raw it is

Hi All
Well, we have returned from Mompiche, of the coast of Ecuador. I had a great time and would have loved to stay longer but Rachelle wanted to come back and experience the Banos New Year. I went with them back because, of course I wanted to be with my family.
Rob and Dane, both got sick on the coast. Rob got sick, day 2 and also broke his toe. He decided to kick a stump out of the way and the stump said no.
We did however,celebrate Rachelle's birthday throughout the day and enjoyed the grand company of her wild and wonderful Ecuadorian (really Canadian and US) Aunties. They flamboyantly, crossed to our side of the beach and we all delighted ourselves in their presence. We topped the night off by finding the only place that had a possibility of a birthday desert. Please remember, Mompiche has no paved roads, an extension cord of electricity to the town that frequently is unplugged, has only fish-no chicken or meat available, no reliable internet, and only 2 restaurants that have real coffee not "Nescafe". Why do you go, you ask? Mompiche is still quite pristine and beautiful and has fabulous surf. The residence have taken control of who cuts what of the forest and they a huge on protecting their home. Unfortunately, right next door being built is a huge resort. I beleive it is the biggest ever on the entire west coast of SA. It is monstous, ocean side pools, endless condo's etc. I just hope that the locals can preserve what they wish to.
The Ecuadorian (US) auntie brought with her 9 kids/people with her to celebrate the holidays. This year, she brought with here, Yakti. He is 7 years old and had never seen the coast. He ,like most of the kids that either live with her or that she has in her life, is one of the hearty amazingly strong jungle people. Little Yakti at first could not tell where the ocean was, as all he saw was sky. Because he had never experienced such vastness before or understood it, it was only when he touched it that he saw it. The ocean was never in his conscience therefore it did not exist in his perception. Amazing hey? I was told that this also happened when the indians first saw or didn't see the ships of Christopher Columbus. It was only when they landed that they could see them. He also said the ocean was toooooo loud and could we shut off the sound.
In the mean time, Rachelle and I were able to trek into the forest and spend time taking photo's of real wild coastal monkey's. This is the first time that I have seen wild mamals on the coast, not of the sea. There were several troops/families of them and I had a great time taking photo's. We also saw 2 different toucan but I only got pictures of the one. We celebrated our find by eating mangos maduros from the tree.
The ride to Mompiche is arduous and well...... fricking awful. The bus ride is 8 hours from Banos to Atacames and then in Atacames you take a bus or taxi or truck 2 hours to Mompiche. The first day, since we took the overnight coche cama bus (sleeper bus), we slept---ish. We finally, one by one crashed to sleep. When I woke up in our cabin, Dane was no where to be seen. I, being the mother that I am, freaked and soon even some locals helped out to look for him. If he had a set of breasts, the men would have been able to tell me right away where he was, latin men......really. Finally, out of frustration and panic, I screamed for him after looking up and down the beach for well over an hour. And low and behold there was a answer. Dane was soooooo tired, that he wandered off into the neighbors cabin and passed out to sleep. So, end of crisis. I am told that Mompiche is such a close town that if he had really gone missing, the whole town would have been sent out to look for him. I think that might be a total of 200 people???? But a very nice and gentle group of people, especially when you hear that the coast is so dangerous. It is true though, that the president has decided to change the coast and has upped the military and police presence. I asked the locals about it and they were happy to have that extra presence. There was even a barge-like thing out in the bay whose sole job is for dealing with drugs and piracy. So there you go.
Of course, the bus ride back was equally awful. It was long and arduous, yuck. Again the police/military made their presence known and we were unloaded off the bus, frisked, had our bags checked and then the bus was checked. Dane being sick, after his stuff was checked, literally laid down on the ground at their feet. They asked me what was wrong, I am sure immediately thinking of drugs, almost jumped back when I said that he was sick. Thank you H1N1. Suddenly, we had all kinds of sympathy and humanity became present and the harsh military edge dulled. And back onto the bus we went, of course not before going to the bathroom again, as the bathrooms are not available on the bus. If you have any bathroom issues, those bus rides can be......well....... unpleasant and extremely long.
When we got back though, my body decided to get the flue bug from Rob and I got soooooooooooooooo sick. I only just got out of bed recently and I have to say, I could put up with the "squirtybum" and the projectile vomitting but the body pain was unrelenting and non responsive to pain releivers and was a true test of personal strength. I was thinking of using that gun Rob was offering to end my suffering. The pain was the worst. I am glad it is over though. I did miss the New Years Eve celebrations, which makes me very sad, but Rob and Dane went out for a short time and Rachelle went with her boyfriend, who by tradition, dressed in womens clothes and went happily begging for money. Some tradition, eh? That is the huge tradition here, young men are supposed to dress as women/widows to beg for money. They harrass the heck out of you, and of course the children too. They stop busses and all traffic. So, several days later, Rachelle's boyfriend was slightly angered because she showed no sympathy for his foot pain that he had aquired as he sashayed through the town in his matching pink mini-skirt and pumps. Go figure hey. My family is so patient and understanding when it comes to pain and suffering. Is it any wonder that people see me as "Sally" from "Third Rock from the Sun". Which by the way I totally get. I often feel as displaced and character similar to "Sally".
The New Year's tradition is to also burn the effigy representations of last years conflict. These are life sized and usually represent someone who was not that nice of a person, created conflict and up they go in flames. (flamable Catharsis) Needless to say there was choking smoke in the streets, a bunch of issues this year, I guess. I could see that from our roof and that is also what I was told. As far as I know, there were no effigies of me, so there you go. There were fireworks and such, and noise and music like crazy that lasted well into the morning. But for me it was sad as I was sick.
So now that I am better, though still have "squirtybum", we are all ready to face the new year. We are all converting once again to "raw foods" , my favorite way to eat. Rob made a fabulous mango/peanut sauce that you serve with zucchini fetticini. Wow and yum. I love eating raw foods, it is clean, fresh and energizing. We went raw several years ago and experienced wonderful health and great food. It is also a good thing to do after the "French Experiments", fiber fiber, nature's broom. We wanted to try it here as there is endless food options, except there are no dates and no psyllium powder or clay. That is a long story of why that is important. So unless you want to know gory details, calm your curiosity.
Fortunately, Rob brought back our dehydrator from Canada so we can make crackers and various other dishes that require that. I think on the menu for supper today: mock chicken soup, and vegie sandwiches with dehydrated flax bread yum. I know it doesn't sound nice but it is great really. For some reason, those people who "raw food" have no parasites or flues. I think that is always a good thing do to, clean out those pipes. We are also doing the "cleanse" again. That is also a good thing to do, especially after a colon cleansing flue. We are all looking forward to happy bowels and tummies. I remember when Rob and I used to date, now as we are older and don't like to spend a whole lot of money, a "date" for us means a whole different kind of thing. We have intellectual talks of diet, food, philosophy and what we "pass". I miss those wine and candle nights, but at least we have happy guts.
Anyway. School has started once again and now I have to go. Do you all realize that when both kids have graduated, I will have gone through high school 3 times. Yuck, but at least these last 2 times I didn't have to deal with puberty too. Talk with you all soon.
Later Robin