Eagle meets Condor - Episode Uno

Late August of 2012, I set off on a journey to South America for the first annual Water Woman Festival held in a place known as the Valley of Longevity, 5,000 feet up in the Andes Mountains in Vilcabamba, Ecuador.  The festival drew about 600 people from five different continents including representatives from six indigenous first nations of south and north america.  We are all witnessing many events which have been prophesied and are coming to fruition in our time. There is an ancient Inca prophecy which proclaims: "When the Eagle of the North flies with the Condor of the South, The Spirit of the Land, She will Reawaken".

Many of us shared a sense of feeling a deep, spiritual calling to be present together at this time in this place.  While I was scheduled to perform music as part of my offering to the collection of ceremonies, workshops and celebrations, I felt my primary intention was one of deep healing - personal and global in nature.  

In preparation for this journey, I set up a stone and water altar on the land where I was raised and where my daughter would be staying while I was away.  

The water was gathered from places like Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Pacific Ocean, Sacred Springs in Hawaii, Minnesota, and Wisconsin.  I traveled with a small sample of this collection, combined with a bit of rain gathered from the last storm before my flight and a few drops of potent moon tea.

My first flight took my from Minneapolis, MN to Miami, Florida just in time for the kick-off of the Republican National Convention and the welcoming of Hurricane Isaac.  We circled the airport for an extra hour before landing but the flight to Quito, Ecuador was still on time!

 

I stayed one night in a little hostal in the Mariscal District of Quito and flew the next day to Cuenca.  In keeping with the theme of Water Woman, I appreciated the efforts of the Travellers Inn to conserve water.

 A few views from my first morning in Ecuador:

Welcomed by stones!  2000 year old axes and samples of rocks found in Ecuador.

 Una Ventana

The wash stand in the courtyard of the Traveller's Inn Hostal

I met a sweet fellow at the Quito airport the previous night while we were booking our flights to Cuenca.  We discovered we were both on our way to Vilcabamba and decided to travel together.  Raul grew up in Mexico City where he met his wife.  Together they own and run a cafe in Vilcabamba.  Raul also lived in Boston for a number of years and was just returning from visiting his mother there.  He speaks fluently both english and spanish.  I enjoyed a morning adventure to the market in Quito where Raul was looking for a special painting by a specific artist who has a vendor space there.

We were early to the market and not all the artisans has arrived yet  but there was a nice variety already.  Beautiful textiles of colorful alpaca, spun and woven in the Andes Mountains.  Hats, jewelry, knick-knacks and finally, Raul's artist arrived with his paintings.

We returned to the hostel in time to retrieve our bags and catch a taxi to the airport for our flight to Cuenca.

At the airport in Cuenca, we arranged for a ride to Loja.  The "shuttle" was a little compact car and we each paid $12 for a seat.  There were four riders plus the driver who crammed our suitcases in the trunk.  I sat in the middle of the back seat, backpack and ukulele between my legs, doing my best not to tip over onto the riders on either side of me at every hairpin turn.  The shuttle drivers get paid for each trip they make and zoom through the Andes, squealing tires at every turn, passing people on blind curves.  It took every bit of my attention to keep from getting car sick and create a sphere of protection around the car.  We made it to Loja in about 4 hours.  There, Raul's wife met up with us and they dropped me off at the bus terminal where I arranged for my next ride to Vilcabamba.  An hour and a half later, I took a taxi from the bus station to a cute little hostal called Le Rendezvous (run by a french man named Nicholas).  

I awoke in the morning to this:

Buenas Dias, Vilcabamba!  Me han llegado - I have arrived!

Now, to find the Water Woman Festival....