on dogs, street food and humming

I am sitting here at the airport…. booooooo. the john rockets sign is tempting me- shakes and burgers..

this morning , i managed to do a 20 minute stroll in Quito. our perfectly located hotels is 2 blocks from the main plaza. on my arrival, some dude were preaching next to the main statue. this plaza has an interesting structure on each side and one of them is the presidential palace. as i walk by i hear drums. a soldier is drumming and 15 or so soldiers on either side with old style rifle are marching up and down the halls. this seems to be a changing of the guards ceremony. our guide later told me they only change on monday. today is tuesday , i lucked out.

I walked around a bit more enjoying a city that used to be marvelous. most buildings are two stories building, with a shop at the 1st floor and 2nd floor balcony. building have different colors , cream, yellow, pink and the like, with trimmings, statues and other european style design. but it appears a bit run down. After the enjoyable stroll, i returned to the hotel, collected Alla and met our guide lincoln.

45 minutes later we left quito, passing several interesting building, cathedrals, squares and gardens. we reached the Middle of the earth. the line where the equator passes. there is a globe monument, with the equator line up down, not as globes are usually, but incorrectly appear.

the classic photo here is to have a foot on either side of the equator and the globe to appear as you are holding it. we did the same and some other silly things.

now north of the equator, we reached a crater valley. similar to the crater lake the prior day. this crater is 12k circumference. also lush green rim, but no lake here since the other rim is breached , leaving a fertile land. there is a small village in the crater, the only in carter inhabitant in Equador. from here we drove on of another hour till we reached Mindo in the cloud forest. the vegetation here is different, taller trees, thicker vegetation and lots of invisible bear, sloths, pumas, wild pigs and other ones we did not see.

we got a sandwich to go plus fresh mandarin juice which was very good. then , after buying a towel, we drove to the starting point and began hiking the cloud forest. Our excellent guide, explains about the various types of trees, ferns, orchid and more while we pass by lots and lots of pretty butterflies. we pass by two caterpillars. one looks like a stick, perfect camouflage, the other is fuzzy and looks like something you don't want to touch. birds are evasive here, we can't find any of them, the highlight Tucan has gone with the bears and sloths to wherever bears and sloths go… not here.

we passed by several waterfalls, creating pools below. at the end of the path was madras falls, a set of 2 falls back to back. we changed to bathing suits and entered the cold pool, and refreshed ourselves in the water fall. cold and refreshing. we had our lunch sandwich there (bad one), but the crackers were good, then walked back in the jungly trail. Here, perhaps due to the not so good cheese, alla had an emergency, the kind only a towel can resolve...

after 2 hours or so of walking, we reached the other side of the ravine where a cable car would take us the rest of the way. we flew over the canopy taking nice photos and then headed for tubing.

Tubing would be in rio Mindo. we drove by it and the water level was low, seems not great tubing water,  but tubing here is different. one central tube is connected to 6 other tubes all around it, star shaped, creating a sort of raft. the tubes are connected with ropes with the strongest knots known to equadorean nation. we are to sit on the connecting areas between the outer and inner tube , hold on, do another and enjoy. two guides one in front and one in back maneuver the raft. the water is low but this rift is very buoyant and can traverse anything. the water is a bit cold and every splash or dunk in one of the many tiny waterfalls and rapids we feel the chill. the cloud forest is around and we see a heron and a few other small birds and enjoy this 20 minute ride. this was a bit of an abs workout for me.

we showered in cold water and headed for the bird farm.

here, some dude planted plants that humming birds love, and hung feeders and bananas and other food. you just stand there, watching the humming birds drink the nectar and colorful tanager fly by enjoying the food as well. birds chase other birds and fight for food, thought there is plenty for all. beautiful colors and many species a meter away from us and our good zoom camera. 

we got some street food for the road. yummy cheese empanadas, Grilled plantain and Pizza del mara( with shrimp) mmmmm.....

sadly all good things must end and we drove for 2 hours back to the airport, where we now sit in Johnny rockets, with an american classic horrible shake compared to few of the locals one we tried.

we have a few hours to wait, perhaps we can return to Guacamole grill, their shake was superb.

it is time for a trip summation

Best animal sighting of the trip

Gil - family of six eagle rays swimming in formation

Alla - penguins 

Best excursion- 

Gill Snorkeling in Isabella - with seals and rays

Alla: same and the morning hike at Santa Cruz to the clear waters at the cove

Best food

Gil Everything equadorean soup- hard competition between the one after the snorkelling in Isabela to the one in Pappalacta

Alla - the trout soup at the hot springs

favorite place: 

Gil: isabela island

Alla: Isabella Island

worst place

gil and Alla: the airport for 2 days

worst food:

Alla: The dinner in Quito, beans and corn mixed with something else. 

Gil- agreed- with also that horrible tamale..   plus the cord snack Alla bought , terrible after taste. Alla gave some to a dog and he wouldn't touch it.

favorite guide:

Alla: Dario from G-adventures

Gil- lincoln was better...

favorite day on the trip:

Alla: The hot springs and snorkeling with Sea lion 

Gil - i object to Alla's comment since it was not on the same day.  i think Otavalo was best, 2 hikes….   

best shower:

Alla: At the hot springs

Gil -agreed- the rest were wither cold , or cold/hot or no stream ….

Most helpful United representative:

Alla: The lady at Houston Gerri who found the last 2 spots on the direct flight to quito. Thus preventing another delay if we were to fly through Panama City. And Vanessa at luggage claims who personally went to pull our luggage from its holding area somewhere in the airport. 

Gil- what alla said.

Best drink

Gil- shake in quito airport on day 1, mandarin juice in Mindo and the fruit shake Santa cruz

Alla- Orange juice in isabela- a stand at the harbor.

that's it… we hear thunder storms in Cleveland…. 

cheers from Equador, which makes country 62 

mystery 63rd will be in 2017… so many options… :)