Olinguito is a shy and furry animal that sucks his thumb all day long and hides in the treetops of the Ecuadorian cloud forest. No one in the whole world knows that he exists. Olinguito is too shy to let the other creatures know that he has been listening and watching them, and enjoying the tales told by Tomas, an ancient Galapagos tortoise. Tomas loves to tell fantastic stories about the strange creatures of the Galapagos Islands, from the poisonous longnose stubfoot toad to a Pinta Island tortoise named Lonesome George, who no one in the cloud forest has ever seen. When Olinguito hears the other cloud forest animals ridicule Tomas for making things up, he realizes that these are not tall tales—they are memories of creatures driven to extinction. Shy Olinguito is finally moved to speak up in defense of Tomas. This poignant story addresses respect, both for the environment and for our elderly, and explores universal themes of friendship, memories, and finding the courage to speak up.

High in the Andes Mountains on the legendary Inca Trail, four thirty-something professional women embark on an Ivy League hike to help them confront their online dating dependency, only to find themselves victims of a predator's ruse, and soon in a fight for their very lives. The women are eager to leave relationships behind for a while, but their intent to cast off their search for a soul mate falls by the wayside when handsome, magnetic Rodrigo, their hike leader, proves too mesmerizing to resist. Friend is pitted against friend as the women vie for Rodrigo's attentions. Rodrigo manipulates them into participating in a heinous ancient sacrifice that will guarantee the success of his megalomaniacal dreams. But unbeknownst to the hikers, they have been under the vigilant presence of Taki and Koyam, two elderly indigenous women who understand the danger the women are facing at the hands of Rodrigo.

What would you risk to relive the bliss? In the affluent Los Feliz enclave of Los Angeles, five wealthy seniors recall vivid memories of ancestors after Claire, a young massage therapist, uses her grandmother's specially blended, Amazonian, aromatherapy oil. The seniors' live-in caregivers, each with a rich history, are inevitably caught up in the drama as the past collides with the present. The caregivers divulge details of the memories to Alma Ruiz, a pseudo-homeopath, amateur genealogist, and pathological liar. She conspires with Soledad to dupe the vulnerable seniors into paying them vast amounts for memory retrieval reenactments. Alma and Soledad's transgressions awaken the buried shamanistic sense of Octavio, a gifted gardener who immigrated to Los Angeles seeking revenge on the oil companies that dumped oil in the Shuar tribal lands of Amazonian Ecuador. Traces of Bliss reveals how memory can travel through the blood, and how much we are willing to sacrifice for lost treasures from the past.

Modern-day human traffickers and art thieves extort a wealthy Laguna Beach, California, art collector, Paloma Zubiondo, by offering to release a young Ecuadorian sex slave in exchange for one of Paloma's treasured seventeenth-century Spanish Colonial paintings, purportedly a stolen painting of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. An epic tale of interwoven narratives that connects art theft and sex trafficking to the palpable triumphs and pathos of three historical indigo maidens: artist, Isabel Santiago from 1699 Ecuador; printing heiress, Maria de Rivera Calderon y Benavides from 1754 Mexico City; and social activist sentenced to San Quentin prison, Modesta Avila from 1889 San Juan Capistrano.

"El perfecto mundo de la coleccionista de arte y filántropa Paloma Zubiondo se hace añicos cuando recibe una llamada telefónica de una muchacha misteriosa que dice ser prisionera de tratantes de blancas y le ruega que devuelva una pintura de arte colonial españ̃ol robada de la Inmaculada Concepción del siglo XVII. La muchacha dice que su libertad depende de la devolución de esa pintura que, según ella, le pertenece por derecho por ser descendiente de su pintora, Isabel Santiago. Aunque sospecha que la historia es falsa, Paloma se ve obligada a hacerle frente al vil submundo de la trata de blancas y el robo de arte."--Page 4 of cover.

When a Los Angeles massage therapist uses her grandmother's special Amazonian oil on her clients, five senior citizens find themselves recalling vivid memories of their ancestors. The seniors' live-in caregivers, each with a rich history, are inevitably caught up in the drama as the past collides with the present. Their collective lives are sent into upheaval as the self-appointed homeopathic Dr. Ruiz, a pathological liar, seeks to capitalize on their desires for memory retrieval and reenactments by fleecing them of their riches for a moment of unbridled remembrance and bliss. En el acaudalado vecindario de Los Feliz, en Los Angeles, varios ancianos adinerados experimentan vividos recuerdos de sus ancestros después de que su masoterapeuta utiliza un aceite amazónico de aromaterapía muy especial. Las encargadas de cuidar a los ancianos, cada una con una rica historía personal, se ven inevitablemente atrapadas en el drama cuando el pasado choca con el presente. Las vidas de los protagonistas son lanzadas al caos, mientras la autodenominada homeópata Dra. Ruiz, mentirosa patológica, busca capitalizar el deseo de los ancianos por recuperar sus recuerdos y revivir sus experiencias pasadas exprimiéndoles su dinero a cambio de un momento de recuerdos y dicha sin par.