Puebla Magica San Antonio De Ibarra

About a year ago Pam reached out to a couple who are artists from San Antonio de Ibarra which is north of Quito because they were going to have a show at a restaurant that was very close to our old house. It turned out to be one of those automatic family things as Juan and Margot became more than friends very quickly. Since then, they have stayed with us several more times for events in Cuenca. We promised to come visit their town when we could and we finally got our opportunity when Cyd and Peter came to visit for a short while after their Galapagos cruise. 

We drove the 3+ hours to Guayaquil to meet Cyd and Peter and spent the night there. The drive is spectacularly pretty. There were a couple of wash out areas with interesting work arounds. 

We were early and walked around for a while to see the Malecon and the Iguana park in el centro. It was 90 something degrees and humid as well as overcast, so we had some adjustment necessary since Cuenca is the city of perpetual spring with temps around 70-75 for a high and little humidity.

Such spectacular views of Cajas National Park:   

And heading down the other side:

Some of the workarounds for landslides:

Rolling fields of banana trees, and tropical fruit:

Guayaquil

The next morning we headed back over the mountains to Cuenca. The trip begins at sea level and climbs over 13000 feet before you drop back into the Cuenca basin at about 8500 feet. Along the way we stopped at a restaurant that had to be rebuilt after a rock crushed it so they built around the rock. There is an area very close to the restaurant that almost always has thick fog.

After taking a break and home, we ventured back out to go to our favorite restaurant, La Petite Jardin. As always, it was wonderful! 

There were constraints on our guest's time since they needed a Covid test before they could fly back to the US even though they were both fully vaccinated. Their tests came back negative and Tuesday morning we began the long drive of 9 + hours to the airport in Quito. The views are spectacular. Ecuador is green and gorgeous. 

A portion of the highway is called Volcano alley. 

Other than a little trouble going straight to the airport the trip was uneventful. We successfully delivered them to the airport and headed about 20 minutes north to Gullayabamba for a stay at a hotel before heading the last 1.5 hour to San Antonio the next morning. 

We woke up to another beautiful day, walked down the street for breakfast, and jumped back in the car to enjoy more incredible views, volcanoes and rolling hills.  It's rare when the sky is clear and the volcanoes are all out, but we had that kind of drive. 

We easily made our way to Nativo - Posada Del Arte which is a great studio, and the home of our friends Juan and Margo. The entire family greeted us and welcome us into their home like we were family members. We were even treated to some puppy time with their 3 month old Rottweiller - Diabla who gave us lots of love for the price of an occasional nibble which is a fair exchange. We relaxed for a bit and walked around the main plaza where there are plenty of galleries, but, thanks to Covid, not many visitors. 

In a town full of artists and artisans who create works of art with supplies from their pockets with the hope that visitors will enjoy them and take some home, the pandemic has been especially difficult. As in any place, some people are more able to survive the lack of business than others. In San Antonio, Juan and Margot and others are helping where they can the ones less able to withstand the lack of visitors to town. 

Some of the amazing art by talented Juan and Margot:

After a little tour around Ibarra, a stop for some yummy ice cream and an evening walk around one of he large parks in town, we had a fun night of Mexican Train.  Ibarra is a lovely town!

The next morning we all piled into the car to visit a waterfall near Ibarra that was really pretty. We had such a great time!  Lunch/dinner was also fabulous!

Our trip ended up a couple of days shorter than planned because we had a water issue at our house and felt it wasn't cool to have our friends Gary and Barbara have to travel a half hour each way every day to feed Blanquita. On the way home we were part of two road inspections where we learned that we should carry our matricula for our car - basically the title - in case of a stop. We faked a lack of understanding what was being asked until they got tired of us and sent us on our way. We actually made it home before dark which is my preference even though it was a couple more days before our water was repaired. 

The water problem was likely due to the change of utilities and someone turned the water off at the meter which left us using the water in our cistern until it ran out and killed the pump. The new pump is a better one as well, so our system is improved. As I write this we are expecting Juan, Margot and family this Thursday for a short visit, but any visit with them is always too short. 

We hope this post finds you all well and happy. Peace and love peeps.