Some really really cool traveling Colombian hippy-gypsy-type people just ended their several-day stay in Zaruma today. I met them through a website (see the link to the right) called hospitalityclub.org which allows people traveling to get in touch with people who are willing to offer accomodation or just a friendly guide to their town. I offered both to this couple. They are planning on taking a massive tour around much of South America and Ecuador was their first stop on the trip. They'd planned to spend a month here but it's been three already and they're not leaving yet! Puppeteers and jewelry-weavers both, it is hoped that their crafts will help support them financially on their journey. What else can I say... they were excellent and prodigious in the kitchen and served up multiple lunches, breakfasts, and dinners while hanging out at the Castillo. (I made the rum-infused batidos and the fresh lime-aid and grilled cheese and salami sandwiches)

So now they´re gone, heading to the beach at Jambelí to try and sell some of the puppets and jewelry they made while in Zaruma (whether sitting barefoot on the floor, lounging in the hammocks, or camping atop Cerro Zaruma Urcu for two nights, the second of which was more or less an attempted reenactment of the Great Flood in that book that everyone's always talking about). And I'm here, seemingly with access to free internet again, though not too sure how long that will last! Times they are a´changin, what else can I say? Lots going on in my head lately. LOTS. Strange days. Kind of days that make you want to put on that REM song Everybody Hurts. This too will pass.