Wednesday, Feb. 17,  we headed for 1.5 days at the Papallacta Wellness Center /Spa, high up in the Andes Mountains.  We said goodbye to Bella Vista Cottage, the roads and areas surrounding Machachi.  However, first, we stopped at Casa de la Vaca for an incredible  breakfast and excellent cafe con leche.  The Ecuadorian breakfasts are so filling - and irresistible that we are only eating two meals  per day.    The remainder of the morning  was spent driving UP the mountain to the spa.

When we arrived it was cold and chilly.  Papallacta is set in the highest altitude we have experienced.  So high that it was seriously affecting  Rose and the staff doctor was called.  She arrived, and appeared to be a child prodigy of about 12;  however,  she was obviously much older, very knowledgeable, and much wiser than us in matters of altitude sickness. She increased Rose's  blood oxygen level,  checked all her vital functions, gave her medication and stressed drinking Cocoa tea, which is used by many doctors in Ecuador for altitude sickness and is aromatic and delicious. She advised against deep tissue massage and replaced it with relaxing massage  on Rose's agenda and gave orders for her to use a wheel chair for distances.  This scenario sounds worse than it was and Rose feels fine...unless she has to walk uphill. 

The rest of our day was spent settling into our rustic cottage, complete with hot mineral bath pool outside the backdoor, and waiting for our first spa treatments. (See photos)   It was cold at the spa, so Charito was the only one of us hardy enough to enjoy the mineral pool that evening.

After our first round of spa treatments, which included several types of massages and  body wraps with either Andean mud or Wine.  We had dinner in the hotel restaurant (see egg dish photo - my dinner).  Following that Rose,  Ruth, and Mary Lu had facials and returned to the cottage looking 20 years younger  :-)  !!!   Thursday morning began with breakfast at the hotel. Their specialty that day was an American breakfast buffet, which we all bypassed for traditional Ecuadorian cafe con leche (caliente), bread,  Ecuadorian omelets, and other guava marmalade  --  good enough to eat by the spoonful. 

Our morning was rounded out with more spa treatments and relaxation in the pre-post treatment waiting room.  I must say that I had an Pindus Herbal  Massage using large sachets of heated herbs, which included lemon grass, chamomile, eucalyptus, and mint in a manner similar to heated stone massages.   It ranks number one on my list of relaxing massages.    Once all treatments were completed, we started down the mountain on our way to Cotacochi for the last two days of the Ecuadorean leg of our vacation.

Traveling through the mountains was a mind boggling,  and (to use and overworked word) and awesome experience. A new highway has been cut through the mountains in the last three years.  The mountains have been cut away and permeable coverings put on them to enable water to drain and plants to grow to revegetate the environment.  Photos included simply do not tell the scope of the project.  Also included are photos of salt caves and the monster in the mountain!   (See if you can find it,)

On the way to Cotacachi, we stopped at a roadside fruit stand and enjoyed the green chitimoya fruit, which is soft and scrumptious, and simply too fragile to ship very far, so rarely seen in the States.  Dinner was at Puerto Lago on a beautiful lake in Otavala.  Please note The duel world contrast of our fine dining and the woman outside the window washing clothes in the lake.  Two cultures meet. This can be said about Ecuador in general, the original people very often maintain their clothing and life style, while the Western culture influence comes in and the two live side by side.    

Included is a photo of a partially completed cement structure, this is to show how the houses are built. Wood structures are very rare, and is it not uncommon to see s one story structure with steel rods extended above...placed there in preparation for completing the second floor at a later date.  We dropped our luggage off at our last Ecudorean home away from home and went into town to walk the streets, see some of the leather shops, as it is a town of excellent leather artisans, and shop for a few supplies for our house -- especially coffee and water!  Now we could brush our teeth and begin the next day  with coffee.