What is going on at Margarita Ville

As the days and weeks fly by, living in paradise just gets better and better. The project at Margarita Ville can become all consuming....of time, money and energy, and it is a struggle to keep it from becoming an addiction.

Here in the mountains at the equator the days and the night are equal. Well, that is not exactly true. We are located approximately one and a half degrees below so there is a difference of about 30 minutes a year, but it is hardly noticeable. This time of year is typically the rainy season but that too doesn’t change much either throughout the year. It is either raining or it isn’t. For example, the last two days it rained most of the day and night, but this morning dawned with a dense low fog that lifted about 8 AM and was replaced by an almost cloudless sky. You cannot imagine the beauty. A week or so ago there were four or five days without rain. I was beginning to worry that we were heading into a drought, but the next day it rained and didn’t stop for three days.

Yesterday we had a couple of visitors from Great Briton who missed a turn-off outside of Baños and ended up two hours later at Margarita Ville on their 4-wheeler. It had been raining for most of afternoon but they were having a good time. Over coffee we discussed the weather and the consensus was....without the rain it would not be nearly as beautiful.

A typical day here usually starts with a walk with Blaze to the Pastaza River. Blaze is a six month old pup that we were given five months ago. She is a pure bred Ecuadorian and smart. She looks forward to this walk in the mornings and is pretty discussed with me if for some reason I have something else planned. I have never been much of a dog person, but I have to admit this one has changed my mind. As soon as I grab my walking stick she takes off, stopping every few seconds to be sure that I am following. When she is satisfied that we are really on the right path she takes of in earnest. We head down the trail that parallels the Margajita River and she has her 101 places that she has to check out until we reach the clearing that borders the Pastaza.

Blaze, the wonder dog.

Photo by Alex Hernandez

Here she goes crazy. (This is a site where for several years was a gravel and sand operation, providing materials for the construction of the new highway and tunnels connecting Puyo and Baños. Now it is a large flat area covering several thousand square meters that is just starting to return to its original state). As I am walking, she will take off at full speed and run 100 meters and dive into a puddle of water, thrash around for a few seconds and take off again in another direction until she finds her favorite sand pile and dive in, dig like crazy for a minute and then come racing back. If she happens to come up on my blind she will jump on my back as if to tell me to pay attention.

When she was just a couple of months old we walked down to a little pond fed by a nameless creek and she slipped on the loose sand and went sliding down with her front feet straight in front and her back legs dug in to slow her down as she ended up in the water. She was a little shocked at what had happened, looked up at me, shook herself, struggled back up the hill and when I turned around down she came again. Ever since that day, that slide became one of her favorite stops. Since this area was a sand and gravel operation in the past there are still several mountains of sand and gravel left which have become favorites as well.

One more story and then I will move on. One day I was pretending to chase her and she took off at full speed and after 25 yards she did what I can only describe as a pirouette She changed directions without stopping. Going full speed in one direction she raised up on her hind feet, did a 180 degree turn and was heading back to me without loosing any speed. I should change her name to Wonder.

This week we are working on a new entrance and hope to have the swimming pool back in operation. The local people enjoy the pool....for me it just never seems warm enough.