¡¡¡DRAMATIC CHANGE¡¡¡

Hey all we are changing the blog were posting on because it looks waaaaaayyy better on the new blog the link is https://myleszoeadventure.wordpress.com. Since we just set it up please comment and leave your opinions on what is better on the blog and what you want, becasue I can fix just about anything on the new blog. Awesome see you guys on the new blog (-_0) bye

Zoe,
Out¡

The Cathedral and ANOTHER parade (on Father's Day)

Connor said we couldn't leave Quito if we didn't visit the Basilica/Cathedral so we complied.  In the process we also stumbled on another parade that was celebrating the life of a well-known priest.  We enjoyed the pageantry and felt a lot more comfortable taking photos of people in their native costumes.-KS

Okay so this is a huge imposing church that's awesomely cool on the out side with twin clocktowers. So we payed the fee to climb up and started climbing. It was stairs the first 3 stories then it went across a wooden bridge. After the wooden bridge was a ladder/stair then the path went around a bit and finally up the last bit that was SKETCHY!!! Some of the ladder/stairs had mesh so you wouldn't step too far forward and fall off but the mesh on the last bit was missing. So you could had a wrong step and fallen. The clock towers were super cool with Quito in the background. The clock towers however don't match because the Ecuadorians bought top of the line Europian clocks but forgot to get anyone trained in the maintenance of the clocks. So both clocks have slowly stopped. Also coming down the stair/ladders was 2x as sketchy as going up.

Zoe,
Out!

 Galapagos gargoyles at Cathedral

Otavalo

Northeast, around the mountains circling Quito, is the town of Otavalo.  It is known for the artisan markets where people from all the surrounding mountainous areas come down to sell their wares.  It's a bit overwhelming:  from knock knacks to beautiful pieces of art...and in vast quantities.  The vendors seem to go on for miles.  There was an accompanying fruit and veggie market.  One of the vendors told us about the "food court"....just behind the church and to the right.  Myles said the entrance looked like the  night markets in Taiwan....a little entry covered with things...you walk through and you experience the smells and sounds of food.  Scott chose the place we we tried hornado.  They slow cook an entire pig and the serve the soft meat with mote ( hominy) and potato cakes and sausages.  It turns out that this woman won the award for best hornado in the province and a photo the president embracing her was above her shop.  it was yummy!  Returning to Quito, angie wanted to find an archeological site.  However, we ended up on the classic Ecuadorian adventure...locals saying,  "Yes, the place is over there...Más arriba."  We kept going up on the cobblestone roads, between small family farms growing maíz, potatoes quinoa, some with cows, pigs and sheep.  I have never seen pigs tethered together....one would pull one way and the other the opposite direction....but they both stayed put without fences!  We sort of found the ruins, but there wasn't a good place to park and we ended up continuing on the road as it wound down from the mountains/hills to the main road below.  We stopped at Qunice, a small town that the Pope will stop at because of the one of the saints.  We managed to stumble on a band and fireworks celebrating the saint in the afternoon!  The surprises of traveling in Ecuador!   We also balanced an egg at the Mitad del Mundo #2!!! -KS

S i

Cotopaxi in winters conditions, Casa de Vaca and Jardín Botánico de Quito.

We left the house at 7:30 am and headed to Cotopaxi. It was a long drive and we had to stop at a booth so you could register to enter the park but the guard wasn't there. It was realy foggy and chilly. When the guard finaly came, we registered and headed on in. The mountan had some snow on it but it wasn't on the road. On the way up, we stopped to see some flowers. It was realy windy and is was sprinkling sideways. When we got the to parking lot, we were met with fast, cold wind and frozen rain form an angle. We quickly took some pictures and got back into the car and headed down the mountan. We decided to go to a lgoon to see some birds. When we got there. It was also realy windy and sprinkling. We then went to a gift shop where there was a hike to a small forest. At first, it was sunny and there was no wind. But then, the rain and wind came so we gave up and set out of the park. On the way back to town, we stopped at a restaurant called Casa de Vaca where I got a hamburger with a small salad and fries and a chocolate milk shake. The shake was realy good. After we were done, we headed to the Jardín Botánico. There were a lot of plants but the biggest thing was the orchids. There were so many orchids that were local to ecuador. If you ever come to Quito, you should go to the garden. It's pretty cool. - MH

So we wake up at 6:00 in the morning so we can leave. By 7:00 we were out of the door. Where were we going you might wonder?  We were going to Cotopaxi! One of the large active volcanos around. We drove and arrived at the guard house but we couldn't get by. The reason was because the guard house was supposed to open at 8:00 we were there at 8:30 and the guard still hadn't shown up. We waited for around 15 minuets and then the guard showed up. We were already at a high enough altitude to where you very desperately want a coat. After we got past to guard station we drove up part of the mountain, which was a long drive on a very bumpy (and in my opinion very sketchy) road for around an 45 min. The higher we got on the mountain the colder it got by the time we reached to end of the road there was snow all around. For the record there isn't normally snow but lo and behold there was. The wind was so bad that we couldn't open two opposing doors on the car otherwise things whould just blow out the door. I put on a rain coat and was the first to get out needless to say I regretted it. I was almost instantly soaked from ice cold rain i hurriedly took at many pictures as I could then I ran quickly back to the car and Yanked on the door only to discover it was locked (nooooo!!) to I ran around to the other side and hid in the wind/rain shadow of the car and waited for Angie to come back to unlock the car and jumped in. We were all soaked. We weren't allowed to hike up to the rim of the volcano because it was too active. So we dropped back to the second plan to hike around a lagoon. We arrive at the lagoon and we climb out of the car and it was raining we decided not to hike the trail and dropped back to plan C. Plan C was to hike another trail by a gift shop we got out of the car and went into the gift shop. Then we tryed to hike the trail only to have it start rain as soon as we start hiking. We decided to just give up and started to drive back to Quito we stopped at Casa de la Vaca for lunch. I got a hamburger and a milk shake. The hamburger was huge and delicious the milk shake was milk with chocolate sauce and a large dollop of ice cream on top. After we devoured out lunches we figured we should stop by the botanical garden which had a huge orchid collection and I saw a awesome and rareish humming bird the black-tailed trainbearer in the flowers and it flew away in the exact time it took to turn on my camera(dar'vet!!!!). then after all that we headed home and called it a day..

Zoe,
Out!

Museo Nacional de Banco Central del Ecuador and Artesean Market.

Angie took us to the Museo Nacional de Banco Central del Ecuador to see some ancient artifacts. She said that even if we didn't want to see the artifacts, we had to see the gold room. The artifacts we pretty cool. But, just as Angie said, the gold room was worth it. It contained gold artifacts of all sorts: earrings, necklaces, figures and more. After that, we went to the Artesean market. There were hats, shirts, pictures, toys, tools, earings and more. I got a chess set that's made out of tagua and Americans know it as vegetable ivory. It looks realy cool. - MH.

The museum had all sorts of cool things. the first levels were precolumbian and the 2nd story was all colonial which was after the annoying Spanish showed up. Personaly the precolumbian artifacts were way cooler. After out time at the museum we headed back out to the street and walked over to the artisan's market. They had just about anything you could imagine from bracelets, to ponchos, to wallets, to stuffed animals and intricate carvings. And also they had the Ecuadorian iced cream which is just fruit juice sugar and then stirred in a metal bowl in iced water. For the record it's super good. my mom got gunabana, Myles got blackberry and I got Taxo. All in all it was a pretty good day

Zoe,

Out!

Old towne, Casa de Alabado museum

Today, we went to old town, so there were a lot of old buildings. It was also kinda of a market because there were a lot of shops. But we got there really early so not a lot of shops were open. But, on the way to a plaza, Angie brought us to a shop with cool art. I got a cool bag from there. After that, we went to a plaza where a big church was. I didn't like it there cuz they were celebrating the creation of Quito and they were playing loud music. After we left the plaza, we went to eat at a small resturant and I got a juice that was half blackberry and half gunabana. It was realy good. After that, we went to the Casa de Alabado museum to see some artifacts. It was cool to see how the pottery changes over time. After the museum, we went to go get Angie a coffee. She took us to a cafe that she had gone to once. She was surprised to find out that it had turned into a kind of resturant. I got a blackberry juice, Zoe got a hot chocolate, Angie got a coffee and mother got a sparkling water. Once we were finished, we head back to the car. Along the way we got to see how many stores had open since the time we were there. So I would say it was a good day. - MH


So first day really exploring Quito. We drove down to the old town and parked the car. Then we explored. While exploring, we encountered a procession which was occurring 60 days after Easter. It blocked a whole street and was insanely long but nothing compare to the good Friday parade(look it up on notyouraverageamerican for pics). After the procession we wandered over to a museum that had tons of awesome artifacts. Many of them made from clay in intricate figures. We spent around an hour at the museum and then Angie declared it was time for afternoon coffee so we stopped at a cafe and everyone got a drink. I got hot chocolate, because chocolate ever day people!! Then after we had exhausted ourselves we clambered back into the car and headed home.

Zoe,
Out!

The joys of travel!

We had a most interesting day yesterday....an introduction to the frustrations finding places in Quito, and an introduction to the medical system here.  We noticed that Zoe had a little chip in her tooth.  We have no idea how she got it but decided it was best to check to make sure it wasn't cracked.  Angie got us an appointment at 11:00 am.  At around 9 am Zoe said she must have gotten bitten on her shoulder and lip because it was itchy.  We decided not to give her Benadryl just in case she needed meds at the dentist.  We left the house at 10 and got to the cross streets of where the dentist was.  By 11 we still hadn't found it!  They have 2 addresses here:  an old system in white and the new system in green.  75% of buildings only have the new numbering and we think they gave us the old numbering.  After multiple calls, we were told it is next to the edificio de consul y muy alto y quiteño. We circled again and found the consul building and I jumped out to ask the buiding next door....they said the dentist was another building away.   The building had NO sign indicating the dentists were in the buildin (there were signs for the 3 businesses on the ground floor) was not the tallest on the block, had NO number sign on it, and had nothing to indicate it was Quitaño!  It looked like all the others.  It did have a police vehicular inspection lot right in front so you would think that someone giving directions might use that as a landmark!  Zoe and I went up while Angie circled one last time.  By the time she made it up, we had seen the dentist, I had managed to convey that my Spanish was horrible but we wanted to have her tooth checked, and the dentist had examined her and filed her tooth a tiny bit.  When we walked down to the car we gave her Benadryl.  And then I really looked at her.  Her lips were swollen about 4 times normal and her bites on her shoulder were hives.  So we decided to take her to the ER.  We figure that she ate something.....maybe the processed yogurt drink she had for breakfast or the red fanta the night before.  Luckily Angie has been to the hospital before so she knew the way.  30 min later we arrived at the hospital and although busy, they gave zoe the last bed once they saw her lips.  She got an IV, and meds and fluids and then we waited patiently.  I didn't recognize the antihistamine they gave her...we think it was one made in Spain.  She improved and  5 hrs later we were discharged.  Myles had been patiently waiting outside as they only allow 1 family member to accompany the patient...and Angie as my translator.  As we were leaving, you had to stand in 1 line where they added up her charges and then another line to pay those charges.  With your receipt in hand, you show it to the guard and they let you out the door!  Bills are always paid on time!...of course this is one of the pay for care hospitals of upper and middle class....but I was struck at the difference between our systems and decrease in paperwork etc.  Zoe is doing much better and will not drink either the yogurt drink or red fanta ever again.  Me...well, it's going to be hard to let her eat or drink anything!  Yeah, I know.....I gotta chill but it'll  take a few days!

Sunday in Quito

We went to Quito to wander in the old section of town.  They have preserved manyof the old buildings and now have artisan shops and restaurants.  It feels like you are in an old European town.  We stumbled upon a religious procession/parade....something about 90 days after Easter.  All the schools of Quito were represented and many of the people were dressed in folk costume dancing their native dance.  I actually didn't feel  like a total tourist bringing out my camera and snapping photos as parents and relatives were all doing the same.  ¡Qué lindo!  KS

The main float

In and around Quito

We love going to markets when we travel and the markets in Quito were just as wonderful.  Lots of fruits that we didn't recognize, meats, fish, eggs....toiletries, kitchen stuff, liquor....and food to eat.  We didn't eat there as Angie doesn't quite trust the open market food.  One dish we didn't try but sounded intriguing:  they roast a whole pig and and carve and serve for breakfast!  Last photo: all the potato varieties.  Second to last:  freshly peas.  KS

Fish!

Chicken with gizzard and half mature egg

San Jorge Lodge at Milpe (Temperate Rain Forest)

After eating breakfast at the Tandayapa lodge, Mother and Angie went down to get their cameras for some last chance pictures. luckly, it didn't rain when it was time to leave. We all hopped into the car and started heading over to the lodge at Milpe. On the way, we stopped at the Tulipe archeological site to see some ruins. It was pretty much giant bathtubs in weird shapes. Befor we left, Angie bought some sugar cane juice and brown sugar. After that, we went to look for a resturant, which Angie said was suggested by some of her friends. When we got to where it should be around, we couldn't find it. We saw a dirt road and thought that meaby it was down it. But we passed it like 2 times before we were able to turn into it. In the end, we found ourselves at the lodge. Angie got out to ask where it was and she found out that it was down the road. We finaly found it and ate there. The food was kinda good. We did see alot of toucans. At Tandayapa, we only saw 1 toucan. But there, we saw like 6. After lunch, we headed back to the lodge to get our luggage to our room. The first thing you saw were huge bamboo. They might have been bigger then if we all stood on each others shoulders . The rooms were also   nice. Zoe was happy because the rooms had hammock. Mother, Angie, and Zoe grabbed their cameras to see some new birds. We did have a big surprise. It was getting closer to dinner and I hear Zoe say, "Stop! Let me take a picture!" I turn around and see this otter/bear faced/ badger looking mammal that had climed the tree and was looking at Zoe with a surprised look on it's face. He climmed down the tree and ran into the bushes before Angie and Mother turned around to see it. At first, they didn't beleve Zoe. But then the same mammal climbed up a tree, grabbed the plantain, and ran off with it. Both of the parents and Zoe got pictures of it. After that, we had dinner and went off to sleep. Happily, no mosquitos bit me that night. That's about it. - MH

We ate breakfast and got our last pictures in and said goodbye to Estalin who was our wonderfull birdguide and lodge caretaker and set off to milpe. On the way we stopped at tulipe which is an archlogical sight where they discoverd giant pools that had been meticulously made. They were giant pools in the shapes of squares and halfmoons and on odd one that looked like someone had just shoved some rectangles together. One of the theorys this the the native people use the pools to tell time because thought the second the moon, at night, would appeared in different pools. Another theory is that it was used as a ceremonial pool for worshiping their gods the sun and the moon. After seeing those five pools we walked to another one. The pool that was farther away was shaped in a circle and was surrounded by a forest of bamboo. Archeologists hypothesized that this pool was used you stargazing. The pool also had a water input and output to keep the water moving and decrease the amount of algae. Then we set off to Milpe. We were planing to go to a resturant called case de blanco but it wasn't where we thought it was. In our search for it we accidentally drove all the way to the lodge. We retraced our steps and after some searching we eventually found it. We sat down for a VERY touristy lunch while over looking a valley. While we were waiting for our food we when to a little VERY sketchy bridge out to a tree platform. I quickly went across and happily enjoyed toe view my mom followed and might have let out a few curse words. Myles and Angie both decided they enjoyed living and stayed on stable ground.  We made our way back to the lodge after lunch and we unloaded all out stuff. Thankfully it wasn't raining this time we put our stuff in our rooms and quickly made our way to to humming bird feeders. And that's how we spent our first day taking pictures of bird with the exception of several mammals. Then next day we went on a huge hike to the waterfalls. Well it wasn't suposesed to be a huge hike but the map was pretty dang horrible so we really couldn't lett. And after we made the hike we tried to retrace our steps on the map and even then couldn't tell where exactly we went. After another day of getting eaten alive by Mosquitos we then headed back to civilization.-ZH out!

Milpe was beautiful.  Slightly drier than Tandayapa.  It's on a road out into the farm fields but the land itself looks over primary and secondary rainforest. The humming birds here were more prolific and were slightly easier to photograph. We were excited to see the Cabeza de Mate (face of a badger, body of an otter and a long tail), the wooly possum, and the agouti....a bonus to all the other wildlife we saw.  The accommodations were luxurious with huge rooms with windows that overlooked the forest.  The lodge itself has 3 stories so you can see the humming birds on the lower level and then climb mid canopy to see the tanagers and the top floor to be above the canopy.  We hiked the cascade trail which followed a small stream that allowed Zoe to dunk herself  in each pool.  We did not make it out to the large river but we hope Angie returns and sends us photos.  It's supposed to be impressive!  The last day, the sun came out and was perfect for photographing.  Myles and Zoe had to drag us to the car.  KS

Zoe discovered that her spirit animal is a toucan because it clumsy and drops its food half the time and then gets angry at the bannanas and throws them on the ground.

Zoe's hummingbird tounge

Kims hummingbird drinking at flowers

Kim's currious humming bird

 Kim's vibrant humming bird 

Picture titles courtesy of Zoe (^.-)

Tandayapa

In Ecuador, reclaiming rain forest is just beginning to gain momentum.  San Jorge has 3 lodges around Ecuador that are either prime rain forest or forest that they are try to help recover back to their original form.  The lodges have feeders set out to encourage birds to come, which makes it easier to see all the species.  The birds still use the native flowers and fruits as the feeders are often times not well frequented when the fruits and flowers are blooming or in season.  We were not there in the high season, but were amazed to see so many humming birds in one place.  I had to re-learn my whole camera in order to capture these little guys on film.  They are so incredibly fast!  Their irridescent colors change as they dip and turn.   The day started at 6 am to see the early birds and the sun light start to burn off the fog that tended to drop on the valley at night.  The food was wonderful,  giving us an idea of the variety of fruit available and the many different ways Ecuadorians cook plantains and potatoes!  Estalin and Pilar were our wonderful hosts.  I understood a lot with my limited Spanish but returning the conversation was challenging.  Luis was wonderful to share his amazking knowledge of birds, and to help me set up my camera to take better photos!!!

San Jorge Eco-lodge Tandayapa

When we arived at the lodge, it was raining pretty hard. We had to run to our rooms. Luckily, Angie did bring umbrellas, so our stuff didn't get too wet. After we got into the rooms, the rain died down and  Angie, Mom, and Zoe went up to take pictures of the birds. There were alot of birds. There were humming birds, toucans, tocanets, finches and more. They were also very colorful. Some were red, others blue, some green, and some even gave off a color when the sunlight reflected of their feathers.They were also really noisy. You could hear all sorts of birds from the lodge. There were also alot of mosquetos. I literally hid under my blanket so that they'd stop biting me. Over all, I think it was a cool to see all the different varieties of birds that lived in the forests of Ecuador. -MH

Okay so we woke up early and piled into the car and started driving.  Our first stop was at Mitad del Mundo which is THE EQUATOR!!!! So I spent a lot of time jumping from the southern to nothern hemisphere. After around an hour of walking around we clambered back into the car and drove to a giant crater which is one of the few towns inside of an crator. Then we drove up the moutains to a  restaurant and ate our lunch. After finishing lunch, we got back into to the car and drove into to cloud forest. The lodge we were staying was in the cloud forest. I fell asleap on the drive so I can't tell you much, just that it was a single lane on each side and the people who live there liked to pass on blind turns and almost get everyone killed. I remember a fair amount of swearing. I was josteled awake by us hitting potholes repetadly and in quick succession and that it was pouring rain. We drove up the little mud road until it started gettnig super sketchy. Angie then stopped the car and proclaimed she didn't think we could go any further and went to go check.  She returned with two people and we hiked a short distance to the lodge. after we had gotten settled Angie, Mom and I went up to the hummingbird feeders to try to take pictures. Thats how we spent our first day.  The next day we decided to do a hike up the mountain to the top of the ridge. The map sucked and we had no idea how long the hike would be but we set off anyways. It was hard (must I remind you altitude so to say it SUCKED). We took pictures from the top and then headed back down wich was pretty satisfing. we spent the rest of that day taking even more pictures. I felt like an old granny because I was happy just sitting and watching the humming birds while Angie and my mom desperately tried to get the best picture. The next day we set off for the next lodge. 

~ Zoe,

Out!

Mitad del Mundo 

Zoe's angry bird

Zoe's cold adorable angry bird 

Zoe named humming bird fuzzy feet

Zoe's fuzzy feet

Picture captions courtesy of Zoe! (^.~)