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Published: December 31st 2005
Hey everybody, sorry I haven't written in a while. The internet connection is a little sketchy so I'm just going to give a brief update and then, what you've all been waiting for, pictures!
So, in brief, on Christmas I went to Chachimbiro hot springs, but I didn't actually go in. I spent the entire time looking for birds. It was so fun that I decided to switch the focus of my trip. I had thought that I didn't want to spend all my time chasing after birds because I'm going to do that for three months. The next day I went back to Quito and spent the day getting my clothes washed and all that good stuff. The next day I traveled to Mindo, a tiny town that is a birding mecca. I've been here pretty much ever since. I'm staying with a really nice family in a hostel (which is also their house). The dad is a birding guide and I've been out birding with him two mornings. The mom speaks english, which has really been nice.
The first day I went by myself, and I took lots of notes on the birds I saw and when I
got back to my book, I could ID almost all of them. That afternoon I visited a butterfly farm and an orchid garden. The area surrounding Mindo is really beautiful, so it's been fun just to walk around.
The second day, I went birding with Marcelo, the guide. We saw almost 50 species, including toucans, a quetzal, and tons of beautiful tanagers! That day a family came to stay at the hostel and I went horseriding with them in the afternoon. That was incredibly scary. I was on this huge stallion and they had us going on really steep trails. I got down after like 20 minutes. Yikes. That night I played cards with them (spades) and I totally wiped the floor with them. I know, hard to believe.
The third day (which was yesterday), I went birding with Marcelo and the family. That was fun, but we didn't see as many species. That afternoon I decided to try to make my way to the coast, so somewhat impulsively I got on a bus going in that direction to a town at a big road junction. I got there last night and it was really just a dismal
San Antonio de Ibarra Church
We went here on our way back from the hot springs on Christmas. The town is famous for its woodcarving. place. I tried to call a bunch of hotels in a town near "the poor man's Galapagos" to see if they had space for tonight. Unfortunately they were all either full or their phones didn't work. So in the morning I just headed back to Mindo to spend New Year's with the family here.
So that's where I'm at now. I'm going back to Quito tomorrow and then I have a little less than a week to have another adventure. Hopefully involving birds. I might still head to the coast or I might stick to the mountains. I just haven't decided yet. I'll keep you posted.
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Uncle David
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Butterfly Farming Question
When I was in Puerto Rico I saw a shop with artwork that was ~50 Monarch butterflies in formation. It was extremely cool. The literature said that they didn't kill the butterflies, but that they were raised on a butterfly farm and had died naturally. So is that the case? Keep up the blog this is great fun.