So while we are sad that we are leaving this beautiful place, we have had an amazing time. It is not at all like a hotel. Hacienda Zuleta is very much a home. In fact, it is currently the home of the Margarita Plaza Lasso. She and her brother run the Hacienda. She convinced her reluctant sisters to allow her to open their home as a boutique hotel in order to help keep up the expensive maintenance on the 500 year old ranch.

We met Margaita last night when she joined us for a cheese tasting. She is both charming and fascinating and related a couple of fun stories to us. Her father and grandfather both served as Presidents of Ecuador (her grandfather was the President two different times.)

She told us a fun story about a special Christmas when she was nine years old. She received a letter from St. Nicholas telling her that since she had een such a good girl, there was a surprise waiting for her outside—a baby donkey, which she promptly named Nicholas. He was so little, she had the responsibility of bottle feeding him. As he grew up, he was the size of a very large dog and acted very much like a dog!

One time while they were living in Quito, someone stole Nicholas. (Donkeys were very highly prized as work animals). Margarita (age eleven at the time) had her father’s chauffeur take her to the market where donkeys were sold. The woman who ran the market was not very happy and didn’t want Margarita to go to the corral where the animals were kept. That didn’t faze her. She went straight into the pen and called Nicholas’ name. He came running to her. She led him out the gate and he jumped into the car to go home!

Margarita’s parents moved the family to the Hacienda in the 1960’s and her mother brought all the furnishings that are still original to the home. Everything is where her mother placed them. Remember that the Hacienda was originally built in 1594. We are indeed lucky that Margarita was able to convince her siblings to open the Hacienda as a boutique hotel. They agreed only if their “home” would remain the same with all the original furniture and photos in place.

Yesterday began with a wonderful hike for some and a jeep ride for others, to visit the giant Condor Center. There are only 150 Condors left in Ecuador. They are an extremely endangered species. First of all, they can only begin to mate at nine years of age. When they do mate, it is only every other year and they only lay one egg. They do not build a nest, but lay the egg on a ledge in a cliff. Because of this, it is easy for a parent to accidentlly knock the egg off the shelf. Also, when the the chick first hatches, it is so small that occasionally the parents will unintentionally smother the tiny chick.

The two Condors we saw at the rescue center were rescued from private homes. It is illegal to privately own a Condor. The rescued female has over 50 shotgun pellets still in her. The Condors face the perils of poisoning by locals because of all the legends. The locals believe that the Condor will attack and pick up their wildlife or even that they are capable of picking up a small child. There is one popular myth that at one time a Condor stole a baby girl, took it to its nest where the child turned into a Condor.

In fact however, a Condor can’t pick up anything with its feet. It has a large foot like a chicken. There are no talons or claws like a hawk or eagle has. Condors are in the vulture family and face further peril because of feral dogs. Wild dogs are a major problem in Ecuador (which means equator). There are so many packs of wild dogs that when something dies, the wild dogs are there to pick the bones leaving no food for the Condors. They are also subject to poisoning by the farmers because they fear the Condors will hurt their livestock.

Our next stop after a delicious lunch served family style, was a horseback ride to a lovely mountain waterfall.. Gaby, Trey, Annette, Grant and Bill all rode the horses while KC and I followed in a horse drawn carriage. The carriage wasn’t able to make it down the steep road at the end of the trail so KC and I had to walk down to meet the others. On the way down, we met a dairy herd anxiously heading home for milking. We weren’t sure who had the “right of way” sp we stayed way off on the side of the road while they walked around us single file. It worked for the most part– until there was a traffic jam with four cows coming straight at us, side by side. So I turned KC in front of me toward the side of the road and a cow and I bumped tushes! LOL We had what I would call, “a close cow encounter”! But we made it all the way to the falls. It was worth the hike! The horse riders all look like pros– even Gaby– as they went trotting down the trail. We did have a couple of people who suffered saddle sores after a two and a half hour ride!

As soon as we got back, the kids raced off to a second day of milking the cows. This time Trey and Gaby had their chance to milk the cow! They looked like old hands after a few minutes of practice! They were true champions to walk through the the minefield of the cow pasture to get the job done! (Lots of shoe cleaning later!) Everyone got milk into the pail. KC LOVES milking the cow. We may have to send her to a farm camp!

Today began with a terrific breakfast and then cooking class for Annette, Gaby and KC who made chocolate and cheese and sautéed onion empanadas. Delicioso!

Next we had lunch and finished packing for our ride back to Quito. We are spending the night at the Wyndham Hotel again because our flight leaves at 6:45 am for Miami. We are being picked up at 4:00am. On the drive back to Quito, we stopped at a local market where there were lots of locally made items. We did a little shopping of course! We also made a brief stop at the spot that is the center of the equator. We literally had one foot in the Northern Hemisphere and one foot in the Southern Hemisphere.

This is the last post for a few months while I get the new blog site up and running. The next posts will be from a river cruise next fall— Budapest to Bucharest!