Living Our Values
through
Integral Wealth Planning
Several requests for photos from our recent family travels to the Galapagos have been made and we are pleased to share them with you. In our practice of sharing and answering requests, we recognize a teaching opportunity too. So, let’s embrace multiple perspectives!
Seven years ago, Rich and Gayle traveled to Ecuador, Peru and the Galapagos. Deeply moved by the land, energy and experience in all the places they visited, and particularly the Galapagos, Gayle said if we ever have an opportunity to bring Katelyn and Knight to this part of the world, it would be amazing. Planting that seed, Rich let it take root and began travel planning in November of 2020 – when it seemed that Covid was “softening” – for a year later in December of 2021.
One value we embody and continue to nurture is family connection. While Rich and Gayle seek to provide opportunities to bond, connect and grow together with their children Katelyn and Knight. One way we live this value is our July 4th gathering in Maine-welcoming the kids, and their significant others to join us for the holiday.
Another value we embody is extended adventure travel – to gain insights, experiences, and perspectives on other cultures, life and the world in which we inhabit. We believe the borders of the United States are limited, and we have opportunities to learn from other countries, cultures and people to create and enjoy a better world for all of us.
If we can optimize two values, travel and family, we seize that chance. Our travels to the Galapagos fulfilled both values when Katelyn and her boyfriend, Joe, from California and Knight and his girlfriend, Nikki, from Massachusetts, all chose to join us on this vacation. We were grateful each person said yes. International travel is not easy to begin with; during Covid, the obstacles were even more challenging but we all trooped along!
And we made it! As requested, here’s a taste of our travels…
Quito, Ecuador
The equator. As many of you may know, Ecuador straddles the equator, but only about a third of the land mass is north of the equator. The capital, Quito is a few miles South of the equator and Quito is located in the northern third of Ecuador. While driving north to visit an indigenous family of loom weavers, the marketplace and a volcano, we stopped at the equator for a teaching about sacred points and our limited reference of North, South, East and West.
A fun fact to know when buying Valentine’s Day long-stemmed red roses – they are likely from South America. We were informed that many farms grow long stem roses because the region around the equator naturally grows stems long, strong and vertical.
Isabella Island, The Galapagos
Isabella is one of the newer islands of the Galapagos archipelago. It is the home to six volcanoes that sort of combined (coalesced) as the lava flowed from underground openings in the ocean to form a larger island. The area is surrounded by lava tunnels on the volcanoes, on the beaches and in the waters surrounding the island. On our island hop from Santa Cruz to Isabella, we flew over Wolf volcano which erupted a day after we left Galapagos. As exciting as it might seem to see a volcano erupting, we were relieved to miss the event – our general travel mishaps were sufficient excitement!
Snorkeling the islands were a family favorite excursion. Through the lens of a snorkeling mask, we viewed the surrounding waters and swam through lava tunnels that poked out of the ocean floor. The cohabitating wildlife is mesmerizing and plentiful. Sharks like to rest under the underwater tunnels; we viewed them, as well as, baby sharks hiding from the larger ones; sharks (at least the Galapagos ones) eat their young. Sea turtles were Gayle’s favorite and despite the guides instructions to follow the group, she found swimming with these gentle giants one of the most peaceful experiences of her life; her independence allowed her to witness two giant sea turtles making love, or cuchi cuchi as the locals expressed. A sea lion swam with us and tapped Knight’s hand with a “high-five” with his fin. A tiny seahorse showed us her size in relation to the vast waters. And brightly colored fish of many shapes and sizes captivated our view while snorkeling.
We enjoyed a 20-kilometer (13 miles) hike around the Sierra Negra Volcano. Our hike began in cool moist vegetation and as our altitude increased the vegetation disappeared and the heat became scorching. The area was very dry around the caldera due to a recent eruption; a third of the caldera had no vegetation-only black lava-while the remaining section was covered in green.
Mindo Valley, Cloud Rainforest.
Gayle and Rich were grateful to continue their travels to Mindo Valley, amazing and not to be missed, even if Katelyn and Knight and their partners returned to the states. The valley trapped ocean breezes from the Pacific to start its creation, as a result of preservation, growth of trees and moss, the valley now creates its own weather patten of daily rain. Our guide shared the moss holds about 30 times its weight in moisture; when the sun shines (it is just a few miles North of the equator), the water evaporates to form clouds of fog that expand enough to rain. We witnessed this each day. The forest is filled with many creatures, including – two toed sloths, hummingbirds, toucans, butterflies and Agouti’s! Gayle loved the cute rodent; Rich says it looks like a rat on stilts with a hamster’s butt! We relaxed in waterfall fed pools, gondolas that crossed the valley viewing the Canopy and tops of trees. We rode a bicycle like zipline (brutal exercise uphill) and saw the valley open up below us.
Thank you for your interest in our travels and requesting a “report”. Sharing our experiences means we get to enjoy them again and again. Integral Wealth planning allows our true wealth to weave, digest, inhabit – integrate – into our human lives. These experiences expand our wealthy life. We do not view these experiences lightly, but sacredly. So, when we ask you to dive deeper and access what matters most to you, that action is in service of your discovery and claiming of your values, truth and everything that makes your life worth living. Then, all of your resources have a direction to flow in service of manifesting your precious life.
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