An American eagle landing after flight demonstration – a daily event at Parque del Condor above Peguche in the High Sierras of Ecuador! — at Parque del Condor.
Here she is taking off!
Dear Friends,
Every once in a while, a message arrives in the (e)mail that makes your day!
Here is one that came to me this morning!
It was a great trip.
To Ramelle & Michael
We really didn’t know what to expect with your Art Tour to Ecuador… actually apprehensive about South America travel, yet we took the leap based on knowing you folks. So how did it go?
Now back less than a week, we agree it was pretty amazing. Up in our few Trips of a Lifetime caliber.
We were on a spiritual high so much of the time, with all of the breathtaking beauty of the Andes … the intimate immersion in local traditions and cultures … meetings with remarkable artisans that felt personal, not staged or voyeuristic.
Each place we stayed was comfortable, and distinctive, again with a personal touch, from Peter in the Cloud Forest to Caesar in Hacienda Cusin, with its 1602 foundation to many gorgeous gardens. The pacing was good, always up to us really. The yoga sessions with Michael added to the spiritual wonderfulness and ease of the trip. Plus Monica got a half dozen one-one-one Spanish lessons, amidst the language immersion.
Great travel companions, too.
We see you’re going to offer this trip in the coming year. We highly recommend the Art Tour to Ecuador, and we’re certainly open to other New View excursions, so keep us informed.
With thanks and best wishes, Dan & Monica Shaw
S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6
Contact Ramelle for a detailed itinerary
Travel days: Arrive Bordeaux Wednesday September 7; depart Bordeaux for USA
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Tour is designed for 6-10 travelers
Cost: $6,500 per person single
$4,700 per person double occupancy
Option: Caves of Spain – Sept 18-21
Add on 4 nights/5 days to visit
prehistoric caves in Spain. see
the Altamira Museum and cave
reproduction; visit Bilbao to see the
Guggenheim and the Museo des Bellas
Artes with it’s exceptional collection of
European and provincial art. Drive 4
hours back to Bordeaux to connect to
your international flight to US.
$800 per person double occupancy
The tour is designed and coordinated
by Ramelle Pulitzer
Here is how to contact us:
Ramelle Pulitzer
p: 336-416-2390
e: ramelle@newviewtours.com
Michael Pulitzer
p: 413-717-5459
e: mp@newviewtours.com
New View Tours is pleased to offer a 11 night/12-day exploration of the castles and
Caves in the Perigord region in southwest France.
The variety of pre-historic caves hold magnificent paintings, etchings and relief
sculptures created tens of thousands of years ago. To understand the mystery of the
underground art, we invite Christine Desdemaines-Hugon to joins us in Les Eyzies
to hear her well researched interpretations. (See her book Stepping Stones, 2006)
Among our stops will be Lascaux ll (Lascaux lV in construction), Font-de-Gaume;
Rouffignac and Les Combrelles and Le Chauvet to the east.
We explore castles of Beynac and Castlenaud, where English and French kings
battled during the Hundred Years War between opposite sides of the Dordogne
River. The views will be stunning! In Bordeaux, we include the Museum of
Aquitaine & the Contemporary Art Museum; in Les Eyzies we see the amazing
National PreHistoric Museum of France.
It all comes together in medieval bastides – fortified “new towns” built by nobles –
for example Sarlat. We’ll visit the cathedral built into the mountain – Roccamadour
en route through the Lot valley to Carcassonne and our final cave, Le Chalet.
Activity level: moderate; some uneven surfaces when walking though caves,
steps to climb when visiting castles; standing during guided tours.
Hotels will be 4 star, boutique style inns. Some may have stairs without
elevator access.
Contact us: Ramelle@newviewtours.com
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7
10 days
Start the New Year with a New View:
January 26 – February 4, 2017
Land cost: $2,200 single occupancy;
$1,700 shared room. Includes most
meals, guide, transportation and excellent
accommodations.
Here is how to contact us:
Ramelle Pulitzer
p: 336-416-2390
e: ramelle@newviewtours.com
Michael Pulitzer
p: 413-717-5459
e: mp@newviewtours.com
The tour combines a balance of exploration of the region with time for art
practice, photography, yoga and meditation.
Fly to the new Quito airport to begin tour in the comfort of Las Palmeras Inn above
the Otavalo Market. We find expansive views of Cotacachi, Mojanda and Imbabura
volcano mountains at 8,500 ft. The tour will combine a balance of exploration of
the region with art practice and yoga or meditation. We visit villages, meet local
artisans who are continuing their traditional Quechua way of life in a modern
world. We take a new road to Intag Cloud Forest to find an abundance of birds,
orchids in a unique, diverse ecosystem. Our home is El Refugio, a private retreat.
Activities: visit the condor preserve, walk the rim of volcanic Cuicocha lake,
explore Cotacachi. We stay at SachaJi Retreat, a sustainable “healing hotel” with
glorious hot tub and view. We explore the indigenous community of San Clemente
in the Zuleta valley. Full of new experiences, we complete our tour at unparalleled
1602 Hacienda Cusin. Select activities or try them all: art class, morning yoga,
evening meditation, bird watching and new this tour – a photography class for
advanced and beginning students. Request Spanish classes; massage, or plan
an extended trek on no-bus days, A unique tour combining a balance of inward
practice with travel exploration!
All levels welcome. Instructors: Maria Teresa Ponce – photography;
Sandra Statz – Spanish & Art Class; Ellie – Spanish Class; Michael Pulitzer –
meditation & gentle yoga. Additional fees for classes of $15 each may apply.
Contact us: Ramelle@newviewtours.com
One of the reasons to travel is to discover new people! It was our third or fourth visit to Sachaji retreat. But this time, we met the charming Maria Teresa Ponce. She is an architect, a photographer, and the owner of this unusual property that she and her father designed. In only a few short years, she has transformed the landscape. All invasive species are removed – like the abundant eucalyptus – and stunning flower and vegetable gardens are in development.
Her description of Ecuador is the best! http://www.mysachaji.com/en/sustainability/why-ecuador.html
We will be returning here as a part of our Artist Tour scheduled for late May and then again in October. And we plan to include Maria Teresa as a part of the program.
Sachaji means “beloved mountain”. It is a good place – with wide views of the mighty and magnificent Imbabura mountain.
Let me know if you are interested!
Photo by Maria Teresa Ponce.
Owner, host Peter Joost orients us to the plants, birds and bugs of this lush landscape. He is an encyclopedia of all the different species.
By evening, we are walking through the Intag Cloud Forest after a good downpour. Luckily rubber boots are provided! The river is rushing, so the noise level is very high – making this place really peaceful.
Ivan Suarez points out the features of a local beetle as we start on our short trek…
All clean after walking the rim of Cuicocha volcanic lake, we stop at the last “station” that is a circle with a cross and stepped square shape: a Space of Pardon. Here the offering is the simple but complex idea of forgiveness, starting a new cycle, offering forgiveness to neighbors, and linking to an eternal fire.
We finish the walk with Antonio and Ivan – along the path comes a man who says he is a “real” shaman. He greets Antonio; then joins us and blows a turtle shaped whistle to thank the deities for their healing!
The solar calendar and the lunar calendar were strategically located at sacred sites in diverse locations throughout the Andes. Here, the monuments are recreated in a sacred site on the rim of the revered volcano, now considered “extinct” but the core has become a closed lake.
Ivan translates the Spanish descriptions – adding lots of his own interpretations!
This is the monument where one comes for the ritual of bathing, balancing the energy in your self to be in balance with the world (we are a reflection of the world). Here you can re direct the good and the bad with the help of a Yachai, a person who leads you. Women bathe on one side, men on the other.
Antonio recalls the traditions of sharing food and property between households; offering these in sacrifice to achieve abundance….here on the square monument embedded with a spiral pattern in contrasting stones.
Michael, Dan and that’s Irene listen to the description of the lunar calendar. the moon is most important to nature as it controls the cycles of water – all the liquid in the world. These 13 posts align with the full moon every 28 days. This year was special as the full moon landed on the March 21 equinox – called a Red Moon. The equator has LOTS of energy!
Antonio describes the sundial. See the arc in stone from the base? He is standing on the equatorial line. the post is 90 cm. high. the smaller posts are 6 meters away. They create perfect time keeper – if the sun wants to come out! and they mark the 4 seasons to the day!
Ivan Suarez, our guide through the High Sierras and Antonio, the grandson of a shaman who practiced healing, seasonal ceremonies and brought balance to those in need. Together, they taught us about the traditions of the pre-Incan cultures along the rim of Cuicocha (guinnea pig) lake. The spectacular mountain, Cotacachi, remains behind clouds.
The celebrations on both equinox and the solstices continue every three months here. We find a couple of early revelers eager to dance in their two sided masks with llama chaps, long whip and horn/conch shell to call the community!
Oh, here is another one. NB sleeping dog!
Visiting a home in Zuleta, on the other valley behind Imbabura. Very simple life continues here with lots of farming, in beautiful green valley. Indigenous families still live higher in the mountains.
Not your usual tourist stop: we arranged a tour of the rose plantation – it is the end of their shift, but the production goes 24 hours a day now that Valentines is around the corner. This phase of the process is cutting the stems at a desired length (a meter) when the bud is just open. They fly through the rows! It goes very quickly. See her clippers in her boot? Any flowers that are too open are tossed on the ground as compost! — at near San Pablo, Ecuador in the High Sierras.
A few cabbage pix from the hillside of vegetables overlooking Lago San Pablo. Huge!
This is the same design created by pre Incan civilizations – here designed by scientists measuring the exact center of the world! The sun rises and sets against the mountain peaks creating a point of orientation to measure the seasons for planting, preparing for harvest, for rain, for procreating, for “seasons” that don’t exist here…. and for passing of life.
We stop again at Quitsato – the 0.0.0 degree center of the world – on a site reconstructed in the last few short years to explain this center of the world – discovered long before the Spanish conquistadors brought their ways to the Americas. Here is Michael standing between North and South!
Good bye! This is the view we had right beside the airport – out to the Cotopaxi volcano to the south of Quito! Unbelievable skies. Machisimas gracias, Ecuador!
– a quiet surprise in the valley of Imbarura overlooking San Pablo de Lago. These grounds are stripped of invasive plants – and the result is just beautiful. Such a pleasure to visit
We walk on moss covered paths through thick vegetation by a rushing stream. We take an art class. We watch birds. We meditate. We do yoga. And we are enchanted with the energy and beauty of this place. Good morning all you beautiful creatures! And then of course we work up an appetite. Our meals are just beautifully prepared from this garden – carefully planned and tasty – even gluten free! Yum!
It’s near the end of the market by 9 am and many are leaving by now!
This man found a pig to take home – the pig is squealing like it being tortured! The truck is here for rent in case anyone needs to transport their purchases back to their farm!
The vegetables here are abundant and grow to be enormous – more variety than any place in the world!
Figs boiling in a rolling cart. The yellow packets are slices of cheese to put into a morning sandwich
Quince, corn and beans in abundance!
It’s mid day and time to gather to kick off the festivities arranged for the upcoming soccer tournament in February – an annual affair in this sleepy community that attracts amateurs and professional players from all over the world.
The music maker gives gives us a demonstration of three of his instruments that he and members of his family have made. He plays and sings with his a family in a pan pipe band recognized internationally.
Day 4
This morning, we leave Les Eyzies and drive through the Vazere, a part of the Dordogne valley that is carefully protected from development for having the longest uninterrupted history of mankind in Europe. We weave along beautiful roadways in forested woods with picturesque villages and small farms along the river. First Stop: a Neanderthal archaeological site that is right beside some of these caves we have visited (where Cromagnons – who are homo sapiens – who are us – made all the exceptional carvings and drawings). Neanderthals were nomads who came here to stay for a couple of months at a time. They did not make paintings, but they shared many of the tools used by Cro-Magnon man. For some reason, they disappeared about 30,000 years ago…. There is a fence that marks the walls of Le Moustier, a Neanderthal site 30,000 years old discovered by the Swiss. Christine explains the two types of 2 legged beings would have had “interchangeable tool kits”. And there are no piles of bones indicating war or clashes between species.
Second Stop: Cap Blanc is an outdoor frieze. The relief of horses carved under a natural outdoor rock shelter. People came here for thousands of years to stop under the open air sanctuary, under the overhanging ledge. At first they were nomads; later there are signs of burials here. It is not known if the carvings in the rock walls have anything to do with the burials! During the last ice age, this site was completely buried under sediment and nobody knew it was here.
In 1909, the well respected cave explorer, Lauselle, explored for caves (that could become a lucrative tourist destination). a Team of road workers brought pick axes to cut into the hillside. They practically destroyed the sculptures. The marks of their tools are only centimeters from them.
Christine Desdemaine Hugon keeps us enthralled with beautiful descriptions of what we are seeing interlaced with logical scientific views. This is her strength as a guide. She thinks this work has to be by one artist because the 13 meter frieze fits perfectly into the
rock. There is a gentleness to the scene, she says. Could the horses have been painted at one time? Traces of red ochre were found.
There are unique stone rings that were carved out as if to leave space to thread a rope into the wall. Many flint chips as well as polished stones have been found here. The soft limesone would have been relatively easy to carve. A lamelle is a flint with a sharp blade. Tools found here include chisels, spear points, needles, drills, rounded scrapers.
And here a famous ancient Venus, a portable object, a carving on a reindeer horn about 4 inches long, was discovered. She has no facial features. She is considered to be symbolic. She has a large round belly and breasts and wide hips – a mature, experienced woman. Perhaps it is an ode to women who have done their job? Christine explains. She dates to 24,000 years.
After a stop at the visitor center with many samples of artifacts, we move along…back up the hillside trail to the van. This stop is en route to St Leon Sur Vezere,.
Ramelle Pulitzer, November, 2015
Mural of the Madonna & Child, El Monestario, San Pablo, Ecuador
September 9 – A Note from Bordeaux
Bordeaux celebrates new polished look with butterfly banner!
It is Wednesday. We have planned this tour for over a year to explore the first known art works created by Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal man.
Easing our way back through time, we explore 18th Century Bordeaux, the third largest city in France and a World Heritage Site since 2001. After extensive cleaning and construction of an electric tram through the center city, it is a dream city to walk. Cars are excluded from center city since 20ll. Michael here in 2001 cannot believe the improvements. The city has a rich history as a major western port for Europe. Located on two rivers that each have tides, the shipping legacy reminds of of Portsmouth NH!
One of 4 bell towers – the clock is new!
Our first overnight is in a hotel on a small street, pedestrians only, within a long city block of the main square. Our first lunch was at the magnificent Hotel Bordeaux, a lovely way to relax after the overnight flight from NY. We are typically exhausted by the time change and the over night flight, but find the energy to visit the impressive local Museum de’Acquitaine, that comes highly recommended.
Michael in front of new electric train & 17 Cent buildings.
The ground floor has extensive cave art samples that leave our group eager for our planned visit to the original locations. The second floor features huge models of barques and extensive descriptions of the illustrious era of trade across the world: sugar, wood, and the lucrative, unattractive slave trade.
The cathedral of Bordeaux is enormous. As we walked around it after dinner, a party was going on, apparently impromptu, with swing dancing to American music from the 40’s.
The main cathedral during the day – it’s not leaning!
Dear Fellow Travelers,
Take a break with us this January 2016 and explore your creative spirit in the High Sierra’s of Ecuador.
We journey back to the 17th century at Hacienda Cusin with time to write, draw, paint, rest, hike and enjoy the beauty of the surrounding Andes mountains.Our itinerary offers a retreat experience in a 21st century yoga and meditation center at Sachaji where I will lead a yoga and mediation practice.
We journey into the cloud forest of Intag to view the exceptional bio-diversity and home of El Refugio where we will spend time looking for the rare “Cock of the Rock”.
Let us know if this time will work for you and we will provide you with further details.
Look forward to being in touch!
Saludos!
Michael
Sachaji Retreat – February 2015
Cuicocha Lake – Guinea Pig Lake above Cotacachi village
This is our second cave today and we are eager to see it. 12 visitors at a time are allowed. Again, two people with reservations are a no-show, so two lucky ones waiting for the chance get the OK to come along. The tickets sold out last April! (We will drive by the entrance tomorrow morning to find lines and lines of people waiting to enter. Run by the national park of France, the cave is closed on Saturdays!)
At exactly 10 am, we are allowed to walk through the book shop to start up the trail, a dry
path up a good hill to the mouth of the cave, about 20 minutes. With Christine Desdemaines-Hugon and
our driver/guide Marion Carles to chat with us, we absorb the details of the earliest settlers here. A rich prehistory continues to be excavated. The discovery of the caves early in the last century has allowed scientists and anthropologists to interpret thousands of years of man’s presence & development in this valley. Our assumptions are challenged at every turn.
As we come closer to the mouth of the cave, my
curiosity and visual reflexes are on high.
In a few more steps, we will see hundreds of animals drawn with a blend of red and black colors. The shades were made using crayons that they have found on site and paint brushes that haven’t been discovered.
Some marks were dabbled with a sponge. And the most common mark here was made with the spraying technique. The walls are still wet from the 99 per cent humidity in the cave. The red or black powder was/could be blown thru a tube made out of reindeer horn. We learn how the artist thread two tubes at a right angle. In this way prehistoric man made a spraying tool.
Christine is eloquent, passionate and above all, knowledgable about the cave art. She believes, and it is clear to all of us, this has to be a very experienced single artist at work, She explains the group of 12 bison are an example. From the first to the last, they fit perfectly on the bumps of the surface of the cave – in a room that is over 120 meters. It had to be a fully conscious person. The animals seem like they are meeting, an important message. The animals are always full bodied healthy and not wounded. This is where we find the licking reindeer with huge black antlers – a unique drawing depicted only here.
Font-du-Gaume is the only one still open with polychrome paintings – since Lascaux
has closed. There are hundreds of bison, aurochs, rhinoceros, horse, wolf and reindeer
– and tectiforms. These are shapes in 3 lines that make the form a roof or an uneven
rectangle sometimes with a protruding set of lines. (I start to see the shape in the road
signs, in the rock shadows, and dream up wonderful ideas of what it could “mean”).
The cave has two openings. We go to the right.
There is lots of information about the age of the cave, the discovery of it by Breuil in 1901 and the way the scientists committed their lives to study and description of prehistoric
times.
Carbon 14 dating discovered in 1950’s is still the way we have to pin point prehistoric objects. Of course, they have to have carbon in them! not possible to use the dating on the paints made of iron oxide (red) and the toxic manganese dioxide (black)!
Ramelle Pulitzer, September, 2015
If you are traveling to the prehistoric caves, they are always the same temperature – all year long.
53 degrees farenheit or 13 degrees celsius – and it is always 99 per cent humid!
Feels best if you have a very warm jacket or vest. Light gloves can be nice as hand railings are wet and chilly.
Saint-Émilion – September 9 – Day 2
The name Saint Emilion brings to mind two contrasting images from our tour: an expansive contemporary new building for an old winery and a cloistered stone walled room below a 12 century church lived in for 17 years by a simple man known for his devotion to the church. Emilion’s popularity grew to such proportions that he turned away from his destination on a pilgrimage to hermit himself here in a small French village that today bears is name.
Saint-Émilion winery is between Bordeaux and Sarlat. A well recognized French architect, Jean Nouvel redesigned the classical building considering every step of the wine making process that today appears to flow efficiently. Every aspect of the process functions with care to the space and to the environment and to augment the efficiency of the process. The exterior wall of the building is a striking metallic red colored rectangle of horizontal strips of stainless steel. The color changes with the light and is slightly altered from a bright red to a 
deep maroon – like the color of the grapes. Each strip is tilted a little – just enough to reflect either the sky or the earth – the terrior. On the roof surface is a deck on a flat surface like a swimming pool of glass pebbles in red, maroon and an orange color. When we walk here, it feels like we are stomping on grapes! La
Terrasse Rouge.
70 pickers will be here in the next two weeks for the annual harvest before the end of the month. The grapes will be separated, then piled into barrels where they crush themselves from their own weight. The skins will separate from the juice and bubble up to the top forming “the hat”. Twice a day the juice is circulated through the hat to allow the tannin to distribute through the wine.The barrels are rolled “naturally” about a quarter turn left or right as if they were on a boat. This technique was learned when wine was shipped to the new world through the busy port city of Bordeaux during the 18th century. This is a “little vineyard” with a mere 120,000 barrels of “aromatic feminine reds”. It is 11 in the morning on our second day in France. We taste a 2007 a very dry year when roots had to go deeper. The wine is 80 percent merlot and 15% cabernet and 5 % franc. This is “Right bank” wine as we are in the valley on the right side of Bordeaux.…and
Saint-Émilion is a 12 century maize of steep slippery stone streets that make up the village built by King John – yes, of England. Underground is a most exciting cathedral dug out of the limestone (no pictures allowed). The three story columns that were not dug out are what makes the columns. The three story room is enormous. It took 300 hundred years to carve it from the solid rock limestone – the 9th to the 12th century. Of course, it would be a good place to hide and a good place to retreat. Known as the Eglise Monolithe. It is now, along with the entire village protected as a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Saint-Émilion was a pilgrim who lived his last 17 years in a limestone natural underground room. He came from Brittany on a pilgrimage as far as this village. He stopped in this simplegrotto where a natural stream flowed under the rock platform of the cave. From a niche, he performed many miracles and baptize followers in the clear river water. It is said that he made bread appear to feed the poor, and he healed blind people. News of his miracles traveled. There is a fertility seat by his alcove. He died 676 AD.
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