Peru & Ecuador - Part 7

Our first full day at Kuyana Lodge began with breakfast. All meals were included with the pricing at this lodge. All of the food we had was delicious, so compliments to the chef there. The food is locally sourced, and she found unique ways to use what was in season and available.

breakfast

Following breakfast we did a hike onsite to a waterfall. As in the previous night, there was a loose interpretation of a trail, and it was steep and slippery. Keeping us company on the hike was the local monkey, Ramona. She is a rescue animal, as her mother was killed by poachers. Ramona was quite the character, and liked being carried more than walking. The waterfall was very pretty, and though our daughter continued up the hill with the guide to see the upper waterfall, we chose to wait by the lower falls once we heard we would have to pull ourselves up the hill with a rope.

morning hike

After lunch we walked around and explored the grounds a bit. Again, we were the only guests there, so we had the place to ourselves.

around the resort

That evening we took part in a cooking class, presented by our guide. First we went into the jungle to find leaves that would be suitable to cook the fish in. We had a choice of cooking a whole fish or just a filet. Then we learned about cocoa beans and how chocolate is made. First the beans were roasted, then we removed the shells. Next the beans went through a grinder, and finally the cocoa was placed into a pan and cooked. He added a sweetener to make it so the cocoa was not so bitter. Once the fish was done, that became our dinner, and the chocolate sauce was spooned over some fresh fruit for dessert. It was delicious!

cooking class

We went back to the cabin following dinner. And again we had no hot water. This was definitely getting old.

Not Immune to Infection

today's sunrise

Well, unfortunately my ED&C surgery resulted in an infection. By Saturday the area around the excision site got red, warm and hard. Sunday the red area had increased in size and my arm began to hurt. First thing Monday I called the doctor's office and explained what was going on. They had me take a photograph of it and text it to them.

As the doctor was confidant that it was indeed infected, she ordered an oral antibiotic for me. I have to take it twice a day for 10 days. I'm now on the fifth day of using them, and the area definitely looks better than it did originally. I guess I was expecting it to be almost healed by now. The redness, warmth and hardness are gone, but the wound itself still has some oozing going on. That's probably normal, but with my allergy to adhesives, keeping a bandage on it has been very difficult so I really need it to dry up. I've been keeping it open to the air during the day, wearing only sleeveless shirts. So I have been pretty housebound for a week since I can't put a jacket over the open sore.

I did cover it up Wednesday evening as we had registered for a floral watercolor class that was being offered here in the neighborhood. It was nice to get out for a bit, and the class was pretty good. I need to work on some of the techniques we learned for sure. Some of my flowers definitely do not look like what they are supposed to be!

floral watercolor class

Covidities - or My Covid Activities

 As we move through our 8th month of restrictions due to Covid, I have looked for additional ways to fill my time. I have made many jars of jam, sewn more than my fair share of masks, baked new types of bread, worked on my photography, pickleball and kayaking skills, and hiked many mountains in the area. But last week I tried something totally new and out of my comfort zone - a watercolor class.

fall leaves

We have many talented people in our community, many of them artists. While I do feel that I have an artistic side, it comes out in my photography, writing and quilting. I have never been confident with drawing or painting, and so I hesitated to sign up for the beginner watercolor class offered by one of the art teachers here. But Jim really wanted to take it so I thought, what the heck, this might be something we could enjoy together.

Due to Covid, the class size is small and it was only Jim and me at our table in the meeting room. We were to bring a leaf to class for our first project. Thankfully, we only had to trace it on the paper instead of drawing it freehand. But first we learned about wet versus dry painting, and how to blend our paints to get the color we want. It was fun, and I didn't think my leaf turned out too bad!

leaf watercolor

Eager to try something else while the class was fresh in my mind, I looked for inspiration online. I found a beautiful tree that I decided to use as a starting point. This one I had to create on my own as I had nothing to trace, so that was more of a challenge for me. I made a couple of mistakes, and found our how unforgiving watercolor paints can be. But overall, I am very happy with the end result. A cousin said that she sees the world's family tree in the painting. As a genealogist, no comment could have pleased me more.

I also created a painter's mark for myself, which appears on the bottom corner of the tree painting, as I didn't really think the KW I used on my leaf looked very cool. I absolutely love what I came up with, and will use it on all my future works. We have three more classes (one per month) so I know I'll have at least three more paintings - ha!

watercolor tree

Shaw Nature Reserve Photo Shoot

Over the weekend Jim and I attended a photography class at Shaw Nature Reserve. The class was Saturday and Sunday mornings from 7-11 a.m. Getting up at 5:30 both days so that we could arrive on time was a bummer, but the class made up for it. There were 9 students in our group, plus the instructor. Saturday morning was quite foggy, which made for some interesting photos. In retrospect, I wish the instructor would have deviated from his lesson plan and taken us down to the lake for tips on how to shoot in fog. I definitely could have used some advice, but I think I got a couple of nice shots.

park shelter in the fog

fog on the lake

Instead, he started with a short overview, and then we went to the planting beds near our classroom. I tend to shoot mostly on automatic exposure, but for the class I brought my tripod and tried working with different f-stops. Quite frankly, my camera does such a great job on automatic that often the pictures I shot on auto ended up being better than the ones I played around with both days. But I can see that there are situations when you want to have more control over the look of the photo, so it is helpful to learn some tricks of the trade. Here are a few of my favorite shots from the weekend.

I am glad that we took the class, and that photography is something that we both enjoy so that we have a shared hobby. Added benefit? The couple that shoots together doesn't shoot each other!