La Mirage… one of South America’s Relais & Chateaux spas shares three Ecuador epicurean recipes here.

These are Ecuador cooking recipes that blend pre-Incan nutrition with modern cooking techniques and are taught at the La Mirage cooking school.

Gastronomical education in ultimate luxury might better describe this cooking school at La Mirage Garden Hotel & Spa by La Mirage.

La Mirage’s exquisite food is one reason we fell in love with Ecuador.

La Mirage is  a world class spa with lush private gardens and a restaurant to match.

Whether you are dipping into a jacuzzi or enjoying a cozy eucalyptus fire in one of the many beautifully decorated rooms, you will find fresh roses everywhere. No detail is overlooked.   Guests range from Hollywood stars and US Senators to royalty.  The Queen of Spain chose La Mirage during her stay in Ecuador.

However,  this message looks at new culinary delights  in the La Mirage kitchen that you can now know and enjoy.

We take most course delegates to visit La Mirage Garden Hotel at least once during a course and enjoy the great Ecuador cooking there.  The food is incredible.

The chefs are world class, and presentation is at the top of their list. Appetizers are served in individual wooden music boxes, soup is poured hot into your bowl when served and each plate is a work of art. Here I am with delegates at La Mirage.

Here is the risotto starter up close.

The homemade, organic rose ice cream dessert is out of this world.  Each tiny ball of rose ice cream hides in the center of a blossom of sugared rose petals.

Everything at La Mirage is exquisite so it was with keen interest and expectation that Merri and I ambled from our hotel to La Mirage to enjoy lunch with the proprietors and hear more about the cooking school.

La Mirage has installed a new teaching kitchen in the Garden Room, where…

we met with Jorge Espinosa and Michel Durer, the La Mirage proprietors with their…

executive chef and sous chef.

Relais & Chateaux simply means… the best.  This is what we saw… the best, an exquisite meal built in front of us… just as those who join these Cotacachi cooking classes will learn and enjoy.

The menu included these three courses (the recipes for this Ecuador cooking is below).

GAZPACHO WITH A SHERBET OF CORIANDER

TIMBAL OF QUINUA TOPPED WITH GINGER OR PARMESAN CHEESE

ASIAN STYLE FRICASSE OF DUCK

Here is the start of the Gazpacho.

Then the chef added…

sherbert and Jorge poured in the gazpacho.

The quinua began with

tomatoes drizzled with two sauces.

Preparation for the quinua.

The chef adds grated freshly grated ginger on top.

Wow!

Now we had to do our work…

the eating.

After the soup and the quinua started, our main course was this duck fricasse.

What can I say?  Delicious… words fail the event… a perfect meal.

You can learn more about the La Mirage cooking school here.

Here are these three Ecuador cooking recipes.  Better still learn much more and attend the La Mirage Cooking School.

These recipes are provided by Jorge Espinosa.

Jorge is a proprietor of the La Mirage Garden Hotel & Spa. He was trained as a Chef at the famous Hotel Training School in Bad Reichenhall, Bavaria, Germany before honing his culinary skills cooking at several notable hotels before opening La Mirage in 1986.

At the La Mirage Cooking School, Jorge teaches a unique cooking style that blends ancient pre Incan cuisine with his decades of  experience gained while working globally with some of the best chefs in the world.

GAZPACHO WITH A SHERBET OF CORIANDER

Step #1: Peel fresh tomatoes and place into a blender, adding tomato paste, chicken consommé, garlic, pearl onions, basil, olive oil, Worchester sauce,
salt & pepper. Blend and strain into a bowl and place in the fridge.

Step #2: For the sherbet mix coriander, water, sugar in a blender. Place the ingredients into a bowl and place in a freezer to harden.

Step #3: When ready to serve, cut a fresh tomato into small pieces, arrange them on a soup plate into a circle and place the sherbet in the center and pour the cold gazpacho around and garnish with basil.

TIMBAL OF QUINUA TOPPED WITH GINGER OR PARMESAN CHEESE

Step #1: The following ingredients should be sautéed: small cut pieces of chicken, red and green peppers, pearl onion, garlic, fresh dill, fine cut mushrooms, parmesan cheese, olive oil, Worchester Sauce, salt and pepper.

Step #2: Mix the above with the pre-cooked quinua and fill, if possible, into a mold set in the middle of a plate. Two kind of sauces (a rich thousand island
dressing and a Balsamic Vinegar) surround the mold which then is being slowly removed in order not to spoil the decoration. Top it of with either
long slices of Parmesan cheese or optional with caramelized strips of ginger.

ASIAN STYLE FRICASSE OF DUCK

Step#1: Cut a breast of Duck into small pieces, fry rapidly in oil, adding salt and pepper, sweet soya sauce. Add a ginger – soy infusion with
stir-fried vegetables and place on top of sesame rice-noodles.

We hope you’ll join us to share the delights of investing, business and living in Ecuador and the world.

Here is what a delegate at our last tour shared.

Dear Merri,  Thank you so much for taking the time to write to me with all this information.  Your husband cranks out such prolific pieces every day, sometimes two a day!  The tone is always so positive, and the content so interesting and informative.  Best regards to you and Gary,
There are three dates for the school and two price options.

The dates for the cooking classes are:

How about Aug. 28-29-30

Oct. 25-26-27

Nov. 30 Dec. 1-2

The fee for the three days of class and two nights at La Mirage is $854 (including tax) per person for two in a room.  A single supplement is $125 a night plus 22% tax.

If you stay instead at our Inn Land of the Sun (formerly Meson de las Flores…  just a few blocks from La Mirage, the price drops to $579 per person.  There is no single supplement.

For enrollment details contact La Mirage owners Michel Durer Jorge Espinosa at ed@mirage.com.ec

Gary

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Special Women’s Event in Ecuador, September 20-24, 2010.

I have written a number of times about how Merri and I are at retirement age, but we haven’t slowed down, or even considered stopping working, because we love what we are doing.  People can’t believe sometimes how we can keep the pace we do at our ages.  I’ve also written about our experiences with the Ecuador Shamans and how living in Ecuador can reduce stress.

This special event for women (men are not excluded) is the perfect opportunity for you to learn the secrets of ageless living while enjoying the stress-free Ecuador environment.

Take some time for yourself, relax and de-stress from the sometimes hectic Western lifestyle, and learn secrets of ageless living that can transform the way you live.  Set aside 5 days to:

• Relax and rejuvenate in the mystical mountains of beautiful Ecuador
• Redefine your concept of aging and reinvent your life
• Learn practical tips and techniques for a more holistic and healthy lifestyle
• Tap into your creative power to more fully live your passion
• Experience a different culture and broaden your perspectives
• Spend a day at the Relais and Chateaux rated La Mirage garden hotel and spa, included in your registration

Nancy Showalter, who lives with her husband in Ecuador, will guide you through the journey of discovering 7 Secrets for Ageless Living and how you to apply them in your life:

Secret #1:  Invest in Yourself

There are two vital areas in life where you want to invest in yourself.  Learn what these are and why you do not want to ignore them.

Secret #2:  Use all of Your Resources

Discover keys to unlock the power that resides within you, and use that power for constructive change.

Secret #3:  Continue to Learn

Continuous learning is one of the greatest anti-aging secrets of all.  Learn why, and how to never stop.

Secret #4:  Do What Is Natural and Healthy

Health at all levels of your being is one of your greatest assets.  Learn healthier ways of living, unique ways to commune with nature, and specific practices that can improve your health.

Secret #5:  Simplify Your Life

There are cycles in life when it becomes important to let go—let go of things, of beliefs, of memories, or of desires.  Learn how to identify what—and when it is time—to let go, and ways to help you do it.

Secret #6:  Use the Tools at Your Disposal

Learn simple, but powerful tools to overcome your fears, release painful memories, better navigate the challenges of life, and be at peace with whatever life brings you.

Secret #7:  Be the Change

In order to change your condition in life, your relationships, or the world around you, you must first make the choice yourself to become the way you want others to be.  Discover the power of choice, and how to identify what holds you back from being who you desire to be.

Nancy and Carl Showalter reinvented their lives and moved to Ecuador over two years ago.  Having traveled to Ecuador several times in a previous job, Nancy loved the beautiful people and the special energy she felt in the Andes, and wanted to share the experience with Carl.  So in 2004, they registered for our International Business and Mystical Andes tour held in Quito that year.

Two years later, they attended our Super Learning Spanish course in July 2006.  During that course, they separately, but simultaneously, felt inspired to look for property to purchase in Cotacachi.  Through a series of events—and nothing short of magical—they found the property of their dreams.  By the end of that year, they were the proud owners of a charming little cottage on a lovely piece of  property just outside of town.

After some remodeling and several trips back and forth, the property was ready.  They sold just about everything they owned and in May 2008, they moved to Cotacachi with 8 suitcases filled with what was left of their personal belongings.  They now live in a beautiful setting between two  picturesque mountains that not only foster a healthy, stress-free lifestyle, but is perfect for the publishing business they have since started in Ecuador.

Over the last 30 years, Nancy has taught self-empowering principles and their practical application in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Europe.  In 2003, she and her husband founded Quantum Living Institute through which they teach.  They recently returned from Europe where they presented a two-day seminar on personal transformation.  Nancy is the author of two mini-books, Quantum Living, Keys for Transformational Change and Ascent Back to God.

She has a Bachelors degree in the Liberal Arts with a concentration in Peace and Conflict Resolution.  As part of her studies in Peace and Conflict Resolution, she traveled to the Middle East to Israel, Gaza, and the Golan Heights, meeting and discoursing with Israelis and Palestinians on their perspectives and hopes and dreams for a peaceful future—an experience she describes as life-changing.  Nancy is a teacher of Hatha Yoga, and has studied many of the Eastern mystical paths.  She has TOEFL  certification for teaching English as a foreign language, and during her first school year in Cotacachi, volunteered her services in one of the underprivileged preschools.  Nancy brings creativity and a unique integrated perspective in her presentations that participants find to be both practical and personally transforming.

She says:

Ecuador is the perfect environment for getting away from it all, relaxing, and at the same time reenergizing your life.  The people here and the relaxed lifestyle invite us to reassess how we live our everyday lives.  When we moved to Ecuador, some of our friends were fearful and thought it was too big of a change.  They asked, “What if you don’t like it?”  Our answer, “Then we’ll do something else.”

Unfortunately we sometimes forget that we have choices and that change can be, and usually is, healthy when we embrace it.  I look forward to sharing the principles of living that I have found to be self-empowering, and that have the potential to transform a stressful life into a healthy, fulfilled life, no matter where you live or what your life circumstances may be.

Ladies, can we talk?  This is a workshop we designed for you.  Whether you are young, old or like most of us, somewhere in between, we wanted to put together a unique experience for you.  We will help you stretch your boundaries, do some things totally out of the ordinary and create lasting memories.  I’ve talked to many ladies who are interested in traveling to Ecuador, but hesitant to go on their own.  Well, this is your time.

Nancy Showalter is a great example of living the “age is just a number” lifestyle.  She will share her secrets with us for staying active, trim and happy.  We will show you easy ways to switch out unhealthy habits for beneficial ones.  Adding just a few healthy habits to your lifestyle can have a major impact.

Since Nancy and I designed this workshop, we added some of our favorite things!

How about some pampering at the luxurious LaMirage spa?  We included a full treatment for each delegate.  You will get to choose from their menu of options:   the Lavender treatment, Cleopatra’s milk bath, the Kofan Amazon herbal treatment, Ecuadorian hot stone energy treatment, or the Kissed by Angels treatment are just a few of the choices.  The gardens surrounding the spa, guarded by resident peacocks, are filled with hummingbirds visiting the thousands of colorful, tropical blossoms.  You will feel like you’ve been transported to a slice of paradise.  It’s a wonderful escape.

We will do some sightseeing and we’ll travel to some local restaurants, off the tourist track,  but well known to locals for their spectacular setting and delicious meals.

As a special treat, we will participate in a sacred ceremony with our local Shamana.  She will bless us with good health, good fortune and happiness.

And, of course, we’ll sneak in a little time for shopping, you can’t be this close to the Otavalo Market and not visit!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention the volcanic hot springs!  It’s one of my all time favorite places on earth, high up on a tranquil mountain side with unbelievable views.

As you can see, we will be busy, but we wanted you to spend a few days with us and leave with wonderful memories, new insights, new friends and a renewed sense of adventure.

The workshop will be held September 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 2010 (Monday through Friday).  We will provide transportation back to Quito on the evening of September 24.

The price is $599/single or $949/double.  We encourage you to bring sisters, moms, daughters, grandmothers, friends and have offered a generous discount for two.  We are not excluding men, but we are encouraging the ladies.

Included in the tour:  all transportation during the tour, including pickup in Quito on September 20 and return to Quito September 24, all admission charges, LaMirage Spa treatment, lectures, ceremonies, everything except accommodations and meals.

Not included:  accommodations, meals other than breakfast which is included at Land of the Sun Inn.

Please contact me at bonnie@garyascott.com if you have questions.

One of our staff at Inn Land of the Sun… Eduardo proves this all the time. If he has served you… you know… his always ready smile and incredible desire to make you happy.

Now Eduardo is in the hospital.

Here I am with Eduardo at the hotel.

I am hoping you can help me put a smile on his face.  Not with money.  I am not asking for a donation.  We pay our staff really well and take care of them… so just an email will do.

One of the great joys in Ecuador are the wonderful people which is why we donated the hotel (years ago).   It is totally owned by a charitable foundation started by Joe Cox Esq., Joe Spano MD, Merri and myself.

See www.landofthesun.org

In our years of making donations down here, we have learned a lot about giving.

There are people here who are homeless and not totally competent. They need help and we feed them.

Many children need help and we have organized and funded a children’s lending library.  We have enjoyed 300 plus children, teenagers and campesinos all who have learned English free here at the hotel.

Then there are those who wish to work but cannot find employment. LOTS main goal is to create true employment. We run the hotel and employ a number of people plus fund free English courses and send free computers so locals can compete from Cotacachi in other markets with their computer skills.

All proceeds from the profits of the hotel go to programs such as feeding the poor, the library, teaching English and computer skills, providing scholarships (right now there are a dozen young people finishing their education in private schools, college and universities through LOTS) and creating employment.

WE DO NOT MAKE A PENNY FROM THE OPERATION OF THE HOTEL.  Everything goes to provide scholarships and jobs in Ecuador.

We also put the café to charitable use in other ways. We have one program working with the museum next door.  The curators of the museum bring in school classes and giving them a tour and lecture about history of Cotacachi.  These children get to experience all of the exhibits in the gorgeous former municipal palace. We then feed them lunch.

Many of these children have never eaten in restaurants before.

Here are some of the kids. They enjoy the education and the food!

and they have fun.

All this is made more wonderful by the genuine smiles of our food servers, Eduardo and Consuelo.

Since Eduardo is always giving us smiles, now that he is having a hard time in the hospital with a gastric problem we want to send him some smiles… so we say “Get Well Eduardo!”

I have asked Franklin to print this and take it to Eduardo. 

Please send your well wishes to Eduardo via Franklin at hotel.landofsun@gmail.com

He’ll take them along with our best wishes for a fast recovery.  I know a stack of  best wishes from the many he has served… just knowing how appreciated he is the best medicine he could ever have and deserves.

Thank you,

Gary

Gain health and wealth benefits also.  Our Super Thinking + Spanish course goes way beyond just learning to speak Spanish.

There is a way to learn Spanish that enhances health and wealth. I call it Super thinking + Spanish. This program was created by Merri using three secrets gained from years in language schools followed by 42 years of  living around the world.

Super Thinking + Spanish courses are taught at the…

Mt. Dora’s Lakeside Inn listed on the
 National Historic Register, that has continuously 
operated as an inn for more than 125 years, 
the oldest operating inn in Central Florida.

The Lakeside Inn is located 40 miles Northwest of Orlando
 in Mount Dora… our Florida shopping town and known as 
the “New England” of Central Florida.

Creativity, humanitarianism and prosperity come in many forms, but all of them require three things, understanding, communications and inspiration.

Here are shots of delegates at a recent  Super Thinking Plus Spanish course in Mt. Dora, Florida.

Spanish is the second largest language in the world. Chances are a huge Spanish speaking population lives near you. Yet our language system did not teach us how to communicate with or understand this culture.

Learning Spanish is valuable and important.  Now there is way, to enjoy a long weekend in the Florida sun as you learn Spanish at a very affordable price.

Here are the 40 delegates at this course enjoying a coffee break.  Delegates help each other learn.  They came from all over the world…  The USA, Canada, Europe…even South Africa. Sri Lanka & China.

To learn in the sun is fun!  Enjoy a week of direct sunlight and solve one of the biggest communications problems that faces a great deal of the English speaking civilization.

The course has two or three instructors. Each Super Thinking Plus Spanish course has at least two teachers… one teaching the Super Thinking science and one native Spanish speaker… sometimes two teach the Spanish.   Don Childs was our Spanish teacher at this course. Here is Don.

Don & Merri. A delegate just created a great sentence. Congratulations!

Merri and I will teach the science at our next course along with Don Childs our native Spanish speaker.

Unlock the power of your untapped knowledge.

There are numerous little known, but scientifically proven ways to enhance the speed, accuracy and efficiency of your decision making process for greater wealth, health and happiness. In just four days you can gain almost amazing learning skills.  Plus you become skilled in Spanish as a bonus.

In just four days?

Sound too good to be true?

Here is the photo of the white board at a Super Thinking plus Spanish course written by a delegate who did know a lick of Spanish just three days before.   Delegates were creating, speaking and understanding sentences like this after just four days.

This is not a gimmick nor a trick. At least three best selling books, Superlearning, the Mozart Effect and Superlearning 2000 have revealed insights about how we can learn and think more powerfully based on systems drawn from the Bulgarian, Dr. Georgi Lozanov.

In 1980 Superlearning sold over two million copies and showed how the Lozanov learning system blended long-tested sciences of yoga with contemporary physiology and psychology so people could learn faster and better.

This book exposed this fact and made the system so popular that Dr. Lozanov was allowed to visit the US from Bulgaria to teach this system to just a very few people so they could pass on this vital information on how to learn and think in a more natural, powerful way so we can enjoy life and enhanced memory more.

Merri was among those few who learned how and is licensed to teach the Lozanov system from this Bulgarian master. She has organized a practical course on how to learn faster and better.

With her modified system, you will learn how to think and learn more powerfully in just four days. To prove how good you will be with this process, you learn Spanish as a side benefit.

The learning system you gain expands on Dr. Lozanov’s original work and offers new insights into tapping human potential, drawing from ancient and modern tactics for quick learning such as subliminal memory, music, nutrition, and productivity.

There are three scientific reasons why this course will change your learning capacity forever (and help you speak Spanish in just four days).

First you learn how to evoke the power of the senses thus super-charging memory. Ever hear a song from twenty, thirty or forty years past and in a snap know all the words, the tune and remember with who and where your heard it decades ago? Learn how to use ten cycle music to gain almost super human thinking powers.

Dr. Lozanov was totally committed to learning without stress, to enjoy the thrill of relaxed, leisurely learning. These are just two, whole learning, super-thinking tactics you gain at this course.

What is your desire? Do you want to speak Spanish, French, German, Chinese or any language? Would you like to golf better or accomplish more in school? Would you like to easily, quickly zip through projects, chores, reports? Merri’s “Super Thinking” course can help you learn any subject two-to-five times faster, in exciting and innovative ways.

The techniques you gain will help unlock the quantum potential we all possess. This evolutionary program shows how certain types of music can enhance learning and how even altered nutrition can make you a startling 25 percent smarter, how subliminal messages can increase your energy and thinking process, plus much, much more.

Merri’s system follows and builds upon what was taught in the Superlearning, the Mozart Effect and Superlearning 2000 books plus includes techniques and strategies that she has gained in her 42 years of global travel and study with educational masters around the world.

This is a course that shows you how to increase your mental power to better succeed in the 21st century when we can otherwise be overwhelmed by information.

The system you gain is built from old and new sources ranging from yoga to contemporary Russian science, and ultimate zone training already used by many Olympic champions.

“Super Thinking plus Spanish” presents new ways to use music to supercharge your mind. The knowledge you gain about smart food and super nutrition allows you to enhance productivity and creativity.

The tactics you gain enhance your ability to absorb… retain and recall information.

Once these concepts of enhancing your mental powers with music are understood, you will know how to create your own program and build new skills at work in study and play.

Second you gain seventeen, easy to use learning techniques that can help you gain any romantic language in much less time than traditional learning techniques.

Why Spanish?

Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. Chances are a huge Spanish speaking population lives south of and around you. Yet our North American language system did not teach us how to communicate with or understand this culture. We can all do with a bit of Spanish.

Yet who has the time?

You do! Fluency in a language is considered to come when you know 1,200 words. To prove that it is possible to gain this and much more, let me share just one of the 17 tactics Merri taught me that gives you thousands of Spanish words in less than three minutes.

Here are the thousands of Spanish words lesson #1:

All words in Spanish and English that end in ION are almost identical,  just pronounced differently. For example action is accion, education educacion, manipulation, manipulacion, etc.

Now you already literally know hundreds of Spanish nouns. This is just one of seventeen Spanish lessons you gain. The next lesson teaches you how to pronounce each of these nouns. Then you learn in a third lesson almost as many verbs, almost as quickly.

Third, you learn how to avoid conjugating verbs by sticking with the infinitive (far easier than it sounds). This simple lesson leaves you sounding like a Spanish professor (believe me I know as I use this tactic every day when in Ecuador).

There are many other lessons. For example lesson five shows how to sound infinitely polite and yet get almost anything you want in Spanish. Lesson six gives you the valuable connectors and the seventh lesson triples your Spanish capacity with yesterday, now and tomorrow.

By the end of the four day course you will feel quite comfortable speaking Spanish without stress!

Yet your Spanish will just be one result from learning how to think better!  You will be able to use your new learning powers in amazing ways. For example this attendee at our last course wrote:

“Hi Gary & Merri, You two are the BEST!!! Your Seminar was fantastic! I am so excited. I

had procrastinated fulfilling my continuing education for my Broker’s License and then just before my surgeries, I realized by expiration date isn’t Nov. 12th – it is Sept 12th. Well, as you can see prior to taking your course I had only completed 3 units of the required 45 units. I thought I would take your course and then complete my remaining 42 units over the next 2 weeks. However, I took one class exam on Saturday night, August 27th. I didn’t even take the cellophane off the required Course manuals until after I saw the two of you today less than 5 hours ago! I used your techniques and completed 39 units of continuing education today. I have now completed all 45 units. All of my test scores were in the 90.6-96% range. My course exam information is listed below. I just wanted to let you know how valuable your course was to me. Thanks again!” Suzy Kurinsky

Travel, accommodations and food are not included.

Gary

Super Thinking + Spanish November 4-7 2010

Course for one $799. Order here

Course for two $999. Order here

Ecuador Export Exhibition

Bonnie Keough will conduct an Ecuador export exhibition at this Mr Dora Super Thinking + Spanish course.

Here are Ecuador exports that Bonnie Keogh (who leads Ecuador export tours) displayed at a previous Mt. Dora Spanish course.

One of the most powerful economic forces of the past century that will be with us for quite some time is the expansion of the global economy.

Participating in this expansion can be fun, fulfilling and profitable.  Creating any type of cross border business activity… in ideas, products or services… is an export type business.

This is a way to earn income as well as help the world… people engaged in enriching their lives do not have time to fight!

At our Super Thinking, Plus Spanish Courses in Florida… we include an Ecuador export table set up by Bonnie Keough, who leads export tours.

Here is delegate Barbara Humphrey taking a look at a previous Spanish course.

She found some jewelry she liked!

Bonnie provides a perfect example of the benefits of earning through exports.  She enjoys extra income… loves having a chance to travel to new interesting countries and learned how to create niche markets to sell her exports.

Her exports help create employment for poor people in Ecuador and…

include jewelry…

handmade soaps and…

food supplements.

Ecuador roses and…

lilies.

Here are some of the products that Bonnie imports herself including…

organic chocolate.

textiles and…

knitted jackets are good sellers plus…

low cost jewelry out of vegetable ivory.

Beads have good markups.

Handbags of leather and…

cloth are also good.

Organic coffee make excellent Ecuador exports.

This exhibition with Bonnie’s assistance can help you learn how to earn in Spanish speaking countries as you learn to speak Spanish in just four days.

Whether your goal is to reduce your cost of living… increase your income… enhance the return on your investments or all, being able to speak Spanish… enhances your opportunity and does the world good.

Super Thinking + Spanish November 4-7 2010

Course for one $799. Order here

Course for two $999. Order here

Learn Ecuador Cooking

We also invite delegates to our home to learn some Ecuador quinoa cooking.

Here I am arriving at our house with Don Childs (our US Spanish instructor) and delegates during our last Mt. Dora Super Thinking + Spanish course.

We lived with shamans for several years to learn Andean shamanic nutrition secrets and…

we worked extensively with the chef Santiago of the restaurant Quinoa Cafe at our Inn in Ecuador to create a quinoa menu. Here I am using Merri’s recipe for…

quinoa chocolate pancakes.

Here…

are…

delegates at…

a previous course…

learning and enjoying…

the benefits of…

quinoa…

cooking and…

quinoa eating.

Super Thinking + Spanish November 4-7 2010

Course for one $799. Order here

Course for two $999. Order here

Lose Weight and Inches

See an example from this man…

how quinoa cooking and our Super Thinking + Spanish course can enhance your health and wealth as well as help you speak Spanish.

The ability to speak Spanish… even if you never leave the US is valuable in this day and age.   Spanish opens access to a good labor force and helps you communicate with a useful part of the American population.

Beyond Spanish… knowledge is bliss. Ignorance is dangerous in these times of rapid change.  The more knowledge we can absorb, retain and recall… the better our chances of success… higher income… less stress…. better health and more fulfillment.

So it’s little wonder that the attendance at our Super Thinking + Spanish and Quantum Wealth courses have grown dramatically.   Our changing world not only reinforces the need to speak Spanish but also requires us to be smarter.

Our Quantum Wealth and Super Thinking plus Spanish courses are among the few I know that not only share valuable information but help the delegates become smarter so they absorb, retain and recall the education more effectively.  The course does this through the power of music… a power we all already have within.

The science behind this has been explained by Austrian scientist, Karl Pribram.

According to Wikepedia: Pribam is a professor at Georgetown University , and an emeritus professor of psychology and psychiatry at Stanford University and Radford University.

Pribram tries to explain this power we all have within in scientific terms.

Pribam is  a neurosurgeon, who pioneered work on defining the power of our limbic systems, the relationship of the frontal cortex to the limbic system, the sensory-specific “association” cortex of the parietal and temporal lobes, and the classical motor cortex of the human brain.   He is also known for his development of the holonomic brain model of cognitive function and his contribution to ongoing neurological research into memory, emotion, motivation and consciousness.

What the heck is a holonomic brain model?

The answer to that, I fear, is beyond me. An excerpt from the research paper entitled  “Comparison between Karl Pribram’s “Holographic Brain Theory” and more conventional models of neuronal computation”  by Jeff Prideaux might explains why the understanding is complex.

The excerpt says:  Karl Pribram’s holonomic theory reviews evidence that the dendritic processes function to take a “spectral” transformation of the “episodes of perception”. This transformed “spectral” information is stored distributed over large numbers of neurons. When the episode is remembered, an inverse transformation occurs that is also a result of dendritic processes. It is the process of transformation that gives us conscious awareness.

Pribram says that both time and spectral information are simultaneously stored in the brain. He also draws attention to a limit with which both spectral and time values can be concurrently determined in any measurement (Pribram, 1991). This uncertainty describes a fundamental minimum defined by Gabor in 1946 (the inventor of the hologram) as a quantum of information. Dendritic microprocessing is conceived (by Pribram) to take advantage of this uncertainty relation to achieve optimal information processing. Pribram then says that the brain operates as a “dissipative structure” where the brain continually self-organizes to minimize this uncertainty. The next few sections will attempt to explain the concept of the “uncertainty principle” and the concept of “dissipative structures” that self-organize.

The Uncertainty Principle

Quantum Physics

In quantum physics, the uncertainty principle can be described in the following way (paraphrased from Pagels, 1982): Consider that you have a device that can simultaneously measure the position and momentum of a single electron. Every time you push a button, the device displays numerical values for the position and momentum. Although, each time you press the button, you will get slightly different measurements for the momentum and position. If enough measurements are taken, then a statistical analysis can be performed. Heisenberg defined the term delta q as indicating the spread or uncertainty of the position measurements around some average value and delta p as indicating the spread or uncertainty of the momentum measurements around some average value (for the series of measurements). He then found that (delta q)x(delta p)>=h where h is Plank’s constant. For a series of measurements, the positions can be expressed as an average +/- some uncertainty. Likewise for the momentum. No matter how good one makes a quantum measuring device, the products of the uncertainties can never be less than Planks constant. For example, if you could build a measuring device that exactly determined the position (where delta q = 0) then you would not be able to determine anything about the momentum (delta p = infinity). There is a similar uncertainty relation for the energy of a particle and the elapsed time. For a series of measurements, the product of the uncertainty of the energy (delta E) and the uncertainty of the elapsed time is always greater or equal to Planks constant. (delta E)x(delta t)>=h.

Communication theory

In communication theory, a variation on the uncertainty principle also holds (Gabor, 1946). The measurement of the frequency can be made with arbitrary precision. Likewise, the measurement of the time of occurrence can be made with arbitrary precision. But there is a limit to the precision when these measurements are taken simultaneously. One can exactly measure either the frequency (of for example a tone) or the time (of occurrence) but not both at the same time. For instance, if the time of occurrence were known (indicating an impulse function) there would be frequency components all up and down the spectrum. If, on the other hand, the frequency information was exactly known, one would not know any information about when it occurred. A single peak (or peak pair if you consider the corresponding negative frequency) in the spectrum implies that the tone has infinite extent in the time domain. Analogously to the quantum uncertainty principle, when frequency and temporal measurements are made simultaneously, there is a limit to the precision possible. Pribram claims that the brain functions as a dissipative structure to seek to decrease this uncertainty in the direction of its theoretical limit.

Dissipative Structures

The second law of thermodynamics holds that the entropy always increases in any isolated system (figure 10). This simply means that if something is left to itself, it will move towards equilibrium…it will move towards maximal disorder…its internal energy state will tend to be minimized. There has not been, to date, any confirmed observation that this law is invalid.

I have printed this report and read it and read it… but it still has not sunk in.

However I am getting some clues about how our mind works.

The first clue is that we do not have “a mind”.

Primbam when asked in an interview about the mind said:

Well, I don’t like the term the mind, because it reifies — that means it makes a thing of — something that’s a process. We pay attention, we see, we hear. Those are all mental processes, mental activities. But there isn’t a thing called the mind. There might be something you want to call yourself, but the mind sort of makes something concrete out of something that’s very multifaceted.

This clue is that our mind is not a thing… but a process that takes place in the brain.. body and maybe elsewhere…. at some quantum level.

Life is a continual learning process so anything we do to improve that process is vital to success, fulfillment happiness and reduction of stress.

The second clue is that this never ending process can be dramatically improved by certain types of music.

A study at the AARE entitled THE EFFECTS OF RELAXATION TRAINING ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT AND
STRESS IN PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS AND TEACHERS : WORK IN PROGRESS  by Anthony M. Owens Phillip Institute of Technology outlines the mportance of music.

The AARE is the Australian Association for Research in Education, the Australian  national association for fostering educational research in Australia.  AARE facilitates contact between educational researchers and supports the development of high quality educational research.

Here are excerpts from this study (bolds are mine):  In his discussion of the historical development of holonomic brain theory Pribram (1986) stated that all “the evidence is coming.  Not only at the neuropsychological level, but at the psychophysical and psychological level, the behavioural level and in quantum physics (there) is a real paradigm shift away from Euclidean geometry that allows for crazy things, even like hypnosis to be so (p.73).”   To many scientists this may appear to be very “soft science” but Pribram appears to believes that the distinction between soft and hard science is not as relevant any more as he sees many fields to be moving in the same direction and the final proof of brain theory will be “mathematically so precise that…there is just no stopping it.”

This study fits into the psychological and behavioural levels that Pribram was talking about.  When I started this type of research I had a notion that if a person had some control over their own behaviour and they were able to be in command of their state of consciousness and never be out of control, they would be operating at a rhythm which would be optimal for them.

By gaining the skill to relax at will and thereby alter the state of consciousness, both students and teachers can to some extent gain more control over their own behavior. It was the theory that not only would the fact of the control of their own body and behavior be a positive force but also that  the knowledge, derived from consistent results over a period of time, that they had this control would gradually become even more powerful as it affected their self-concept and self-esteem.   Theoretically, the effect of their new skill would then permeate and generalize to many related and unrelated areas of behavior and relationships.

An important part of the theory was that all negative, violent, and antisocial behavior took place when a person was “out of rhythm” and behaving in response to the external environment. Each teacher was provided a set of tapes with 14 tracks, a manual with directions for tape use and a set of tape scripts.   Each of the tracks on the tapes contained the voice of the experimenter and relaxing music.

The results from the study were positive.

Enough science.  Let’s see some examples.   Meet Jim Reed.

Jim is a retired airline pilot who moved to Ecuador a year ago and lived in our Casa Blanca condos for the last year.  He has become an Ecuador resident and is building a house nearby.   I interviewed him on one of our trips to Cotacachi.

Like so many others I have spoken with who have attended our Super Thinking + Spanish course… he claims to be much happier… more relaxed and has become healthier, shedding medication and weight.

Jim lost 55 pounds in the last year and, as reported by so many… without trying… without eating less… without any feeling of deprivation.

One fact that many who enjoyed wonderful positive changes when they have attended our Super thinking course is they learned to use music in a very specific way to reach the quantum states of their intellect.

Music carries universal messages of emotion that go beyond cultural distinctions and learned experience.

A March 2009 report by World Science entitled “Language of music may really be universal”  says:  Na­tive Af­ri­cans who have nev­er lis­tened to the ra­dio be­fore can none­the­less pick up on hap­py, sad, and fear­ful emo­tions in West­ern mu­sic, ac­cord­ing to a new re­port. The re­sult shows that the ex­pres­sion of those three bas­ic emo­tions in mu­sic can be un­iver­sally rec­og­nized, the re­search­ers said. Stud­ies found that both West­ern and Mafia lis­ten­ers, who had nev­er be­fore heard West­ern mu­sic, could rec­og­nize emo­tion­al ex­pres­sions of hap­pi­ness, sad­ness, and fear in the mu­sic more of­ten than would be ex­pected by chance. 

“These emo­tion­al ex­pres­sions con­veyed by the West­ern mu­sical ex­cerpts can be un­iver­sally rec­og­nized,” the re­search­ers wrote, “si­m­i­lar to the largely un­iver­sal rec­og­ni­tion of hu­man emo­tion­al fa­cial ex­pres­sion and emo­tion­al prosody.” Pros­o­dy refers to the rhythm, stress, and in­tona­t­ion of con­nect­ed speech.

A three minute example of this human connection is the song “Don’t Worry Be Happy” where 10-time Grammy Award winner Bobby McFerrin’s uses audiences to prove the chart-topper. This song is one of the most popular songs of the late 20th century.

A video of this states: Music is just “in there”…hard wired… in our being and just needs tapping into.

This is why Super Thinking works…  the course goes beyond teaching and taps into wisdom and intelligence that is already WITHIN!

As the speed of change increases… so to does our need for knowledge and the ability absorb, retain, recall and use what we learn in effective ways.

Meri and I hope you’ll join us in Mt. Dora Florida this November.

Super Thinking + Spanish November 4-7 2010

Course for one $799. Order here

Course for two $999. Order here

Many Andean villages and cities are at 7,000 to 10,000 feet altitude. The village of Cotacachi is 7,500 feet and is at the foot of Mt Imbabura (seen above from the center of Cotacachi) which is over 15,000 feet.

We support the idea that micro businesses should be profitable, good for owners, employees, customers and society now and in the future… green… humanitarian… fair trade…  at least.

We believe in self fulfillment…  and that business should be fun and can be unusual… funky… even off the wall and that there are many ways to earn in Ecuador.

One crazy idea we have promoted for years… to no avail is to create a high altitude training camp. There are many hotels, hosterias and large houses ideal for a training camp… that can be purchased for really low prices.

Now reader Phil Ware confirms that when you train at altitude like this you get lungs like bellows and legs of steel.

Phil just ran a marathon in Brazil after training in Cotacachi.

He wrote:  I wanted to send a quick note on the results of the marathon.  The race went very well, I finished in 3:34:10 well ahead of my goal of 4:00.  The altitude and hill training in Ecuador really helped.

It was a nice course in the countryside of Brazil.  The race started in a small town outside of Dourados and ran along a 2 lane highway with corn fields on either side.  The weather was sunny and dry.  Eliane was a great support team for me providing water and carbo gel along the course.  I was in a great rhythm averaging 5 minutes per kilometer for the first 30k, then slowed down a bit the last 12k.  My 26th marathon was a great experience with a bonus of making the Boston Marathon Qualifying time of 3:35.

See more ideas on how to earn with a micro business that may spark an idea for you to earn in Ecuador or anywhere in the world. Click here.

Gary

There are three e-courses that can help you develop a micro business that can help you earn anywhere you live in the world.

International Business Made EZ

Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher

Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Create Your Own Internet Business

July Special… just 11 days left.

Enroll in our October Quantum Wealth course October 7-10, 2010 or any of the Ecuador real estate tours below and choose one of the three $299 courses above for free.

Pre enroll for our October 7-10 North Carolina Course click here for details.

See Ecuador tours for August, September, October, November and December below.

Learn more about how to invest and do business abroad.

Find ways  to have more fun as you earn more in investing and business. Join Merri and me with Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Management, Jean Marie Butterlin, who we support to conduct Ecuador real estate and shamanic tours,  and Bonnie Keough who we support to conduct Ecuador export tours at our upcoming Quantum Wealth – International Business & Investing Course October in West Jefferson North Carolina. Click here for details.

You enjoy discounts by attending multiple seminars and tours.

Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Ecuador Shamanic Minga

Sept.   2-6   Ecuador Export Tour

Sept.   8-9  Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Sept. 11-12  Coastal Real Estate Tour

Sept. 14-15-16 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Oct.  7 Quantum Wealth plus International Investing and Business North Carolina

Oct.   8-10   International Investing & Business North Carolina
Oct.   11-12  Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Oct.  13-14   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Oct.  16-17   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Oct.  19-20   Quito Real Estate Tour
Oct. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Nov.    4-7   Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida
Nov.    8-9   Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Nov. 10-11    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 13-14    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Nov. 16-17    Quito Real Estate
Nov. 19-20    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Dec.   3-5    Ecuador Shamanic Mingo
Dec.   7-8    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Dec.  10-11   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Dec. 13-14    Quito Real Estate Tour
Dec. 16-17    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

By Jean Marie Butterlin

Here is a nice business opportunity in Otavalo, a hosteria for sale in Otavalo in a scenic environment.

Delegates on our latest Imbabura real estate tour saw this unique business opportunity, that just came on the market.

This hosteria is just eight minutes ride from the center of Otavalo in a bucolic environment on 1.2 acres of land.

Delegates…

on…

our…

last…

Imbabura…

real estate tour saw this…

opportunity to…

own…

a hosteria in…

Otavalo.

The hosteria has 10 beautifull rooms all with baths (certain rooms have 3 or 4 beds). The grounds are in a magnificient setting with one building for meeting/seminars and another for entertainment (ping-pong, billard etc…) plus a building to house the manager and a big laundry room.  There is also plenty of room for a pool.

The hosteria has an average  50% occupancy rate right now and without counting the income generated by the restaurant, there could be a nice return on investment.  There is a young manager who speaks perfect English.  There is also a marketing man who does most of the marketing mainly through the internet and through travel agencies in Quito.

I did not get the books but some general figures are that the income is about $5,000 a month right now, with about $2,500 of expenses including the manager and its 5 employee salaries, which would net about $2,500.   The restaurant’s income is extra.

The hosteria is booked in August already at 50% capacity.

The asking price is $350,000. Some of our delegates liked it and have interesting ideas like to make it into an assisted living home or use the seminar room to make a Spa with IR sauna, massage room and steam bath.

The Spa concept sells very well here in Ecuador and is always a plus.

Jean Marie Butterlin

There are three e-courses that can help you develop a micro business that can help you earn anywhere you live in the world.

International Business Made EZ

Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher

Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Create Your Own Internet Business

July Special… just 11 days left.

Enroll in our October Quantum Wealth course October 7-10, 2010 or any of the Ecuador real estate tours below and choose one of the three $299 courses above for free.

Pre enroll for our October 7-10 North Carolina Course click here for details.

See Ecuador tours for August, September, October, November and December below.

Learn more about how to invest and do business abroad.

Find ways  to have more fun as you earn more in investing and business. Join Merri and me with Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Management, Jean Marie Butterlin, who we support to conduct Ecuador real estate and shamanic tours,  and Bonnie Keough who we support to conduct Ecuador export tours at our upcoming Quantum Wealth – International Business & Investing Course October in West Jefferson North Carolina. Click here for details.

You enjoy discounts by attending multiple seminars and tours.

Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Ecuador Shamanic Minga

Sept.   2-6   Ecuador Export Tour

Sept.   8-9  Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Sept. 11-12  Coastal Real Estate Tour

Sept. 14-15-16 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Oct.  7 Quantum Wealth plus International Investing and Business North Carolina

Oct.   8-10   International Investing & Business North Carolina
Oct.   11-12  Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Oct.  13-14   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Oct.  16-17   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Oct.  19-20   Quito Real Estate Tour
Oct. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Nov.    4-7   Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida
Nov.    8-9   Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Nov. 10-11    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 13-14    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Nov. 16-17    Quito Real Estate
Nov. 19-20    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Dec.   3-5    Ecuador Shamanic Mingo
Dec.   7-8    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Dec.  10-11   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Dec. 13-14    Quito Real Estate Tour
Dec. 16-17    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

By Bonnie Keough

One of the questions I’m often asked about the suitcase importing tour is how do I find the places we visit.  Well, for me, that’s a fun challenge. 

 When I’m in Ecuador, I’m constantly on the lookout for new workshops and artists.   The places we visit on the Export Expedition are definitely not in the tourist books.

We are welcomed into people’s homes, shops and studios.   We bypass any middleman or wholesaler and our delegates deal directly with the owner who,  along with other family members, is usually also the manufacturer.

I’ve found that everyone who grew up in the area knows someone or has a relative who makes something.  It might not always be something appropriate for our groups, but they might know someone who makes something that is appropriate.  It’s a treasure hunt of sorts.   When I’m searching for new workshops, I start the day with a plan in mind, but who knows where we’ll  end up.  It’s always an adventure.

On one of my trips about three years ago,   I decided to track down a poncho maker I had heard about.  He made a different type of poncho, plaids, softer fabrics and more modern in design.  He lived in a village close to Cotacachi.  I didn’t have an address, just his town.   But heck, it’s a small village,  I figured someone in town will know who and where he is.

So, we (I usually find a friend or two up for an adventure) jumped in a taxi with one of our loyal drivers and off we went.   Our drivers have the patience of  saints, thank goodness.

When we got to the village, we drove around while the driver asked people on the street if they knew where the poncho maker lived!    After a lot of odd looks and many shaking of their heads,  we were finally directed to an older lady walking on the street.   I can only imagine what the poor women thought when a car full of strangers  pulled up next to her as she walked and started asking her about ponchos!  Once she realized we were interested in buying her wares, she told us to follow her home.  So, as she hoofed it as fast as possible, we trailed along curbside!   As soon as she opened her door, I knew we had found the poncho maker that I had looked for!  We enjoyed buying and selling those ponchos for a year or so…and somehow just dropped out of the picture.

Several months ago I decided to go back to that village and track down the poncho maker again.

Same method, probably same taxi driver.  The workshop was no longer there, so we started asking people on the street where we could find the poncho maker.  We were directed to a house on the hill.

Chickens scurried across our path as we knocked on the door.  An older indigenous man answered, a surprised look crossed his face when he saw the unusual

entourage gathered at his doorstep.

After a brief explanation, he welcomed us inside. It was perfect.   A family workshop that produced  good quality handwoven wool ponchos and rugs from start to finish!

By that I mean they spin their own yarns, dye them, weave the fabric and then sew the fabric into ponchos.  The rugs are their own designs.

Several large shuttle looms were in use in a nearby room, no electric looms here.

The owner told us he sells his wares to many of the vendors in Otavalo market.

We found the perfect poncho maker to add to our upcoming expedition list!

The family makes bright, colorful striped ponchos and

traditional designs in natural colors.

Sunday is a family day in Ecuador, but even our tour visit fell on a Sunday, we were still invited into their workshop.  The whole family, with 12 children and many grandchildren, was there to welcome us.

Everyone greeted us!

The children were dressed in their Sunday finest and

charmed us with their smiles.

The delegates had a great time, some bought ponchos, others bought rugs, purses, dolls, scarves and hats.

Children learn from their parents and grandparents.  All ages contribute to the family.

This was one of many memorable stops on our tour and I now have the address of the poncho maker and family!  Hope to see you down there for our next Export Expedition in September!

Bonnie

bonnie@garyascott.com

We provide three e-courses that can help you develop a micro business that can help you earn anywhere you live in the world.

International Business Made EZ

Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher

Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Create Your Own Internet Business

July Special.  Save $299.

Enroll in our October Quantum Wealth course October 7-10, 2010 or any of the Ecuador real estate tours below and choose one of the three $299 courses above for free.

Pre enroll for our October 7-10 North Carolina Course click here for details.

See Ecuador tours for August, September, October, November and December below.

Learn more about how to invest and do business abroad.

Find ways  to have more fun as you earn more in investing and business. Join Merri and me with Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Management, Jean Marie Butterlin, who conducts the Ecuador real estate and shamanic tours, and Bonnie Keough who conducts Ecuador export tours at our upcoming Quantum Wealth – International Business & Investing Course October in West Jefferson North Carolina. Click here for details.

You enjoy discounts by attending multiple seminars and tours.

Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Ecuador Shamanic Minga

Sept.   2-6   Ecuador Export Tour

Sept.   8-9  Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Sept. 11-12  Coastal Real Estate Tour

Sept. 14-15-16 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Oct.  7 Quantum Wealth plus International Investing and Business North Carolina

Oct.   8-10   International Investing & Business North Carolina
Oct.   11-12  Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Oct.  13-14   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Oct.  16-17   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Oct.  19-20   Quito Real Estate Tour
Oct. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Nov.    4-7   Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida
Nov.    8-9   Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Nov. 10-11    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 13-14    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Nov. 16-17    Quito Real Estate
Nov. 19-20    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Dec.   3-5    Ecuador Shamanic Mingo
Dec.   7-8    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Dec.  10-11   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Dec. 13-14    Quito Real Estate Tour
Dec. 16-17    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

I cooked them and…

I ate them.

Chocolate quinoa pancakes are an excellent… and healthy treat.

Actually you’ll see below that almost any form of quinoa pancake can be good.

Good… for what?   Maybe I should explain.

To see why I am mad about pancakes… and not mad at them and to see more about my pancake love affair… quinoa for the protein, Omega 3 and other benefits here before you study the recipe below.

With quinoa to add protein and pure Ecuadorian chocolate, without chemicals and sugar added, there is a good nutrition argument… that these pancakes are good for your health!

A reader recently sent this note.

Hi Gary…really enjoy your columns. Am fascinated with Quinoa. Any chance you could share the recipe for the chocolate quinoa pancakes?

What a wonderful woman… asking me to do something with one of the great loves in my life…. chocolate!  So I grabbed Merri gave her a kiss and murmered in her ear… “Will you help me make some chocolate quinoa pancakes?”

Here we go.  Merri at the camera. Gary at the spatula!

First the qunioa.  We buy it in bulk (it was about $4 a pound) at the health food store in Boone, North Carolina.   If you can’t find it, Jaffee Brothers sells it via the internet at www.organicfruitsandnuts.com

Next, collect the other ingredients which are…

eggs…(we have our own of course!) and all those listed below in recipe style.

1 cup quinoa flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1 cup of organic milk (or 3/4 cup buttermilk and 1/4 cup of milk)

2 eggs

2 tbs. oil  (Merri used walnut oil because of its taste, suitability, and Omega 3 qualities)

1 or 2 huge tbs. of pure chocolate (this can be from the Andes or now believe it or not Hershey’s now has 100% Cacao Special Dark.

Just a smidgen of the simplest form of sugar you can find (in the Andes we use panela-the lowest form of processing) because remember you are probably going to douse the pancakes with honey or pure maple syrup so you don’t need the extra sugar!

Adjust the liquid to the altitude…we live at 3700′ in the Blue Ridge.  Also, remember that flour is used for its fluffiness and lightness…quinoa brings excellent protein but it is heavy…so don’t expect the same lightness of a high carb flour pancake.

Make quinoa flour.  I put the quinoa in our blender. An Ecuador shaman taught us years ago to look for a blender that spins clockwise.  Also when you stir… only do so always clockwise.  This keeps food in balance with the earth and helps digestion.  It is amazing that how strongly the Yatchaks feel about this!  But what is your blender doesn’t blend clockwise?  Well, after blending, pour into a bowl and then use your own wooden spoon and with a good spirit stir briskly for a few minutes clockwise!  From a shamanic point of view, all small and tiny things must come together in harmony and are important.

I make my flour quite fine for a lighter pancake.

Then I mix in the ingredients in a crystal bowl and…

stir… with the right hand…

clockwise.

I ladle the mix onto the griddle…

preheated to 350 degrees.

Wait for the bubbles to pop.  Then flip carefully. Remember quinoa is gluten free so it isn’t full of elasticity and lacks the same stickiness factor as wheat flour, which of course is one reason it is better for you!

I use local sourwood honey on the cooked pancakes after… to sweeten…

the pancake.

Here I am enjoying my quinoa pancake with a cup for French pressed Intag organic coffee.

This is a delicious meal garnished with a honey drizzle, organic whipping cream and fresh strawberries.

Quinoa pancakes without chocolate can be used in many ways.

However you choose to use quinoa pancakes, they add quite a punch of protein…because it contains all the amino acids and is a COMPLETE protein…two of these pancakes would mean bring it to around 5-6 grams of protein, plus each egg is 6 grams of protein, 1 tbsp. of cocoa is another gram.

These quinoa pancakes add protein, vitamins minerals and omega 3 to your diet… a delicious gift from Ecuador and the Andes instead of a pile of fast burning carbohydrates!

We’ll have delegates at our October Quantum wealth and November Super Thinking + Spanish courses come to our home for some quinoa cooking.

See a recipe for Merri’s quinoa strawberry shortcake here.

Gary

We provide three e-courses that can help you develop a micro business that can help you earn anywhere you live in the world.

International Business Made EZ

Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher

Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Create Your Own Internet Business

July Special.

Enroll in our October Quantum Wealth course October 7-10, 2010 or any of the Ecuador real estate tours below and choose one of the three $299 courses above for free.

Pre enroll for our October 7-10 North Carolina Course click here for details.

See Ecuador tours for August, September, October, November and December below.

Learn more about how to invest and do business abroad.

Find ways  to have more fun as you earn more in investing and business. Join Merri and me with Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Management, Jean Marie Butterlin, who we support to conduct Ecuador real estate and shamanic tours,  and Bonnie Keough who we support to conduct Ecuador export tours at our upcoming Quantum Wealth – International Business & Investing Course October in West Jefferson North Carolina. Click here for details.

You enjoy discounts by attending multiple seminars and tours.

Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Ecuador Shamanic Minga

Sept.   2-6   Ecuador Export Tour

Sept.   8-9  Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Sept. 11-12  Coastal Real Estate Tour

Sept. 14-15-16 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Oct.  7 Quantum Wealth plus International Investing and Business North Carolina

Oct.   8-10   International Investing & Business North Carolina
Oct.   11-12  Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Oct.  13-14   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Oct.  16-17   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Oct.  19-20   Quito Real Estate Tour
Oct.  22-23-24 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Nov.    4-7   Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida
Nov.    8-9   Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Nov. 10-11    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 13-14    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Nov. 16-17    Quito Real Estate
Nov. 19-20-21   Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Dec.   3-5    Ecuador Shamanic Mingo
Dec.   7-8    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Dec.  10-11   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Dec. 13-14    Quito Real Estate Tour
Dec. 15-16-17    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Take the example of Lee and Peggy Carper.  They moved to Cotacachi several years ago after two of their friends had visited our hotel in Cotacachi and raved about it on their return.

Lee and Peg are dog lovers and once they settled in they created a foundation to help the dogs in the village.

A dream was born.  A foundation was created to open an animal clinic where stray dogs are fed regularly, treated, spayed or neutered.

One reason why there was an abundance of strays is that often some start off with good intentions when they buy or take on dogs but then find it a struggle to provide for them.

Here is Lee’s first story about living in Ecuador – a community sense of belonging develops as he helps a new found friend he christened “Hairless”.

“A few weeks or so ago while I was staying at Meson de las Flores an almost wild looking dog was walking up the sidewalk and looked very boney and had very little spirit in his eyes.

“I quickly got some dog food and tried to get him to come to me, but he kept a distance of about ten or twelve feet. Realizing he was not going to come close enough to pet him, I dropped a good portion of dog food for him to eat and stepped back far enough that he ate the food quickly and was wanting more.

“After giving him a second helping he ran off and I did not see him for a couple of days.

“Anyways, after a week or so of feeding him off and on, he let me pet him and that is when I saw that 65% to 70% of his hair was missing! I had told my wife about him and as she was in the US she said she was hoping he would be there when she returned to see and help him. Shortly after her return he showed up and she was taken back by his appearance, but by this time he and I were good friends and she saw how affectionate he was and wanted to help him.

“As chance would have it, a local vet across the street had come over and said he needed an innoculation to get rid of certain parasites that were depleating him of nutrition and hair! After finding out it would only cost $2.50 for the injection we went to his office and I held him while the vet gave him the shot.

“The next day he showed up and I bent down to pet him, but after a while I stood up and he grabbed at my hand to play! He was getting better in just 24 hours! Then we saw him and fed him as we talked to him and petted him and he has hair filling back in already! He is such an affectionate dog for having gone through the hardships he has and will or would make a great pet for someone…….it may even be us! It is amazing what a little food and a little medication can do to help the less fortunate animals running the streets.”

This is a project which will hopefully take off because Lee and Peg are so passionate and enthusiastic about helping the dogs that it’s contagious so two recent visitors left donations to help pay for the shots.

Here is Peggy’s most recent story.

The Story of Poco Milagro throurgh her eyes:

“I come from a poorer country than where probably most of you live. You see, here, most people have a hard time feeding their families let alone a bunch of puppies.   You must understand that, here it is expensive to have a dog spayed or nuetured. So sometimes they take extreme measures to relieve themselves of the responsibility of raising an entire litter. When this happens, they usually will get rid of the females because they have a harder time giving them away as no one wants more puppies! Unfortunately for me, I am a female…..but fortunately for me an unusual circumstance occurred and now I am alive to tell you my story.

“I was born on May 15, 2010 sometime in the morning.  That is when my life turned upside down.   See I had my throat cut and was put into a plastic bag and tied in some bushes.  Luckily I found my way out of the bag and onto the ground. I’m not sure how long I was there I was cold and whining alot but around 5:30pm something  reached down and picked me up.  I was the lucky one, because my two siblings didn’t make it and they were already dead when I was found.  Well that’s when the unusual circumstance occurred and life got good again. Two people were leaving their apartment intending to turn right and go to have something to eat and for some strange reason they mistakenly took a left turn! Well that is when they heard my whining and that is when I felt something warm pick me up. Their names are, Lee and Peg, and they took me to their home and cleaned me all up as I was an awful bloody mess.  That first night Peg (but I call her ‘Mom’) fed me with a syringe and let me sleep in bed with her so I could get warm. I was so cold after losing about half of my blood.  The next day they went out and got me a baby bottle which made it a lot easier to eat.  I really didn’t like eating too much at first because my throat hurt so bad, I would blow bubbles out my nose.  After about a week, I had the bottle drinking down and I could drink one ounce at a time in about 2 minutes.   My second night I got to sleep with Mom again so I could stay warm.  Well, that was the last night I slept in bed because I wiggled in between Mom’s top to get close to her warmth and pooped all over her.  That’s when she decided I needed to sleep in my basket with a hot water bottle!

“I met my Aunt Marilee my second day and that was before they stitched my neck up.  She thought that my head was going to fall off when I would swing it around.   Even with my ugly cut she fell in love with me.  This is what it looked like,

“Lee took me to the veterinario as soon as he could and he put 4 stitches in my neck.  After that I started feeling a lot better and Mom started calling me Poco Loco when it came time for my bottle.  I would smell that bottle and go crazy wiggling all over the place to find it.  I wasn’t a good pup, I got Mom up every 2-3 hours wanting my bottle NOW.

“Mom also had to rub my stomach and other parts to stimulate them to work.  I heard her tell someone that she has never been peed or pooped on so much!

“When I could finally see 10 days later, I found out those strange smells I was smelling, they were my 4 sisters.  There names are Gretta, Savannah, Peanut, and Little Girl.  Gretta would stay beside my bed and make sure everything was alright, but once in awhile she would try and sneak and clean my wound.  Boy would she get in trouble for it, partly because she licked two stitches out and I had to go back and get stitched up again.

“Here I am with 2 of my sisters Savannah and Peanut.

“I went back to the veterinaro when I was 32 days old and he checked out my neck and said everything healed perfect.  I got my first shot that day along with some medicine I didn’t like at all.   It was so bad I was blowing bubbles out my nose for a long time.

“Thanks to all the love from my family and friends I have made, I’m a healthy pup running around and having fun!

“Just think, if it wasn’t for one wrong turn, I would probably not be here! I guess that is why they named me Little Miracle!”

This is a good example of what two people have given their hearts, their time, money and dedication.  Because of Lee and Peggy Cotacachi is a much much better p4lace for people as well as animals!  If you want to respond to them, email is leez556@gmail.com

Two people can make a difference and have made a difference!

Gary

We provide three e-courses that can help you develop a micro business that can help you earn in Ecuador or anywhere you live in the world.

International Business Made EZ

Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher

Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Create Your Own Internet Business

Lee learned his Spanish through our Super Spanish class!

July Special.

Enroll in our October Quantum Wealth course October 7-10, 2010 or any of the Ecuador real estate tours below and choose one of the three $299 courses above for free.

Pre enroll for our October 7-10 North Carolina Course click here for details.

See Ecuador tours for August, September, October, November and December below.

Learn more about how to invest and do business abroad.

Find ways  to have more fun as you earn more in investing and business. Join Merri and me with Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Management, Jean Marie Butterlin, who we support to conduct Ecuador real estate and shamanic tours,  and Bonnie Keough who we support to conduct Ecuador export tours at our upcoming Quantum Wealth – International Business & Investing Course October in West Jefferson North Carolina. Click here for details.

You enjoy discounts by attending multiple seminars and tours.

Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Ecuador Shamanic Minga

Sept.   2-6   Ecuador Export Tour

Sept.   8-9  Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Sept. 11-12  Coastal Real Estate Tour

Sept. 14-15-16 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Oct.  7 Quantum Wealth plus International Investing and Business North Carolina

Oct.   8-10   International Investing & Business North Carolina
Oct.   11-12  Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Oct.  13-14   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Oct.  16-17   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Oct.  19-20   Quito Real Estate Tour
Oct. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Nov.    4-7   Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida
Nov.    8-9   Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Nov. 10-11    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 13-14    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Nov. 16-17    Quito Real Estate
Nov. 19-20    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Dec.   3-5    Ecuador Shamanic Mingo
Dec.   7-8    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Dec.  10-11   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Dec. 13-14    Quito Real Estate Tour
Dec. 16-17    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

by Jean Marie Butterlin

One of the healthy habits you acquire very quickly,  when you live on the Ecuadorian coast is to walk  for about 30 to 60 minutes everyday on the beach in the splash zone, where you just get your ankles wet.

This has 3 main health benefits :

Beach Health Benefit #1:  You breathe in a lot of negative ions that are produced by the waves crashing on the sand. without adequate negative ions, we are literally
working ourselves to death and we don’t even realize it.

Here is an excerpt of an article on negative ions and all the benefits.

“The action of the pounding surf creates negative air ions and we also see it immediately after spring thunderstorms when people report lightened moods,” says ion researcher Michael Terman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York.

Vitamins of the Air?

Generally speaking, negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain; resulting in higher alertness, decreased drowsiness, and more mental energy,” says Pierce J. Howard, PhD, author of The Owners Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from Mind Brain Research and director of research at the Center for Applied Cognitive Sciences in Charlotte, N.C.

“They also may protect against germs in the air, resulting in decreased irritation due to inhaling various particles that make you sneeze, cough, or have a throat irritation.”

And for a whopping one in three of us who are sensitive to their effects, negative ions can make us feel like we are walking on air. You are one of them if you feel instantly refreshed the moment you open a window and breathe in fresh, humid air.

“You may be one of them if you feel sleepy when you are around an air-conditioner, but feel immediately refreshed and invigorated when you step outside or roll down the car window,” Howard tells WebMD

Beach Health Benefit #2: Fitness. You are getting a good half hour to an hour’s exercise, that help you keep your body in shape, helps lose weight and feel fit.  You gain greater benefit from enjoyable exercise.   Aside from the great view of the ocean, there are many other benefits of walking on the beach. Walking in sand requires a bigger effort than walking on a hard surface. Your muscles and tendons will work harder.

Walking at a slower pace requires more effort than walking fast or even jogging. Walking in sand requires 2 to 3  times more energy than walking on hard surfaces. Jogging in sand uses about one and a half times more energy than jogging on hard surfaces.

Beach Health Benefit #3: Purification. By walking barefoot on the sand, you are releasing through your feet a lot of toxins.

Another positive effect of bare foot walking, which most of the people are unaware of, is that it helps the leg muscles pump blood back to the heart. This makes it beneficial for those who are suffering from the problem of varicose veins.

In traditional exercises, like yoga, tai-chi and other martial arts, it is believed that being barefoot helps a person absorb Chi, the life-force energy. As you walk with your feet bare, you increase your vitality. At the same time, it helps you think clearly and increases your capacity to work.

Walking barefoot acts as a reflexology massage. The plantar surface of our feet is sensor rich and walking barefoot will stimulate all reflexology points and their associated organs throughout the body.

To walk everyday on the beach requires some discipline but it is well worth the effort and the joy;  each time I come down to San Clemente and Bahia with delegates on tours, I enjoy walking for a couple of miles up the beach towards Chirique; I usually do that at 6:00 a.m. and I am the only soul except some fishermen who are hauling their nets back to shore; I have to admit that I walk in a semi-meditative state, when the sun starts rising. You can make it a walking meditation out of it, with the awareness of your direct contact with Mother Earth.

Where in the world can you afford to enjoy the health benefits of walking on  a beach every day ?

Living on the beach can be costly but not in Ecuador, where you can still find small 10mx20m lots on the beach in Crucita from $8.000 and up.

or 1,500 sq.ft condos for $65,.000 to $75.000 right on the  beach also.

Here are some of our delegates walking on the beach in San Clemente during our July Mid-coast real estate tour ; they got to enjoy spending time on the beach every morning and evening to get all the healthy benefits.

Jean Marie

As of August 1st, International Morya Internet run by Jean Marie Butterlin (whom we have been working with for some years) has acquired our Ecuador tour business.

Delegates at our Cotacachi Super Thinking plus Spanish Course.

Jean Marie has added some new tours and expanded the length of others, so see the new schedule below.

Jean Marie Butterlin, was born in France and after graduating in 1977 from the engineering college ICAM in Lille (France) moved to United States where he developed a homeopathic and dietary supplement business in Houston TX, with an aim at exporting the US made products  into Europe, with emphasis towards Belgium and France.

Jean Marie Butterlin.

After living part time on both sides of the Atlantic he moved back  in 2002 to Europe where he has a prosperous business in the natural health field i.e. phytotherapy, mineral supplements, specialty cosmetics, as well as Quantum medical technology, internet publishing for the anti-aging market.

This quest for anti-aging remedies, products and techniques has lead him to discover Ecuador with its valleys of longevity, where he is researching and developing new approaches to live longer and better and bringing the new products and techniques to more and more people in the United States and Europe.

Jean Marie moved with his family to Cotacachi last year.

International club members will still attend all 2010 tours free.

Delegates at a shamanic minga tour.

See the updated Ecuador tour schedule below.

Delegates on a Coastal real estate tour.

Delegates on an Imbabura real estate tour.

We provide three e-courses that can help you develop a micro business that can help you earn in Ecuador.

International Business Made EZ

Self Fulfilled – How to be a Self Publisher

Tangled Webs We Weave – How to Create Your Own Internet Business

July Special.  Save $299.

Enroll in our October Quantum Wealth course October 7-10, 2010 or any of the Ecuador real estate tours below and choose one of the three $299 courses above for free.

Pre enroll for our October 7-10 North Carolina Course click here for details.

See Ecuador tours for August, September, October, November and December below.

Learn more about how to invest and do business abroad.

Find ways  to have more fun as you earn more in investing and business. Join Merri and me with Thomas Fischer of Jyske Global Asset Management, Jean Marie Butterlin, who conducts Ecuador real estate and shamanic tours,  and Bonnie Keough who conducts Ecuador export tours at our upcoming Quantum Wealth – International Business & Investing Course October in West Jefferson, North Carolina. Click here for details.

You enjoy discounts by attending multiple seminars and tours.

Aug. 31-Sept. 1 Ecuador Shamanic Minga

Sept.   2-6   Ecuador Export Tour

Sept.   8-9  Imbabura Real Estate Tour

Sept. 11-12  Coastal Real Estate Tour

Sept. 14-15-16 Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Oct.  7 Quantum Wealth plus International Investing and Business North Carolina

Oct.   8-10   International Investing & Business North Carolina
Oct.   11-12  Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Oct.  13-14   Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Oct.  16-17   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Oct.  19-20   Quito Real Estate Tour
Oct. 22-23    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Nov.    4-7   Super Thinking + Spanish Course Florida
Nov.    8-9   Travel to Quito and Andean Tour
Nov. 10-11    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Nov. 13-14    Coastal Real Estate Tour
Nov. 16-17    Quito Real Estate
Nov. 19-20    Cuenca Real Estate Tour

Dec.   3-5    Ecuador Shamanic Mingo
Dec.   7-8    Imbabura Real Estate Tour
Dec.  10-11   Coastal Real Estate Tour
Dec. 13-14    Quito Real Estate Tour
Dec. 16-17    Cuenca Real Estate Tour