Spa in the high Andes

After a week in the Amazon, with the heat, the mud and the lack of hair dryer it was such a pleasure to drive for 10 hours up to a hot springs called Papallacta. The weather was cool everything was clean and there were thermal springs all around and you could get an hour long message for $35.00! Connie and I thought we had arrived in heaven.

We got our room allocations and headed to the Cabana which had underfloor heating provided by the hot springs and joy of joy's a bath. Everywhere we had been staying so far had showers and I really am a bath person.

Right outside was a hot pool, so we donned our bathing suites and jumped in.  Unfortunately shortly thereafter I started to feel a little nauseous and decided to lie down for a little while.  Well a little while turned out to be 12 hours! I was suffering a little from the altitude, we were at over 3,300 metres high and I guess the quick ascent along with sitting in a hot tub was too much for me.  So I can not describe to you how good the food was at dinner that night at a local restaurant, but everyone told me it was wonderful.

The next morning I was a new women and so I went along with everybody else down to the same restaurant for an Ecuadorian breakfast. This turned out to be warm fresh buns (that tasted better than they look) with melting queso fresco inside.

Sachatamia Lodge Mindo Ecuador

Mindo is a couple of hours drive from Quito the Capital of Ecuador and is a little lower in altitude and therefore a little warmer. It is in the cloud forest though so it is prone to low cloud and rain.  The  Sachatamia Lodge is made of wood as are all the cabins which gives the interiors a wonderful warm feeling and the exteriors blend in to the landscape.

 Around this lodge there are thousands of humming birds, of many different varieties.  They are not shy and if you patiently stand by one of the many feeders they will even sit on your fingers!

The lodge has a wonderful place to sit to look at the view, watch the birds and even have a drink a the same time.

Many of the group that I was in were avid bird watchers some of them even making a living studying birds so you saw this a lot.

Cafe Cultura Quito Ecuador

Old Town Quito in the central square

I have just returned from a trip of a life time to Ecuador, it all started by arriving at Cafe Cultura in Quito after midnight early Tuesday morning after a mammoth trip starting at 4:00 on Monday Morning. We arrived at this amazing lobby with wood fires burning and walls covered in murals.

My husband (who had proceeded me by a couple of weeks) had waited up and led me to our room. Each room at Cafe Cultura is very different, several of them being around the back which are accessed by a covered walk way.

Hotel Argonaut - San Francisco

We chose Hotel Argonaut for our long weekend in San Francisco as much for the location as anything else and we were right it is an amazing location right next Ghiradelli Square, steps away from the cable car and across the road from fisherman's wharf.

The building is an old warehouse that has been re purposed and it is part of the American National Parks system, and therefore has kept much of its original character with internal brick walls and wonderful old beams.

The other factor that enticed us to stay here was the fact that they host a free wine reception every day at 5:00. Now I have never been known to turn down a glass of wine, and this was a great way to meet people in the same way as you do when staying at Bed and Breakfasts.

Happy hour in the lobby

We did partake of the free wine on two of our four days staying here and they served decent California wine each time.

Hotel Indigo San Antonio

When looking for a Hotel in a place that you have never been before, it is sometimes hard to figure out the best location.  The convenience of having a hotel close to the action can sometimes be a detriment if the "action" is very noisy.  For instance in Barcelona, I discovered that I was glad we were a little away from Las Rambles as those English tourists could be very noisy partying in to the small hours of the morning.  This turned out to be true in San Antonio also, though our hotel was right on the River walk it was a 15 minute walk up stream from the down town on a very quiet peaceful stretch.

The river walk north of downtown

It was a pleasure to step down the steps from our hotel right on to the walk where it was peaceful and shady due to the abundance of vegetation.  The front of the hotel was not as beautiful, but really after arriving we hardly went out the front again.

The hotel was oriented to the back where there was swimming pool and comfy chairs for sitting outside enjoying the warm weather.

Casa Grande Puerto RIco

For the second stage of our vacation in Puerto Rico we headed up to the mountains for a respite from the heat and we thought the sun.  In fact apart from the torrential downpour when we arrived the rest of our time in the rain forest was remarkably dry.

Rain forest living up to it's name

We were staying at Casa Grande which is an old coffee plantation up in the mountains close to Utuado. They call themselves a retreat and it certainly is.  There are no radios, televisions or phones, but there is internet in the main building.  As soon as we arrived I signed up for a reflexology foot message. Jennifer took me to hut away from the main buildings.  Often when you go to a spa they pipe in the soothing noises like waves crashing on a beach or a rain forest, well here the noise of the rain forest noises came free, it was uterley peaceful and relaxing.

Hammock on deck of cabin

The cabins were scattered around the property and each one had a deck with a couple of chairs and a hammock.  I spent a very peaceful couple of hours reading in this one.  There was also a swimming pool set in the grounds.

Villa Confresi - Rincon Puerto Rico

I found the hotel Villa Cofresi Like I find almost everything these days (except my car keys) on the internet.  It had very good reviews on trip advisor and was locally owned and operated.  Also it said that most of their guests were Puerto Ricons.

Dave enjoying a Pirate special at Villa Cofresi

The rooms mostly seem to have a view of the ocean and the very large bar area is open to the beach and is humming most of the day and all of the evening.

View from the bar

The beach in front of the hotel was not private, but most of the people on it were from the Villa Cofresi.  We got the use of the loungers and most importantly the beach umbrellas.

This was my view for most of the day, in fact we kind of skipped lunch it was so pleasant on the beach.

Hotel Modera - Portland Oregon

My husband booked the Hotel Modera for my father and I for our weekend get away in Portland.  They advertise themselves as a "Luxury Boutique Hotel in the heart of Downtown Portland" and that is exactly what it is, but at a reasonable price.



Court yard of Hotel Modera by night

 We entered into a lobby with some beautiful original works of art and were greeted by a very friendly approachable consierge/front desk clerk.



Lobby of the Hotel Modera




He made our reservation at the Chez Joly for us and then we went up to our rooms to freshen up before dinner.