I sit myself down at Ginko’s for breakfast with the intention of sitting there all day to see who and what shows up. I share a coffee with Jakob.

Around lunch time Karen arrives. A few minutes later a woman named Jerri, who I met at Matt Monarch’s place, joins us. When Jerri leaves, Karen and I talk about creating spaces of transformation and the possibility of doing a Baltaine celebration since I was born on Baltaine day, the first day of the Druid feminine cycle. I book an appointment with Karen for a Shiatsu massage at her apartment.

After Karen leaves, Ginna arrives. She is with Fran. I join the two of them to check out a room that Fran is renting. Ginna decides to rent the room. Ginna and I walk back to the meditation center together.

Sarah finds me at the center and lets me know that the dog sitting arrangement with Elena and Vlad is far more involved than we expected.

Meagan and I go for a walk around the Vilcabamba circle. There is a portion where it is really dark where we get to enjoy a magical display of fireflies. The walk takes about 45 minutes.

The evening closes with Pat, Kim, Roxanna, Meagan and I taking turns reading from the Vagina Monologues.

I enjoy a fruit bowl at the Juice Factory. I decide to walk up to Monte Suenos. On the walk I get the full view of the valley like a map almost. A woman I’ve seen before stops her taxi to offer me a lift but I decide to continue my walk. The view is breath taking as I sit on a bench in the parking area of Monte Suenos. On the way back down a farmer is herding his cattle along the road with a young boy. Two shiny, black Brahmin like bulls butt heads right in front of me.

I wind up back at the Juice Factory and punk myself down for a smoothie, chocolate covered donut and coffee. Trina comes buy and we discuss the dance event she is putting on. A short time later Ginna arrives. We sit and talk. I share with her my insights of the morning.The Juice Factory closes and we walk over to Roots. Roots is closing in a half hour as well. The conversation continues and Patti the owner says it’s Ok for us to hang out on the patio. Ginna and I decide to make chocolate together and pick up some of the ingredients on the way.

We stop in at the meditation center where I get talking to Marika while Ginna changes her clothes. Marika, Gina and I decide to have dinner together at Zambuka’s where Thomas winds up joining us. Marika heads off to Roots while Ginna and I go to my place to pick up some more ingredients.

Due to lack of utensils we go back to the meditation center to make the chocolate. In a mock up double boiler we melt together the ingredients. We infuse our loving intention into the mixture. Ginna even has molds for the chocolate. The finished chocolate goes into the freezer and we wait. Felix drops by for some conversation. We pass out our creation. It’s been a Chocolat kind of afternoon / evening. We finish our evening with more inspired talk in the kitchen by the soft light of the motion sensor light which we trigger with the wave of our hand.

I am walking into the center of the square with Nelson when I see Marika, Sarah and another woman approaching the fountain.

Marika and I exchange a warm hug and I am introduced to Ginna. A fellow chocolatier amongst other talents. We all head over to the Hidden Garden restaurant for food and conversation.

Marika, Sarah and I break away from the group to go to our house. Along the way we meet a local family who asks how the usual Vilcabamba question like how long we are here for and the likes. They call us by new names. The woman thinks I am more like a Pedro. The woman is pregnant with her fifth child and jokes about me only having one. She wants to know if I am interested in an Ecuadorian girlfriend because she can set me up with one. We all have lots of laughs. It’s strange that when I watch and listen without attempting to translate, I really get the gist of what is being said.

Marika meets Elena an Vlad. Marika, Elena, Sarah and I sit in the portal for a chat.

We all go our separate ways. I go to Gingko’s. Frank and Tamara are sitting with Walter and his wife Susan. They invite me to join them for supper. I order a dark ale, salad and fries. Susan invites us to share our stories. Walter is a bio dynamic farmer and his wife works in high finance bringing love and ethics to that world. She is a good friend of Barbara Marx Hubbard. Frank, Tamara & I are invited to their farm next Monday.

Gina arrives near the end of dinner. As our table of five breaks up. I sit with Gina and get to know her.

During the night I wake up and write on my iPad. I am an experience of existence. I love my experiences.

I love knowing that my twin flame is either here or arriving any moment. I am ready to love and be loved equally. I love existence.

Ginko’s is open again for a cup of coffee with cream.

After breakfast, Sarah and I head back to the house where she cuts my hair.

Sarah gets to meet Karen walking through the square with her two black puppies.

I attend the raw food dinner up at Izhcayluma with Frank and Tamara plus another couple named Janice and Bill. Lots of wonderful conversation with spectacular food.

While I attend to some work, Sarah heads into town to have breakfast. When I finally catch up with her she’s hanging out with Lawrence.

I make arrangements with the Sarah from Monte Suenos to take her place for the massage she has booked with Jan. At 3 pm I walk a stone’s throw from the house to where Jan does her treatments. I get a really great 90 minute massage from Jan. Jan lives very affordably in Vilcabamba and is a good source for what’s going on in the rental market.

Day one with Sarah in Vilcabamba.

I open a cacao pod. Each cacao bean is covered with a white fluffy substance that is delicious. The inner bean is chocolate bitter.

Sarah and I wander from one place to the next at Vilcabamba speed. Meaning every stop is about 1 – 2 hours. She’s loving it.

The day finishes with an artist showing his work at the new Ginko’s cafe. Hard cider, cheese and crackers and chocolate is the fare. The micro brewery beer from Cuenca is on tap. Chris buys me a pint. I like it.

We went to the Juice Factory and ran into David, Ana and Meranda. David and Ana walked up to Ginko’s where the owners were getting the place ready for the art showing at 6 pm. Gabriella is a wealth of information. Gabriella is also available for document translation and she is very well connected for getting residency here in Ecuador plus she has contacts in Canada.

Ana goes her separate way while David accompanies us to Roots.

At Roots we meet Lawrence for the first time. A Swiss born Shaman with amazing gifts.

I take Sarah up to Madre Tierra. Kathleen is our ever gracious server. It feels like we’ve dropped by to a friends for lunch. She suggests the veggie crepe which turns out to be very yummy. A lot of the food is grown organically on the property.

We stop by home for a short time before going back into town to attend the art show at Ginko’s. A small crowd of about 20 people is waiting outside the closed doors. A half hour passes before the doors open to Allen’s art, wine & cheese, hard cider and a micro brew GMO free beer from Cuenca. Chris buys me a beer. Very tasty.

Lots of socializing before we head home to sleep.

I wake just before the alarm again. The taxi driver is waiting outside at 6:30 am and in 5 minutes I’m at the immigration building. There are about 20 people already ahead of me. I watch as people buy there way into line ahead of me for $5. I’m suppose to meet the lawyer by 7 am.

At 7:20 am still no lawyer and the line is about to move inside. I use my iPad translation program to ask a vendor if they know a lawyer named Diago in line. She says no but a man approaches me in line. It’s Diago and overheard his name when I asked about him.

Inside we wait. By 8:30 am we move up to the next floor and wait some more based on number handed to me. At 9:30 it’s my turn. I am asked a few questions and voila my application for a visa is accepted. I have to leave my passport with the office.

I give Diago $200 so he can pay the final visa fee when he goes to pick up the paperwork and my passport. I say goodbye to Diago.

Back at the Inn, Sarah is ready to head to the airport with me to buy our tickets back to Loja. The Inn keeper says we can buy the tickets two blocks from where we are. We get tickets for the 4:30 pm flight.

We have enough time to go check out the huge church we saw when we were standing on the terrace of the secret garden yesterday. It’s called the Basilica.

The church is aligned with the giant statue of the Virgin Mary about a kilometer away. I can see the sacred geometry everywhere. The church is undergoing renovations. We take a small elevator up to the second floor and then stairs up to the third floor. There is access to walk along the inside of the top of the roof. The catwalk leads to a steep set of stairs which lead to the spire outside. Another set of very steep stairs takes us to the very top of the spire so we are in alignment with the statue looking between the two towers at the other end.

Unable to find a place we feel like eating at, we settle for food from the grocery store. Time to go to the airport.

Turns out we have the center emergency exit seats which gives us lots of leg room. As we take off the snow capped mountain is clearly visible. We pass another one a few minutes later.

We arrive in balmy Loja 45 minutes later. We jump in the taxi and share the cab with someone going to Loja. We arrive in Vilcabamba an hour and half later. There is a gathering at the house at the top of my street.

After meeting Vladimir, we head into town for pizza and guacamole. Sarah gets to meet David, Frank and Tamara.

I get up before the alarm goes off for 6 am. By 6:45 am I’m in the square getting some cash from the bank machine.

I catch a taxi for the airport after deciding I don’t have time to have a coffee. Off we go to Loja airport. We encounter quite a few landslides on the way. Nothing to hold us up though.

The clock in the cab shows a much later time than it is. As we head out of Loja towards the airport it feels like the time is getting too close to takeoff. I notice how I worry and my inner dialog goes between trust and anxiety.

I arrive at the airport and when I finally check the time there is about an hour and half before take off.

The plane leaves on time and I’m in Quito in 45 minutes. Sarah is waiting for me outside the terminal. Yay!

We decide on going to the city center. There is a protest going on and official as well as military people standing on a terrace.

We check out a couple of churches. The one with a completely gilded interior charges $3 to go in.

We get a traditional style Ecuadorian lunch. Rice, black beans, lasagna and vegetables.

We take a cab back to the Inn so we can rest up before meeting up with Jason and Verena.

We arrive at the Secret Garden hostel where Jason and Verena are volunteering. We climb up 5 flight of stairs to arrive at the eating area and terrace. It’s an amazing view of Quito.

It’s so wonderful to see Verena and Jason again. We all go to the new tourist area in town. There is a really colorful restaurant that we decide to eat at. The prices are Canadian style. My salmon with fries is $18.

Afterwards, we go to the chocolate store. There in the window are fresh cacao pods. Jason ask how much they cost. The woman says something in Spanish and Jason pretends to steal a pod. The woman gives each of us a pod as a gift. God delivers what makes us happy all in good time. I am happy.

Everyone is tired so we drop Jason and Verena off at their hostel. Theybgift me their cacao pods. We switch cabs to head back to our Inn.

I arrange for the cab driver who speaks English to come and pick me up at 6:30 am to take me to the immigration building.

I get an email from Sarah at 7:20 am. She’s waiting to board the plane on her way to Miami and then on to Quito.

I drop off my laundry and see David walking towards me. Inside Roots we join Galen. Galen owns river property and a section of original forest. He’s a wonderful book I look forward to reading.

Johana joins us. She’s living in Cuenca and has come for a visit to Vilcabamba. I mention my interest in coming to Cuenca and we connect on Facebook. She tells me to look her up whenever I’m in Cuenca.

At the Juice Factory I meet up with Sarah. She postpones our trip up to Monte Suenos because her recently neutered cats will interfere with a proper visit.

Steven demos a frequency generating program on his computer. It does a lot for $100 price tag. He claims it does more than a $30,000 piece of equipment he also owns.

I go to the new restaurant called Ginkos. It’s run by Gabrielle and Benjamin. There from the Ottawa valley in Canada. Very conscious about food, self sufficiency and the environment. Big bonus – they have great coffee with real cream. Yay! The food is also delicious.

I have the good fortune of being with Sandrine. Part of the time Debbie is with us. Debbie heads back home and we say our farewell because she will going to Quito just when I am coming back from there.

The sun sets as Sandrine and I share thoughts and ideas. I walk her back to Le Rendevous and she gifts me chocolate and figs. She will be in Peru by the time I get back.

Both Debbie and Sandrine are brightly colored threads in the rich tapestry of my Vilcabamba experience.

My morning starts at the Juice Factory. Most of the day is socializing and meeting new people.

I arrange to make waffles at my house with Roxanna and Kim for 5:30 pm. We’re going to bring them to the potluck which is being held to close off the Organic Fair conferences.

Turns out the waffle iron is actually a grill with the wrong kind of plug. We switch to plan B – crepes.

By 7:15 am we stop by the meditation center to pick up Meagan and walk to town to catch a taxi to the Inger research center. As we approach the center I see small groups off people leaving. At the gate we ask some people carrying instruments if it’s over. Yes. The pot luck started at 5:30 pm.

We handed out our still warm crepes to musicians and anyone else who wandered by. There were only 3 small pieces left when we decided to walk back to town. Half way back I realized I had left my iPad on the ground just outside the gatehouse. They all walked back with and there it was exactly where I had left it. Trust!

Shantaz is still open. Roxanne and Kim order food while I sip a papaya juice. The conversation is around death, the pain of it and sharing thoughts about the afterlife.

Lots more conversation before we say goodnight at about 11 pm.

The lawyer printed out my new return ticket. The package for my visa extension is complete. Yay!

The first flight I can get to Quito is for 10 am Monday which has me arriving there at 11 am. Not early enough to go to the visa office. So it looks like Sarah and I will be staying over Monday night.

I get an email from Jason asking me if I’m coming to Quito. We arrange to meet for supper with Verena on Monday night.

I spend the afternoon catching up with Sandrene who’s been detoxing and juice fasting for 5 days now.

My trip to find cacao plants and see monkeys with Bernie is off for tomorrow.