I was sick today--here's the view from my window.

We love Montanita! The surf's the draw, but it's the surfers and all the girls who make it fun. At about 4 or 5 in the afternoon it starts to wake up and stays awake til well after dawn. That's why we're staying a block out of town at the lovely Hotel Swiss Point--it's just far enough that we don't hear the partying.And the great restaurants! There's Hola Ola with a zipping fast internet connection, Papallon where we go most often, Tik...

In commemoration of your birthday, Jeff, we've been luxuriating in the hot sun for a week now, laying by the pool, strolling the beach watching the bikinis flirting with the surfboards, eating our guts crazy and getting in a little more luxuriating.Take this morning's breakfast for instance. Crepes Suzette filled with apples and topped with a dab of vanilla ice cream, fresh pear juice, fresh rolls w/butter, dulce de leche (caramel) and jam, and for the se...

It's the most wanted place to retire in the whole world and it's at 8,000 feet elevation. International Living puts it ahead of Mexico, Panama, Uruguay and Italy.EVERYONE we've talked to, every single person, has told us we'd love Cuenca, that it's charming, the weather is perfect and the climate is invigorating, it's an ideal walking town, it's old world beautiful, it's safe...and on and on.While we can't refute any of that-...

Today we saw a most unique mercado--a typical Ecuadorian foods market. Not in the sense of exotic food--that still belongs to Thailand, or maybe India, but for an entirely different reason. Down one wall was maybe 20 stalls of EXACTLY the same kind of soup, then another row of EXACTLY the same kind of grilled bread, and the same for chicken and rice. They were all of the same offering. Then in the middle was the raw meat, and off to a different side the fruits ...