Cotacachi Ecuador Charm

May 9th, 2008 by Gary

Cotacachi Ecuador has a certain charm…almost like a secret. Took me years to figure out what Cotacachi’s charm is. I’ll share it in a moment.

First let me explain…how once I made a horrible mistake.

Almost!

The supposed error? Letting my mind wander four decades back to an hour I spent with a girl.

The girl was pretty and blond. Terry was her name. My imagination spanned 40 years returning to my Oregon roots seeing her as if she were there.

We were 11 or 12 and had known each other since we started Rockwood grade school. Just buddies, our non-romantic friendship lasted 12 years, from first grade till high school’s end. Then she went off to Pepperdine College in California. I started traveling the world. Never saw her again. I hope her life has gone well. But until that reflection I’d never thought much of Terry in 40 years.

What could have been the tragic error was letting that memory touch my heart. Two kids, walking on a crisp, Pacific Northwest autumnal afternoon.

We walked down a sun filled, pine needle covered, dirt path. Huge, fat, green Douglas firs lined the road. Traffic was no problem, not many cars. Crossing Stark Street we turned left, hiking three blocks to 182nd. There we passed an old clapboard candy store. I can still hear the wooden sidewalk of that store slap beneath my feet, felt the soggy planks sag and smelled astringent pitch from the fir trees. Then we turned right, up 182nd for about a mile. There was Terry’s house. I carried on, walking through a big field, waist high grass turned straw brown by an early frost. There were dozens of paths made by who knows what. Animals perhaps or countless generations of other kids walking home from school. I chose one following it to another wood of tall, rough-barked fir. Crossing one more field, I climbed a rock wall, struggled through a barbed wire fence (my Mom hated that fence ripping my jeans). I was home! Sweet simplicity, that dream. Two kids holding hands, walking on a dirt trail under a crisp, but blue, sunny sky. Pure innocence.

My tragic error was coming back. I returned to Rockwood, Oregon with Merri and my kids to show them this part of their roots. Following the route, Terry and I had walked were the candy store, grange hall, old wooden buildings and their home spun honesty and charm.

Instead we found six lanes of fast, frantic traffic and road rage. McDonalds, KFC, strip shopping centers. The car radio blared warnings of local gangs and drive-by-shootings. Beauty, innocence, sweet simplicity, replaced by drive ins and drive bys. I started to cry. Gangs and drive-by shootings replacing a tender walk in the sun.

Good bye memories, good bye.

How can our kids walk in places like this?

How can any of us possibly keep pace in this world that’s moving so fast? Then something inside snapped. “There has to be an answer for honest, hard working folks to enjoy the wonderful opportunities of today and regain what we’ve lost over the past forty years”, I swore to myself.

How can we keep up, without having such a fast paced life we turn into machines? Where do we find time for God, family, charity, and our friends? How can we rediscover those sun filled, pine needle covered, dirt paths we want to walk?

There has to be places that are still innocent and pure, I thought. There has to be a way of life that does not pound us with stress.

This thinking led me to review thousands of economic and business experiences I have shared with readers over the past thirty years. I started a search for a simpler way of life and a better place to be. By digging, asking and observing, traveling and talking to investors and investment managers all over the world. Yet I never found the answer.

Then in the unexpected way fate unfolds, my wife Merri and I discovered Ecuador where life is simpler…the people sweeter…less stress and prices so low it is hard to believe. Ecuador has this secret charm which could be felt but not explained.

I stared asking, “what is Ecuador’s special charm and the answer became clear.

Life in Ecuador is still like the good old days. Two children can walk a deserted lane by themselves and they do without fear.

Here are some of Cotacachi’s children.

Our Land of the Sun Foundation feeds Cotacachi children free lunch at our hotel El Meson de las Flores. Here are a group of them having fun.

This is why I would like to bring Ecuador closer to you. We can help you know Ecuador better in numerous ways.

To assist those just a little interested in Cotacachi or all of Ecuador our FREE ezine has many and continually renewed articles about how to live, work and enjoy Ecuador.

To assist those with great interest in Cotacachi or all Ecuador I have established a full time full support team to help subscribers in almost any way of travel, investing, living, buying property or doing business here.

Our staff at the hotel awaits to serve you. This is Eduardo and Consuelo.

Our Ecuador Living service shares our continual research and experiences in global business, living and investing here plus our contacts in Cotacachi and throughout Ecuador.

You may wish to subscribe here.

Regards,

Gary

Plus we are conducting regular tours and courses in Ecuador. The balance of our 2008 schedule below. Most of these courses are conducted at our hotel.