Ecuador 2025

February 12, Home Snowy Home

February 11, Flying Home

I can't wait to get home and get back to normal hours. This morning we had breakfast at 5:30 am at the hotel. As is normal with yflying, there was a lot of hurry up and wait. 

We flew from Quito to Miami, where we had to go through immigration, collect our suitcase and check our suitcase back in with Air Canada. Then we flew from Miami to Toronto, arriving early. Our wonderful neighbours picked us up and drove us home arriving just before 11 pm. 

A display at the Quito airport. From this trip we've learned that Ecuador exports a lot of roses. 

Leaving Quito.

An Island somewhere in the Caribbean. 

The lights of Mississauga.

February 10, Santa Cruz Island and starting to head home

This morning we are up really earlier. Suitcases need to be in the hall by 6 am and breakfast is being served at 6 am. This morning we go to see the Giant Tortoises then go to the airport to start heading home. 

The travel for today is 

    - zodiac boat to Santa Cruz Island
    - bus to a farm to see the Giant Tortoises

    - bus back to the harbour 

    - a really short ferry ride to Baltra Island

    - bus to the Airport Terminal

    - plane to Guayaquil, where we stay in the plane

    - plane continues to Quito

    - car to Holiday Inn where we spend the night

Giant Tortoises love water and mud. We saw lots of them wallowing in the mud.

Who can resist this face. 

Giant Tortoises don't have teeth but they have cartilage to bite off and mash food. 

There are at least three lava tubes on the farm's property. We walked to the largest one. 

Surprisingly cows and tortoises can cohabitate. There were lots of cows and lots of Cattle Egrets (the little white birds you can see in the photo.

Back at the habour, there are a lot of birds. These birds (Lava Gulls) have no fear of people as one was sitting on the  window opening right where I was sitting. 

The water and air was filled with Blue-footed Boobies. 

Up, up and away.

February 9, Santa Cruz Island, Galapagos Islands

This morning we go on a hike to Cerro Dragon (Dragon Hill) in search of land Iguanas. 

Breakfast was at 6:30 EST or 5:30 Galapagos time (CT) so we got to enjoy sunrise while we ate breakfast. 

The view from where we landed on Santa Crus Island.

Prickly Pear has adapted to the Galapagos Islands by growing long sharp spines. 

I just love the colourful crabs. 

Black-winged Stilt

One of the ponds where we saw a number of different birds.

An American Flamingo and his reflection.

Galapagos Mockingbird

The Galapagos Land Iguana

Galapagos Flycatcher

Lava Lizard

Back on the ship we enjoyed watching the Great Frigatebird play in the up drafts around the ship. 

 

After lunch we were taken back to Santa Crus Island where we could snorkel on the beach or just walk around. Ed and I chose walking. 

Hermit Crab

February 8, Floreana Island, Galapagos Islands

Back in the early 1800's a "post office" was established in the Galapagos Islands. It was a large barrel. When you went to the barrel you searched for any letters that you may be able to deliver on your travels and left any letters you wanted to be delivered. This tradition still holds for tourists.

At the post office. Of course there was a geocache there (Ed's hand is on the cache. 

After our visit to the post office Ed and I joined a group that went kayaking. A lava island with interesting trees on it. 

Approximately 400 flamingos are spread across all of the Galapagos islands. We were happy to find some while we were kayaking. 

Three Flamingos!!!!

All the penguins were thought to have left the Galapos Islands for the season, so our guide was really excited when one swam by. 

Marine Iguana

This little island is called Devil's Crown. Ed went on a glass bottom boat and I snorkeled. 

The guide on the boat called this a chocolate chip starfish. 

A shark swam past me but I wasn't fast enough to get a photo.

After the water excursion we headed back to Florean Island for another walk about. This young blue-footed booby (you can tell he's young because his feet are a very light blue) walked right up to a group of people.

One of the many finches that can be found in the Galapagos Islands. 

A view across an inland pond.

An island in the ocean.

A sea turtle coming onto the beach.

Brown Pelican

A crab

I think this is a Galapagos Flycatcher.

February 7, Espanola Island, Galapagos Islands

This morning we did a walk on Espanola Island followed by beach snorkling for me and glass bottom boat for Ed.  In the afternoon the ship moved to another spot on Espanola Island and we went for a 2 1/2 hour walk where we saw lots of boobies!!!!

A Marine Iguana. I've seen reference to the Iguanas on Espanola Island being called Christmas Iguanas. It's easy to understand how they got that name.

We walked post one cove and saw a number of sea lions playing in the water. We were told that it was a "nursery" for young sea lions. The mothers would head out to sea to look for food and an alpha male would stay with the young sea lions and protect them. 

On Espanola Island is a large nesting colony of Nazca Boobies. The Nazca Boobies are easily identifiable from the Red-footed and Blue-footed Boobies as they are mostly white with grey feet. There were lots of young Nazca Boobies varying in age. 

Swallowed-tailed Gull

Lava Lizard

A blow hole. 

This Blue-footed Booby was trying to attract a female with an interesting dance and calls. 

All the hard work paid off as the female appeared. 

The Galapagos Hawk. 

February 6, 2026 San Cristobal Island, Galapagos Islands

We arrived in Guayaquil after 6pm yesterday so we didn't get a chance to walk around the Iguana park that is across the road from our hotel. The drive yesterday started out with beautiful skies with just a few clouds. As we began to descend towards the coast we drove into clouds and soon after rain. It wouldn't have been bad if the roads were straight and flat but they were the opposite. When the bus got down to sea level the roads became flat and straight and the rain stopped. It was quite the drive.

Across the road from the hotel in Guayaquil was a park, known as the Iguana Park. Across the road from the park was this amazing structure (a church) and the photo doesn't do it justice. 

The iguana hang out everywhere in the park. I think this sculpture was warm. There weren't a lot of iguanas out and about this morning as it was cold and damp. We've seen photos of people on park benches with iguanas sitting with them.

Ed was having a long chat with this iguana. 

This photo has iguanas, turtles and birds. See if you can find them all. (4 iguanas, 5 or maybe 6 birds, at least 12 turtles) 

It's approximately a 1 1/2 hour flight from Guayaquil to San Cristobal Island in the Galapagos Islands. We will be spending 5 days / 4 nights on the Galapagos Legend, a 100 passenger ship. After arriving we were taken by bus to the harbour where we boarded a zodiac boat and taken to the ship. Later in the afternoon we were brought back to shore. We toured the interpretation centre learning all about the Galapagos Islands than we had some time to wander around town as this is the only town we will see during our time in the Galapagos Islands. Ed and I wandered around the beach.

Colourful crabs.

Probably a Gecko

The Marine Iguana starts out black and gets colourful as it ages. 

A snoozing Galapagos Sea Lion. The crab changed directions when it realized it was going to walk into the sea lion. 

Striated Heron

An awake sea lion. 

Sleeping Lion or Kicker Rock as scene from the boat. Taking a photo of this rock counted as finding a geocache.

Sunset from the back deck of the boat. 

February 5, 2025 Drive to Guayaquil

As we were leaving Cuenco we drove through one of the expat areas. There we lots of modern buildings there will a number more being built. It appears to be a thriving community. 

An interesting building we say along the drive. 

Along the road to Guayaquil is the Parque Nacional Cajas. Within the park we saw some Huarizo which are a hybrid cross between a llama and an alpaca.

This photo and the following four photos are views with the parque.

The park had amazing views and a lot of interesting flora. It is suppose to have a lot of interesting fauna but we weren't there long enough to see any. 

 

The weather really deteriorated when we left the park. The cloud cover was very low making visibility difficult plus it started to rain. On top of all that there had been some landslides so the road wasn't in the best shape in a couple of spots. Oh yeah, the road was also full of twists and turns as we were driving through the mountains. We were really happy we weren't driving and that our bus driver was very competent. 

Just outside of Guayaquil we stopped at a Cacoa and Mango Farm where we enjoyed a delicious lunch and had a tour of the Cocoa Farm and a demonstration on how chocolate is made. 

Our guide on the left and the owner of the cacao and mango farm. On the board are two variety of cocoa pods. The yellow pod makes the best chocolate, but the yield is much lower than chocolate produced from the red pod. The majority of the chocolate exported from Ecuador comes from the red pods.

I think this guy is president of operations. He really wanted to taste test the food to ensure it was up to standard. 

The cycle of cocoa. You start with the bud, then the flower, the cocoa pod, the bean surrounded by pulp, the dried bean, the roasted bean, the shelled roasted bean, the ground bean and finally in the centre the hot chocolate made with ground cocoa beans, cane sugar, water and vanilla from a vanilla bean. The hot chocolate was delicious,  and so was the final chocolate bar we received. 

We've seen three people on a motor bike before but this was the first time we remember see four people on a motor bike. Ok, two of the four we little. 

February 4, 2025 Free Day in Cuenca

Today we had a free day to wander around Cuenca. Ed and I started the day by walking along the river. We saw what looked like an interesting park and it turned out to be Pumapongo Museum. Funnily we met most of group in the museum. 

A great view of the church that's a block away from our hotel.

The Punapamgo Museum had these beautiful handwoven belts. As well as artifacts found at different historic sites. 

The museum also showcased the different cultures found in Ecuador.

Ed is intrigued by the street art. and I really like this one. 

The Amor Cuenca signs can be seen all over town. This one was outside of the Museum of Modern Art. We were Paul & Mary another couple on our trip and Paul took the photo for us. 

One of the exhibits in the Museum of Modern Art. 

One last view of some of the colonial buildings in Cuenca.

February 3, 2025 Tour of Cuenca

Cuenca is the home town for our guide. He's happy to be here as he gets a chance to see his wife and daughters as well as show off his home town.

Cuenca is also home to many expats from the US and Canada. 

The "Old Town" of Cuenca is a colonial city.

There are some very unique and beautiful buildings in the city. 

The courthouse is a is built of marble. 

The inside of the courthouse also has a lot of marble. A number of years ago a roof was added over the courtyard to protect it from the weather. 

I love this staircase. 

There is a flower market --- it's not very large but the flowers are gorgeous. If you look closely at this photo you can see roses that are dyed prink, green and blue.

The building with the 3 domes is the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. It is also referred to as the New Cathedral of Cuenca. The church has never been completed and never will be completed because the foundation is not strong enough to support the structure --- there are large cracks. 

Another amazing building. 

In the historic district there are 53 churches. 

A short drive from Cuenca takes you up a hill and gives you a gorgeous view of the city. Looking out over the city you can see why it is called Cuidad Roja --- red city. 

This afternoon we visited a private museum. These artifacts were purchased from tomb raiders ---- people who raid old graves looking for gold and other valuables. A lot of the pots had faces and many had arms or second heads. You have to look closely at the photograph to see the face and the ears. 

A selection of pots. 

The old city is on one side of the river and the new city is on the other side. We are standing in old town looking across to new town. 

The river is not very wide and it flows very quickly. 

One of the many bridges along the river. 

Cuenca promotes the painting of murals to help combat graffiti on the buildings, fences, bridges, etc. around town. 

The group dined at a restaurant with an amazing view of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

February 2, 2025 Drive to Cuenca

It's another long drive today but the scenery is fantastic so we didn't mind the drive. Our guide had the driver stop the bus whenever the guide thought there was a good photo opportunity and he felt it was safe. This meant the bus could block the lane but traffic could see us from a good distance. The roads weren't very busy so this worked.

Another great view of the volcano. 

We stopped at a church in an interesting little town. Several tents were set up and locals were selling their wares. This woman was spinning yarn while she waited for people to come and buy her crafts. 

Ed and I just love the low lying clouds. 

This beautiful grass was found all along the roads we drove. 

The fields weren't fenced so the animals had ropes and were anchored to areas where there was lots for them to eat. When they "mowed" the grass in that area they were moved. You can see the mist moving through.

Looking down on a small town. 

We stopped at a restaurant just outside of Ingapirca, an archeological site of an Inca ruins.

Looking across the Inca ruins.

Did you notice how lovely the grass looked in the previous photo. This photo shows you the lawn mowers. They do an excellent job. As the site is fenced the llama have free reign.

The lower walls have mortar between the stones but the stones in the wall of building and cut to fit perfectly so no mortar was needed. 

 

The entrance to the main building. 

February 1, 2025 Drive to Riobamba

The schedule was to leave the hotel at 11am so we had some time to walk around Banos. There is a market where empanadas were made and sold. The line up reminded me of the fritter stand at the St. Jacobs market. 

Our first stop allowed us to walk along the river and look at the different plant life. We saw a lot of bromeliads and orchids. We also saw people zip lining.  

The next stop was a waterfall where you took a cable car to get close to the falls. I did it but not my favourite thing to do.

Theoretically 10 people could go on the cable car but we went in two groups, 4 in one and 5 in the other. The photo show the 2nd group.

Then we drove to another waterfall. This one required you to walk across two suspension bridges ---- and one of them was on a steep angle! 

Walking down to a viewing platform you have a good chance of getting wet as you almost walk under the falls. 

Looking down at the waterfall hitting the river. 

Only Ed, Vern and I walked down to the lower viewing platform.

We stopped at an interesting restaurant owned by an artist for lunch. Each menu folder had a different drawing on it, and the restaurant was filled with art. There also was a garden where we saw the butterfly and some beautiful flowers included the above orchid. 

After the waterfalls we started the long drive to Riobamba. Luckily it was a beautiful day for a drive so we saw a lot of amazing scenery. The above scenery was not so pretty ---- a big chunk of the road was missing.

We stopped a few times to take photos and Ed also managed to get some decent photos from the bus window. 

It was clear enough that you could actually see the crater of the volcano.

It's really too bad that there are so many power lines. 

Ed had to climb on some jungle gym equipment to get this photo at the hotel we are staying at in Riobamba.

January 31, 2025 Masks and Banos

We stayed in another hacienda. This time we had a fireplace in our room. It was quite decadent. 

The hacienda has a very cute chapel. Between the beautiful rooms, the chapel and a lovely garden it is the picture perfect place for a wedding. 

There is a festival where men put on devil masks. We stopped by to visit the man and to be shown how he makes the Paper Mache masks. One of the ladies in our group decided to try on the mask. 

We drove through some back roads and enjoyed the views. At one spot we stopped to try some different kinds of fruit.

The main church in Banos.

The inside of the church. There was a lot less gold in this church and I actually liked it better than the church in Quito. 

We drove up the mountain to a place the guide called the tree house. Signs like this are all over Ecuador so people can have their photos taken with the sign. 

I think we saw 10 different types of hummingbirds. I was excited that we got a photo of this long tailed hummingbird even if it isn't as in focus as it could be. 

Same bird as the previous photo but he's flying this time. 

A black and white hummingbird this time. 

Another photo of the black and white hummingbird.

Ed and I decided to try out the swings. The swing flies out over a small cliff.

The next three photos show off the beautiful scenery. 

Yesterday we saw cows being walked home. Today we see sheep being walked home.

January 30, 2025 Cotopaxi Volcano

Today we are driving to Cotopaxi Volcano which is among the worlds highest volcanoes. It is an active volcano and last erupted in 2016. 

Leaving the Ibarra area Ed was able to get a good photo of one of the many greenhouses in the area. 

The country side. 

The drive took us past Quito, so we stopped to stretch our legs and take a few photos of the city. 

One of the many beautiful doors on houses here. 

The clouds swirling around the top the of Cotopaxi Volcano.

Our guide was hoping we would see a Condor, though with only 95 Condors living in Ecuador he thought the chances were. The Condors above are two of ten Condors we saw together today. 

Probably a gull.

We decided to walk around a small lake .  The elevation by the lake was approximately 3,900m (12,795 ft) so we took it slow. These baby ducks are so cute. 

Chestnut-winged Cinclodes (at least according to google search).

A pair of wild horses wandered near us during our walk around the lake.

Google search identifies this as a Forest Rabbit.

Another view of the Cotopaxi Volcano.

And one more view of  the Cotopaxi Volcanoe.

Another view. 

As we were driving out of the park this deer was spotted. 

Your perspective changes we you are at a higher altitude. We drove up a small hill and looked at the clouds and it felt like the clouds were below us. 

As we were driving through a small village heading to the hacienda where we are staying tonight, we saw a number of people walking cows. The cows are being taken home from the field where they had been grazing all day. 

January 29, 2025 Drive to Ibarra

The first stop on our drive to Ibarra was a scenic lookout. We drove past some amazing scenery plus a lot of green houses. 

A lot of the green houses we saw grew roses and of course other flowers. Most of the roses that are grown are shipped to foreign markets. If the roses didn't make the shipping deadline (or some other reason) they were sold locally. Can you believe a dozen roses sold for $2 US?

We stopped at a little restaurant for a break and a chance to photos of another great view. The bonus was some llamas to entertain us. 

 

The view. 

When we arrived in Ibarra we wee given some free time to wander about town and grab some lunch. The market was in full swing. I love the multi-coloured fabric. 

We were really impressed with this topiary. 

The main square in town. 

People sold food on the streets. 

On one street in town the street lights were decorated with masks, birds, and other things.

One of the people running for president of Ecuador is a member of one of the indigenous and he just happened to be having a parade in Ibarra today and arrived at our meeting spot at the same time we did. The rainbow flags depict the different indigenous groups. 

 

This man is wearing traditional clothing for one of the local indigenous groups. Note the long braid. 

At the market we saw a lot of beautiful woven material. At this shop we get to see how the they weave the fabric. This woman is demonstrating an old weaving technique that created 2 sided material. 

Our first hummingbird in Ecuador. This was outside of the instrument shop.

A music instrument shop was our last stop of the day. The fellow not only made the instruments but he also played beautifully. His son-in-law and 2 grandchildren joined him to some music for us. 

We stayed at a beautiful hacienda that has a beautiful garden. The hacienda has a lot of history, but the best part was the hot water bottle they put into our bed while we were at dinner.

January 28, 2025 Tour of Quito

I know nothing about South America politics but I'm learning lots now. The Ecuador general elections will be held on February 9th. I believe there are 16 people running for president --- but 2 people are the favourites, one of them being the current president. Venezuela just had an election and both men (Maduro (incumbent) and Gonzalez) declared themselves the winner. The current president of Ecuador recognizes the Gonzalez as the new president of Venezuela where the 2nd favourite in the Ecuador election for president recognizes Maduro). In a political maneuver Gonzalez was invited to visit the current president. The reason any of this is important to me is that it altered our schedule for today.

Just north of Quito is the equator. If you want to be picky it has moved about 200 yards and is currently in the middle of a busy road. 

Looking at the Equator Monument. One circle garden contains an S and the other an N.

Virgin of El Panecillo or the Virgin of Quito. This statue sits on top of a hill, El Panecillo and looks over Quito. 

A view from the viewing platform in the Virgin of Quito. From here we could see that the street we want to drive on in old town Quito is still closed 

The main square in old town Quito. 

A view of a different side of the main square. 

The outside of the Iglesia de la Compania, the next 2 photos are the inside of the church. Gold leaf is used just about everywhere in the church. Big buildings always look like they are leaning --- Ed has software to make it look straight but he doesn't have it with him so I'm living with a leaning building. 

Our guide hoped that by time we got to The Presidential Palace in Quito that the maybe president of Venezuela had already left. Turned out he was just leaving, so we stayed and watch all the pomp and ceremony. A band played and we were actually able to see the maybe president. There was an incredible amount of security in place --- every type of police and the army were there.  

Basilica del Voto National --- Quito's version of Notre Dame. The basilica is so large the only way Ed could get a good photo of it was by doing a panoramic and I can't figure out how to display it so it looks good, so I'm using this not as good photo. We're going to Paris in May and I want to be able to compare the two Basilicas. 

The side street by the Basilica ---- it was really steep, 

January 27, 2025 Local People and Flying back to Quito

A custom of the local people is for the family to gather and drink a special tea. An older woman from the local people offered to show us the custom. The only catch was we needed to be up at 4am and to be at the home by 4:30 am. 

When our group arrive the woman was sitting contemplating by the fire. The short story about the tea is --- the tea is made from the leaves of a tree that may have some psychedelic properties. The people here use it as a medicinal drug. First they rinse their mouth with the tea, then gargle with the tea. The also drink some of it, which they feel keeps them healthy.   

The fire --- an art shot.

Another art shot --- the moon. 

Starting the trip back to Quito. It was about a 20 minute walk from the lodge to the river. The alternative to walking was a ride in this means of transportation.

The following scenes were taken on the boat ride back to Coca. 

January 26, 2025 Giant River Otters and Friends

Another 5 am wake call and the day begins. 

Someone actually comes on knocks on our door for our wake up call but we do hear this fellow every morning. 

Today we are boating to the Black Creek where we leave our motorized canoe and get into canoes with paddlers. 

It doesn't take us long to find the Giant River Otters. It isn't hard to spot one of these otters as they make a loud breathing noise when they come up from a dive.

Yum, breakfast!

There are some lodges on a small lake at the end of Black Creek and all the supplies are paddled in. It's approximately a 2 hour paddle into the lodges and some of the paddlers do 4 trips in a day.

The Hoatiz coming in for a landing. The bird was badly backlit so a very poor picture but it was neat catching the bird landing on the tree branch.

A better photo of the Hoatzin.

We happily sat in the canoe for quite a while we watch a troop of about 100 Spider Monkeys move across the creek. 

The photo isn't as in focus as we'd like but it does show the Monkey leaping across the creek from one tree to another. 

Bare-throated tiger heron.

The Squirrel monkeys were having lunch on a tree at the edge of the river. 

Black curassow.

Slack-coloured hawk. 

King Vulture. He was a long way away but the scope was able to get a photo. We also saw 4 Black monkeys but they were too far away for the scope to get a good photo.

Returning to the lodge we walked over to the model of an traditional family home where we were entrained by some women. The old traditions are still strong here. Girls marry very young (15). The women take care of the children and the home and the men provide. 

After our afternoon rest (during which time it rained) we went to another observation tower that had spectacular views. 

We watched the sun set as we boated back to the lodge. The blue stripes are very interesting and we have no idea what caused them. 

January 25, 2025 Monkeys, Macaws and More

If you need to sleep to let's say 7 am don't go to the jungle. There was a 5 am wake up call, breakfast at 5:30 am and walking to the motorized canoe by 6 am. (A little aside ---- there's a lot of photos but I think they all tell a story.)

Walking across the mudflats to the motorized canoe. Only a couple of people didn't follow the instructions of "walk in the footsteps of the person ahead of you" and got stuck in the mud and needed help pulling their foot out. We were all loaned rubber boots and given dry bags and water bottles. 

The people who live on the river use motorized canoes to get around. Our canoe had rows of 2 seats, with an aisle between them and a roof with sides that could drop if it was raining.

The first stop was the "Parrot Clay Lick". This photo shows you some of the parrots that frequent the Lick. Parrots eat clay to aid in the digestion of their food. 

Again our guides scope came to the rescue (it has greater magnification than any of the lenses Ed brought). Here you see the three types of parrots that come to this lick --- Blue-headed Parrot,  Yellow-crowned Parrot and the Mealy Amazon Parrot. 

Ladder-tailed nightjar sitting at the water's edge. A "spotter" managed to see this bird as we driving down the river. 

The boat pulled to a spot on the shore so we could walk to another Parrot Clay Lick in the Yasuni National Park. Our "spotter" knew where this Spix's or Noisy Night Monkey and her babies hung our. A little bit of banging and they were looking to see what was going on. 

At the clay lick we found some Scarlet Macaws. 

This photo was taken using the scope.

A troop of monkeys scared the birds away from lick, so we watched the Wooley monkeys leaping between trees --- there is no fear. 

Our merry group walking through the jungle. 

I always have to through in a flower photo --- this flower was outside our cabin at the lodge. 

After a break for lunch and siesta time we walked to the look out tower and climbed it to the top of kapoc tree to see what we could see. We found a Tilingo Multibandeado or Many-banded Aracari. We also saw a monkey and several other birds.

A view towards the river. 

Then a sunset view. 

On the walk back to the lodge we found this colour fungi.

After dinner it was time for the night walk. First up the Tarantula. 

This little guy, an Amazon Anole, decided that the guide was more interesting than the stick he had been sitting on.

This tree frog is about the size of my thumb nail --- he's a tiny little guy. We also saw click beatles, leaf Katydid and more.

January 24, 2025 Off to the Jungle

It was up early to head to the airport to catch a plane to Coca --- the entrance to the jungle. The flight was uneventful. After a briefing we loading into motorized canoes ---- 14 or 16 passenger canoes with two 50 hp motors, for the 2 hour ride to the Napo Cultural Lodge. The Napo Cultural Lodge is run by the Anangu Kichwa Community and is located in the majestic Yasuni National Park. The following two photos were taken along the Napo River. 

Our group has grown to seven as two women, from England, who are travelling alone were added to our group. They are a nice addition. 

At the lodge we were greeted with cold towels .... they were happily accepted as the towels helped to cool you down.... and a glass of ice tea and some fresh fruit.  After a briefing we had some free time to settle into our cabins before returning to the lodge. During another briefing we learned about the local people, the rainforest in Ecuador, rainforests around the world and finally what we might see in our walk about the Lodge. We finished the briefing with walk around the area to see what we could see. 

A sloth was spotted high up in a tree. Luckily the guide has a spotting scope and is really good at holding cell phones up to the scope and getting fantastic photos. 

Another great scope photo. This time the photo is of a barn owl. 

Some papaya in a tree. 

Our guide and naturalist extracting water from a leaf. 

January 23, 2025 Quito

We arrived one day early, so today was free till 5pm when we were to meet the rest of the group. 

Yes, we slept in. We went for a walk around the hotel and found a beautiful park.

We met the rest of our group and our guide --- a couple from Arizona, a woman from Quebec and Diego from Ecuador. I think it should be a pretty group to travel with.

January 22, 2025 It's All Part of the Adventure

Today is the big day, we are flying to Quito, Ecuador via Miami. We stayed at a hotel near the airport last night as we have a 7:55 am flight which means we need to be at the airport around 4:55 am. 

We should have figured that it wasn't going to be easy day when we had to go back to the check in machines 3 times. For some reason Ed and I kept missing steps --- perhaps too early in the morning and lack of caffeine?

After sitting for about an hour at the gate, we received an e-mail and a text from Air Canada telling us the flight was delayed by 2 hours because they need to change the aircraft.  Not a big deal as we have a 3 hour and 20 minute layover. 

About an hour before the new departure we get another message telling us the plane is delayed by another 50 minutes. It's starting to look like we're going to miss our connecting flight. The plane finally left terminal 45 minutes after the latest departure time ---- definitely missing the connecting flight. 

Upon arriving in Miami we keep waiting for a message telling us what to do, but one doesn't come. So we head to the Air Canada service counter. A lovely young lady determined that we were booked on a non-stop American Airlines flight to Quito. We just needed to retrieve our bag and check in at American Airlines. Our arrival time in Quito was now just after 11 pm, so we contacted the tour company so they could change our pick up time. 

In Quito, Ed grabbed our bag and said we have a problem --- our bag only has 3 wheels. Luckily, the baggage claim people were able to give us a new suitcase. 

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. The driver was waiting for us, the drive into Quito was not busy and we were able to enjoy the lights throughout the valley during the 40 minute drive from the airport to the hotel and someone was waiting to check us in.

January 18, 2025 Getting Ready to Go

We're getting ready to go a trip which means remembering how to write a blog entry. We leave in 5 days for a three week trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. Packing is just about done but lots of other jobs to do before we leave. 

The view from our front door ---- I'm not going to miss this while we are in Ecuador. 😎