Day 15 - Bellavista Cloud Forest - Day 2
We were up and ready for our 6.30 morning hike which was really just a walk around the lodge area to see the creatures as they were waking up. Fortunately the rain had stopped and it was a lovely morning.
We saw a lot of birds and a Tayra, which is from the weasel family.
After breakfast we were told that the mid morning hike was to a waterfall but it was going to be a very difficult and slippery path. The other option was an easy walk with the owner. We opted for the difficult one and were not disappointed. First we had to check out of our room and leave our luggage in the lodge ready to go back to Quito after lunch.
It was dry when we started but soon it started raining again. It was quite a climb up the road and then we turned off along a trail which went downhill towards the valley floor and the waterfall. On parts of the path it was so steep we had to use a rope to help us down (and pull us up on the way back) as it was not safe to climb without it. We finally found the waterfall and as we were already very wet, went and stood in the river for some photos. The climb back up was really hard and the altitude didn't help as at times I felt I couldn't breathe. Anyway we eventually made it back to the lodge but were again very wet but we had a bit of time to clean up before lunch.
After lunch we had some more time with the hummingbirds and we again got the chance to get them feeding from our hands.
We left the lodge at around 3 along with the young couple that we had travelled up with. This was their last day and were flying back on a midnight flight so had a few hours to kill but did not have anywhere to leave their luggage. We invited them to use our hotel room and we all went into the city centre and showed them a few places we had seen on our tour but they had not been to. We all had something to eat in a local restaurant and they left for the airport at 20:00. It also gave us a chance to see a bit of the city at night.
We saw a lot of birds and a Tayra, which is from the weasel family.
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| Tayra |
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| View from the lodge this morning |
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| The cloud gradually lifting |
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| Turkey type bird |
After breakfast we were told that the mid morning hike was to a waterfall but it was going to be a very difficult and slippery path. The other option was an easy walk with the owner. We opted for the difficult one and were not disappointed. First we had to check out of our room and leave our luggage in the lodge ready to go back to Quito after lunch.
It was dry when we started but soon it started raining again. It was quite a climb up the road and then we turned off along a trail which went downhill towards the valley floor and the waterfall. On parts of the path it was so steep we had to use a rope to help us down (and pull us up on the way back) as it was not safe to climb without it. We finally found the waterfall and as we were already very wet, went and stood in the river for some photos. The climb back up was really hard and the altitude didn't help as at times I felt I couldn't breathe. Anyway we eventually made it back to the lodge but were again very wet but we had a bit of time to clean up before lunch.
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| Blue beetles eating a leaf |
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| Mid morning hike |
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| Bess Beetle |
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| Waterfall |
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| Me (in pink poncho) arriving at waterfall |
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| Paul and I in river below waterfall |
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| The long climb back |
After lunch we had some more time with the hummingbirds and we again got the chance to get them feeding from our hands.
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Paul with humming birds
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| Jean with humming birds |
We left the lodge at around 3 along with the young couple that we had travelled up with. This was their last day and were flying back on a midnight flight so had a few hours to kill but did not have anywhere to leave their luggage. We invited them to use our hotel room and we all went into the city centre and showed them a few places we had seen on our tour but they had not been to. We all had something to eat in a local restaurant and they left for the airport at 20:00. It also gave us a chance to see a bit of the city at night.
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| San Francisco Church Dome |
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| Panecillo Hill |
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| San Francisco Convent and Museum |
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| La Ronda (where our hotel is) |
Hi Jean - DEEPLY envious!! Where my sister lives - on Vancouver Island - she feeds humming birds, so I know how wonderful that is, but they just have the one species in BC, not the variety you encountered. Enjoying reading your blog, my lovely, so keep going. Mass hysteria here is UK, as people fight in supermarkets in Farnborough over toilet paper. Honest! It's coronavirus paranoia ... stay in South America!! :-) xx
ReplyDeleteHi Paul. Yes, this was definitely the highlight of the trip so far. It was amazing to see so many different types of humming bird. They get 40 different species at these feeders and they are there from very early in the morning until just as it gets dark. There are not too many flowers for them to feed naturally at the moment so they are doing exactly what we do in winter - putting more food out for them. The other birds and creatures that we have seen were lovely to see as well. It was worth getting soaked for.
DeleteWe have seen the news reports from the UK and if we could we would stay here. I am beginning to regret not taking a post tour extension down to the south of Ecuador but thought at the time of booking that being away for 4 weeks would be enough. There are 10 reported cases of Coronavirus in Ecuador at the moment, started by a tourist coming in from Italy who was fine when she got her but developed symptoms after a couple of days. There is sanitising gel everywhere and people are strongly encouraged to use it but not sure if that is enough against a viral airborne infection but a lot are wearing face masks. We leave for Galapagos on Tuesday.
Stay safe, both of you, and continue to have a fabulous time. X
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