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THE LONG TAILED BOAT

This mornings adventure was a bit more subdued that yesterday’s. The group was driving to the country side to see how the people live. Salt is ready for harvest in the marshy waters and coconuts are also ready. We also had a chance to visit an orchid farm. Flowers are very important to Thai culture and they are everywhere. Exotic orchids , Pride of Barbados, Bougainvillea and the ever present marigold, bloom happily along side zinnias and Mexican petunias. We were ferried in a long tailed boat down a series of canals and saw how people really live in this area. Houses sit alongside the canal, laundry hangs in the sun to dry, old men watch the boat traffic and old women sell various goods from their boats. Soft drinks, water, beer, coconut pancakes, coconut ice cream, fried bananas, satay, mangoes, hats and fans are all there to buy. Lunch was an assortment soups, rice, fish, pork and chicken. Fresh pineapple juice decorated with an orchid and the ever present watermelon for desert. Tomorrow we leave for the River Kwai.

FOUR IN THE BED

Yesterday Troy and I visited the famous Wat Pho Temple which is also home to the world famous Wat Pho Massage School. We booked a massage for eight and two women came to our hotel. We wondered how they were going to fit tables into the room and boy were we surprised. They covered the bed with padding had us remove our clothing and they went to work. They climbed onto the bed with us and we had the massage of a life time. For two hours they worked on feet, legs, back and then turned us over and began with the head and started working down. Forehead, ears, neck and shoulders. Arms and fingers knees and toes as the old story goes. Troy immediately fell asleep and started a gentle snore. The girls giggled. My therapist would tackled a painful spot, I would resist, she would insist and when I obeyed, she would giggle. In fact there were faint giggles from them all of the time. When we had turned to mush, she moved us to a sitting position on the end of the bed gave us one last pounding on the back, collected their $40 and quietly left. Their fee was actually $32 but we were in a generous mood. Breakfast conversation this morning was all about how wonderful the unexpected can be.

PHOTOGRAPHS FOR THIS BLOG HAVE BEEN CENSORED!!!!!

A ROYAL TOUR

This was a day of sensory overload and it began with breakfast. Jewel colored fruit and fruit juices greeted us when we went into breakfast. Melons, pineapple, passion fruit, bananas and believed it or not a bowl of canned peaches was the first course. One side of the buffet featured fish soups, noodles, rice and seafood. This was certainly for the Japanese guest. Next there was a selection of cold cuts, cheeses, yogurt and French pastries. For those wanting something a a big more traditional the chef offered eggs, fried, scrambled, boiled, and poached the choices went on and on. My favorite was baked beans and sautéed broccoli. A visit to the Temple of the Golden Buddha, gave us an opportunity to hear the monks chanting and listen to the musical notes of coins being dropped into beautiful metal bowls. The truly devote dropped a coin into each of the 180 bowls. Incense and burning joss sticks competed with roses, lotus blossoms and orchids and marigolds to satisfy our sense of smell. We later visited the Temple of the Jade Buddha and the Royal Palace. I hoped that Yul Bryner would step out and ask me for a dance. Alas, it did not happen. A trip down a canal finished up the day. We will have a Thai massage tonight. Can’t wait.

 

Last Day in Ecuador

Troy, Tom and I arrived in Houston about 5:30 this morning and went through all of the necessary steps to get back to this wonderful country.  We had a busy day Wednesday.  WE were out of our apartment by 6am and took an early flight from Cuenca to Quito and needed to fill our time until our 12:55 flight Wednesday night.  Ecuador is in the middle of an presidential election and when we headed to the Grand Plaza to the Presidential Palace we were rewarded with two political parties in a minor clash.  Flags waved, drums rumbled, people shouted and it was soon over.  We did a bus tour of Quito so that Tom could see this city which is  UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Tom enjoyed the Basilica which is a wonderful Gothic design.  WE had saved the Panacello for the last stop and it was raining hard and the weather had turned cold and the visit was a bit disappointing.  A leisurely dinner and then Pedro Vega proudly drove us to the Airport in his red Pick Up Truck.  We learned so much about this wonderful country and its people as well as about what we are capable of.  I loved sharing it with those I love and with each of you.

Adios.

Sally

The Road to Ingapirca

This was our last chance to make a road trip while in Cuenca.  Tomorrow we have to finish up a little shopping and start packing to return to the States.  Troy and I along with Thomas our grandson decided to go to Ingapirca one of the best preserved Canari and Incan sites in Ecuador.  The bus station was not a mad house and we were able to purchase our tickets in no time and the round trip was only $21.00.  Luckily we got assigned seats both ways because the bus was a  pig trail and filled up with locals and all their goods quickly.  We passed through Azogues a beautiful little city and Canari where the descendents of those ancient people still live.  Men and women alike wear a round white hat with little tassels hanging from the front or the back.  We can’t determine why some wear them one way and some another.  The children also wear these little hats with their school uniforms.  I am happy to see that they hold to many of their traditions.

The trip up the mountain was beautiful.  We climbed another thousand feet and the valleys were home to little villages, Holstein cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens.  Pampas grass was eight feet tall along side the road and Shasta daisies grown wild.  No matter how poor the house there were geraniums or roses in the yard.  Men and women worked in the field side by side.  The wife wears her beautiful velvet skirt with a scalloped hem laden with brightly colored sequins.  These ladies have a sturdy peasant body, but they are very feminine.  Long gold earrings, beads and a lacy blouse are a part of their dress even when doing hard labor.

Ingarpica is a World Heritage Site and very well protected.  Our guide spoke excellent English and gave us a good understanding of what society was like in this area.  The Canari and Incans shared this spot, but working together they could not keep the Spanish away from their Empire.  They were agricultural and had silos that stored two year’s supply of food.  They had a trade route that went from Peru to Columbia and many believe in to North America.  They were scientist who practiced astronomy, studied the moon to determine when to plant their crops, they were shepherds, weavers, and knew how to use precious metals.  Instead of learning from them the Spanish destroyed every thing that they had accomplished.  Thomas wisely observed that ISIS today is trying to do the same thing today.  Destroying a culture.

This is a twenty eight day calendar.  The Incans would fill the holes with water and study the moons reflection each night.  They began to understand the passage of time and used this calendar to plant their crops.

The Canari and the Inca shared the site, but their building techniques were very different.

The Canari structures were round and the Incan rectangular.

This is an Incan structure.  These structures were storage buildings and shops.  As we left the ruins, I looked out over the valley and saw the ghosts of these early people living their lives in a most idyllic manner under the arrival of the conquestidores.