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Published: September 2nd 2007
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relaxing on the bench
I take a rest after some uphill hiking. The directions to the Bellavista Reserva were as follows- Take a bus from Quito towards Mindo. After about 2 hours, there will be a small town called Nanegalito. Ask the bus driver to let you off near the falafel stands. Then ask around town for a truck to rent. They should be able to diect you to a driver that is willing to take you up the last 12 bumpy kilometers to Bellavista.
Needless to say, I was a little anxious as to how this may work out, especially since it was our first excursion out of Quito. But getting to the beautiful Bellavista Reserva ended up being pretty simple. I asked the bus helper (every bus in Ecuador has a driver and a helper on the bus. He yells out the names of the towns, helps passengers with their bags, and collects the fare) to let us off in Nanegalito, which he did. This is important to ask, because the town is small and people usually head further up the road to the popular town of Mindo. Once we stepped foot off the bus, we saw several pickup trucks with small signs on the dashboard, reading "de alquiler" or
Nanegalito
A blurry shot of the tiny little town of Nanegalito. Take the bus from Quito to here, then look for a truck to ent. "for rent". One driver offered to take us up the road for $15 (this is the going rate per carload). Most of the trucks have large cabs that can fit several people. Otherwise it would have been a wet and very bumpy 45 minute ride up to Bellavista.
We arrived at the lodge without reservations. They were happy to put us up in a room in the main building for about $60 per person, per night, including 3 meals a day. The lodge is made of bamboo and wood, and is comfortable. But it offers little privacy, as you can easily hear the whispers of the people in the adjecent rooms. (We overheard a few too many bickering couples and interesting conversations. Especially the male couple next to us- "Todd, my hair is so horrible here...") For more privacy and a with little advanced planning, you can reserve a room for the same price in one of the houses outside the main lodge. Reservations can be easily made, as most workers here speak english.
The lodge is a perfectly comfortable place to explore the reserve's 700 hectares (1730 acres) of private land. The best part of staying at
The lodge
A view of the main lodge. Bellavista is having the land and the 10 miles of trails to yourself and a handful of others. When we were there, only about 15 others were staying at the reserve. The more oft visited town of Mindo is popular and very crowded, which naturally makes it more difficult to enjoy the unique cloudforests.
Cloudforests exist between the high Andes mountains and the lowlying jungle. The cloudforests are at about 2000 m (6560 ft) above sea level. The forests trap and create their own cloud systems, which creates a mist over the forest. The moisture allows all types of plants and delicate flowes to survive. Moss also covers branches and plants grow on top of other plants, feeding off the moisture in the air. The environment is actually wetter than the rainforests of the jungle, and they can appear more lush, since their canopies form closer to the ground. Another difference is that Rainforests have larger, silt laden, slow moving rivers, while Cloud Forests are characterized by fast moving, clear rocky rivers. I had never experienced this type of environment before. We have hiked the Hoh River Trail in Olympic National Park (Washington), which is similar to the cloudforest.
hiking in the forest
Here I am, taking a walk thought the cloudforest. But this area has less tropical plants and flowers (and more bears and man eating animals).
We tried to make the most of the area around the reserve. Especially since we were feeling a little guilty at spending so much money for one weekend (maybe in a future blog- more on the guilt factor of being a rich tourist in a poor county where people struggle just to feed their family. We have been struggling a bit with the question "Why are we even here???")
We hiked most of the trails in the area, which range from mildly difficult to extremely difficult and slippery. The terrain in the area makes for some long steep climbs and descents. Several times, we found that our trail was actually a small stream, where we rock hopped along under the brush. I guess that is why they recommend the knee high rubber boots. We are way too extreme for those anyways. Along the way there are plenty of colorful birds to see. The hummingbirds are more plentiful than flies, though they sound about the same and move with the same speed and agility. On the first morning, while I was standing on the
humming bird
close up of a little humming bird balcony, a humming bird actually flew into the side of my face! I didn't scream TOO loud. It is normal to have about a dozen various-colored hummingbirds at the pollen feeders outside the lodge at one time. We also saw a small snake and some little lizards. The chubby inch worms hang down from the trees and we often picked them off eachothers heads and jacket. There aren't many mammals, other than the endangered small specaled bear, which we did not see. Unfortunately, the Toucans with their vividly colored beaks (you know, like from Fruit Loops?!) avoided us as well, though we tried to follow their calls (they sound like an owl) to spot one. We did see many other of the over 320 species of birds spotted in the park, though we are too uninformed to know them by name.
The food was really tasty too, serving mostly vegetarian meals with lots of veggies, soups (always) and, OF COURSE, rice. I will probably never want to see another grain of rice by the time I leave South America! While the lodge had other activities, such as guided hikes and birdwatching, visits to Mindo and to Ecuador's longest zipline,
leaf!
The biggest leaf I have ever seen. we were too content (cheap) to participate. We were comfortable enough and enjoying the setting so much that we didn't really want to go back to the city. When it was time though, we took the expensive way home, and our driver drove us to our door in Quito for $20 each.
So far, we have seen a bit of the high Andes in Quito, and the cloudforests at Bellavista. Next up (this week) we go to an organic farm on the coast, then we have an 8 day Galapogos cruise, follwed by a 5 day stay at one of the best jungle lodges in the world. By the time we exit Ecuador for Peru, we should have covered every area the country has to offer (which isn't too difficult since Ecuador is about the size of Colorado). Oh yeah, Mom, you can rest at ease. We have figured that we don't have enough time to visit Columbia... At least this time around.
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caravaggio
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que fabuloso!
beautiful pictures! not surprisingly, your blog has a great info-tainment quality to it and its wonderful to hear your voice from a world away. kudos on keeping it "extreme"!