ECUADOR Mindo, western Andes cloud forest

Various web comments made us think of paying $120 for a return taxi ride to Mindo.  Instead we got the bus for $2.50 each one way - a comfortable fear-free ride.  A $3 taxi brought us to our unique accommodation at La Roulette, with its Swiss atmosphere.  www.roulotte.ec

 The highways in Ecuador are very good but roads around Mindo are rough.   The town has made a commitment to eco & adventure tourism, so slow driving balances zip lining and tubing down rapids.  There were many backpackers and some hippies.
We booked 3 days in Mindo and hired Julia Patino, a very good bird guide, for 2 mornings. A Bavarian couple staying at La Roulotte was excellent company in the dining room and on the first walk.

Lebardo looked after us very well and encouraged me to use Spanish.  The owner is a Swiss chef but I think others cooked when we were there.

Tilapia with coriander, almonds, lime

Lebardo flaming chocolate mousse

Julia showed us many special birds, 56 species in 2 mornings.

Bran-coloured Flycatcher

Lemon-rumped Tanager

Masked trogon

Choco Toucans

Pale-mandibled Aracari, taken through scope with my phone

                           Ornate Flycatcher

Big spider

 On the second day Julia picked us up at 5am and it was still dark 40 minutes later when she led us down a steep hill on the property of Angel Paz.  Surrounded by wet forest, I was glad to grab occasional cables to guide me away from ravines.  We had to get to a certain place by 6am to see the Andean cock of the rock perform.  His `dance` was quickly over, no time for us to get a photo.

However, banana feasts were available for many other birds.

Emerald Toucanet

Toucan Barbet

Blue-winged Mountain-Tanager

Sickle-winged Guan

Dark-backed Wood-Quail

A guide from Angel Paz led us up the track, making strange calls and carrying a small container of live worms.  He first attracted a dear little bird, the Ochre-breasted Antpitta, which is known as Shakira because it shakes its body from side to side.

More worms and different calls enticed the Moustached Antpitta.  We also saw an Ocellated Tapaculo.

After a late and very good breakfast at the Paz property, we returned to watch hummingbirds at La Roulotte.

 On our last day we walked to a nearby butterfly farm which was very interesting and beautiful.

One Owl butterfly decided to investigate my nose.

ECUADOR Quito

Our Napo adventure ended with canoe trips and a plane from Coca to Quito.  David was away a long time, looking for an ATM while I waited next to the information desk at the brand new Quito airport.  I turned my head to look for a seat and our cabin bag was stolen, containing our computer, my boots, 2 jackets and $300 in a money belt.
 So our Quito experience centred on talking to police and replacing lost items.  No-one spoke English at the tourist police station, but they had an interesting way of dealing with us. A nice young woman brought up the appropriate form on computer, I typed a statement, he got the computer to translate, then painstakingly fixed the Spanish version, while I looked over her shoulder.  We got a copy for our insurance claim.
We had booked accommodation for 2 nights at Hostel LA Rabida, where a very pleasant and efficient lady, Gloria, helped us with directions and tourist info.  Buying a new computer involved several cheap ($2 or $3) taxi rides.  So now we have an Android tablet, which led to a lot of homework finding software and getting used to having no control A, X, C or V keys.
As for Quito itself ... it has 4 million people, huge ravines with flat tops, the highest altitude of any capital city at 2800m, footpaths in poor repair, lots of construction, few trees.
 We went up the Teleforico for good views.

The Casa del Alabardo has a fascinating collection of pre-Columbian items.

The historic Old Town was boring.  Churches covered inside with gold (no photos) allowed, colonial civic buildings, etc.  One pedestrian street as pictured below.

There was some tourist nightlife up Reine Victoria near our hostal.

The beer is good!

ECUADOR. Napo Wildlife Centre

Mauricio drove us from San Isidro down to Coca on the Napo River.  The trip took 2 hours  on a good winding road.  There Andres showed us 6 different swallows and martins. A fast motorized canoe with roof was packed with luggage and 16 tourists for a 2 hour ride to a creek.  There we transferred to 4 canoes, each with a  naturalist guide speaking English, a native guide and a paddler.  We were split up by nationality (and perhaps age) for the next 3 days, 4 Aussies, 6 Brits, 4 Yanks plus 2 Germans.  The 2 hour paddle up the narrow creek was the start of our adventures.
 We could have touched the anaconda lying half out of the water with the agouti-shaped bulge in its body.  Five species of monkey were seen - squirrel, howler, saki, woolly and capuchin.  We saw  2 two-toed and 2 three-toed sloths, several caiman and the family of 7 giant otters on 2 days. My bird list was 73 species in 3 days, including herons, toucans, parrots (but no macaws), many kites, tanagers ... I weep for the photos we don't have.
Our small group had the best naturalist guide, Delfin.  He is from the Kichwa tribe, which runs the enterprise and he found so many animals for us.  He even used our camera to get  better photos.  The most exciting sighting for him was a Harpy eagle atop a bare branch some 500m away.  We had climbed  the 200 (?)  steps up the Observation Tower and this was only his third sight of this magnificent bird.
 Near a clay lick we visited a Kichwa village where the women sang, danced and showed cultural items.  Their men run the resort and the women decided on their own contribution.  It was very interesting. The resort was luxurious and we felt the cost of $890 each was not too high for 3 days in the Amazon basin.

Squirrel monkey

David had a movie of 7 giant otters swimming close to us.

Harpy eagle

Add caption

ECUADOR Eastern cloud forest

  Our computer with photos was stolen in Quito so I can only use links and download photos from the web for our time at Guango (1 night), San Isidro (3 nights) and Napo
Wildlife Centre (3 nights).  We bought a cheap tablet for the rest of our trip.

 We were met at Quito airport by Andres Trujillo, who was our birdwatching guide for the next four days.  He was excellent, determined to show us all he could, despite rain on several days.  He speaks English very well and was happy to answer all our questions.  Our driver, Mauricio, did not speak English but drove well and enjoyed watching birds. 

Guango Lodge cabanasanisidro.com/pages/guango_lodge.htm is  in cloud forest on the western slopes of the Andes.  It is higher than Quito, the highest capital city in the world at 2800m.  We had some trouble breathing on uphill stretches, but managed to keep up with our much younger guide.  At the lodge, hummingbird feeders attracted many birds of quite stunning beauty.

Glowing puffleg

Sword-billed hummingbird

We trudged up small hills in wet grass and crossed footbridges, seeing 41
 birds in 4 hours.

Torrent ducks fish in rapids.  Female has orange breast.

Gray-breasted mountain-toucan

Masked flowerpiercer

At a sister lodge, San Isidro, for the next 3 days, we saw 72 birds. Here a man has trained elusive antpittas to appear for a meal of worms.

Chestnut-crowned Antpitta

Inca jay

Booted racket-tail

Emerald toucanet

San Isidro is home to a family of mysterious owls.  DNA testing at Cornell suggests they are a new species.

Ecuador is home to more than 130 species of tanager.  We saw 24 including the ones below.

Masked flowerpiercer

Blue-necked tanager

San Isidro provided possibly the best food of our trip, tasty, different, varied.  The staff at Guango and San Isidro were very pleasant and attentive.