Best Vacation Ever! "Follow Me Girls!"

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Somebody has to do it. Take the kids abroad. So I gathered up 10 mothers & girls and took them on an “adventure of sorts” to Ecuador. Birdwatching with Adios Adventure Travel.

I promised it wouldn’t hurt. They were reluctant. After all, I did attempt to summit Cotopaxi Volcano, over 19,000 ft, at 53 years old. We’ll save that story for another time.

I felt a little like Juliette Gordon Low, (the founder of the Girl Scouts.) “Follow me, girls,” I decreed, when I approached Hilary Clinton’s detachment of suited agents & asked if they could arrange a meeting for us during her visit to the Presidential Palace in Quito & on whose red carpets we were scuffing our dirty shoes as we toured the palace.

“Follow me, girls” I yelled at 4 am as we traipsed into the dark jungle in search of a birdwatching post where we would hopefully see the Andean Cock of the Rock. Sure enough, patches of red appeared in the dense foliage.
“Follow me, girls” I bellowed from the isolated cable car as we crossed the jungle canyon to hike down (then up, then down) to an equally isolated waterfall. Sure enough, we were dangling our tootsies in frigid waters in no time, but reluctant to submerge completely.
“Follow me, girls,” I whispered as we tread across the frozen tundra-like landscape of Antisana Volcano, with cameras perched on our frosty fingers as we squinted to get a glimpse of the Ibis & Condors in their native environments.
“Don’t cry, girls,” I firmly stated as the security detail took me away from the boarding gate at midnight in Quito, minutes before our plane departed. Because the dogs smelled something suspicious in my checked bag. I was questioning the wisdom of buying the animal skins to repair my djembe drums at home. But the agents only seemed interested in the scent of my shampoo.
“Stay put, girls” I yelled from across the Atlanta airport as I attempted to help a foreign woman run through the airport to her connecting flight, with a very heavy bag.
“Come with me, girls” I said as we marched back to the customer service desk with our new foreign friend who needed to get a new ticket because she missed her flight.
Come to think of it, our trip to Ecuador was the "best vacation ever!"

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Photos

Birdwatching in Ecuador
Over 1600 species of birds make Ecuador the capital of birdwatching

Sunrise in Ecuador Jungle
The girls walk through the jungle as sun rises

Rare Giant Antpitta
She's not called "Maria the Diva" for nothing. Caretaker must bring offerings of worms AND they must be clean!

Equator Museum
Literally on the equator

On the Equator
What's your latitude?

Can you really balance an egg on the equator?
Girls try their best to balance an egg at the Equator museum.