2016 – A DIFFICULT YEAR

Some challenges are man made and some are truly powerful, natural occurrences. Last year was full of both.
The big, bad news about the Zika virus, two volcanos that threatened to blow up any minute, the insecurities about the opening and closing of the Cuenca airport, the lingering el Niño threat, an unstable economy and to top it off – a massive 7.8 earthquake on the coast of Ecuador on April 16th 2016 – were pretty devastating for the Santuario Hibiscus. Not many people found their way to our guesthouse…
This was the year we became fully aware of how much a Sanctuary our place really is. Although we felt the shakings of the big earthquake, there was no damage. The Zika virus – contrary to mainstream news – is not present at our altitude and in this area. There is no immediate threat because of a volcano and el Niño mostly affects coastal areas in a big way.
The prospering nature on our property, the increased bird population and the abundance of fruit, vegetables and flowers all of a sudden took on a very different, much more forceful meaning!
Years of being a steward of our land, planting trees and spending countless hours taking care of our surroundings are paying back hundredfold. We don’t deal with drought, not even in the height of a very dry summer and record amounts of rain like we see it at present, are not causing damage on our property.

2017

We are well into the new year and many of the ideas, that were set in motion last year – are showing amazing results. With our presence on iOverlander (www.ioverlander.com), we opened our doors to a very interesting and different crowd. Another interesting addition is the hosting of workawayers (www.workaway.info) – volunteer workers. Often young people with lots of enthusiasm and energy! Our handicap accessible room is much appreciated by people that are insecure climbing stairs and our new gardens by the house, set up with permaculture elements are growing a lot of healthy kale and lettuce to feed us for many meals to come!

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 25th, 2017 at 7:51 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.