I have been exploring into health benefits & usages of Extra Virgin Cold Pressed Coconut oil for years. Since its mega exposure in recent years have urged me more to look into it in a deeper way. I hope after reading this you will be encouraged to explore for yourself into this Yet another Wonder Foods into your dialy diet to reap its ample health benefits; My discovery led me to this venture since my move to South American Continent in September of 2014 to this locally produced product right here in the Town of Vilcabamba the city of longivity as they refer to it in Ecuador. One of the Ayurvedic Practitioner here in Cuenca, Ecuador shared with me this wonder available right here under our noses --- The Oro Blanco as native calls it meaning White Gold. When I had a chance to look, feel , touch , smell and apply this oil on my hand I just fell in love with its clean pure amazing fragrance that I have not witnessed thus far. It made me dig deeper to learn who is it that is making it and where ? I found out it was a venture started originally by an American who relocated to the Town of Vilcabamba and his name is Carl Nordeng approximately 5 years ago. His commitment to bring this amazing product which has been making headlines all over North America was brought now to a land where coconut grows in abundance. What better place to manafacture it ! He was the pioneer to bring this white gold to native of Ecuador.He hopes to bring this product as a better , healtier alternative to vegetable oils mostly used by natives in Ecuador. It was then I recently learned was bought out by an Spanish native Ana Llopart who has a vision to bring this product soon to be available all over Ecuador maintaining its Natural pure integrity intact via www.naturespiritsecuador.com at this production facility in Vilcabamba the 'city of longivity here in Ecuador. Our journey to find this facility began few weeks ago when I was trying to buy it for my personal use. We decided to take a trip to Vilcabamba in early December 2014. I had corresponded with Ana Llopart few times and told her about our plan of going to visit her. But by the time we decided to go there was no time to ask about her address or the phone contact. We ventured into tracking her down just purely by her product and name. It was 4 hours bus ride to Loja where we switched to a local bus ride for another 1 hour to the city of Vilcabamba. As we boarded the second bus my heart started to pound " can we really find her?" I hoped we would. No turning back at this point nothing to loose as we did planned to visit Vilcabamba regardless as it is one of the most recommended cities to visit while in Ecuador. It was 3 pm Saturday afternoon when we finally landed into the town. Now at this point what my husband asked me was : do you have her phone # at least? I said no I mailed her late last nite but had not heard back as yet when we left early saturday morning. He just looked at my face and shook his head. I said I have faith we will find her this is a small town and product is popular it should be no problem. Inwardly I started to wonder at this point as our spanish is far from good at this point and time. we saw a Real Estate Office as soon as we got off the bus in Vilcabamba; and my husband said this guy will know her let us try this, I had nothing to loose, it seemed as good an idea as any so we went in and in broken spanish asked if he spoke English. He said , No. My heart sank now what ? But we further pursued asking in little spanish we knew and said Aceite de Coco, por favor? meaning coconut oil please. He said yes, I know may be? then someone from next room a lady whom we never saw the face of loudly said Oh it is Ana ! I got encouraged and said yes, yes it is Ana we are looking for , do you know where is her factory. He uttered another name of a town we did not have any idea about ... She is in town of "Masanamaca " I said can you write it down for me please so we could show it to the taxi driver. We took a taxi and the driver did not speak English at all but we managed to show him the slip of paper with name of the town. No stopping now we have come so far let us explore it. Then taxi stopped as soon as it began moving. Now what? There was another young man who was friend of the taxi driver who wanted to come along. As he sat in front next to the driver I asked him " por favor ,Tu habla Ingles ? Do you speak English? he to my surprise said yes! we got pleasantly surprised and agreed he could ride with us. He further informed " oh I lived in UK for a while and I am a car painter. He informed he knows Ana as well as her factory. I glanced and my husband with his eyes saying God is watching don't worry let this be. We started our drive to the town of Masanamaca. It was a wonderful high-way into the valley and nothing in site as far as habitation is concerned. Ten minutes, fiveteen minutes and then twenty minutes went by with no sign of the factory. Soon enough the driver stopped at this raw iron gate along the high-way entering a dirt road. I again looked at my husband what you say? It is ok what came back in response. He kept going up the mountain on this unpaved road and stopped at the little building. I wondered if it is the place we were looking for ? and if it is Is it open ...? No luck good new yes it is the right place but there was a lock at the door. Now what do we do I silently wondered. Few minutes passed we walked around the building and I realized by peeking into the windows I saw the coconuts and the oil jars on shelf and felt relieved at least we found the place, But Locked??? I took some pictures and kept the hope still of finding and meeting with 'Ana'. Our driver saw this young man far up to next level up in the mountain from where we were he yelled to us who are we looking for? I asked the guy to ask the other guy on the mountain where does Ana lives and if he knows of her? He ansered back in Spanish that Ana lives above him further up in the in the mountain in a house but factory is closed today. I said is Ana there he answered we could go up and check. We got back on the dirt road once again ascended to the higher level up on the unpaved road to mountain above which was driveway to the log home the guy pointed to. We arrived at the beautiful log home in midst of mountains 360 degrees. Very mystical the location was we saw a man standing inside the home. Seeing our taxi pull up he came out. I got off and asked him if he spoke English? to my relief he said yes. I asked him is this Ana's home ? he said YES! at last I had found her that is all that mattered at that point. He said she is in and will see you in few minutes. We chatted for few minutes and a lovely young 3 year old girl walked to us It was Ana's daughter. In moments ahead Ana herself came out and I introduced myself. She was surprised how we found her .. I said I know factory is closed but can I bother you to come open it so I can see the oil I came to purchase all this way. She was very happy to drive up with her family to let us into the factory we chatted and learned how this dream came to be her's now and shared how they extract the oil and now they are dilligently working towards bringing it to bigger market all over Ecuador as Pure natural product that is a absolute health wonder. Where there is a will there is a way!! we connected and I did my purchase and Ana recomended for us to stop over at the restaurant in town of Vilcabamba for our supper. By this time it was getting dark but our drivers and his friend were kind enough so we could take some neat clicks along our ride back into town. Here are some more clicks for you all to enjoy and come visit this wonderful valley on your visit to Beautiful Ecuador! I will keep you posted with the wonderful usage of this nature product into my own daily diet. Along with the coconut oil Ana shared with me the coconut flour and coconut dish soap that they are going to introduce soon along with the clay of Vilcabamba. I brought back wonderful products more than what I had anticipated and a promise to bring this wonder to my clients, friends and family not only in NorthAmerica but to our new land / home the beautiful Ecuador! Stay tuned for more to follow ! " Follow your heart with your whole heart and the way will show itself". Your Partner in Total Health! |
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AuthorRenu teaches and practices Ayurveda with a specialty in Ayurvedic nutrition via SohamWellnessPlace in Toronto & Ecuador! Archives
June 2015
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