Ibarra

August 14th - After a day of laundry in Quito I´m in Ibarra. It´s a small town up in the north sierras. The buildings are low with colonial architecture, mostly white. And like most towns in Ecuador its fair share of churches. In the distance surrounding the town are mountains.
It was the first town I hit by myself and was doing fine till I got news my grandmother - Mama Sue passed away. It was difficult to be all alone so far away from my family and Daniel.
I think it put a damper on my day there and I strolled the streets and plazas in a bit of a daze.

Because I had spent so much time in Quito I am on a quick tour of the country. I think not really knowing the language and going alone I procrastinated so now I´m rushing to see everything.

The Amazon

August 6th I wake up early take a taxi to the river front, have some breakfast and head off down the Napo River. After a 6 hour boat ride I get off in Pañacocha. There I meet my guide Manuel hang out for a bit then take another 45 minute boat ride up the Pañacocha river to the lodge.
The boat pulls up to a large open roofed deck. This is the kitchen eating area. There are 2 other decks like this on the river, one with hammocks and the other chairs and tables to hang out in.
Up on the lawn are about 5 small cabins. Since Daniel had to work he wasn´t able to come with me and some of the people who live there were gone for the week so it was just me and Manuel hanging out. Within 5 minutes I saw some amazing birds. Had an early dinner and went to bed early. There´s no electricity here so reading and writing by candle light gets tiring.
5am the rooster crows. At 6am the the sun rises.
August 7th - We go for a 4 hour hike in the jungle. Saw lots of bugs, one very big black centerpede thingy. Caught sight of a humming bird and heard more wiz by my head like some fighter pilot. Quietly wound through trails and heard more birds and monkeys in the distance.
When we arrived back at the lodge for lunch there was a group of small tucans in the tree aross the river.
After lunch and a seista we took a canoe ride in this very tiny dug out canoe. If you breathe to hard it rocks. It was so beautiful and tranquil gliding along the river. The edge of the jungle spilling into the river. Sometimes plants just growing out of it. In this one lagoon area the water changed to a black color and became still. The edges of the bank had these tall palms that have spikes all over. It even seemed like it became quite. The movie Creature from the Black Lagoon came to mind. Later on I found out the lagoon is were paraña, electric eels, sting rays and other goodies live.
On the ride back we saw more tucans, squirrel monkyes and little bats that blended in with the tree trunk sticking out of the water. I also realized..... I´m in the amazon jungle, pretty cool!
August 8th - We canoe around to a few lagoons. Crazy beautiful butterlies flit by. Tree limbs hanging over the water with vines growing into it. Red passion flowers stand out from the many hues of green.The seeds from the Alodon tree that are like huge dandelion tuffs float down from the top canopy into the river and the fish snatch them up.
We saw a large troop of squirrel monkeys by the edge of the river and paddled through bayous to take short cuts back to the lodge. I got a good look at some Hoatzin birds which are prehistoric and the lodge is named after. They are beautiful and very clumsy.
At night we went for a short canoe ride and was lucky to have a clear night. The pitch black of the jungle outlined a strip above of a million stars. It was breath taking.
We found a small crocodile and it stayed motionless while we held the flash light on it and glided right up to it. it stayed still until Manuel tried to grab it, rocked the boat and I screamed like a little girl :)
August 9th - After breakfast we went out walking in the jungle again, which I thought would be a hike but it was worm hunting.
Think of a worm, now think monster worm. Manuel dug deep to reveal 1 inch or more diameter holes. You can hear a wooshing sound as the worm disend. Then he got one. A foot and a half long. He said it was small. But these worms are good bait for fishing paraña. So after getting 2 we head back hop in the canoe and go fishing. Yes , that´s right I caught a paraña and had it for dinner. I have the jaw to prove it.
By the way this is the same river I´ve been swimming in.





August 10th - The jungle gives me strange dreams.
There is constant noise in the jungle. You´d think peace and quite of nature but nature is its own city and the noises change at night. Crickets, frogs, bugs, birds and animals all making noises.
The jungle is in constant movement. At a glance things seems still even stagnint but when you look closely everything is moving.
There is a gentle breeze that puts leaves and palms in a gentle sway. The falling of a leaf from the canopy top sets a ripple of movement as it falls. A bird flys to a new branch setting it in movement. The slow growth of the flora, a butterfly flutters past catching your eye with its splended color among the vast hues of green. It is collosal. There is so much that it is easy to see nothing.
Nature has crafted her art of camoflouge.
I entice a big hairy spider out of it´s ground layer.
August 11th - Back to Pañacocha then another 6 hour boat ride back to Coca.
So far in Ecuador before I leave a place a hummingbird stops by to say good-bye. The Amazon was no different.

Cotopaxi

On August 3rd a few of use took a trip to the volcano Cotopaxi. Don´t worry it´s dorment, though the trip did start out exciting when we all got off the bus on the side of the road and I noticed one missing to our group. I ran after the bus as it was pulling away and in my ¨2 year old¨ Spanish got the bus to stop and we woke up Sophia. The bus had a good chuckle.
Though cold and windy Cotopaxi is beautiful. We had a guide drive us around the park and show us sites then we drove up the mountain side to the parking area which is 4,600 meters. We then preseded to walk up to the first refuge. Only 200 meters away yet because of the altitude it took me an hour to walk straight up sandy volcanic soil.
I actually felt like giving up a few times until the female guide said she would take my pack for me. So my delusion that I´m a hard ass kicked in and I eventually made it.
The view was incredible. Even the instant nasty hot chocolate I bought tasted good at that altitude.
The first refuge Jose Ribuys refuge at 4,800 meters is the first. People were camping there getting ready to hike higher. It was great to go and I learned something..... I have no desire to climb Mt. Everest or the summits of Cotopaxi.

Mindo - Cloud Forest

This passed weekend Daniel and I spent some alone time in Mindo. It is a known spot for bird watchers. I was excited to see some hummingbirds and a few other species. We even caught a glimps of a female "Cock of the Rock". I wasn't able to take a picture though. There were also tons of beautiful butterflies.
We had a great time on the Zip lines (13 different lines). Flying over the canopy, I giggled and squeeled. Though I wasn't able to perform any aerial dance, I was so excited after that I told the guy I wanted to work there and he offered me a job. Mmmm....plans for next summer :)
We went tubing down the river and hiked to check out some waterfalls. On our last night we stayed at the Mindo Gardens which was beautiful. You stay in little cabins on the river. Your room looks out into the jungle and you fall asleep to crickets, frogs and the rushing of the river. I could have spent an extra day or two there.

Working trip to the Amazon

On Friday July 17th Daniel and I left with a few other people from his work for the amazon to survey communities without electricity. We were able to borrow a truck for the weekend and wouldn't have been able to get to half the places without it. Crossing rivers, driving over bridges barley as wide as the truck, up and down the sides of mountains on dirt roads.
What I find amazing is most of these people walk these distances, taking a whole day to walk to the next town or even just the main road for supplies.
Most of the weekend was spent talking with communities and driving from one place to the other. But at one place they took us for a hike through the jungle to see some waterfalls. The two guides in front machetted their way through and we followed, wading through streams, climbing up and down the slopes, sinking a foot deep into mud ( you wear rubber boots that go to your knees). The hike was fun, though I did need help crossing the stream once or twice. At least I didn't fall in like Malti did (a few times).
The jungle is amazing. Lush - so many varieties of plants, all clamoring for space, so much so that they cling to each other grabing any niche they can. The smell - moist earth and decay. The jungle is the ultimate compost pile. The ground is littered with leaves and plants decaying and suppling nutrients for new plants. The subdewed color of light - the light filters through so many plants it has a look of dawn or dusk all the time.
On our way back from the tiny waterfalls we passed some cacao plants, one of the fruits was ripe so we were able to taste the fruit that chocolate is made from. The fruit has a very thick section that hold the fruit and seed. Surounding the seed is small pulpy fruit that is very sweet and tasty. They also gave us fresh sugar cane to suck on.
We didn't get to see any animals since whenver we hike through the jungle we made so much noise but you could hear the varies birds and saw lots of butterflies.

Mitad del Mundo

Today I stepped foot on the North and South hemisphere. A few of us from the hostel went to Mitad del Mundo which is where there is a big monument of the world and a line showing the equator. Of course you pay to get in and there are shops selling crafts and other displays. It seemed kind of silly to go just so you can say you stood on two different hemispheres but how can you not go when it's only an hour away. And now I get to say I stepped on 2 different hemispheres at the same time.

So there's this big park for it but when GPS came along the equator was actually 300 meters over so there is this other site claiming to be the actual equator site. Which we visited as well. And we took pictures at both places. The other site has all these gimmicks like balancing an egg on a nail and water turning in different directions when it's moved a few feet over the equator line. Over all it was a fun day.

El Panecillo

On the southern end of the old city is a big hill with a 30 meter statue of the Virgin of Quito.
Mare and I took a taxi there and you can walk up to the top of the base and have a wonderful view of Quito.