gail sheffield on sun 22 aug 99
------------------
OK, let me wrap this sucker up. In addition to the highland places I =
already
mentioned, one outstanding place we stayed was near Otavalo, north of Quito,
called Casa Mojanda. Their website is www.casamojanda.com . They are also =
the
profit arm of a foundation working with a nearby community. Its kind of =
nice to
know most of your tourist dollars go to help worthy local causes instead of =
just
fattening corporate bank accounts. Another activity we all performed to our
utmost ability during the entire trip, men included, was shopping till we
dropped. I, at least, rationalize, that (1) I may never come this way again
(although I hope so) and this is one of the world's better craft areas, (2) =
its
important, especially for us =22artists=22 to support local, especially =
indigeneous,
crafts, and (3) its nice to have your Christmas shopping all done. Of =
course,
sometimes, when you get to the hotel, or home, you discover that the wool
sweater you bought from that adorable little girl in the market is really
synthetic.
We did not get a chance to sample roasted guinea pig, but you do see street
vendors (in the highlands) with them on rotisserie-type things. They have =
their
little heads on and tiny feet sticking up, but, to be fair, guinea pigs were
domesticated in the Andean highlands as a foodsource. And who am I to carp =
when
we, in this part of the country, appreciate a good squirrel stew. (Don't =
flame
me=3B I'm really very animal-rights oriented).
I haven't said much about the other trip participants since you don't know =
them,
and they probably don't want somebody describing them on the Internet. But,=
it
was a diverse group which was also quite compatible. Mostly females, but =
some
males. Ages from just-out-of-college to mid-60's. Party folks and old
fuddy-duddies asleep by 9:00 each evening (I'm in the latter group). There =
were
ceramics people and fiber artists, art teachers, people in diverse non-art =
jobs
and professions, but all seemed to have a commonality of appreciation for =
what
we saw and did and, perhaps most important, great senses of humor. I am not=
a
fan of commercial tours, but this type of thing is quite different. If =
anyone
is interested, and they offer this again, it was an incredible bargain,
pricewise. Its easy to have a great trip if you pay out of the nose=3B the
reasonable cost was part of the beauty of this one.
If anyone really read all of these posts, and enjoyed them, I would love to =
know
(offline). When you do something like this, you imagine the sound of =
thousands
of delete buttons going off in unison. If anyone has any questions or wants
further info on anything, please let me know. And don't forget that your
moderator, Joe Molinaro, knows 85,000=25 more about all of this than I do.
Gail Sheffield
Covington, LA
Dannon Rhudy on mon 23 aug 99
I read every word - fascinating. Thanks, in fact, for the excellent
report on what was obviously a stellar tour.
Sounds like it was a good group, and that Joe did a terrific job
of seeing to it that y'all got your money's worth.
Regards,
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
At 09:03 PM 8/22/99 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>------------------
>OK, let me wrap this sucker up. In addition to the highland places I already
>ceramics people and fiber artists, art teachers, people in diverse non-art
jobs
>and professions, but all seemed to have a commonality of appreciation for
what
>
>is interested, and they offer this again, it was an incredible bargain,
>pricewise. I.. the
>reasonable cost was part of the beauty of this one.
>
>If anyone really read all of these posts, and enjoyed them, I would love
to know
>(offline). When you do something like this, you imagine the sound of
thousands
>of delete buttons going off in unison. If anyone has any questions or wants
>further info on anything, please let me know. And don't forget that your
>moderator, Joe Molinaro, knows 85,000% more about all of this than I do.
>
>Gail Sheffield
>Covington, LA
>
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