Bert in Vilacabamba!

Bert left for Loja on Thursday evening for a 15 + hour bus ride. He made it safely, although he was forced to sit though an improvised sermon on the bus, complete with hymns and a lengthy talk.

From there he caught a bus to Vilacabamba, which translates as 'sacred valley'. He ended up having a beer with an old man who wanted to practice English. A young boy tried to speak converse with him as well, but upon realizing that Bert's Spanish is limited, the boy settled for explaining that "God made all the plants".

Today Bert went for a four hour horse ride around Vilacabamba; and, tomorrow he'll head to his new home in the mountains of Sacred Suenos (Sacred Dreams) farm, accompanied by a burro carrying supplies.

He's said that the atmosphere is much more relaxed in the rural areas he's visiting. He'll be gone for approx three weeks, will come back for two, and probably return again.

For those of you who don't know, I'm still in Quito because I have some good work opportunities that I want to continue pursuing. Bert got tired of the politics at his job, and feels like he'll have a richer experience here by working on the farm. I'm looking forward to the return of what will soon become a very dirty, muscular, hairy Bert (the showers is a hose, and he will be working for 6-8 hours a day).

That's it. I'll update when I hear from him, he plans to make contact every weekend. He hasn't a phone or internet, and has to hike four hours both ways to get to a place that does.

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