Days 21 and 22 Finishing our Adventure in the Ecuadorian Cloud Forest and Final Post

REAL TIME:  I am finishing this up on the flight to Miami.

We bid adios to our tour group last night at the Farewell Dinner.  A good group, always fun to talk to seasoned travelers.  Paul was one of our best guides we have had.  Very knowledgeable, friendly, always went the extra mile with surprises and perks.  His online reviews will be stellar.

.Due to our flight connections, we have an extra day in Ecuador.  What to do?  Gloria and Kathy did a little real-time research and found Refugio Paz de las Aves in the cloud forest above Quito.  Basically a haven for birders to retreat to and be guided by this small family whose sole purpose in life is to find and identify birds!

One of the family’s uncles picked us up at our tour hotel in a red pickup and off we went for a two-hour ride into the cloud forest.  The area and roads are a bit primitive.  The 'outpost' we stayed in was a bit sketchy, I’d give it 2-star on a generous day.  But we had a bed and a shower, (separated by an open-air living room) so what more do you want? 

Actually, a highlight for me, since I am not a birder was this 4-foot earthworm!
He was on the trail, taking his time, the guides even took photos.
Below, someone put a flashlight next to him,  Amazing.

The first encounter was with a cock-of-the-rock.   An amazing bird, photos following.  Also, with birdfeeders surrounding the area, some great new hummingbirds.

This little guy had his tongue out, ready to go.

Our dinner was one of our best meals!  Our guide’s mom is the cook and she prepared an Ecuadorian take on cordon-bleu, simple but excellent. 

Our guide’s dad and brother helped along the way for an early morning walk.   We were joined by other ‘serious’ birders with the cameras, binoculars and clothes to support their passion. They were friendly but serious.  They had life-lists to work on.  I, on the other hand,  kept my eye on my watch anxious for our 11:00 breakfast. 

So, three weeks in Ecuador to learn about, the who and what, lived and lives there.  Our time in the country exposed us to creatures that have been living and evolving since before time and people and cultures that have changed and grown for millennia. 

Darwin’s work in the Galapagos Island’s in the 1800s has been foundational to biology.  The ebb and flow of cultures and peoples in all of South America can be tracked well in this smallish corner of the continent.  We learned much and appreciated how a culture and system, though deep, has survived and is thriving.  It is very different than their North American cousins, but prosperous and satisfying in their own right.  Viva La Ecuador!

Day 20 So, the equator is where??

This little guy was following us around a bit in the town square.
Finally, Paul asked him what he was up to.  He assured Paul
that he wasn't hanging around us to pick our pockets but
wanted to hear us speak English!  He wants to be a guide someday!

The final day of our tour.  But, before you check out, we are going to a birding retreat for tomorrow night and our final day on holiday.  So the blog isn't over yet.

Today we split our time between Quito's colonial quarter and the Middle of the World Monument, (the equator).  All told, there are 25 historical churches in Quito.  These aren't just churches, these are CHURCHES.  All historical, all jammed together, all in need of repair.......but the few we visited are beautiful.  The Spaniards were very busy building churches and either converting or killing the few remaining Incas and the more resilient indigenous population. 

We started our walking tour in the San Francisco Plaza, built in the middle of the 1500s. As we went from church to church, they started to all run together, a few pictures below.

All cathedrals have magnificent stained glass to be enjoyed "looking through" to the outside.
Rarely does the sun shine through the stained glass so we can enjoy "looking at".  Amazing.

This is the Franciscan Church,.  Everything on the inside
is covered with gold leaf.  No pictures allowed I got this one
then was told no more.

Next up was Ecuador's interpretation of the equator.  First, Gloria and I visited the equator years ago in Uganda.  That was a small, broken down plaster monument that we could stand on either side of.  Ecuador went BIG.  Interestingly, it is in the wrong location!  It is called "cartographical pinpoint straying from the truth".  This site was chosen in 1936 with a small marker.  It was replaced in 1979 with the monument pictured below.  GPS still hadn't been invented......  Indeed the actual equator is 800 feet to the north.

Now, this gets even more interesting.  Since 1979 archeologists have uncovered a flat worship area dated to 500BC on an adjacent hill, (see photo below).  There is a 'line' on it which has been interpreted as an 'equator line', on the EXACT GPS confirmed equator line, 800 feet north of the monument!!!  In order for this ancient civilization to have calculated this with the stars, moon and sun, they had to realize the earth was round and it orbited the sun.  (You should be having a chill going up your spine right now). 

This is the real, accurate equator.  Ancient intelligence or aliens?  I'm firmly
on the side of ancient intelligence.

Day 19 Tasty grubs and hummingbirds

Back into the canoes to where our bus is parked on the other side of the river and on the road again.  For lunch, we stop at San Isidro Lodge and their Hummingbird Park.  Both lunch and the hummingbirds were a bit over rated.

On the road, though, we had a real 'treat'.  We stopped at a small town to look at the monkeys in the trees in the town square.  Fun to watch.  Paul, our guide told us that the reason the monkeys like to hang out here is the grubs that live in the soil around town.  So, he promptly found not only a live grub, but three grubs-on-a-stick to share.  Only one taker.  No, they don't taste like chicken, just chicken fat.  Oh, and you don't eat the head, you spit it out!

The 'Hummingbird Park' was basically three hummingbird feeders on the deck of the restaurant!  So, it gave us plenty of time to take a ton of pictures, hoping for the perfect hummingbird picture, below are the results.

After this, we continued on to Quito, finally hitting rain and hail.  Serious rain and hail.  But, once we got to our hotel, the storm had passed for a pleasant evening in this city of 3 million.

Day 18 Spending the day with a Shamen

First a Wikipedia definition:

sha·man

/ˈSHämən,ˈSHāmən/

1. a person regarded as having access to, and influence in, the world of good and evil spirits, especially among some peoples of northern Asia and North America. Typically such people enter a trance state during a ritual, and practice divination and healing.

Now, Pablo, 'our' shaman. Actually, we thought Pablo was a great naturalist. The morning started with a canoe transport than a hike into the Misicocha Private Nature Reserve.  Pablo was a great guide pointing out many insects and plants.  Actually, after listening to Pablo's explanations how so many of the plants in the Amazon Delta can be used for either food or medicine, what Paul told us the other day that you can find all the cures for human disease in the Amazon, makes sense.

This is a bullet ant.  When he bites you it feels
like you have been hit by a bullet!!  Oh, he's big too.

A Walking Stick Insect.

Now, in talking to Pablo later, he told us that he is an apprentice shaman and still learning much. He studies with and learns from an older shaman.  He says he has dreams that tell him what different plants are for.  And, his English is pretty good........

Pablo with two mating butterflies

After the morning hike, we took balsa wood rafts back to the lodge.  Very floaty but we did get wet.  After lunch, we visited a butterfly reserve and a balsa wood carving demonstration.  Initially, we considered both just  time fillers, but afterward, we were glad we went.

The butterfly farm is very successful with three employees.  Lots of activities and lots of butterflies, a few pictures below.

The balsa wood carver was amazing.  He took a small piece of balsa wood and withing 4 minutes carved a parrot.  He does the carving, his wife the painting.  All sizes, very creative.  We bought a hummingbird.

Vine are steroids