ECUADOR: ANDEAN FOOTHILLS

 March 28, 2022

On our last morning in Ecuador, we had to have a Covid antigen test, required for entry into the United States. Our guide Javier arranged for someone in a lab coat who was supposed to be a "medical" person to come to our room to administer the official test. He did some pretty light swishing around in our nostrils with a swab and headed off with our samples to the lab. Later in the day we got the certificate certifying that we were negative for Covid in our email.

We had one last delicious breakfast in the hotel--eggs benedict and some bread for me, complete with a little pighead butter pat.

We got on the road towards Guayaquil, with a couple of planned stops.

We really enjoyed our time in Cuenca, where even the overpasses are artsy.

We basically retraced our path of two days prior, just going down instead of up. Javier confirmed that the shorter route was still impassable. 

ECUADOR, MINDO PART 4: MORE BIRDS AND STREET FOOD

March 19, 2022

Having had our day of recovery, it was time for Geneil and me to join our husbands on a birding expedition. I got up at 4:30 AM to be ready to meet our birding guide at 5:20. All of us were on time and waiting, but no guide. At about 6:15 AM, Terry and Geneil and I went back to our rooms, and I went back to sleep for an hour. Meanwhile, Bob called, texted, and emailed the guide but got no response.

Eventually, the hotel owner started looking for another guide for us, and one showed up around 8:00 AM in a very small taxi. We were dubious. Who would stay behind? Apparently, there are contingency plans for that. The four of us squeezed into the taxi and the guide sat in the open trunk, his legs dangling over the rear bumper. The hotel people said that is common in Mindo. I wish I had gotten a picture, but it felt too awkward.

We drove about 30 minutes up a winding road to a large parking lot surrounded by jungle.  You can see why this area is called a cloud forest.

According to a sign, there are some waterfalls about a mile down the trail.

Green growing things are everywhere and on everything.

ECUADOR: MINDO, PART I - PARADISE AND BUTTERFLIES

 March 17-19, 2022

We had a two-hour flight from Panama City to Quito, Ecuador, arriving at about 7:00 PM. We passed quickly through immigration and customs, but we couldn't find our driver on the other side. After about half an hour, he arrived and found us. After two long drives with him, we understood why he was late to pick us up. More on that later.

We set out for Mindo, a small town of about 3,000 people located northwest of Quito in the Andean foothills of Ecuador. It is set in a cloud forest, or a tropical mountainous region that gets frequent, heavy rainfall and has a persistent low-level cloud cover at about canopy level. Forget the details; just the name "cloud forest" was enough to make me love the place.

Although just 70 miles, the drive took about 2 1/2 hours on winding, sometimes unpaved dirt roads that climbed first to the high elevations of northern Quito and then dropped into the valley where Mindo is located. There were many speed bumps that enforced a low speed limit. We drove through one area where the road was more or less washed out by a landslide, and for the last hour the road was narrow and very dark as it was often shrouded by tree canopies. We later talked to a couple whose driver had done the route in half the time. "Cautious" doesn't even begin to describe our driver.

On the other hand, he didn't speak much English, so the l-o-n-g drive was a great opportunity for me to speak a little Spanish, which was fun for me. I'd been reviewing my Spanish (learned 40+ years ago) before the trip, and I think I did fairly well at keeping the conversation going.

We finally pulled into the parking lot of our hotel, Las Terrazas de Dana, at midnight. Staff was waiting to welcome us, haul our luggage up to our rooms, and give us instructions. We were exhausted and fell into bed immediately. In the morning, however, I realized that we had arrived in Paradise.

Our room was large with a queen bed and two doubles, tile floors, and a sliding glass door that opened onto a private balcony and gave an expansive view of the lush valley we were nestled in.

So how did we end up in Mindo? Aside from the fact that is is one of the most visited places in Ecuador, it is also one of the best birding sites in the Americas, and birding is Bob's passion. He had arranged for a private guide to take him birding on that first day, and Terry was gracious enough to go with him.