What we might see


 

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Roadtrip Mindo to Quito

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After a lovely three days in the cloud forest we were due to set off back to Quito on Wednesday after lunch.  When we woke Wednesday we could sense something was different in the traffic along the road in front of the lodge.  We were told at breakfast that with the heavy rain there had been a landslide during the night a little way down the road and that the road was closed with no way around.  This is the main road between Quito and the Pacific coast at Guayaquil. Guayaquil is the second largest city in Ecuador so this road carries very many cars, buses and trucks.  Because it's such a major road we thought it would be cleaned quickly.   Silly us!! At one o'clock we made our first attempt to leave and joined the queue of traffic.  In half an hour we travelled less than a kilometre.  There were people wandering up and down the road looking for food and diversion.  No traffic was coming from the west.  We decided to go back to the lodge for co...
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Iguazu area

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  There is more to do in Iguazu than marvel at the falls. Of course there is birding!  Some people really enjoy forest birding so we did more of that.   There are plenty of other things to look at in the forests if you can't see the birds.  The fungi in particular are many and varied.  I enjoy looking at the flowers and the interesting shapes of leaves.  There are many plants native to the forests here that we have as house plants and in our gardens in Australia for instance Jacaranda.  Also many that have become invasive pests like lantana! Wasp nests We went birding at a small lagoon just out of Iguazu in the jungle.  It is in a large area of jungle where the original inhabitants of the area, the Garani, live, driven there as the city of Iguazu grew.  Now that same jungle is dotted with resorts because of tourists' wish to be in the jungle. No consultation, no compensation. There has been conflict but the Garani have again been dispossessed...
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Quito 1

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  We arrived in Quito yesterday morning after an overnight flight from Buenos Aires to Lima then a morning flight to Ecuador.  We were very tired!  We also probably had to adjust to the altitude - 2800 m ASL.   Today we spent the morning in a big public park and at the Jardin Botanico.  The Quito Jardin Botanico is very small but very well maintained and has some excellent exhibits.  There are glasshouses for orchids and for carnivorous plants and a large display of bonsai plants.  The park around the Botanic Garden was full of families enjoying Easter Saturday.  There were sports activities of all kinds (though no Aussie Rules that we saw), yoga and meditation, carnival rides and bouncy castles, street food and just general hanging out.  There were people everywhere.  It was a glorious sunny morning and most people live in apartments so why not!  One aspect of the park that bemused us was the numbers of callistemons, melaleucas and...
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