Blogs from Central Highlands, Centre, Ecuador, South America

To be surrounded by stars so vivid, dark so black, sounds so pure, smells so scented, water so….brown was the absolute best contrast to the wildlife seen days before in the Galapagos islands. A flight out from Quito, after 2.5 hour delay due to foggy conditions in Coca (eastern Ecuador) began this sojourn, arriving in time to greet the 2nd La Selva staff member that day, Luis. Coca, a town of approx. 20,000 people, sits aside the Napo and Coca river confluence, and our 2.5 hour long boat ride downstream to the lodge went by quicker than planned, thankfully. The conversation topics were fast diminishing with only 2 of us, the captain, and his crew of diesel supplies and meat for the hordes already there. 6 tourists evidently failing to come, I got the welcome star ... read more

Hola todos! Nou, die dierenmarkt in Otavalo was nog wel een hapening. Heel de omgeving loopt uit met z´n koeien, varkens, hondjes, kippen, eenden enzovoort om die voor een aantal dollars te slijten aan kopers. Een drukke bedoening met krijsende varkens, loeiene koeien en blije kopers met twee kippen in de hand terug naar huis. Ik geloof dat ik voor de prijs waarvoor ik een trui op de toeristenmarkt heb gekocht ook net zo goed twee varkens had kunnen kopen als Ecuadoriaan zijnde, maar ja..... Vanuit Otavalo ben ik naar Latacunga gereisd: de uitvalbasis voor tochten rondom de Quilotoa Loop en Cotopaxi. Beide wilde ik graag gaan doen, dus meteen maar wat info gaan zoeken. Die vond ik bij een aardig hostel en daar vertelden ze me dat er op dit moment geen georganiseerde tour naar ... read more

Hello from our family here in on the western slopes of the Andes. No we haven’t been affected by the recent volcano eruption. That has caused havoc in the town we spent April in, Banos. We were very close to it there, and are hoping all is okay there. La Hesperia is an organic farm/conservation center that is located in the cloud forest about 2 hours away from Quito toward the coast. It is a large plot of land that was once owned by a Spanish contessa, later by a Czechoslovakian consulate and was later bought with the idea of saving the primary cloud forest and demonstrating that organic farming could be sustainable. Every day the clouds roll in from the coast and frequently dump huge amounts of rain on the area. Right now we are ... read more

Nov 29th I woke up at around 8am for a quick breakfast and headed straight back to bed, there's a long day ahead. At 11 we were fitted by our guides Jose and Nueto (Milton). The gear includes crampons and ice picks. After the fitting we started our drive to Cotopaxi and stopped for a quick chicken foot lunch. Protein! The drive into Cotopaxi was long but the park definitely stands alone. Three Massive mountains surrounding a plateau that dwarfed us in comparison. We crossed rivers and streams as we climbed higher and higher. Clouds soon appeared overhead followed by rain and then snow. It would best be described as a scene out of lord of the rings. As the terrain steepened the 4x4 we were in began to have problems with its gears and cut ... read more