Day 5 Cotopaxi

Breakfast was included in the $21 price at the Posada Tambuca. We had fruit, toast, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, ham and cheese and fresh juice.  I am always worried something won’t work out or a connection will fall through.  So it was a relief when the driver showed up early to take us to our next destination in Cotopaxi.  

 The driver only spoke a little English so we didn’t really learn anything on the trip because we speak no Spanish.  There was a lot of traffic leaving Quito.  Then when we got into the county side the roads took a turn for the worse.  We drove for several miles on a cobblestone road.  It didn’t slow the driver down and made me wonder how long a vehicle would hold up here.  

 We made it to the hacienda around 9:00.  We dropped off our luggage and head right out to the horses. 

The weather was calling for rain the three days we were scheduled to be there so I was happy to at least get a glimpse of the volcano.  I had visions of it being like when we went to Mt Rushmore and it was completely fogged in.  

As it turned out, our driver was also our guide and the owner of the horses.  His name was Patricio.  Jose was our interpreter that met up with us at the hacienda. 

The horses were all saddled in short order and we headed out.  I road Apache and Joe rode a bay mare we never really understood the name of.   We fell into line going down the road, our guide leading a spare horse in front, then me, then Joe, and Jose bringing up the rear. 

We reached the entrance to the Cotopaxi National Park.  That is pretty much all it was, an entrance. 

But the park was anything but underwhelming, it was spectacular.

There was even a herd of bull fighting cattle. 

And Jose was nice enough to send pictures he took of us. 

 I took my own version of togetheries.  

The terrain, views and plants changed around every turn and with every step.  My head was on a swivel and I was taking an endless stream of pictures and videos.

That is Cotopaxi in the background, clouded over.

We had lunch near some pine trees out of the wind.  Jose had packed a nice meal for us. 

The horses enjoyed the break tied to small shrubberies. 

After lunch there was more scenery to explore.

It started getting colder so ponchos were donned.  Then it started to rain.

You may have noticed that I am on a different horse.  Apparently, Apache does not like rain ponchos so I switched horses with Patricio.  

By this time we had about 20 pounds of coats and ponchos on.  When we got back and it had stopped raining it was a relief to get all the extra weight off.  It also just didn’t feel right to have someone else do all of the work while we just sauntered back to the hacienda.  I am guessing we covered around 12 miles during our 5 hour ride. 

We had a beautiful view from our room.

And we walked around the grounds before dinner. 

Lots of interesting flowers, birds and views to enjoy and a delicious dinner of potato soup and spaghetti to savor. 

Day 4 Mindo

We started off at 5:30 am to hike 25 minutes to the Cock Of The Rock Lek.  In case you are wondering what a lek is here is the definition so you don't have to look it up.

A lek is an aggregation of males that gather to engage in competitive displays that may entice visiting females who are surveying prospective partners for copulation.

It was a noisy place.  Emily and Keiran go at least once a week to do a survey for the reserve.  
 

They have a very strange shaped head.  Emily said most people are able to get a clear picture.  I took a couple hundred and got a few good ones. 

I like how these two look like they are looking in a mirror.  

We took a togetherie before heading back down to the lodge. 

We saw a few more birds.  

This toucanet landed in a tree right outside the lodges second story opening while I was standing there.  Emily said it was rare for one to land so close.   

This one was much further away.  It is a miracle I can even get a bird picture from a distance.  First, someone has to spot that there is a bird there.  I then try to find it with the binoculars.  Then I check with my eyes to find a landmark where the bird is.  I then have to put on my glasses to see the screen on the camera and try to zoom in somewhere in the direction of my landmark.  If I am lucky I am able to get the bird on the screen then I have to try to make the camera auto focus, focus on the bird and not the leaves.  So, be amazed.  

Back at the lodge we had breakfast.  Emily had made apple cinnamon rolls, yum!  Then we packed up, now in 5 bags instead of 4, to get ready to leave. 

Next, Keiran had arranged for the truck taxi to take us back into Mindo.  The driver stored our bags as we spent the afternoon in town.  I had wanted to go to a butterfly house.  Emily found this one for us. 

It was loaded with butterflies.  There was this very interesting chrysalis display with emerging butterflies. 

These butterflies were on a leaf in front of a painting.  I thought it looked like they were part of the painting. 

A little cheating here.  This one was really back at the lodge.  

And this one was on yesterday's hike.  There were lots of these blue ones flying around at the butterfly house but they would never land for a picture. 

We sadly said goodbye to Emily and Keiran in Mindo.  We met our taxi driver and headed on to Quito, two hours away.  He brought his wife along on the trip.  When we got into the city at a stoplight there were people walking up to cars like they were selling things.  The wife got worried and made sure our windows were up and doors locked, not a good feeling. 

Our lodging was a room in a house near the Old Town.  I thought we would be able to walk around and sight see some and I had found a nice restaurant about 6 blocks away.  Unfortunately, the host recommended we not go out and if we wanted something to eat then we needed to call Uber Eats and have it delivered. We ended up staying in and just eating the snacks that I had packed.  Good thing we had that big lunch.  But the room was comfortable, other than not having any heat.  There was a hair dryer in the bathroom which I turned on the heat up the bathroom so it wasn't so cold when I got out of the shower.  That worked well and we went to bed. 

Day Three Part Two

 The hike to the waterfall was all uphill.  We didn’t see many birds but there were nice views and cool looking plants. 

Then the waterfall. 

It was worth the hike. I decided to take my boots off and soak my feet in the water.  I thought that I had gotten something in one.  I took off my boot and found this. 

Yes, it is spider remains. Apparently, you are supposed to check your boot before you put them on here. Lesson learned. 

Back down the trail and more cool plants. 

Back at the cabin Kerian and Emily prepared a nice lunch of eggs scrambled with onions, peppers, and potatoes.  After a little relaxing and chatting Joe and I headed back out for a short walk. 

I think Joe just wanted to use the machete.  

We were then treated to a dinner of creamy potato soup.  Very tasty. Since it was now dark guess what we did. 

That’s right, a night hike. 

We saw all sorts of creepy crawly things and several glass frogs. They were my favorite. Isn’t he cute?

Time for bed and you can bet we checked the sheets and under the pillows good. 

Day Three Reserva Las Tangaras Part One

 We got up at 6 for an early start on bird watching. 

Joe even got into the action with his own binoculars. Well, actually Keiran’s mom’s binoculars that we will be toting back to the States. 

Emily tried to get me to learn all of the different hummingbirds but my heart just wasn’t in it. I can remember the only one that is at home. But learning 10-15 more is work and I am on vacation.  There were several enjoying the feeders. 

We got our first look of the outside of the lodge.  There is a new room being added so lots of construction debris around. 

Kerian prepared for the hike to the water source by sharpening his machete. 

I prepared by taking a togethery with Emily. 

The holding tank was empty so the hike continued. 

Emily was hopeful that with the rain the wet weather source would be strong enough. For the last  bit you have to use a rope to help get up to the water. 

There was some scooping out of sediment and a lot of discussion before the hose was connected. So far so good. 

Back down the rope and the rest of the trail to the holding tanks to make sure that the water was flowing. 

And it was.

We saw this fuzzy thing there too. Remember him for later. 

Then the hike back to the lodge. 

Lots of amazing plants. 

Next, we needed to get ready for a 1 1/2 hour hike to a water fall. 

Now we can see what we crossed over on the swinging bridge last night. Just a little scary. But there are bottle caps nailed down to help with the footing in case you were wondering. 

We also got to see the entrance signs.  This one is at the entrance where we were dropped off the night before. Apparently we got special treatment because there is another entrance from the main road you have to walk 30 minutes to get to this one. 

This one is just at the end of the trail when you get to the lodge. 

There was another even worse swinging bridge to go on the waterfall hike. 

To be continued…