with me packing my luggage a little too heavy leaving the Soo.  I was working like crazy trying to make money before leaving the packing till the night before.  Did not get any sleep before catching the plane.  Had to be up at 3 am to leave for the airport and a little too excited to actually sleep. 

 As soon as my brother Vern picked up my suitcase he said "Jesus Christ Bev , that for sure is over 50 lbs.  I had packed lighter but then thought that maybe I should bring some food and went to the grocery store for a few snacks.  $100 later I was getting a little worried that it would put me a bit over with the weight.  So there we were in the airport with one bag weighing in at 80 lbs., ripping my bag apart and trying to fit it into either my brothers other suitcases or mine.  A little embarrassing.  I had stuff strewn all over the floor. But the Air Canada employee was very gracious, Don't worry he said, we do this all the time.  I didn't really care but my brother Vern worries a bit more than me.  Some loud grumbling occurred but we finally got it all loaded.

 I had been told that there was no cream in Ecuador for coffee and I just knew I wanted that so I had 4 bottles of coffee creamers and 5 cans of evaporated milk.  I sure got bugged but guess what, everyone here is very happy that I brought it;.  Although I have discovered that they actually have evaporated milk here but next time.......................... And our humus, crackers, salami, and cheese has all come in handy.  As well as the protein bars,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, okay enough about food.  

The flight went well until we landed in Bogota Columbia where we had a 7 hour wait for our plane to Ecuador.  When you haven't had any sleep the night before, and you cannot speak any Spanish,  there was nothing to do and time went very slowly.  My brother Gary on the other hand was flying in from Halifax.  His flight was delayed about 4 hours with a blizzard.  But Delta did a good job of getting them all on another flight and he arrived at the same time as us in Quito.  But he did not grumble about the waits, no he proceeded to enjoy the start of his holiday with a few drinks.  They even gave him a free bottle on the flight.  Let's just say that he was very happy when he arrived and we were a little grumpy. We knew when he yelled, Hey Birdshit, that he had imbibed a few.  Birdshit is what he calls Vern, our other brother. Vern was not impressed.  

Guillo picked us up at the airport at 11 pm.  A very long day. Gary’s new son in law Guillo Espinosa, is originally from Ecuador but moved to Canada with his aunt when he was in high school. Guillo is married to Gary’s step daughter Jill who is coming down with the kids next week.  She is up in Halifax visiting her mom.   So great to get outside and feel the warm , humid weather.  He has a great little club cab Luv truck and it took half an hour to get to his house. We stopped on the way to his house up in the mountains to buy some beer.  I was a little thirsty although on the flight from Bogota , they served free scotch whisky.   That flight was a little interesting.  I was surrounded by a big family I believe.  Everyone seemed to know everyone and they all had an amazing amount of perfume on.  It was a little hard to breathe. Then a woman came down the aisle and saw the woman beside me and they both got really excited and started chatting up a storm, in Spanish of course.  The standing woman was leaning right over me with her purse hitting 
me.  I was having a difficult time drinking my whiskey for sure but managed to get it down.

Ok, back in Quito, we pulled into this little  town which was pretty much closed up for the night.  Guillo goes down a side street, gets out, and pushes a door bell and a guy answers and sells us some beer.  Welcome to Ecuador.  People can sell right out of there house if they have a licence.  Wow. They have the most amazing place in Quito.  It was an old restaurant/motel that is in the process of being reconstructed. Amazing old wooden beams and doors, a great bar inside and one outside and a huge kitchen.  Would love to hold a workshop there.  We had one grande cerveza each and went right to bed thank God, I was so exhausted.  I had my own room with my own bathroom.  Very nice. Vern was a bit worried about where we would be sleeping.  He is totally used to travelling on tours and staying in 5 star hotels.  Not at all what this trip was all about.  I laid and bed and laughed listening to my brothers who were sharing a room next door argue over who was going to get what bed.  There was yelling and laughing and carrying on for half an hour. Yep itt has started.  Not sure where was mind when I decided to take a month long vacation with my two brothers.  Interesting.  I have not had a holiday lasting any more than a week for the past 7 years.  And I choose to go with my brothers???? HMMMHHHH.

STUFF and Addictions

Not quite sure what is going on in my life these days but change is a key word.  I have had a cell phone for years and have never lost one. I have gone from the basic flip phone to an amazing phablet, which is a huge smart phone on which you can even watch movies.  Needless to say, I am addicted.  All my photos are on it because it has an amazing camera.  I schedule all my appointments on it.  All my contacts are on it. My life is on that damned phone.  Well, now I have lost it.  Friday the 13th. Go figure. Argghhh.  I feel so lost.  I cannot believe how addicted we get to those phones.

And to add insult to injury, I also had my laptop stolen.  Not being a geeky person, I had not thought about the fact that I should backup everything on that computer so things like all the photos of my grandchildren were stored very nicely on it.  I kept thinking one of these days, I really should print some of those photos but now.................. Gone. Of course then there were all my work files.  Arggghhhh. Now, being of the belief that everything happens for a reason, and that we create our lives, I still want to scream and yell, what the hell is going on?????!!!!!! Then my big brother has got to get his 2 cents in asking "Why are you creating this Bev?"   OMG.

I really am getting the message that maybe I have too much STUFF! My car is always full of stuff, going out to the farm or coming in from the farm, or going from one of my offices to the other or things to be returned to a store, or , or or.......  Things could get lost in there.   One of my friends is a little psychic.  Actually I seems to have a few friends that are a little psychic and some that are a little psychotic. But that is another story.  Anyway, my psychic friend  told me that my phone was in my car.  So I just came in from searching through it hoping to find my phone somewhere. Perhaps it had just fallen out of my purse. It was not in there.  So much for her talent.  It is -35 C today with the wind chill factor.  Today is the first time that the Bon Soo Winter Carnival Polar Bear Swim had to be cancelled because of the temperature.  My fingers were freezing after 5 minutes out there.  I had to come in and put them under warm water to stop them from aching.  I HATE WINTER!!!  I have had enough.  I am so looking forward to Ecuador in April.

Maybe this would be a good time to explain about my foot issues.  I had thought we may be hiking around the Andes next month and going inside a volcano that my brother had visited last year when he was there.  But 3 months ago in November, on the first snowfall, I fell off of the bank and into the Thessalon River at my campground. My roommate thought this was a funny thing and was buckled over laughing at me.  I had to quickly grab onto a big tree to stop myself from sinking in the quicksand. I was so worried about losing my boots in the mud, and having to walk out bootless in the snow, that I didn't pay much attention to the pain that was going on in my right foot.  Apparently my right foot hit something under the water.  After a week of complaining about the pain, I finally took myself down to the hospital and had some xrays done.  The kind, condescending doctor told me that I just had a contusion, no breaks, and it would get better in a month.

Well then it was Christmas, and I was off to Ottawa to see my kids, and grand kids.  All the time walking on the outside of my foot as it was still painful under the toe next to the big toe. Stairs were especially bad. Now, I have pain the the right hip from walking funny and 2 months have passed.  I finally get into my doctor who takes more xrays and tells me nothing is broken.  I explain to him that he must have noticed by now that I am not a hypochondriac He sure doesn't see me too often.  I don't like doctors.  I like my naturopathic doctor much better but this is not the kind of thing I think she could help me with.  I explain that my foot is still paining, and still swollen and inflamed so he schedules a foot scan.  This takes another 2 weeks, and then my doctor is off for 2 weeks.  3 months have now passed with my walking/hobbling on this sore foot with this very sore right hip now.  My doctor then calls to tell me that yes, i do have a stress fracture, that I need to go get an air cast, and he has scheduled a MRI and an appointment with a orthopedic surgeon.  OMG.  So, I guess, I am not hiking in the Andes next month.

 Yep, there's the boot. My friend Nancy has gone off to Arizona to visit my cousin Colleen for the next 3 weeks, luck sot, and I am staying at her house watching her dog YumYum.


 I did buy a phone on eBay yesterday and it should arrive this week. I am shocked at the exchange rate right now for us to Canadian dollars.  $168 US cost me $213 Canadian.  That is going to hurt in Ecuador where we must use US dollars.  Did I mention how frustrated I am at this time with life in general.  I have gained 15 lbs since Christmas with my lack of activity due to this friggin foot/hip thing.  I know, I could go swimming but it is cold outside. I got both snow machines all ready for the season but cannot go out in case I get stuck and would not be able to walk out.  Got some new cross country skis in the fall but................ Yeah.  Frustration.


Well, my brothers and I did rent a 3 bedroom condo on the beach in Ecuador for the month of April so I guess that is what I am doing next month. Not such a bad thing.  My brother Gary assures me that alcohol is cheap there.This is the view from our balcony.  I cannot wait.  It has been and still is a very long  and very cold winter. Gary has informed me that he is selling all his furniture and is hoping by next year to live in Ecuador all winter and stay in his magnificent  motor home all summer. He had white leather reclining sofas in it and a stack able washer/dryer.  I sincerely am liking this idea a lot.  I have a little Boler trailer that I can pull behind my Subaru Outback.  Not quite the same caliber of accommodation but.  ......We could hit music festivals all summer.  I could do some massages, make some money. And enjoy life. It could work, just sayin.

Gods Word

I prayed all day yesterday for God to help with my financial distress and mentioned this to someone.

She proceeded to tell me that I could not pray for money. I told her of course I can. God will help in whatever way we need if we just believe. I was feeling a little down last night after hearing my office rent check bounced.  My son Kailem invited me over for dinner and some games of crib. That was a wonderful distraction. I do find it most interesting how the youth now a days can sit around together with their cell phones and laugh about something they find on facebook or you tube and then pass their phones around laughing at each others funny find. In the old days, we would tell jokes but times have changed.

 This morning I lay in bed in my Soo office which is my new apartment, thinking and planning, and stressing I suppose. There is a large church right outside my bedroom/treatment room window. The church bells started ringing at 8:45 am. I immediately thought, that is what I need to do. I need to go to church. So I was up, face washed, dressed, and out the door, and walking in the church door by 9 am. Not bad. It was lovely. Wonderful organ and choir, people singing, incredible architecture. Yes, I thought God wants me here to see this architecture. It was interesting, if you thought about it. It did look like the framework of a barn.I have been looking at a few barns lately. The church is little more ornate but none the less.

And the message spoken today was to listen to God, the way will be shown. I have been talking too much lately to God and not listening. I attribute some of this with the fact that I have a room mate now on the farm. It used to be my place of refuge where I would sit and be quiet but now it is not. Unfortunately for me, with my current financial situation, I need her to help pay the bills. So now, I just stay in town. My son said last night why don't you let that farm go? This is the story.


 It has been my dream since I was 20 to have a spiritual retreat center. A place where we can go and find peace and tranquility. A place where people from around the world could come to get away from the hustle and bustle and hear the wolves and coyotes howl. Where you could take some courses in emotional release techniques, twig furniture building, yoga, art therapy, you name it and we could offer it. A place where you could get a massage, have a group meet to discuss environmental issues, enjoy nature, etc. I even came up with a name for it.

Affinity. I believe we are all One. We are all one with each other and we are all one with nature. This is why I stay away from some churches that practice that their particular religion is the only way. This has caused more wars than anything.  I found a symbol which could be worked into the building and the stationary.

af·fin·i·ty   (ə-fĭn′ĭ-tē)n. pl. af·fin·i·ties
1. A natural attraction, liking, or feeling of kinship.
2. Relationship by marriage.
3. An inherent similarity between persons or things. See Synonyms at likeness.
4. Biology A relationship or resemblance in structure between species that suggests a common origin.

5. Immunology The attraction between an antigen and an antibody.
6. Chemistry An attraction or force between particles that causes them to combine.

 The Voyageur Trail goes right through this property. This is a well marked, well kept trail that goes basically across Ontario. And the property sits between 3 lakes. You can walk up the hill and put your canoe into Rock Lake, and travel across to the Thessalon River and go down it to Gordon Lake, cross it over to the Thessalon River and travel down it to Ottertail Lake which the farm looks over at. It seemed so perfect. Through all this time, I had gotten to know the Mennonites pretty well. I have become good friends with some of them. I massage the women. The men build things for me like horse shelters, outhouses, fences and my horses get their feet done. This winter, when I knew that things were not going well on the farm with my room mate, I made arrangements to have my horses trained, bred and kept for the winter with the Mennonites. I joined the Voyageur Trail Association and went on any hike that was in our area. These were always wonderful informative times.

When Kiesha and I were driving around looking for a place to live on the water and keep our horses, we found the dream place. We had been following a "Real Estate For Sale" sign from behind Bruce Mines. But when we got to the property, it was a huge rock cliff which was not at all suitable and it cost $250,000. A little out of my price range. And no pasture land. But I said to Kiesha, it is beautiful out here, let's keep going on this road. I knew when I crossed the little single lane bridge over the Thessalon River that this was it. Unfortunately that property was not for sale. And so, as I explained in a previous post on November 18, 2009, I rented the farm. I do believe that I was guided there. Everything fell into place as it should. Of course, I had the thought in my mind that eventually I could build the retreat center there. It felt so right. But after a few years the owner from Austria told me that I would never be able to build so the dream kind of shattered. I doubted myself. I was sure that my intuition had been right guiding me here but now I was not sure.


 I got to meet my neighbours, Deiter and Erika Ropke. We have remained good friends. Their son and daughter have moved to Ecuador and I will go visit them in April when I go there.   Deiter and Erika just got back from Ecuador. They are having my brother Vern and I over for dinner next week to tell us all about it. Fun. Anyway while we were hiking on the trail a couple of years ago, Deiter asked me what were my plans in life. Nothing like getting right to the point. I love those straight forward people. I told him that I had planned on building a retreat center there but those plans are done now. He asked, Why don't you buy the property on the corner? I said, "Because they want $250,000 and there is no pastureland for the horses."  He replied, "They are Americans and they just dropped the price down to $80,000. And there is 110 acres there with 2 large pastures on the other side of that hill." Wow, I could not believe that. Amazing. We were all invited back for a potluck at their place after the hike. I went home to get my food out of the frig to take to the potluck. I took a moment to sitt down at the computer to see if I could find the propety in the real estate online and sure enough, it was listed now at $80,000. I took this as critical divine intervention. To make a long story a little shorter, I got the property. 3 other offers came in the same day but we were first. I now realize that if I had not been on that farm, I would not have known about the property going for sale, and I would not have bought it. Everything happens for a reason.

So acquiring the property is one thing, now how do I get the money to build the place. I have been talking with Josiah the Menonnite for the past few years about building it for me with post and beam construction. I have met with the building inspector and Josiah together to talk of how my ideas may be worked out. I was told that I could have a duplex which must be joined by a roof. Therefore, if the building was 40 x 100' with a 2 story 20 x 40' on each end, that leaves a 40 x 60' room in the middle for the center. A center in the center. That's cute. That is quite large enough. With lots of windows overlooking the river. We can have a commercial kitchen on one side. And have it off grid. And Green. It is indeed a work in progress in my mind but ......without money, nothing happens. I keep asking God, if Thy will be done, then I will do it. If it is my will, then I will not do it. So I tell him, if you want me to do it, you had better put some money on the table. I sincerely do not want to do it just for me. I don't want this to be an ego thing. It has to be for the good of others. I will be the instrument to put it together. So I hear the church bells ring at 8:45 this morning. I jump up, wash my face, and head to church. Enjoy the experience. Talk with the priest after who I know as he was taking a pottery class in my old office building. Take some photos inside the church and am totally inspired again.

 I get back to the office and start writing this down in my blog and my phone rings. It is an old high school friend. He moved away right after high school and made his money in Europe. He now wants to build a place outside the Soo area so he can come visit his mom and sister once in awhile and would love to have a place out in the country on a lake. He wants to be able to canoe down the river. He has been looking for the past couple of years but found nothing with any kind of privacy. He likes my place and guess what. We are going to talk about him building there. And he likes the idea of the retreat center. And he wants it off grid, and would like to build Green. Oh my goodness. Life is Good, God is Good. Thank you thank you.

Start again

Well it has been a very long time since I have written anything in a blog. It is time. It is a new year and I believe 2015 will be a good one. 2014 was a little tough. Financially draining for sure. The big house on Queen Street is now a 4 plex. Just after all that was done then the roof had to be done. And it is a Huge roof on that 110 year old Victorian house. With many peaks and a turret. And then the basement leaked. Argghhhh. The ceramic tiles had to be dug up and another sump pump installed while breaking through the outside wall to put drainage tiles in. Needless to say, none of that is cheap. Now we will see whether Revenue Canada will await my taxes that were owed during all that or whether I will have to sell the old girl (house that is)to pay them off. Time will tell, and the universe will unfold the path as it should. Looking forward to a trip to Ecuador in April with my 2 brothers. I bought the ticket awhile ago now and of course I am freaking out that I should not be doing this with my current financial situation but......................the ticket is bought and I really need a mental break. We will do a little exploring up in the Andes and visit the volcanos but mostly plan on vegging on the beach. We are staying in my brother Garys in laws 3 bedroom condo in a little town called Crucita on the west coast. Funnnnnn!!!!! Looking forward to getting away from the cold. It is a beautiful snowy day out here on the farm. -20 C though and I find as I get older, I am not doing well in the cold. Got a friend working up near the Arctic and she friggin loves it. She wrote on her facebook this morning that she was up at 4 am with the full moon, taking her 2 husky dogs for a walk in the minus 40s before she went to work. She loves it up there. Some part of me does not understand that. I seem to like the idea of 80 F year round being on the Ecuador.