Category: South America

Today we canoed back to the Napo River to visit a clay lick where parrots congregate and eat the clay from the hillside. They do this to get minerals like sodium from the clay they don’t get elsewhere and to counteract toxins that build up in their bodies from the berries in their diets. From our boat we could see hundreds of parrots on the wall and hundreds more in the nearby trees waiting to take their turns. We spotted four different varieties.  They were easy to spot because they all congregated together in line parrot groups along the wall for protection.  These included yellow crowned parrots, blue headed parrots, mealy parrots and dusky-headed parakeets.  This was fascinating to watch. 

Our guide spotted a boa constrictor on a tree branch near the clay lick who was waiting for his moment to catch breakfast.

Later we visited a local Kichwa community and learned a lot about their culture and how they live. We were given a tour of their school where roughly 65 children attend school from grades 1-6 with only three teachers to teach them all. The school was empty since we visited on a Sunday, so sadly, we didn’t get to interact with any of the children. We were then escorted to a family homestead where we learned how they constructed their homes and cooking areas from local materials. This was not a fake tourist village. This was the real deal. 

They were kind enough to prepare some samples of food typical in their diets for us to try. Watch the video to see what we ate.  You know this is going to be good. 

In the evening we took a forest walk and saw a mahogany tree estimated to be over 600 years old. These trees were decimated to build furniture but now are protected. We felt so small just standing next to the roots of this giant tree!  We also saw several frogs and insects but the highlight of this walk was the family of three owl monkeys in the hollow of a tree. They were adorable!  

We are loving our time in the Amazon. There are things to see and experience everywhere we turn and we are absorbing every last bit we can before we have to leave.

We stayed in an eco-lodge for four nights within the Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest. We flew from Quito to Coca and were met by our guide who escorted us to a boat for the two-and-a-half hour ride down the Napo River which eventually empties into the Amazon River. After the long boat ride, we transferred to paddle canoes for another 30-minute ride along a smaller tributary to the Garza Cocha lagoon where La Selva Ecolodge sits.  The lodge is completely remote and all provisions, including food, drinking water, and even the laundry must be canoed in and out to and from Coca. Conservation is key and they are very conscious to remind guests not to waste resources. Upon arrival, we were greeted with a fresh juice and snacks then sat for a briefing about the lodge and what we could expect over the next few days. 

The eco-lodge provided us with a local guide Chicuqui (pronounced Chi-coo-key) from the Kitchwa community who has lived here his entire life. We were also assigned an expert naturalist guide (Paúl) for all our outings. Both were amazing, incredibly knowledgeable, and had eagle eyes. We were grateful for them. Without them, we would not have seen as much as we did nor learned so much about the various symbiotic relationships between everything living in the rainforest. 

Fun fact: A rainforest is any forested area located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn receiving more than 200 cm or 6 ft of rain per year. 

Our days were scheduled with morning and late afternoon/evening activities each day. We began each morning with a 5:30 am knock on our door. This was our “alarm” telling us it was time to get up and go to breakfast. The morning activities started at 6:30 each day just as the sun was rising and the jungle was coming back to life. 

We had free time during the mid-day hours where we could explore on our own or partake in other activities around the lodge such as kayaking, fishing, yoga, or getting a spa treatment.  It was also a chance to escape the hottest part of the day and cool down in our rooms under the strong ceiling fans. 

Evening activities began at 4:30 pm. This is when we would explore the lagoon by canoe or the forest on foot to watch the jungle transition into nighttime. 

We saw so much on day one. I can’t imagine what day two will bring. 

Today, we took a full-day city tour and learned a lot about Quito (pronounced key-toe). Fun fact: Quito sits at the 2nd highest elevation of any capital city in the world (9,350 feet/2,850 meters above sea level) and our lungs noticed the thin air when we walked the hilly streets throughout the city. 

We visited the Basilica del Voto Nacional and climbed to the top of the condor tower for a fantastic panoramic view of the city.  I had to challenge my fears on this one. But I did it. The stairs to the top were see through which made it even more difficult for me. I reminded myself not to look down the whole way.

Ecuador is a leading producer of cacao, but it keeps most of it for its own consumption. We stopped at a chocolate tasting room and we’re guided through about a dozen different styles of chocolate all produced locally with Ecuadorian cacao beans. Some were delicious, while others weren’t to our (Rex’s) liking, but we still walked away with several bars of our favorites to share with family back home, if we can keep from eating them before we get there, of course!

The Virgin of El Panecillo statue sits atop of a hill in

We leave the Quito area this morning for the jungles of the Amazon rainforest. We have high expectations for the Amazon and anticipate so much biodiversity. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve last night. We expect to return in about 5 days to fly to another fantastic Ecuadorian destination. 

We appreciate you following us on this journey. 

Adiós por ahora!

the heart of the city. This is the tallest statue in Ecuador and slightly taller than Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro. Rain started pouring down and the staff had left for lunch just as we arrived for our visit, so we were not able to go inside the statue to climb to the top, but our guide provided us with good information about the statue’s history once we got out of the rain and back to the car.

We stopped for lunch and ordered a dish quite common in the Ecuadorian diet, watch the video for more. 

Finally we were off to the “Center of the World” museum where we learned all about the equator and the indigenous people who realized the significance of this special place on the earth way before GPS was around to pinpoint its exact location. We even got our passports stamped at the Latitude 0°0’0” marker. 

We leave the Quito area this morning for the jungles of the Amazon rainforest. We have high expectations for the Amazon and anticipate so much biodiversity. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve last night. We expect to return in about 5 days to fly to another fantastic Ecuadorian destination. 

We appreciate you following us on this journey. 

Adiós por ahora!