Let's Dance in Ecuador - A Tale of Healing

[Jzmackenzie]

Yesterday morning, while Don was still asleep. I met a man in the office of our hostel in Salinas, Ecuador, South America. I was checking my email and he was chattering about wanting me to come back in November to a conference on education for children to stop them or prevent them from using drugs. In the course of the conversation, I explained that we were here from our home in Mexico. The location was at a high altitude; my husband was having breathing issues. So, he began telling a story of a man he knows. The man is a relative of the president of Ecuador.

The man suffered a heart attack. His doctors told him he had three to four more years of life is he remained in his Ecuadorian home at a high altitude. So, the man relocated to Bellanita, at sea level. The only change he made to his life was to live at sea level and eat more fruits and vegetables. The weather in coastal regions of Ecuador is so mild that fruits and vegetables mature all around the calendar (thus, they are very cheap, GMO free, and often organic). The man is still living, and has not had another heart attack. That was 20 years ago. This is only one of many positive healing stories I have been told since arriving here.

I have seen and smelled for myself the effects of breathing clean sea air. Yes, we can all wonder about the people who are said to live long lives in Vilcabamba, Ecuador. However, there is not some strange mountain mineral water or fruit here on the coast. There is simply undamaged air flowing from lightly populated Australia over the open sea to Ecuador. This place has lower air pollution than I have ever experienced. I asked myself, is this important?

Last night I got an answer as to the effects of clean sea level air.

The background is that we awakened in this clean sea air environment on September 5. That was 25 days ago, just over three weeks. For three winters, Don has lived at sea level in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico for three to five months of each year. The last trip for a winter away at sea level, home he suffered two strokes within 13 days of coming home. Clearly, the air in Mexico was not as effective at healing Don as the air in Ecuador.

I say that because, last night I asked Don if he might find a way to teach me the Tango. In college, Don worked as a Tango teacher. That is how he supported himself. He loves the Tango. We frequently watch the Tango on TV. Although we have known each other for a few weeks less than 20 years, he has never danced the Tango with me. He shocked me by getting up out of his patio chair, taking me in his arms, and teaching me to dance the Tango!

For the next three hours, he explained variations of the dance, we looked at videos of people dancing the Tango, and he had me try various moves. I gave out at 10pm. He stayed up another two hours because he was so excited to gain back so much of his life simply because he was getting the oxygen he needed to be able to breathe normally.

What a blessing!

I guess cloudy weather is bearable to have Don's health back. The photos were taken at 2pm yesterday on the beaches of Ecuador.