While I was in Ecuador, a young friend from London  and I decided to go to the top of the mountain on horseback.  Our guide Jose rented us the horses and went along with us.  Jose suggested that, because I had ridden before (although not for many years) that I take Mariachi, the gelding and "lead" horse.  My young friend from London, who had never been on a horse before was given the little mare, "Pinta the Pony". Pinta was younger and used to following Mariachi's lead.  When I use the term "pony" I just mean a small horse who stands less than 14 hands tall (56", 142 cm at the withers) not a specific stocky pony breed.  Mariachi was a little taller at possibly 15 hands tall.  

We started off with Mariachi in the lead, Pinta next and Jose bringing up the rear on his horse.  As soon as we got out of town and started up the mountain, however; it was clear that Pinta had other things in mind and she wanted to be the leader.  As we cantered along she kept coming up to pass Mariachi.  She never looked at him though; she just passed him happily on her own way to the top.  Mariachi's response was to put his ears back, look over at her and snort and speed up - a little bit.  I knew from my riding days that a horse with his ears back is not a good sign.  Usually a nip, buck or kick follows but thankfully he didn't do any of those things; he just expressed his displeasure by snorting.

What was cute was Pinta's reaction (or more her non-reaction).  It didn't faze Pinta.  Evonne would pull her back and she would stay there for a few minutes.  Then I would hear the little clop clop coming up and she was passing us again.  This kept up until we reached to top of the trail with Mariachi snorting his displeasure all the way.  The more she went her merry, happy way, the more I liked her.  She wasn't competing with Mariachi; she was just doing her own thing completely oblivious of his displeasure.  

I think that we, as people and particularly as girls and women, allow others to hold us back by their displeasure.  We should be more like Pinta the Pony:  yea for Pinta the Pony and everyone strong enough to follow his or her own heart and forge an independent path!

                 Above: Mariachi and Pinta on the trail with a volcanic mountain in the background. 
 Pinta is standing on a little rise so she looks as tall as Mariachi but she was actually smaller.

                                                                     To the right: Mariachi's eye with me reflected in it.
                                                                           He was actually a gentle sweetheart.  He just
                                                                                          knew that he was supposed to lead.  

I had wanted to experience the Amazon - to see it, to meet the people living there and to learn about the Amazonian plants that support so much of our modern medicinal world.  I finally had my chance.  I joined 15 other people on an adventure trip to see and experience Ecuador and the rainforest of the Amazon.  We were from Canada, Ireland, England, Switzerland, New Zealand, Germany and two other people were from the U.S.  We were all ages from late twenties to mid seventies and we were all interested in an adventure for our own reasons.  

My purpose for the trip was to see the highlands and also the Amazonian rainforest, and to enjoy the experience with people from many other cultures.   Ecuador exceeded my expectations as did both the native people and the people that I traveled with.  Ecuador is a most beautiful, mountainous, volcanic and water filled, lush green country.  I will be blogging about my experiences for several blogs here.  

Quito, Ecuador sits at almost exactly 0 degrees longitude and 0 degrees latitude and is at 9350' in elevation, literally the "middle of the earth".  After meeting the group in Quito I left with them for Banos, a resort town in the Andes.  We stayed for two nights in Banos, where I experienced galloping to the top of the mountain on my horse Mariachi (more later), the thermal baths and also my first ever full body volcanic ash message and exfoliation.

Before we left the highlands, we enjoyed a park in a volcanic setting at the top of the mountain, swinging out over the mountains at the "top of the world" in a beautiful alpine setting.  Then along the mountainous road down to Tena in the rainforest, we hiked to the steep and beautiful waterfalls that we passed along the way.  As we reached the Napo River which flows into the Amazon near Tena we met the welcoming native Quechua family in their homestay.  

​At the homestay we had mosquito net accommodations with no electricity and cold water only; it was easy to feel one with the environment although I can't say that I enjoyed hiking to the facilities in the dark (I had a flashlight).  We stayed at the homestay for  several days and experienced a wonderful "back to nature" time.  The rainfall coming through the trees as we slept was soothing and we took a hike with the father of the family where he showed us the rainforest flora and explained to us the native uses of all the plants by the local people.  We made a chocolate fondue from the local cocoa beans with pineapple and bananas and enjoyed fish and rice dinners with wonderful veggies and organic egg breakfasts with wonderful spicy sauces that were very tasty.  

My secret wish was to be able to read my Lae Lae books to the local children and I had brought three with me.  Our guide asked the father of the family if I could and he said yes.  So I read "A Birthday Party for Mother Earth".  I couldn't speak Spanish and the children couldn't speak English but our guide translated and the illustrations told the story.  I signed them "for love of Pachamama"  and gave two to the family elder for their library and one to our guide for his little three year old.  It was quite special and I left a little of me with the people in the Amazon.  A wonderful end to a very special trip!