Alegria de la Vida: Don Sebastian, The Man and His Mountain

Yesterday we went on another " adventura grande". When we head up town to Pimampiro we never know what awaits us. Yesterday we found Nelson, our taxi cab driver, taking his afternoon siesta in his cab, so we woke him up and asked him to drive us up to a small village called San Jose. We meandered up a cobblestone mountain road with 1000 ft. drop offs only a few feet from the edge of the road. This seems to be pretty typical for any mountain road we travel in this region of Ecuador. We arrived at a farm and parked the truck. As we got out, a tall weathered man walked up the lane and asked, "do I know you?" and Sue answered ,"not yet" and he smiled at us and greeted us warmly with "Buen Dia". We were introduced to Don Sebastian, the owner of the 47 acre peach and tomato farm. We told him we were visiting Pueblo de San Jose and he immediately offered to show us his farm. He was so proud to show us his peach orchard, which was comprised of 3000 peach trees and his 3 large tomato green houses, which seemed to go on forever. And every tomato plant was so heavily laden with tomatoes it had to be tied up to an overhead pole. After we walked down to the river and the end of the greenhouses, he pointed up to a mountain top which towered over 1500 ft and told us that this was his property also. I was blown away. Muy Linda (How Beautiful) , I kept saying, and smiled proudly. Before we knew it we were in the truck and heading up a fresh cut dirt road with numerous switchbacks. All was well until we hit the moist volcanic soil near the top of the mountain and the truck tires starting sliding. Remember, we were only a few feet from a 1000 ft drop. Both Don Sebastian and Nelson our driver kept chatting away as though they were driving down a 4 lane highway so I thought to myself, "No Problemo Miguel, today is not your day to die" oh, and I did say a pray to the mountain gods as well, just for a little insurance. By then we had reached the summit. We got out of the truck and looked out over the Andean mountains in absolute awe at the majestic vistas. "Oh Dios Mio!" I said to my self, this is heaven. We sat with Don Sebastian as he continued to tell us about his beloved mountain and his 35 years as a farmer in San Jose. As he told us about his family, I could see a sense of sadness come over his face. He went on to tell us that his only son was murdered several years ago in Ibarra, that he had 2 daughters but they had little contact with him and that his wife was crippled with arthritis. As he looked out over the vast Andean mountains which lay before him he raised his arm as if to say thank you to God for this wonderful gift. As we prepared to depart Don Sebastian smiled and wrapped his large arms around us and said " you are no longer strangers to me, now you are family".