Lori's Travels

Yesterday we checked out of Hostel Limoncocha after good breakfast and having our laundry done for us. It was a holiday for Ecuadorians, the Independence of Cuenca, and the people in Tena were also celebrating their centennial with some food booths set up.

We had requested a private driver to take us from the hostel to our next destination, Yachana Lodge, about two and a half hours away. Arturo, an employee of the lodge, showed up right on time at 12 p.m. in his one-month-old Chevy club cab truck that was beautiful. A bridge had failed on the main road between the two places, so he had to take another route that included many miles on gravel. He was a careful driver but the gravel didn’t slow him down.

What did slow us was the fact that a ferry crossing the Napo River couldn’t take on its normal payload of two cars because overnight the gravel ramp was covered with mud from a high river flow. (Remember all the rain during the previous evening in Tena?) As we watched and while Nathan took pictures, a man with a high pressure water hose washed the mud away from the gravel ramp. At 2 p.m., we were the first to use the ferry to cross the river that day. But we only had to wait about 15 minutes while the clearing was done. It took maybe five minutes to cross once we were on.

We arrived at Yachana Lodge about 2:30 p.m. and were welcomed by Robert, the manager of operations. He is Ecuadorian and has great English. We were given refrigerated wet hand towels to freshen up, juice and a wonderful lunch right away. Robert explained a few things about the lodge and nonprofit foundation that it supports, then he showed us to our cabin. It’s elevated on a hillside overlooking the Napo River. Spectacular!

He invited us to the deck next to the open air dining area at 4:30, where he had set up a bird spotting scope. The deck also had a view of the river. Jefferson, a 17-year-old Kichwa birding guide, joined us. We saw quite a few birds from the deck. Dinner was another delicious meal at 7 p.m. and then we went on a night walk for a ways down the gravel drive and back, spotting lots of grasshoppers, katydids, and spiders including two different types of tarantulas.

We returned about an hour later. It had been hot and humid, so I took a refreshing cold shower (even though there was lots of hot water) and went to sleep early to be ready for more birding on Tuesday morning at 5:30 a.m.

Today, Robert, Jefferson and his father Guillermo (who is the real birding expert), Hilary, an American volunteer here, and I left in a utility truck in which the bed was fitted with several bench seats. The driver brought us to a partially cleared area where we birded for about 3 hours while walking along a gravel road.

We returned in the truck to the lodge for breakfast and Nathan joined us. Then after lunch and 30 minutes to prepare, we left again to go to a trail that led to three bird blinds. It was quite a hike in the heat and humidity, up and down hills, but we saw four species of manakins and many other birds. It lasted about 2.5 hours and tired me out.

Returning again to the lodge, we were greeted by the owner, Douglas McMeekin, who has lived in Ecuador for more than 30 years and started the Yachana nonprofit to provide a local health clinic, plus the lodge. Over lunch he told us his interesting history and that of Yachana. He’s 82 years old now.

Now we’re taking a break before going on a shorter bird walk to see other species at dusk. And when I arrived in the cabin to write this, at 2:30 p.m., my phone said that it’s 94 degrees but feels like 103 due to the humidity. It’s hot but beautiful here!

Today, Sunday, was a travel day. After getting up, showering and getting dressed, I repacked everything for the trip. Nathan and I met at 8 a.m. and checked out of the Hotel La Liria. It had been a good choice because it never lost power due to its location near a hospital, a zone that’s never shut off. (Thank you, Maritza, for this recommendation!)

We took a taxi to a restaurant in downtown Macas that Maritza had suggested for breakfast and sat at an outside table outside and enjoyed a good breakfast, both of us choosing avocado toast with juice. I also ordered guayusa tea.

Then we walked a couple blocks to an ATM to pull out more cash and waited at the adjacent taxi stand. A taxi quickly took us to the bus station, which was impressively large, clean and not too busy. We bought bus tickets to Tena, our next destination city, for $9.50 each.

At 10:20 a.m., 20 minutes before our bus was due to leave, Maritza and her family came to the terminal to say a final goodbye. She also gifted me one of her books in Spanish, a novel. (The previous night I had given her a book of American English sayings and Seahawks attire for her husband and the two boys.)

The bus departed on time and drove to the city of Puyo, picking up and dropping off lists of local,people along the way. It was a trip of 3 hours or so. At Puyo we changed to another bus from the same bus company that left immediately to go to Tena. We finally arrived about 4:30 and found a taxi (fare of $1.50) to take us to the Hostal Limoncocha, our accommodation for the night, where a room with three beds and a private bathroom cost $24. There was no power when we arrived, but it was still plenty bright to see.

We were really hungry since we hadn’t eaten any lunch, so as soon as we checked in and dropped our bags, we got a recommendation from the front desk person for a restaurant downtown Tena and took another $1.50 taxi ride to it. We enjoyed panini sandwiches there but we were still hungry, so we walked next door and ordered a small pizza. We were finally satisfied.

But while we were eating it started to pour rain. Absolutely pour! A river started running down the street. About 78 degrees, 100% humidity, lightning and thunder. After we finished and paid for the pizza, we waited under the restaurant awning for an available taxi. We had to wait 10 minutes or more, with lots of full taxis and cars going by, but we finally found an available one.

Even now, more than two hours later, it’s still pouring down rain and thundering. The room is on the third/top floor of the hostel so it’s very loud. Either it will be a soothing sound for sleeping, or it might keep me awake. I’m not sure yet. I can’t even hear my phone when it’s sitting next to me! And did I mention that it’s really humid? Welcome to the Amazonian region!

Yesterday and today were busy, beautiful, adventurous days. Friday morning started with another fruitful bird walk with Fabricio at Buglas, adding more first time bird species. I’ve lost count of how many new ones I’ve seen. We sat in a bird blind with our arms leaning on a large board to steady the binoculars, focused on birds in the trees. Then Fabricio spotted a huge bullet ant walking toward his elbow. Yikes! He called my attention to it, then flicked it off the board into the woods. I was so glad it had been walking toward him, not me!

We returned for another delicious breakfast. I learned that the name Buglas comes from the local name for oropendula birds, which are quite common there. Nathan and I repacked our backpacks, then we relaxed in the garden to wait for a taxi that was scheduled to come at noon.

The taxi took Nathan and I and our packs to downtown Limón once again, where we ate lunch in a restaurant next to the bus terminal. It was a sunny day that felt hot and humid to us. The planned next step was to take a taxi to Las Cascadas Coloradas (Colored Waterfalls) where my Ecuadorian conversation partner, Maritza, and her husband would pick us up about 4 p.m.

We had to wait a few minutes at the taxi stand for a taxi to show up. Then the pickup truck taxi took us 12 kilometers up a gravel road to the waterfalls park, charging us $8 for the ride. The entrance fee to the park was only $3 each.

In the park, there were a few small cabins for overnighters, a volleyball court, restaurant and a hiking route to see the waterfalls, which was described to us in Spanish after I left my backpack in a storage area in the restaurant. So Nathan and I started down the hiking route. It turned out to be a relatively strenuous hike in which we needed to use ropes attached to rocks to go up or down the path. It was challenging but doable. The waterfalls were pretty, with orange colored water that was probably from a high iron content, although that wasn’t explained.

The hike was about 45 minutes out and then back on an easier trail. At the last falls before we turned around, there were two nuns in full-length white habits, having done the route we thought was relatively strenuous. It really surprised us!

It was about 3:15 when we finished, so we cooled off for a while. I bought a $1 colada morada, which is a sweet berry drink, and Nathan got a $1 fruit-filled ice cream. We spent a few minutes talking to an Ecuadorian lady who teaches English and her sister and nephew while observing several Cocks-of-the-Rock emerge for their ritual displaying in the park.

Then Maritza and her husband Johnny arrived. I was so happy to meet them in person, after more than a year of twice weekly conversations online. We talked for a few minutes while they ate some fries as a snack, then we all got into their Nissan Pathfinder to go to their home city of Macas. It was a 4-hour drive that included several short stops along the way, including one at another waterfall.

When we arrived in Macas about 8 p.m., we dropped off our luggage at the hotel Maritza where had reserved two rooms for us, Hotel La Liria in downtown Macas. Then we went to a restaurant for a late dinner and lots of conversation in both English and Spanish. Her husband teaches English at a Catholic middle school. After dinner, they returned us to the hotel and I went to sleep much later than usual.

This morning it was thundering and raining in Macas. That ruled out the small airplane ride around Sangay volcano that we were hoping to take. But we enjoyed a good breakfast together, with Nathan and I trying the traditional Ecuadorian tigrillo dish made of green plantains and cheese, topped with a fried egg and avocado, plus hot guayaba which is a traditional tea.

Then we walked through a market in which Johnny bought several samples of Ecuadorian vegetables or fruits for us to try.

We also went to the Catholic Church in town which is attached to the school where Johnny teaches. We went inside the sanctuary and even up to the belfry to have a great view of the town.

We walked in a park, sampled “guaguas de pan” which are sweet rolls shaped like a baby with icing added to create a baby’s face and are available only in the days before El Día de los Difuntos (Day of the Dead). Then we waited for the owner of Chiguazas Labyrinth to pick us up and take us there, something that Maritza had arranged for us.

The owner, Romulo! His mother and his 7-year old daughter Gabriela, arrived about 12 to take us to the park. It was a 90 minute drive through heavy rain and lightning. Once we were there, it stopped raining, thankfully. A family of 5 joined us there. Romulo took us on a hike through the park, natural stone labyrinth and quite a strenuous trail to see fossils, caves, and two fast moving rivers., while narrating in Spanish. I understood about 70% of the explanations. We finished about 2 hours later and we returned to a late lunch that Rómulo’s mother had cooked: rice, lentils, boiled purple potato and chicken.

After cleaning up, Romulo returned us to Macas and our hotel. We met Maritza, Johnny and their two sons at 7:30 for dinner and more conversation. We capped off the night at an ice cream shop. At both the restaurant and ice cream place, we ate outside where it was pleasantly warm. Then they drove us to our hotel for the final night in Macas.

Today was a day of birdwatching and relaxing. Since I don’t want to bore you to death with the bird stuff, suffice it to say that from yesterday’s and today’s morning and evening walks with the Buglas owner Fabricio, plus birds seen on the grounds of Buglas, I’ve seen more than 43 species, most of which were new to me (“lifers”). so it’s been a fantastic place to see birds. And Nathan has taken a lot of photos.

The day started at 6:45 with a walk to a platform overlooking a ravine where manakins and other forest-loving birds are. We didn’t see much there, but walking on the trail we saw lots of birds feeding on seeds high up in one tree, so we stayed there quite a while.

We returned for a great breakfast of scrambled eggs, fruit, bread, ham, cheese, blackberry juice and tea. While eating we talked with an English-speaking couple, who were the only other guests, about the changes in Ecuador, the power outages, and Nathan described his motorcycle trip around South America.

Then we just relaxed, Nathan in a hammock and me walking around looking at more birds. Since I’m no good at taking bird pictures, I’ll show you some of the birds via a “cheaters” method:

We ate another delicious meal at 2, consisting of cream of broccoli soup, plantains, grilled chicken breasts, potatoes and a little chocolate ice cream. About 4:30, Fabricio and I went for another walk down the trail and this time we saw blue-crowned trogons, one of the very colorful and treasured birds here. That was a treat. We returned at sunset at 6 pm. Nathan and I saw fireflies flashing after sunset from the deck outside our room, which was another treat.

The power outages today were for about 4 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon. There will likely be about 4 hours of outage overnight, like there was last night. Sometimes Fabricio runs his car and powers the place from the car battery. He doesn’t have a generator.

Monday I started my second trip to Ecuador by flying from Seattle to Los Angeles, then overnight to Panama, Tuesday morning to Quito and finally to Cuenca. The journey took almost 24 hours and was really tiring. My friend Nathan met me at the Cuenca airport and we took the Tranvía light rail to his apartment to drop off my baggage.

Then we walked a couple blocks from his apartment to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. There was a party going on in the entrance to the restaurant building with about twenty small boys dressed in costumes with painted faces for Halloween. They were cute.

Back at Nathan’s apartment, he packed his camera gear and clothes in a backpack for our departure the next morning, while I relaxed. But I couldn’t stay awake for long after so much travel, so I went to sleep early while Nathan continued his preparations.

This morning, Wednesday, I was up before 6 and getting ready for the next leg, a bus journey. Breakfast for me was leftovers from the Mexican dinner. Then we gathered our backpacks and set off via taxi for the Cuenca bus terminal. Taxis are really cheap and abundant in Ecuador. It cost $3.25 for the ride to the terminal. Then we bought bus tickets to the town of Limón Indanza, which is on the eastern slope of the Andes, for $7.50 each. Nathan also bought breakfast of chicken and rice from a stall in the terminal. After he finished eating, we explored the many little vendor spots there, then walked outside to our bus. It departed right on time on 8:45 a.m.

Limón, as it’s commonly called, appeared about 3 hours later after we had descended into the wet, warm, humid side of the Andes. We walked around town, first to find a pharmacy so Nathan could buy anti-malaria medicine (I already had mine) and then to find lunch. The power was out in town, so lots of generators were running on the sidewalks. We found a little restaurant that offered their lunch of the day: minestrone soup followed by chicken and rice.

A few yards outside the restaurant there was a taxi waiting. We asked to go to Buglas Guest House, our destination for two nights. It was a 10-minute ride on a dirt road outside of town. Fabricio, the owner, met us immediately and showed us to the room and invited us to explore the trails and feeders for birdwatching. We relaxed in different places around the grounds, looking at hummingbirds and many other kinds of birds.

At 4:30, owner Fabricio took us down a path to the Cock-of-the-Rock lek that’s on the property. About 8 males were already starting their twice daily displaying. In Mindo last year, I had seen red Cocks-of-the Rock, here they were orange. Still outlandish looking.

Nathan and another photographer, Andy, took lots of pictures while I marveled at them through binoculars. Then Fabricio guided us to other places around the grounds to see a few more birds it began to get dark. We stood around outside and talked in Spanish and English for a few minutes. While we were talking, I felt something poking me around the waist, then going down my pants. It was some type of small ant, biting me! Thankfully, it wasn’t painful and not a large bullet ant. I smashed it through my pants, ending its trip.

The power had been out at Buglas all afternoon and was still out after sunset. Nathan and I pulled out our headlamps to see inside the dark room. We were served dinner at 7 p.m. outside, just after the power returned. Dinner was a traditional potato and corn soup, salad, rice and chicken, plus hot hibiscus tea and a small piece of cheesecake, all prepared by Fabricio’s wife. It was very good.