Ecuador - the Mainland - April 2015

This is the third installment of our Ecuador trip.  After we left the Galapagos we found ourselves in Guayaquil mid-afternoon on a Saturday.  We had already decided that we didn’t want to stay in Guayaquil (too big, too modern, too dangerous) so we found a van service to take us inland to Cuenca.  The van held 7 people and a driver and when we had a full load we set off for Cuenca.  It was a bit of a hair raising trip, at least for Nancy, who didn’t like the risks the driver was taking with our lives.  Actually I thought he was making a pretty good compromise between overly cautious and downright reckless and he did get us to Cuenca in a reasonable time.  

In Cuenca we were lucky enough to find a room at the first place we checked - the Mansion Alcazar.  This was another fine old home converted into a hotel.  For dinner that evening we walked the few blocks down to the main square and dined at a popular Ecuadorian restaurant called Raymipampa.  There I had my favorite Ecuadorian dish - Locro de Papa (potato soup with cheese and avocado) with my favorite Ecuadorian beer - Pilsener (Pilsener is a brand of beer there).

Cathedral of Immaculate Conception, Cuenca

The next morning I explored the town while Nancy and Arden went to Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception on the main square.  The town has a nice old historical district to the north and a more modern district to the south.  The two halves of town are separated by the Rio Tomebamba which flows through the middle of town.  

Panama Hat Museum

In the afternoon, we paid a visit to the Panama Hat museum (the Panama Hat was actually created in Ecuador).  All the hats were too small for me but Arden and Nancy manage to find ones that suited them.  I now have a better appreciation for a fine quality Panama hat - not that I can afford one - good ones are expensive.  

In Market, Cuenca

We spent the day wandering around the town.  It is a nice walkable city.  It was interesting to see so many women wearing the traditional dress - the skirts (polleras) and the colorful shawls, all topped off with a fine straw hat.  Our meal that night in the restaurant of the Hotel Victoria was the best of the entire trip.  A fine meal of potato soup and trucha (trout - a non-native species imported into the Andes by Europeans).

The next day we again wandered around town before leaving around noon for Banos.  We had expected the bus ride to Banos to take around 3 or 4 hours (according to our hotel reception) but were surprised when a) there wasn’t even a direct bus to Banos and b) the bus we had to take to Ambato took some 7 hours and Banos was another hour beyond that.  We boarded our bus and settled in for the long journey to Banos.  

The distance wasn’t great but the terrain was so hilly that the progress was slow.  It was dark by the time we reached Ambato, or rather the outskirts of Ambato - since the bus was continuing on to Quito it didn’t even go into the town.  We were pretty much done with buses by this point so we flagged down a taxi and negotiated the fare to take us all the way to Banos - a long way for a taxi but well worth it.

We had booked a hotel in Banos the via e-mail the previous night - the Luna Runtun.  It was a long way out of town but our taxi driver was accommodating and took us all the way (he got a good tip).  We arrived at something like 1 minute after 9:00 when the restaurant for the hotel closed at 9:00.   At first they refused to serve us but we kicked up such a fuss that they relented.   Locra de Papa (Potato Soup) again.

View from Hotel in Banos

The Luna Runtun is actually a very nice hotel.  It is situated on top of the hill overlooking the town of Banos.  The town is a long way down - some 6 or 7 miles by road and a couple of miles downhill by the more direct walking trail.  They have a nice spa and pool overlooking the town but it was not quite the same as the natural hot springs baths you can get down in the town.  All in all, a nice place to spend a couple of nights.

The next morning we soaked in the spa for a while before walking down the trail into town.  In town we learned from a rather chatty tourist from Chicago that there are waterfalls worth seeing and a swing further up the volcano where cool pictures can be taken (the “swing at the end of the world” they call it).  We negotiated with a driver to take us on a tour of the waterfalls and then up to the swing before returning us to our hotel.

The way out of town in a volcanic eruption, Banos.

At the first waterfall we were enticed into taking a ride across the valley on some flimsy cable car arrangement.  Basically a cage on a wire cable that is pulled back and forth by a modified truck engine.  We and half a dozen Ecuadorians were in the cage when without warning they let us go and we started flying across the valley below.  When we got to the middle they started up the truck engine to pull us across to the other side.   After a few moments to catch our breath we were pulled back across to the other side again.  Not the safest of equipment I am sure but really good fun and well worth the price of the ticket ($2).

Cable Car across the Valley

We drove further down the road known as La Ruta de las Cascadas and which continues on to Puyo in the Amazon basin.   We passed other waterfalls but didn’t take anymore rides across the valley.  One of the more dramatic waterfalls is El Pailon del Diablo - the Devil’s Cauldron near the town of Rio Verde.  To visit it required walking down a fairly long trail to the bottom of the gorge and then scrambling and literally crawling along a narrow crevice in the rock to a point behind the waterfall.  The torrent of water coming down the fall was deafening and by that point we were well and truly soaked.  

El Pailon del Diablo

At El Pailon del Diablo

The “swing at the end of the world” was further up the side of the same volcano as our hotel.  On the road up there we saw for the first time how impressive the volcano (Tungurahua) was; up until this point it had been obscured by clouds.  The swing itself is just a very basic swing hanging from a tree in which there is a tree house (the site is known as Casa de Arbol and it houses a seismic monitoring station).  It has become something of an internet sensation and is listed as one of the things you must do before you die.  It is not really scary it just allows you to take pictures that look like you are swinging out over this giant void.  We all got in line to have a go and took the obligatory photos.

The Swing at the End of the World

The next day was our last in Banos as we had to get Nancy and Arden back to Quito for their flight (I was staying another week).  In the morning we again walked down the hill to town, but this time we took the alternate route to the statue of the Virgin Mary perched on the hillside overlooking the town.

The Virgin Mary Statue - Banos

After a bit of shopping and a mediocre lunch in Banos we negotiated with a taxi driver to take us all the way to Quito.  He agreed for a very reasonable rate which also included taking us up the hill to the swing again (for daylight photographs this time!) and to the hotel to pick up our bags.  

The Swing at the End of the World in the daytime

While buses are cheap and plentiful, the taxi made it easy for us and we had a comfortable ride from Banos to our hotel door in Quito.  I discovered again how useful Google Maps are.  I had downloaded and saved maps of the Quito region.  As we approached Quito our taxi driver who was not from Quito had no idea how to get to our hotel.  Since the GPS functionality works at all times, we were able to navigate to the hotel (the Casa San  Marcos again) without any mistakes.  What a shame the taxi driver didn’t have the same for his way back to Banos.

In Quito that evening I went to inquire about train travel in Ecuador.  It seems to be entirely a tourist venture and there is no scheduled passenger service for Ecuadorians.  I suppose buses are so cheap that it no longer makes any sense.  I bought tickets for a couple of trips - one on the Devil’s Nose section in Alausi and another for a day trip from Quito to Chimborazo National Park.

The next day, after sending Nancy and Arden off to the airport, I again boarded a bus heading south to Alausi.  It was about a 6 hour trip with a change of buses in Riobamba.  The cost of the bus ticket was $6 while the cost of the taxi from the hotel to the bus station in Quito was $7 - the buses are such good value.  Arriving in Alausi in the late afternoon, I found a room at a nice hotel overlooking this small hillside town (Hotel La Quinta).  In the evening it was overcast and damp and I wandered the empty streets looking for somewhere to eat.  Most places were closed and there was hardly anyone on the streets.  I began to think I would be the only person on the train the next day.

Alausi

The train departure was scheduled for 08:00 and by that time the station was bustling with people, mainly European tourists - I guess no one stays in Alausi overnight but I never found out where they did stay.  The section of railway, El Nariz del Diablo (the Devil’s Nose) is one of the more interesting and challenging sections of line between Guayaquil and Quito.  It uses the same zig-zag forward-reverse technique as the railway up the Andes from Lima to Huancayo.  We traveled down the hill from Alausi and dropped down dramatically to the bottom of the Devil’s Nose.  At the bottom of the hill we stopped and visited a museum, had some refreshment and then started off back up the hill.  

El Nariz del Diablo Train

I enjoyed it, but then I am a bit of a train nut.  However, even I admit that it was a long way to go for this very short ride.  By 11:00 am I was back on the bus leaving Alausi for Quito.

The next morning, Saturday, I was off again on my second train ride from Quito south to El Boliche in the Chimborazo National Park.  I arrived at the station to find a different group of people this time.  Yesterday’s trip was almost entirely made up of foreign tourists, on today’s trip I think I was the only non-Ecuadorian.  The ride was pleasant enough - we traveled south from Quito to Machachi through beautiful lush green farmlands - Ecuador is certainly a beautiful country.

Machachi Station

From Machachi we headed off towards the Chimborazo National Park and El Boliche.  There we stopped and did a little hike in the forest and partook of some herbal tea before our return to Quito. The way the trip worked is that we took the train out of Quito in the morning and another load of people took the bus. In Chimborazo we switched and we took the bus back to Quito whilst the other folk took the train back.

On the bus home we stopped for lunch at a so-called “bee farm”.  They fed us and then proceeded to talk about bees and organic gardening.  It was all quite interesting for a while but they got off into some weird areas of apitherapy and it was clear they had some extreme beliefs about medicine, health, longevity and the benefits of keeping bees.  As it was they didn’t seem to have too many bees  - I only saw two hives. I have more in my backyard in Sacramento.

The Entry to El Monte Lodge, Mindo

For the last few days in Ecuador I arranged to a stay in the Cloud Forest near Mindo.  On the Sunday morning I got a taxi to Mindo and out to the El Monte Lodge.  The instructions were to proceed through Mindo and continue on a dirt road for a couple of miles until you reach the river and rope pulley system crossing the river.  I was supposed to yell and someone would come and pull me across.  Fortunately someone was already there so I didn’t have to shout into the jungle above the roar of the river - that would never have worked.  

Cabin at El Monte Lodge, Mindo

The El Monte Lodge was a very nice place - built by an American from Mississippi, Tom, and his Ecuadorian wife, Mariela, it has 4 or 5 cabins and a large common dining/lounge area.  All the meals were provided at the lodge and they arranged for bird watching trips into the surrounding area.  

On the Sunday afternoon, I took a walk through the forest and found again that there is abundant green plant life but not much visible bird life - there are too many places for the birds to hide.  That night at dinner it was nice to meet the other guests - a rose grower from Quito and his wife a honey producer, a couple from Miami looking into starting a fragrant rose growing business in Ecuador (fragrant roses are apparently quite different to normal roses - who knew).

The next morning bright and early at 6:00 my birding guide, Neicir Arias, met me at the river crossing and off we went in search of the exotic and wonderful.  For a while we walked along and saw nothing but other bird watchers.  Then Neicir got all excited - there was a Toucan perched in a tree a couple of hundred yards away.  We spent a long time watching it - it was a Choco Toucan.  It was joined briefly by a Golden Headed Quetzal and then on the other side of the road another Toucan - a Collared Aracari.  

The Choco Toucan

After we got tired of the Toucans we continued on again.  We saw very little until we spied some Crested Guans in the trees next to the road.  Then we were treated to Guans, Toucans and Swallow Tailed Kites all in the same place - very cool and worth the price of admission right there.  We continued for a few more uneventful hours before returning to the lodge.  At the end of the day we had quite a list of species but as always not a lot of birds just one or perhaps two examples each of many different species.

The next day I arranged to see one of the more spectacular birds of the area - the Cock of the Rock.  Groups of these birds congregate each morning in certain specific locations (called leks) and perform some sort of mating display. We left the lodge at 5:15 am to travel in the dark to this special location where along with a dozen other birdwatchers we peered at these amazing birds.  I must say I was impressed, their gatherings are a wonder to behold.

Cocks of the Rock, Mindo

Later in the morning I went into Mindo where some enterprising hotel owner places bunches of rotting bananas and hummingbird feeders in his garden to attract the birds.  It was certainly working and there were tons of various colored tanagers and loads of hummingbirds.  For a few dollars he let me sit on the patio and watch the parade of bird life passing through.

I had arranged for the taxi driver who brought me to Mindo to come pick me up and return me to Quito and right on time he arrived and off we went back to town.  Unfortunately our return trip was delayed an hour or so by some horrendous accident on the road to Quito.  I think it was quite bad - there was lots of screaming and sobbing from a lady involved in the accident and the accident was shown on the front page of the next day’s newspaper.  I fear someone died.

El Panecillo, Quito

Despite the delays we got back to Quito at a reasonable hour and I again checked into the San Marcos Hotel. I think I had seen most of what I wanted to see in Quito but my flight didn’t leave until 11:00 pm the next evening.  I walked around, ate more Locra de Papa, visited El Panecillo (the statue on top of the hill overlooking the old town) and generally relaxed before my departure for the airport.  

A great time in a great little country.  I highly recommend Ecuador as a destination.

The final set of photos can be found here.

Ecuador - Galapagos Islands - April 2015

The second part of our Ecuador trip was an 8 day trip around the Galapagos Islands.  The prior post deals with the first part of the trip to Quito and down into the Amazon basin.  

On the Saturday morning our trip began with a 3:45 wake up call and an early morning drive to the airport for our flight to Baltra the main airport for the Santa Cruz Island. After an uneventful flight we arrived in Baltra to find our ship, the Evolution, was not quite ready for us.  While other tours were whisked away, we were kept waiting at the airport, then loaded onto a bus to take us to the dock and the awaiting dinghies.  What then followed was a tour of the coastline while they awaited a sign from the boat that they were ready for us.  All well and good, we saw boobies, pelicans, frigate birds, cormorants, sea lions, etc, but I think we all wanted to get to the boat and relax after the flight instead of bobbing around in a dinghy.

The Evolution

We finally got on board for lunch and we all felt much better once we were settled in.  There was the usual orientation meetings, safety drill, meet and greet kind of stuff and then we left Baltra island to motor overnight to our first destination - Isabela Island.

For Nancy and I the first night was a bit restless as our particular cabin was right next to the engine room.  It was very noisy and the next day we moved to a lower and quieter (and cheaper) deck where it was much more peaceful.  If only we had known that when we booked our more expensive cabin.  

Blue-footed Booby

After breakfast on our first full day, we loaded into the dinghies, or pangas as they call them, and took a ride along the cliffs of Punta Vicente Roca on the north-west side of Isabela.  We saw blue footed boobies, nazca boobies, the Galapagos penguin, Flightless Cormorants and Noddy Terns.  Nearly always there were Frigate Birds somewhere in the sky and walking across the water were Elliots Storm Petrels, the latter being the most common of bird that accompanied our boat.

Later that morning we all went snorkeling for what was to be our best day’s visibility for fish.  I was in awe of the shoals of yellow-tailed surgeon fish - swimming along always just out of hand’s reach but apparently otherwise unaware of my presence.   There were lots of other fish around too but I am not good at naming nor remembering fish.  Of course we shared the water with sea lions, turtles, penguins, and cormorants who were also quite untroubled by our presence.

Marine Iguanas

In the afternoon we moved over to the adjacent island, Fernandina where we landed and walked for a while.  Unfortunately it poured down with rain for the first half hour of our visit there making everyone very wet and cold but eventually the rain stopped and fair weather prevailed.  This was our first encounter with marine iguanas on land and there were thousands of them.  You could barely put one foot in front ot the other without having to avoid stepping on one.   There were also large numbers of the brightly colored Sally Lightfoot Crabs.  They seem to live in harmony with and in close proximity to the iguanas.  Unlike the apparently slothful iguanas they are quite nimble in their ability to avoid humans dancing smartly away on tiptoes (hence their name).

Sally Lightfoot Crabs

We added a few new bird species on Fernandina too - Ruddy Turnstones, Semipalmated Plovers, a Wandering Tatler, Galapagos Mockingbirds, a Lava Heron and a Galapagos Hawk to name a few.

The next day (Day 3) we sailed back to Isabela Island and made a landing in Urbina Bay.  Here we had our first sighting of the land iguanas and tortoises.  The land iguana is more spectacular than the marine iguana, being larger and more colorful, though nowhere near as plentiful.  They are pretty docile and appear to be slow moving though no doubt they can be more nimble when they want to be.  The tortoises of course are not at all nimble.  They are magnificent animals and we saw several of them lazily munching away on the vegetation.  

A Land Iguana

Tortuga

After lunch we had another opportunity to snorkel (in Tagus Cove on Isabela, I believe) though today the water was much more cloudy.  Alas one of the sea lions took a fancy to Arden and bit her on the arm.  It caused a bit of concern but they skillfully whisked her off back to the boat for treatment (there was a doctor on board).

Later in the afternoon we landed in Tagus Cove and hiked up to the top of the trail to observe a flooded caldera of a volcano (Darwin Lake perhaps?) and to see various old graffiti carvings from earlier visitors on the cliff side.  The oldest carving was made by Darwin himself but had been removed to a museum leaving the next oldest one dated 1835.

Graffiti on way to Darwin Lake

Day 4 brought us to Bartolome Island where we hiked to the top of the island to see a spectacular view of the entire island and the so called Pinnacle Rock.  Surprisingly Pinnacle Rock was created by US bombers during WW II and is not really a natural feature.   There was more snorkeling before lunch - again nice fish but I can’t remember any of them other than a whitetip reef shark that was lying on the bottom.  Not at all dangerous - or so they say.

After lunch we crossed to Isla Santiago, the larger island close by Bartoleme.  Here we made a landing in Sullivan Bay and saw lots and lots of ropey lava (pahoehoe).  Not a lot of wild life but an awful lot of black pahoehoe.  The schedule for the day said it would be a geologist’s paradise - it was interesting, but I wouldn’t say it was paradise.

Ropey Lava with a Sally Lightfoot Crab

Overnight we sailed from Santiago to Baltra Island where we refueled before continuing on to Santa Cruz Island.  We made a landing on Bachas Beach where we found the rusting remains of a WW II era American vessel (there was a base here during the war).  Of course there were the usual marine iguanas and crabs.  On the beach, which was a wonderful light sand, there were signs of turtle nests (there tracks up the beach and the depressions where they lay their eggs).  Behind the beach there was a saltwater lagoon with a few pink flamingos feeding (also a whimbrel but nobody else was interested in that).

Flamingos

We swam and snorkeled from the beach.  It was a bit rough and all I managed to do was lose my snorkel.

Marine Iguana

After lunch we did a short hike on Santa Cruz up something called Dragon Hill where we found more land iguanas.  These were more reddish in color while the prior ones had been yellowish.  Something to do with the pigment in the vegetation they eat.  There were plenty of little birds flitting around, the most interesting of which was the Cactus Finch which has adapted to perching delicately on the spines of a cactus tree.

Cactus Finch

On Day 6 we were still off Santa Cruz Island.  We disembarked into Puerto Ayora, the largest town on the Galapagos (18,000 people).  After a bus tour around the town (not a very impressive place) we headed into the hills to visit a Tortoise Reserve.  Here we saw what we had seen in a more natural environment elsewhere, but it was nice to be in the highlands and it was good to see the species being looked after.  There were some lava tubes within the Reserve so we got to walk through a 100 m of lava tube - Mt Lassen in California has better offerings.  I got the sense that we had seen most of the things we were going to see and that were just spinning things out by visiting different islands.

In the afternoon we again came back to Puerto Ayora and visited the Charles Darwin Research Station.  This was quite sad.  The facility looked terribly run down and really was nothing more than a zoo for tortoises.  Lonesome George lived here until he passed away a couple of years ago.  I believe they are in need of money to keep things viable.

Overnight we sailed south to Espanola Island, the most southerly island of the archipelago.  We landed at Punta Suarez and walked along a loop trail.  We had been told that albatrosses might be present (they mate and nest on the island) and indeed we did find them there.  The Waved Albatross is a spectacular bird and to see them courting and even mating was a real treat.  This probably was the high point of the trip for me.

Waved Albatrosses

We walked through a colony of boobies - mainly Nazca Boobies with only a rare Blue Footed variety.  We never did see the Red Footed Booby - that is really rare.  The young Nazca Boobies were little balls of fluff in their white downy feathers.

Nazca Boobies

After lunch we paid a visit to Gardner Bay on Espanola and walked along the beach admiring the sea lions.  Then we all went for a swim in the sea - beautifully warm and clear.  It was the last island landing of the tour and we just felt that we were getting to know everyone.  We were all having a good time.

The Evolution Tour

That night was the farewell dinner and preparation for our departure the next day.  We had grown to like our fellow passengers and it was going to be sad to see them go.  That night we had to deal with the problem of what to tip the crew and guides.  Everyone thought that the suggested guidelines were a bit exorbitant so we debated what the right thing to do was.   I just wish that everyone would be paid a decent wage so we don’t have to deal with this.  I don’t mind paying more up front, I just don’t like being hit up for money at the end of the trip and having to decide what everyone is worth.

We sailed north overnight to San Cristobal Island.  This was to be our departure point.  We bid farewell to our ship and crew and took to the pangas for the last time.  Onshore we took one last trip to the Visitor Center for the Galapagos National Park.  This had an interesting history of the islands and man’s interaction with it but it was the most hot and humid building I have ever been in.  Oh for just a breath of air - haven’t they heard of fans.

We departed from San Cristobal airport for the mainland at Guayaquil.  The end of our Galapagos adventure where we said goodbye to all our friends and each went our separate ways (including Arden’s boyfriend Sam who headed on to Quito and the USA). We had more time in Ecuador to explore the mainland.

Photographs from the trip are here, and the next blog post continues with our travelogue through Ecuador.

Ecuador - the Oriente and Quito - March 2015

This trip with Nancy, her daughter Arden and Arden’s boyfriend Sam was instigated as a reward to Arden on her being accepted into medical school - a final vacation before what is going to be many years of hard work for her.

Of course we traveled to Quito separately, Arden and Nancy left the day before me and traveled through Mexico City, I left the next day through Houston, and Sam joined us a week later via Miami.

Our first night in Quito we spent in the Hotel Casa San Marcos, in the older historical district of the city.  A nice old home that had been converted to a hotel.  I didn’t get much chance to explore Quito as I arrived late Sunday night and we left early the next morning for the airport and our flight. out to the jungle.

We flew from Quito to Coca, one of the main towns in the Oriente or Amazon region of Ecuador.  Coca owes much of its growth to the oil industry; Ecuador being number three in South America for oil production (after Brazil and Venezuela).  I expected a small prop plane for the 30-45 minute flight but it was a jet - a 737 - apparently a lot of people go there.

On the boat to Sacha Lodge

In Coca we were met by someone from our jungle lodge and escorted to a boat for the 2 hour trip down the Napo River to the Sacha Lodge where we would be staying for 3 nights.  The boat was typical transport for the region - a long thin boat with outboard motors at the rear.  The Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon, is quite impressive, it flows fast and wide, though sometimes quite shallow. It is some 2,000 miles from the estuary of the Amazon on the coast of Brazil.

Arriving at the take out point for the Sacha Lodge we then had a 20 minute walk down a boardwalk through the jungle to a lake where we had a short canoe ride to the lodge itself.  The lodge was comfortable enough considering the climate and location.  We had a nice cabin but alas no air conditioning just a fan and yes it was quite hot and humid.  

The Lake at Sacha Lodge

In that first afternoon we took a canoe out and paddled around the lake.  I got my first glimpse of what turned out to be one of my favorite birds - the Hoitzin.  A weird creature that is not only one of a kind in its genus but also in its own family.  It is also known as the stinkbird because it smells like manure. I didn’t get close enough to notice its smell.  Nancy and Arden went for a brief swim in the lake unaware of what creatures the water contained (piranhas and caymens).  I sensibly declined.

The Hoitzin

We were assigned two guides just to cater to the needs of the three of us - Dario an Ecuadorian, and Paulo a native from one of the villages in the region.  After dinner they took us on a night walk through the jungle. Unfortunately, it wasn’t very revealing.  There were all sorts of sounds and noises in the forest but little to be seen - a few spiders, one frog and one snake.   There were remnants of a butterfly farm on the property - now in disuse.

On the Tower Walkway

The next day we were off birdwatching from the tower walkway above the tops of the trees.  It is quite a structure - 3 towers some 100 ft tall with a walkway strung between them.  I was struck by the richness of plant life but the relative rarity of bird and animal life.  Yes we saw some birds but one or two of each species and yes there were some monkeys but again very few.  Poor Arden, who does not have a head for heights was a little uncomfortable until she got her feet back on the ground again.  Myself, I loved it.   We saw a toucan, a potoo, cuckoos, oropendulas, and the most beautiful little bird you could imagine - the purple honeycreeper.

Crested Owls

On the way back to camp we spotted a pair of Crested Owls sitting quietly and motionless in a tree.  We watched and photographed them for a long time - quite remarkable.

The Ceiba Tree Tower

In the afternoon we went to the predecessor of the tower walkway - a wooden tower built around a tree (a ceiba tree I think).  To be up in the upper branches of one of these mighty trees was very interesting.  The life that is contained in the tops of these trees that never has any contact with the ground is quite remarkable.  We saw a Toucan or more specifically a Many-banded Aracari on one of the adjacent trees - a most impressive bird.

Toucan

We heard and then later saw some howler monkeys - they make a lot of noise, something like a jet plane flying overhead.  Apparently they are only beaten in the noise making stakes by the a blue whale.   More noise per pound than any other animal on the planet.  

In the evening we went out in a canoe in search of caymans.  We had already seen one in the daytime hanging out below the lodge’s restaurant but this was an attempt to see them out on the fringes of the lake by catching their eye reflections in our flashlight beams.  We did find quite a large one which the guides didn’t want to get too close to.  Then later on a young one just floating motionless in the middle of the lake.

A Caymen

The next morning we were off out to the Napo river and a boat ride downstream to look at parrots feeding on a mineralized clay cliff.  The birds need some mineral that is found in the clay and there were literally hundreds of them flying around the cliff face and eating the clay.  One of the guides with better eyes than me spotted a python in a tree patiently waiting for an unsuspecting parrot to swing by.  I couldn’t make it out - but I found it later by zooming in on one of the photos I took.

Parrots at the Clay Cliff

On the way back to camp we paid a visit to a local community to see a little bit what life is like for them (and for them to see how weird we tourists are - particularly the American who carried a garden gnome with her all the time and who introduced it to the children - on every trip you can find a weird one).  We visited a school, the local community garden and then were fed some of the local food - plantains, fish, and the ever so delightful barbecued grubs (big fat grubs about 1 inch long).

The Napo river is quite wide and runs quite fast but in parts it is quite shallow.  Every now and then the boat would stick in one of the shallows and we would back out of it.  We had fun on one occasion when we really did get stuck and there was no backing out.  The guides had to jump overboard into the knee high water and we passengers had to rock from side to side to get us moving again.  It took quite a while.

After lunch we had a go at fishing for piranhas.  Our equipment was pretty basic - a stick with a line and a hook baited with some meat.  There was so much piranha life in the water that the meat was stripped off the hook after a few seconds.  A couple of piranhas were landed but I didn’t catch one.  This and the earlier cayman sighting all took place from the deck just a few yards from where Nancy and Arden had been swimming the previous day.

In the afternoon, it was another canoe ride down something called Anaconda Creek.  Of course we didn’t see any anacondas, but we were told they do exist there.  

The Sacha Lodge from the Lake

This was the end of our short stay in the Amazon basin and the next morning we went back to the Napo river and headed upstream (in the rain) to Coca and our flight to Quito.  All in all a nice little excursion.  The jungle is so abundant in plant life but the rest of its life (birds, mammals, etc) are less populous and they tend to keep themselves well hidden.

Back in Quito we met Sam at the airport and then headed back to our hotel, the same one, the Casa San Marcos.  We wandered around the “Centro Historico” - a relatively compact area with lots of old colonial era buildings, churches, narrow streets and squares.  We visited the more recent post-colonial Basilica del Voto Nacional and climbed up the tower to witness great views of the city below.  Another test of Arden’s will to overcome her fear of heights.

From the Basilica we moved into the more modern district - Mariscal Sucre.  It wasn’t so impressive but we did get to indulge in an ice cream from McDonald’s of all places - and it was very good.

Semana Santa Procession

In the evening we happened across a religious procession making its way from church to church through the old part of town - it was Easter, Semana Santa, and the day before Good Friday.  While it was an interesting spectacle to observe and we did watch for a long time and we took many photographs, it was just a little strange - people dressed in purple hats and robes (like Ku Klux Klan costumes), lots of children, lots of stern looking women.   

Semana Santa Procession

Semana Santa Procession

We finished up the evening in the Church of the Company (La Compania).   This is one of the most decorated and ornate churches in Quito.  Simply the most spectacular interior you could imagine with gold ornamentation everywhere.  You can’t fail to be impressed, and a little concerned, when you see such over the top creations in a poor country like Ecuador.

Interior of La Compania

The next morning, Friday, we headed off to visit the Equator or la Mitad del Mundo (Center of the Earth) as they call it.  On the way there we went to view the nearby volcanic crater of the now extinct Pululahua volcano.  This crater is inhabited by several small farms so one can only hope that the volcano is extinct.

Pululahua Crater

There are two sites commemorating the equator.  The official one positioned a long time ago before accurate GPS measurements and an unofficial more commercial one on the true location.

At the Equator - the accurate one

We visited the more accurate one first.  There was the usual opportunity to take photos on a line marking the spot but more impressive was the demonstration of the Coriolis force and how water spins down a plug hole in different directions on either side of the equator while pouring straight down when on the equator.  Just a few feet on either side of the line made all the difference.  The also allowed you to try and balance an egg on top of a nail head - which while difficult on the equator is apparently impossible anywhere else.  I did it and I have the certificate to prove it!

At the Equator - the official one

The official site is much more impressive - a tower, a conference center, a museum, a planetarium and lots of souvenir shops.  Its location was apparently measured in 1736 so you can forgive them a bit of error in placing it.  In reality I enjoyed the unofficial site more.

Good Friday Procession

Good Friday Procession

Back in Quito for the afternoon, there was another procession through town to mark Good Friday.  This was much larger than the prior evenings parade and there were literally hundreds of the purple gowned penitents.  Many people were carrying crosses - large crosses, heavy crosses that were obviously quite difficult and exhausting to carry.  A few crowns of thorns and barbed wire belts around chests - all very strange to a non-believer like myself but obviously a huge thing here in the Catholic world.

View from Hotel

That evening we were upgraded to the hotel owner’s townhouse at the top of the hotel (as a result of a misunderstanding between myself and the hotel staff in which I thought I was being overcharged - it actually wasn’t the case).  The townhouse was wonderful with great views of the city from every window.  The following morning we had an early wake up call (3:45 am) for our trip to the airport and the flight out to the Galapagos Islands.

Photos of this section of the tour are here and the next post will deal with the Galapagos part of the trip.