Argentina & Ecuador 2024

  Today we have been the highest above sea level ever (other than in an aeroplane).  We could really feel that the air was thin and slowed right down. One of the major tourist attractions in Quito is the TelefériQo, a cable car that goes up to just under 4000m ASL.  The trip takes 18 minutes. A mural in the ticket office. Happy to be on the cable car. It's high above the city Steve's not a big fan of cable cars and I was surprised he was keen to do it.  I think the lure was the high altitude birds we might see at the top.  We did see a few but not the Carunculated Caracara that I wanted.  The Ecuadorian Hillstar (hummingbird) we saw was beautiful. There were so many tiny things flowering - here are a few. And the views of the city we had between low cloud and rain and hail blowing through were great. We were up in the clouds

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...

  We are having a couple of days near Mindo, north west of Quito.  It's a rainforest environment and it is the wet season but mostly we have been very lucky with the rain.  Today is an exception - solid rain at the moment - so I'm taking time off to update the blog. Ecuador is one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.  The number of plant and animal species (and of course especially bird species) is huge.  Everywhere is alive!  A tree will have creepers growing up it, bromeliads nestled on the trunk and branches and lichens, ferns and all manner of epiphytes all over.  The diversity of the plants is stunning.  We have seen leaves over a metre across and tiny cacti.  Unfortunately there are invasive weeds making inroads too with Black-eyed Susan ( Thunbergia alata ) which is an African plant seen draped over vegetation close to the roads. Purple lantana Many volcanos - one still active Steve walking along the mountain road.  See th...

None of the boring little brown birds here!   White-necked Jacobin Velvet-purple Coronet Toucan Barbet Rufous-tailed Hummingbird Choco Toucan Green Thorntail Golden-naped Tanager Golden-headed Quetzal Flame-faced Tanager Fawn-breasted Brilliant Crowned Woodnymph Crimson-rumped Toucanet Crested Guan Common Potoo Blue-winged Mountain Tanager Agouti

  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...