6 o clock in the morning…
Definitely not enough sleep. But I
woke up with extreme excitement at what was going to happen today! So I
couldn’t really be too tired! We packed up the van and started another very
interesting trek through Quito. Even at 6:30 in the morning people were
everywhere! The streets were busy, but the city and the view of the mountains
were gorgeous! We saw the monument that marks the equator (which is apparently
not in the correct spot but that’s beside the point :P)
Driving through crazy
winding streets, we drove out of Quito (which is mostly dry because of its
location in a valley, not getting as much rain as the other areas) and you
could immediately see the difference in vegetation (which is cool to us
biology, geography, and geology majors!) We started driving up into the
mountains… not just any mountains… the Andes… heck yes… I’m totally hanging out
in the Andes for the next 3 days. I’m going to say this again, driving in this
area is NUTS! The drivers pass when there are turns coming up, or hilly areas
(you know, areas where, in the US, are solid double yellow lines, to prevent us
from killing each other at high speeds) Pretty sure I clenched my seat every time
that happened… because not only could you smash into a car, truck, or what not,
but if that happens, you were probably going to go flying of the mountainside.
It was freaky… haha.. We got incredible views from these roads though!
While we
were driving, we got to stop and get out and take pictures of a view, because
of the landslide up ahead. Apparently it happened a month ago, and the crew was
still working to clean it up. So it allowed traffic through every 15 minutes.
So we got out and wandered down the road a little. The view… was amazing!
(Don’t worry! Pictures will definitely be coming soon!)
Then, after getting
back in the van, when I thought the roads couldn’t get any worse, we turned
sharply up onto a steep gravel road (which we would be on for the next 12 km..
ugh..) it’s a pretty narrow road, so lets just say you got lovely views over
the edge of a mountain side! (still gorgeous though!!)
Then… we arrived in
probably the coolest place EVER!! BellaVista Cloud Forest Reserve! (I posted
the link on my first post, but it seriously doesn’t do the place justice… this
place is incredible!) We’ll be staying here for the next 3 days, trekking
through rainforest (epic!) We walk up and are introduced to our guide, Nelson,
and then shown our rooms… which I can’t even describe to you, they are the
coolest! We’re in the dome on top of a mountain. This place can only be
described as a four story Swiss Family Robinson style treehouse in the Andes Mountains.
(ITS FREAKING AWESOME!!) The dome is circular, with a wrap around deck (all
overlooking the mountain range and cloud forest). The first floor is the dining area, where they feed us
breakfast (8 am), lunch, (1 pm), and dinner (7 pm) and it also has an open bar
(guess what we’re doing tonight while bug watching after dinner! ;) ); the
second floor (which you take a spiral staircase up to) has single rooms all the
way around.. (6 or 7 rooms total) THEN! Our part of the dome ;) extending from
the spiral staircase and going straight up the middle of the dome, is a ladder.
The ladder leads to the third floor, where there is a bathroom and probably 10
beds, just on the floor with windows looking out to the forest and then a deck
out the back with a couple chairs on it. THEN!! You climb the ladder up AGAIN!!
To the fourth floor (the top of the dome) which has three beds and is all
windows! It’s seriously unreal…
After we all freaked out about the place we’d
be living in for the next couple days, we went down for breakfast (because yes,
it was still only 8 in the morning… ) We had a bowl of fruit (melons and
pineapple) with yogurt and granola, bread with butter and jam, and scrambled
eggs. After breakfast we went to meet up for our first hike! While waiting for
everyone to meet up we were standing by the hummingbird feeders. I’ve never
seen soooo many hummingbirds in one area ever! And there were so many species! (My
favorite would have to be the rackettail hummingbirds! :) ) and they didn’t even
mind if we were standing right next to them. We even got them to land on our
fingers! A couple of them thought that my “birthday bracelet of power” (haha
cara ;) ) was the feeder so they were sticking their beaks into the holes!
Then
Nelson took Josh, Jon, Joel and I on our first hike! (there are a ton a trails!
I’ll get a map up soon!) The trails range from Easy to Slippery/Suicidal… haha…
We went on a few difficult ones, but it was so amazing! The views we had!
Overlooking the Andes… the jungles! I seriously can’t even begin to describe
how incredible this place is. I wish I could show you… the pictures don’t even
begin to show how amazing it is! We saw a ton of different birds and plants and
insects that I honestly can’t remember the names of, but we took a ton of
pictures! We ate some flowers that had a bit of a sour taste to them, which Jon
seemed to love! We also saw some rubber trees (which aren’t the ones we use for
tires) and dragon’s blood trees! (The sap is blood red when it comes out of the
tree! It has over 100 different uses, a bunch being medicinal)
After trekking
for a couple hours (and me taking a digger after trying to see some baby
hummingbirds) we headed back to the dome for lunch! We had a squash soup
(phenomenal) and then fresh rainbow trout with rice, as well as salad. I’m not
a fan of seafood at all, but this was a seriously incredible meal! Then we had
some sort of mousse for dessert (unfortunately I was super full from the first
2 courses I was only able to have a little of this amazingly rich dessert! Josh
made sure they didn’t go to waste though ;) )
Then Josh, Joe, Jon, Joel, and I
decided we wanted to hike to a waterfall (Discovery Falls). The trail (D) was
pretty steep and slippery (I was pretty entertained following Joe, who slid
down the trail more than he walked it haha) but we finally made it and it was
pretty sweet! :) first waterfall in the Andes! Then (because the first part of
D was all down hill, we had to head back up! Which I found to be a lot easier
than climbing down, it was just more tiring!
We finally got back to the dome
(after walking 1.7 km up the road we originally took to get to Bella Vista). We got to lounge around for a little
while, and relax before another wonderful dinner! We each decided to have an
Ecuadorian beer, Pilsner, which was actually really delicious! And then we had
another type of soup, I’m not sure which kind, but it was really good! Then we
had a spinach and cheese burrito with a cheese sauce, and some mashed potatoes!
We had plans after dinner to go watch for insects but we were all so exhausted
we decided to go to bed at like 10 pm (can you say laaaame ;) ) We did a
lottttt the first day.. so sleep was definitely well deserved.. I don’t care
how lame a 10 o clock bed time is haha
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